Thursday was a big day for Shawn Olmstead and his Brigham Young University women’s volleyball team. In an awards luncheon Olmstead was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I Coach of the Year. Later in the day he proved worthy of the honor when his team defeated the number 2 seeded University of Texas Longhorns. The win over Texas made BYU the first unseeded team ever to make it to the NCAA tournament final. BYU defeated unseeded Seton Hall, #11 Arizona, #6 Florida State, #14 Nebraska and #2 Texas along their unlikely road to the final match.
Business executives can learn a lot about success, achievement and human performance from BYU’s remarkable accomplishment. Coach Olmstead has carefully developed his team over a long period of time. Win or lose, he expected them to get better with each match. He taught them to expect good results while helping them to stay focused on one match, one team one point. Coach Olmstead and his team knew success would come. They practiced for it. They prepared for it. Their system was designed for it.
These same principles create high performing business teams. The foundation of business success is a system designed for achievement and positive results. Essential elements to such a system include the kind of vision and values that Coach Olmstead instilled into his players. The roadmap to a championship is marked by small achievable steps. It includes an expectation for improvement along the way. Accomplishment is the result of careful development of individual team members by a skilled coach. The coach has to prepare her team for success at every milestone along the journey. Systematic preparation, individual practice, team execution exactly the tools required for business owners and executives.
Congratulations Coach Olmstead and the BYU Cougar women’s volleyball team! Thank you for shining a light on the pathway to success in sports, in business, in life.
Dr. Scott Baird is the founder and CEO of Griffin Hill. Griffin Hill originated a complete system for business coaching known as Coaching Technology™.