There was a great article in The Times on Monday (23rd Sept). The sports journalist Matthew Syed interviews Sir Dave Brailsford and they discuss the concept of ‘marginal gains’. Brailsford, of course, is the coach who transformed British cycling, to a large degree thanks to his dedication to applying this concept. Marginal gains is all about analysing every aspect of an athlete’s performance, from the obvious to the mundane, and determining how you can improve each by a fractional amount – these fractions adding up to real and meaningful performance improvement. This includes all the high tech stuff about training methods, kit and equipment, but also covers nutrition, ergonomics and, excitingly to us, psychology. When asked what the single most important marginal gain has been in achieving all their success, Brailsford’s answer is “ownership”. Giving athletes control over how they train rather than telling them what to do – this, he says, has been “the biggest game changer”. People perform better when they feel in control of their behaviour. Now there’s something to think about for all managers in any organisation, and indeed for us all.
