Introduction to the Workplace Olympian
Introduction to the Workplace Olympian
As a child I remember watching the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and being amazed with the feats of the track and field athletes. Recreating races with my brother in backyard attempting to emulate their feats and glimpsing at a sliver of their glory. As years passed, I casually watch the events now but find my new fascination with the backstory of these Olympians. Impressed by their struggles and grit but mesmerized by the lives that they lead attempting to achieve peak performance and a minute competitive advantage.
From their highly structured training days to their methodical diets and rest patterns, their existence centers on becoming the best in the world. Out of the limelight though is their coach that ties everything together. The mentor that provides the leadership creating a high performing environment with detailed feedback to gain minuscule improvements. While they don’t gain the same glory, they are the ones helping to create the champion.
I reflect on this model and wonder why we in society don’t do this in regular life. Many of us survive on five hours of sleep, skip breakfast and later gorge ourselves with coffee and doughnuts to fight the tiredness and hunger pains. Then once the sugar rush fades, we fight the urge to doze off and try to look busy for the boss.
I think on the teams I’ve managed in the past empathetic to their plight of making it through another day at work without being nagged to death. When I mix these two opposing thoughts of Olympians and the average workplace, I see the trains moving in opposite directions. While I want my team to operate as high-end professionals, I really want them to thrive everyday knowing that their performance will match that enthusiasm.
Professional Beginnings
Early in my career I remember my first office, it literally was an old storage closet. I put a desk in it and absolutely loved it. It was my sanctuary where I could hide when I felt like an imposter that didn’t belong. Scared to ask questions and look dumb I would exhaust myself working long hours trying to figure things out on my own.
I have fond memories of my beginnings. I didn’t have that sense of hierarchy and spouted out ideas as soon as they popped in my head. It was experiential learning at its finest. I encountered new surprises every day and loved that I was learning new insights, approaches, and mental models. I brazenly knew that if things didn’t work out here, that I was young and would be able to find something else.
Searching for Value
There were negatives though. I married and divorced at young age finding myself stuck in a small town with not much to do. So, I worked as much as I possibly could, it became my obsession. Routinely working 14-hour days while my career took off, I eventually started to burnout. My fresh ideas began to get replaced with pessimistic retread beliefs and predictable process management routines. I struggled to find meaning and even struggle to identify what my purpose was with 20-years of reflection. What I do know is that by working so many hours extra early in my career, it positioned me for the success I experienced later in my career. However, it feels kind of dirty. Almost like the steroid users in baseball who cheated to elevate their stats.
Many, I am guessing, don’t look at working extra hours as cheating to get ahead of their peers and probably look at it as the Capitalist work ethic. But many probably share my same regrets on how I approached work in my early years wishing to have worked smarter instead of longer. I think of all the time I spent in the office, wondering what I really accomplished. I ask myself today was that just part of the journey to my current reality or is there something I should have done instead that I could look back on with greater satisfaction?
Learning Through Experience
Working long hours creates the opportunities to work on more items, gain more experience, and cover up for more mistakes. This all leads in the end to better performance. That better performance then becomes a stimulant that feeds the soul. That feeling then transforms a person giving them confidence, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment. My hope is that everyone can feel that emotion more often than not. To learn a new skill and struggle to master it. I remember an early job working at a gas station and over stressing myself over trying to learn how to operate a cash register. Then that feeling of confidence of mastering each type of transaction.
Happiness and enjoyment with work starts a cycle. Internally the satisfaction you get from being an expert, that sense of pride and accomplishment improves a person’s overall health. Do we have that satisfaction or learning cycle in our current jobs? A quick observation would suggest no. The typical employee masters a skill and then hits career stasis.
For those leading teams, ask the question, do your people who do exceptional work shy away from the spotlight and hide it? Are they proud to share their accomplishments? How can you create that environment where they can perform their best and are eager to share their accomplishments?
Treating Ourselves Like an Amusement Park
Why don’t we treat ourselves like high performing athletes for living our daily lives? Many of us have gone years with a lack of sleep, operating in a zombie state. We’re neither happy nor sad, we’re just bidding time. Years pass without and growth leaving us with an overall sense of time wasted.
Does this come from a desire to always be in a comfort state? Starting when you’re exhausted. Maybe cheat a little on the due diligence at work, maybe skip the gym or pick up fast food because you don’t want to cook. These little reprieves quickly transition into habits.
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Over time these habits add up and we find ourselves in a hole. We start to dread going to work and fell left with a sense of dread. Instead of having built capital, we would rather opt for starting fresh again.
The Strong Will Stand and the Weak Will Fall by the Wayside
World War One brought airplanes into the assortment of weapons used in battle. Early in the process, pilots would lean outside the plane and drop grenades on enemy troops. Later during World War Two and in the Korean Conflict, infantrymen would use a radio to direct planes where to drop their bombs. This was the beginning of close air support.
Prior to the Vietnam Conflict, studies showed that there were significant fratricides due to air support when in battle. The Air Force, now a separate branch of service put officers either in planes or attached to Army units to control air strikes and lower the number of friendly fires. These officers were also given an enlisted assistant who was a radio operator, vehicle maintainer, and driver. Known as a Romad for short, these enlisted troops began to pick up on the nuances of controlling aircraft and became proficient in dropping munition. Thus, a new career field was born for members of the tactical control party (TACP).
Gatekeepers
Starting in the late 1970’s the TACP Schoolhouse in Hurlburt Field, Florida churned out a select number of operators. Knowing that these individuals would be assigned to Army units, they would need to be able to exceed the Army’s expectations to properly assimilate and act as effective air consultants.
The future Romads were put through a 12-week training program designed on breaking Airmen and weeding out the faint of heart. Through depriving sleep and food while pushing grueling exercise the instructors played the role of gatekeeper to the club. Maintaining the average first time graduation rate around 25% they believed that they had created highly stressful situations that accurately simulated combat. They produced warriors but also left a trail of broken bodies along the way.
Midway through the War on Terrorism, the TACP career field had to change their entry level formats. Early medical retirements had taken their toll with fighting a 20-year war and the new focus was placed on long-term health. The schoolhouse changed their format where they still elicited high levels of stress but opted to treat their candidates as Olympic athletes. Plotting dietary plans their meals ensured a customized and methodical approach to fuel the body. Ensuring rest and recovery they offered daily massages and dedicated sleep periods. They found a balance to simulate combat, weed out the weak, while giving the body long term health benefits.
Changing Lives for the Long-Term Benefit
This book is not talking about hyper discipline. It asks if you can create an environment for yourself and team that could increase satisfaction and significantly raise performance? Are there things you should be doing to go down a different path? Does one path lead to happiness and the other not? Can you create a space where you default to the choices that will have a long-term benefit for yourself?
For the managers that want to lead, can you create this for your team? Do your team look worn out and beat up? Do they run to work or away from the office?
Every company needs high end performance. Those marginal gains turn into long-term competitive advantages. Those advantages over years grow until you are still in business while your competitors have closed their doors for good. There is no time better than to turn yourself and your team into a prime workplace athlete that far exceeds its value.
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