The London 2012 Olympics will soon be upon us, 20 days of media frenzy and gold saturated discourse. But what can business leaders learn from the London 2012 Olympics or more importantly from the athletes themselves taking part in the Olympics games of this year? In his article: “Why are SMART objectives so boring? Olympic lessons on setting courageous goals”, John Blakey, who co-authored “Challenging Coaching – Going beyond traditional coaching to face the FACTS” with Ian Day, explains how in his work he often introduces Olympic medallists to inspire business leaders with their stories and anecdotes. Blakey starts his article by questioning whether Olympic Athletes actually talk about SMART goals, he answered: “No, they talk about crazy, game-changing, outrageous, terrifying goals like ‘I want to win a gold medal at London 2012!’.

Even though winning a gold medal is never really a realistic target given the vagaries of an athlete’s short time at the top however; as Blakey rightly points out, this does not stop athletes from setting such aims to motivate them to be the best that they can be. In his article, Blakey goes on further explaining that as opposed to the world of business, in the world of sport there appears to be a culture conducive to setting and pursuing courageous goals- a mind-set that engages the potential of the right brain to dream, inspire, excite, scare and motivate us to embark on bold adventures.

Lewis Howes, author of The Ultimate Webinar Marketing Guide and LinkedWorking, had the opportunity to interview the Olympic Gold Medallist Bryan Clay, considered to be the “world’s greatest athlete” – an honour bestowed on Olympic decathlon winners. Together they discussed Clay’s 2008 Olympic triumph in Beijing, along with the lessons he’s learned and how they can be applied to the sport of business.

Lesson 1: It’s all about

the process

One of the most important lessons Clay developed through his experience is the discipline to consistently strive for excellence – not only in the field of competition, but also in all other aspects of his life. Despite the fact that we cannot always control the outcome, we do have the power and the responsibility to follow a process. For Clay, “it’s all about the process.”

Lesson 2: Execute!

So one might ask what goes through an Olympian’s mind five minutes before an event? “Execute!” Nothing more, nothing less.

“I can appreciate this from a business perspective,” explains Clay, “since I’ve witnessed too many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of perfection paralysis.” Here Clay quotes Chris Hawker, a friend of his who had once told him: “There’s no such thing as a million dollar idea, only million dollar executions.”

Lesson 3: Change

One of the biggest surprises Clay encountered in the days following his victory was his expectation to “feel different” afterwards, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, Bryan woke up the next morning feeling the same − like Bryan Clay. Winning a gold medal didn’t make him a better athlete. It was indeed the process of discipline, sacrifice and training that had made Bryan a champion; winning Olympic gold was just an outcome. The same goes for a business. As Howes rightly explains, one should not expect a sale, partnership or money to make one a winner – it’s up to that person to transform himself/herself. Everything else is just an outcome or a result.

Lesson 4: Remember

who you are

When Howes asked Bryan what piece of advice he would give himself if he could go back in time, he said it would be to simply remind himself why he started doing track in the first place – “Not for money or fame, but for the pure joy of doing what I was created to do.”

Howes explains that the most successful professionals focus on doing what they love. The journey is sweatier and more fun, and it’s not all just about the money.

So after having heard of the Olympic gold medalist Bryan Clay’s success story, one would then ask, so what is it in the world of business that gets in the way of the declaration of courageous goals and restricts commitment to such bold endeavours? According to Blakey, what restricts us is very often the fact that as business leaders we are often too evaluative, too critical, and too risk averse. Here Blakey points to a number of factors that as business leaders tempt to dumb-down our aspirations. These are:

• The fear of failure

Athletes embrace failure as an inevitable fact of life and its occurrence does not crush their self-esteem but drives them onwards. In business, the risk of failure seems to carry a stigma of shame so the risk is reduced by diluting ambition and avoiding commitment.

• Lack of alignment of targets between organisation, team, leader and individual

In sport the finishing line is clear, agreed by all stakeholders involved and it does not move! In business, this is not always true. The difference between winning and losing can be subjective and open to political interpretation.

• The inhibiting link of targets to remuneration, bonus schemes and promotion

Most goal setting in business occurs within the context of box-ticking performance appraisal processes which also govern promotion and reward decisions. In this context, it is rational to aim for a bronze medal rather than the gold.

In the current economic scenario, Blakey maintains, having SMART goals is simply not enough. Their emphasis on linear, incremental, rational steps is unlikely to generate the creative leaps that will trigger success in an ambiguous and shifting business landscape. Having said that, Blakey draws up the following simple three-step approach with questions for leaders who are engaged in planning a conversation with their team. These are:

1. Dream:

• “What would be your/our equivalent of winning an Olympic gold medal?”

• “If you/we believed anything was possible, what would you/we want to achieve?’

• “What if you/we were being even bolder in our thinking?”

2. Share

• “Who do you/we trust sufficiently well to share this courageous goal with?”

• “Who are you/we frightened of sharing this courageous goal with? What are the reasons for that?”

3. Start

• “What is the smallest tangible step you/we could make toward this courageous goal in the next week?”

• “What support could I/we give you in helping you take this step successfully?”

Blakey concludes by saying that if we as business leaders are able to shake off the shackles of the SMART acronym, maybe we will breathe new life into tired processes and numb business aspirations. He concludes by quoting the famous German philosopher Goethe who once said: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, be it now. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now”

Ms Camilleri is a researcher at the Foundation for Human Resources Development (FHRD)