Having been involved in multiple sports, such as triathlon and water polo competitively both as an athlete and a coach for many years, I’ve always believed that the parallels between elite sports and high-performing organisations are truly remarkable. Both demand a clear strategy, a focus on incremental improvements, and the ability to perform under pressure.
With that in mind, I wanted to examine what HR leaders can learn from the world of sport to develop high-performing, resilient, and forward-thinking teams.
Performance Mindset: Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Athletes monitor everything—speed, recovery, mental resilience, and more. In business, applying the same focus on performance metrics can achieve outstanding outcomes. HR can foster a performance mindset by:
- Promoting a feedback-rich culture where reviews are regular, constructive, and growth-focused. Companies like Netflix and Bridgewater Associates are known for their radical candour, where open feedback is viewed not as criticism but as a catalyst for excellence. At Netflix, regular 360-degree feedback ensures transparency and accountability, while Bridgewater incorporates feedback into daily operations, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
- Investing in mental health and resilience training, similar to the psychological coaching athletes receive. EY, for example, has implemented global resilience programmes that provide employees with tools to manage stress, adapt to change, and sustain performance under pressure. This reflects the psychological support structures common in elite sport.
- Creating performance dashboards for individuals and teams to monitor goals, progress, and areas for improvement. Microsoft uses internal performance heatmaps to align employee goals with team strategies, enabling leaders to make data-informed decisions that enhance engagement and performance.
Talent Acquisition: Scouting Like a Pro Team
Top sports franchises scout talent worldwide long before players peak. Businesses can embrace this proactive strategy:
- Implementing talent mapping and pipelining strategies to identify and engage high-potential candidates early. Unilever’s Future Leaders Programme, for instance, identifies and nurtures top graduates before they enter the job market, mirroring how sports academies develop youth talent years in advance.
- Using AI and analytics tools to evaluate potential beyond resumes, just as scouts assess attitude, adaptability, and growth trajectory. Companies like Pymetrics and HireVue utilise neuroscience-based assessments and AI to identify attributes such as learning agility, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving skills.
- Creating employer branding that reflects high performance, attracting top-tier talent seeking challenge and development. Red Bull is a standout example. Its branding and culture are designed to attract individuals who thrive on energy, competition, and creativity, just like elite athletes.
Talent Management: Individualised Development Plans
No two athletes train in the same way, and the same should apply to employees. HR leaders can:
- Create personalised learning and development pathways using data-driven assessments and employee aspirations. Schneider Electric’s internal talent marketplace, powered by Gloat, allows employees to explore gigs, mentoring opportunities, and projects aligned with their career ambitions, thereby boosting mobility and satisfaction.
- Use coaching models that emphasise strengths and areas of potential rather than just on remediation. At Salesforce, managers are trained to provide coaching every week, focusing on recognising progress, reinforcing strengths, and aligning efforts with business needs.
- Recognise and reward small improvements to maintain motivation and performance. According to McKinsey, organisations that regularly recognise tiny wins experience up to 25% higher employee engagement. This method reflects how athletes stay driven by tracking incremental progress.
Identifying Top Talent: Beyond the Obvious
In sports, overlooked talents often surpass prodigies when provided with the proper environment. HR leaders should:
- Create diverse assessment centres that evaluate problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership under pressure. PwC uses gamified assessments during early-career recruitment to minimise bias and reveal abilities that traditional CVs may miss.
- Utilise 360-degree reviews and peer feedback, similar to how elite sports teams assess performance from all perspectives. These reviews provide a thorough evaluation of an individual’s leadership, communication, and team dynamics.
- Create trial-based experiences, such as stretch assignments, to observe how employees perform in real-time scenarios. Google's well-known "20% time" initiative enables employees to dedicate part of their workweek to passion projects outside their main responsibilities. This programme has not only resulted in innovations like Gmail and Google News, but also offers leaders a deeper insight into their teams creativity, problem-solving skills, and leadership potential.
Leadership Development: Coaching the Coaches
Great teams have great coaches. Similarly, businesses flourish under leaders who motivate, guide, and adapt. To cultivate leadership depth:
- Establish internal coaching programmes where experienced leaders mentor emerging ones. GE’s reverse mentoring model, for instance, helps bridge generational gaps and transfer skills across levels.
- Train managers as performance coaches with skills in active listening, giving effective feedback, and inspiring others. Microsoft’s ‘Leader as Coach’ model teaches every people manager to promote growth mindsets and accountability within their teams, boosting engagement and retention.
- Build a leadership pipeline through succession planning and targeted development initiatives. Research from the Corporate Leadership Council found that organisations with high leadership bench strength are more likely to succeed. These are organisations with structured leadership development programmes, which are 2.2 times more likely to be among top-performing companies in terms of revenue growth.
Smart Working Strategies: Training, Recovery, and Balance
Athletes recognise that recovery is part of the game. Businesses need to understand this as well.
- Encourage flexible work schedules and hybrid models that maximise productivity and well-being. Patagonia and Spotify provide flexible work environments that emphasise autonomy, helping to lower turnover and burnout.
- Implement “workload periodisation”—similar to athletic training cycles—to prevent burnout. Some consulting firms now schedule “pulse and pause” weeks, where intense project periods are followed by lighter workloads, giving teams time to reset.
- Utilise technology for performance analytics while promoting regular disconnection. SAP, for instance, incorporates well-being metrics and feedback tools to track employee load and notify managers before burnout intensifies.
My Final Thought: The Future of HR is High-Performance and High-Tech
As HR develops into a strategic function, the lessons from elite sports offer a compelling guide. By focusing on analytics, human potential, and ongoing improvement, HR leaders can achieve not only enhanced workforce performance but also drive business transformation.
As Sir Dave Brailsford, the renowned British sports executive behind the "marginal gains" philosophy and Team GB's Olympic and Tour de France success, once said “If you break everything down and improve it by 1%, you get a significant increase when you put them all together.” Now is the moment for HR to lead that change—1% at a time.
