Should we transform the way we work?

Professional sports teams and Olympic athletes are singularly focussed in excelling in their fields. They have years of practice in their field of sport before they get to where they are. In the process they rely on an army of support professionals to get there. A typical sports team is equipped with physiotherapist, nutritionist, multiple coaches, trainer, statisticians, psychologist and many others. Each athlete has a very specific regimen of exercise, diet and cross training. For example, if the athlete is in the field of soccer they typically also play another sport like basketball to cross train. They have specific set of exercises at the gym set by their trainer. They have a specific sleep routine. They are aware of their peak performance hours. During this time they really practice their sport without any distractions. There are no phones around and no meetings to attend. If they start having any self doubt about winning or if they have any other distractions in their mind they are coached by their psychologist. They have statisticians at hand who provide tons of information about their opposition. A nutritionist sets their diet which prescribes the portion sizes and what they can and cannot eat. In all of this they are under constant watch and advice of their coach. All of this is mandatory for any athlete to excel without which they will most likely be at the doorstep of failure. 

Technology professionals live and breathe technology. They really want to make an impact to their customers and the world with what they produce. When they are hired they have already gone through years of education. An employee at a typical company may possibly have a coach in the form of a manager, possibly a mentor, access to a wealth of online resources on health through their benefits provider which they may or may not read through, access to a doctor through their health plan which they may or may not use. The professional has random meetings throughout the day and has distractions in the form of email, instant message, phone, news sources on the web and other forms of social media. The employee typically has access to a vending machine and fast food restaurants nearby. If they are working from home they are at the mercy of what they stocked in their refrigerator. The deadlines in the technology industry are tight for good reason; you deliver or you perish. It involves long hours of work including outside office hours and weekends. Unless the professional is motivated to cross train and stay healthy, the majority is forced into some form of unhealthy habit whether its diet, lack of exercise or sleep or a combination thereof. This has the consequence of some form of sickness and leave of absence thereby reducing productivity. Also there is no concept of peak performance hours without distractions.

If you compare the two professionals there are lot of similarities. Each one wants to excel in their field. They want to push human boundaries. But the similarities stop at that. Forcing professionals to a strict regimen with support staff would be controversial in the technology world. However in the sports world it would be contrary. Yet in the technology world we want to be like that star athlete or that winning sports team. So it is time to ask ourselves if individuals and companies really can excel in the long term without the strict regimen of a sports professional? If we want to bring transformational change to individuals, teams and companies look no further than your favorite sports team or star athlete.