The year was 1984, an Olympic year, and for the American gymnastics team it was their time to shine in front of the world as the host nation. One of the main events was women’s gymnastics, and the American team had a phenomenal athlete named Mary Lou Retton.
One of the things I find fascinating about gymnasts is their ability to remain flexible and agile while performing remarkable acts of strength, grace, balance and stamina. Mary Lou Retton had these skills and abilities. That year she won 5 medals for the United States and brought women’s gymnastics to the forefront of athletic performance across the globe.
Moving forward into the year 2013, there is a great deal of uncertainty and change happening within many businesses and organizations. Like elite-level gymnasts, in order to perform well, we must learn the performance skills of flexibility and agility in order to stay competitive, innovative and profitable.
Organizations and businesses whose people and teams learn the skills of flexibility and agility can count on tremendous growth and career satisfaction.
Here are a few benefits of being flexible and agile.
1) Challenge to the norm
Creating and leading teams that are flexible and agile in their thinking and approaches creates a culture in which they will discover and create the best products and services for their clients. The performance skill of flexibility and agility allows different teams to come together and work at developing products and services that are world class.
2) Changes with impact
Long gone are the days when businesses and organizations would develop a 5-year plan and work towards achieving the goals and objectives in a linear fashion. Most businesses and organizations know that traditional planning models do not work, so instead they choose to create a “map” that often requires people and teams to be flexible and agile in their approach in order to achieve the goals and objectives.
3) Move from reactive to proactive
Having the ability to be flexible and adaptable allows people and teams to make proactive decisions when conditions change, either within the marketplace or within their own organization. This creates a culture of performance achievers that are constantly accomplishing their goals regardless of the uncontrollable changes occurring around them.
Turn Your Knowledge into Action
1) Take some time with your team members to start discovering ways to become more flexible and agile in order to achieve your performance objectives and goals.
2) Take one flexible or agile action this week when trying to achieve your performance objectives.
NEXT STEP
If you would like to learn more about how I can assist your organization in elevating their performance, please contact me at 416-429-1247 or email at paul@actusperformance.com.
All the best in achieving your highest performance.
Paul
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net