CHEER YOUR WAY TO BUSINESS SUCCESS
By Martin Palethorpe, executive coach at The Pragma Group W
hether you were lucky enough to attend the Olympics in person, or were one of the millions who tuned in to watch our athletes going for gold
on the television, the one thing you will have been hit by is the wall of noise resounding through every venue.
From Bradley Wiggins storming up to Hampton Court; to Chris Hoy flying round the velodrome; Grainger and Watkins gliding through the water at Eton Dorney; Stott and Baillie navigating the rapids in Lee Valley and Mo Farah flying round the stadium, all were overcome by the incredible support and energy they had received.
They had no doubt that the roar of the crowd had an incredibly powerful impact on their performance – and for businesses, the good news is it’s not just athletes who can harness this power for their own advantage.
The energy of the crowd Whilst a home Olympics has re-highlighted the power of crowd energy, its concept and value has long been known. In football for example, we call the home crowd the ‘twelfth man’ because of the advantage that can be gained from having such support.
And the statistics are compelling - Team GB produced more medals and more gold’s in London than ever before in the last century. This is a pattern recorded in other host countries, such as the Australians who produced 66% more medals and 129% more gold’s in Sydney than they did in London. The Greeks produced 600% more medals in Athens than they did in London and the Chinese produced 15% more medals and 34% more gold’s in Beijing than they did in London.
While the energy of a home crowd is not the only issue at play in these results, it may clearly be argued it is an influencing factor.
So how can businesses learn from and capitalise on the power of positive energy and what can it mean for improving performance and results?
The science Scientific research has shown that positive thoughts and words can actually lead to a physical change in the human mind. Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist has proved
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this theory. He found that thoughts and emotions have a physical effect on the molecular structure of water. And seeing that humans are 70% made of water, with the brain actually 95% water, he demonstrated how thoughts and emotions affect how humans behave.
Nikki Owen, founder of the Big Apple Experiment, uses Emoto’s research and has a simple yet fascinating experiment to prove his theories. She puts half an apple in one jar labelled LOVE, and half in another jar labelled HATE. On a daily basis, she talks negatively to the HATE jar, and positively to the LOVE jar. After 10 days the difference in decay of the two halves is dramatically different. Hard to believe I know. But try it for yourself.
On closer inspection, the subtle sequence of positivity can be clearly seen. Sports psychologists have been working with this knowingly for some time. If someone feels good about themselves, they experience internal positive energy. Positive energy then subtly impacts how people behave. Slight changes in behaviour can have a significant impact on performance and results.
Benefits for your business So for a business, replicating the concept of a positive, uplifting, roaring crowd can be hugely beneficial. However, all too often organisations are in contrast full of negative relationship energy, which we call entropy. Entropy – in the form of blame, gossip, manipulation, silo mentality, politics - impacts on results.
Begin by thinking about your current situation. Are you a positive force for your own performance and for others? Are you encouraging and inspiring, or are you actually hindering? Then think what is the predominant energy in your organisation. Is there praise and support, or criticism and blame?
While positivity alone will not guarantee business success and can never replace the need for a strong vision, strategy and effective leadership, it is a critical factor that many leaders completely overlook. It is a very simple change that can have a disproportionately powerful impact, as we’ve witnessed in Team GB recently.
The Pragma Group is a leading UK-based performance consultancy. For more details visit:
www.thepragmagroup. com, call 0845 094 5454, or tweet @mpalethorpe
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