Huge achievements can come from small, consistent gains across your business. Steven Naudé shares some learnings from the world of sport.
When working with clients, we always start with a long view of what they want to achieve. We focus on a five-year plan and then work backwards, breaking up the larger goals into smaller, manageable steps. These steps cover everything from business operations to marketing, from managing people to increasing sales. But inevitably, the clients are concerned when they see the annual increase in the budget. This could be an increase of around 15-30% of revenue which could result in an increase of around 10-15% on the bottom line. While they are thrilled by the prospect, it does seem a big ask. What they imagine is a price increase of 15%, or an increase of productivity by 15%, or a reduction of costs by 15%. They imagine that they need to find the solution in one part of the business.
At times like this, I like to refer to the work of James Clear, the best-selling author of a book entitled “Atomic Habits”. James focuses on behavioural change through creating positive habits, which leads to better decision making. In his book, he tells the following story about how a huge number (such as 15%) can be achieved through small, incremental changes.
He tells the story of how the fate of British Cycling changed one day in 2003 when Dave Brailsford was hired as its new performance director. At the time, professional cyclists in Great Britain had endured nearly one hundred years of below-average performance.
The untouchables
Since 1908, British riders had won just a single gold medal at the Olympic Games, and they had fared even worse in cycling’s biggest race, the Tour de France. In 110 years, no British cyclist had ever won the event. Getting sponsorship was, understandably, a big challenge. The downward trajectory is usually catastrophic not only for the team but also for the sport as a whole because fewer young cyclists are inspired to participate, which reduces the talent pool and this reduces the chances of future success. Brailsford had a mountain to climb – and he did not have the luxury of starting “at ground level” – he had to undo years of negativity and disillusionment.
“What made him different from previous coaches was his relentless commitment to a strategy that he referred to as ‘the aggregation of marginal gains,’ which was the philosophy of searching for a tiny margin of improvement in everything you do. Brailsford said, ‘The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike and then improve it by 1 per cent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.’”
He began by making small adjustments to every aspect of racing, from the equipment to the cyclists themselves to the cycling environment – seeking at least a 1% improvement in everything they did. Here are some examples:
“They redesigned the bike seats to make them more comfortable and rubbed alcohol on the tyres for a better grip. They asked riders to wear electrically heated over shorts to maintain ideal muscle temperature while riding and used biofeedback sensors to monitor how each athlete responded to a particular workout. The team tested various fabrics in a wind tunnel and had their outdoor riders switch to indoor racing suits, which proved to be lighter and more aerodynamic. They tested different types of massage gels to see which one led to the fastest muscle recovery. They hired a surgeon to teach each rider the best way to wash their hands to reduce the chances of catching a cold. They determined the type of pillow and mattress that led to the best night’s sleep for each rider. They even painted the inside of the team truck white, which helped them spot little bits of dust that would normally slip by unnoticed but could degrade the performance of the finely tuned bikes.”
Gaining momentum
The accumulation of these micro-improvements started delivering results – fast. And the improvement continued for many years. From being a national embarrassment, the team became legendary.
“During the ten-year span from 2007 to 2017, British cyclists won 178 world championships and 66 Olympic or Paralympic gold medals and captured 5 Tour de France victories in what is widely regarded as the most successful run in cycling history.”
We apply the same principles to any business. We do not need to create a 15% improvement in any one part of the business. Instead, we need to find 15 places where we can improve the business by at least 1%. That is usually a much more achievable goal. This aggregation of marginal gains has an exponential effect on improvement. The inverse is also true. By tolerating a 1% decline (day after day, month after month), the business can very quickly spiral out of control into a poorly performing mess.