The complementary world of sport and business coaching, and the partnerships driving success

It has been a veritable sporting fest of late – from Wimbledon through to the Tour de France, not to mention the return of our beloved Springboks to home ground! And … the big one … as we count the days until the start of both the Olympic (end July 2024) and Paralympic Games (end August 2024).

I had the pleasure of working with Mpumulelo Mhlongo some years back, now one of South Africa’s top Paralympians, World Record holder for both the 100m and 200m as well as back-to-back 100m World Champion. Recently, I had the chance to connect with him and his coach, Jason Sewanyana. I am fascinated by the partnerships between coaches and elite athletes as their journey illustrates reaching beyond perceived potential. They graciously shared parts of their journey and lessons learnt – many of which, as expected, closely mirror life and business as well!

Know your why!

Jason chats about the importance of an athlete loving what they do. “What gets them to want to wake up at 5 and go and train? What is that essence that drives them to push beyond boundaries that most people are not willing to do?” And how, as a coach, his focus is to bring that out in the athlete.

As business owners, this is as essential! What will keep us going when it feels hard? Be clear on the why – your passion and the reason you chose to start this business.

Success is rarely overnight, commit to the distance!

The typical Olympian plays the sport for anywhere from eight to 19 years before reaching these famous Games. Imagine a minimum of a decade of daily practice to hone your skill before achieving your goal?

This got me thinking about how, as business owners, we expect the very best from ourselves from the very start. Most of us launch our businesses with the expectation of exponential growth and abundance, regardless of how much preparation we’ve done or how experienced we are at managing a business.

Critical partnerships

For an athlete, it would never be an option to embark on a training programme without support. Of course you have a coach, a dietician, a trainer and a physiotherapist. They all know what they are doing, and the athlete is gaining from decades of experience.

So why not the same in business? Every single business, no matter what team structure it works with, or services/products it provides, needs the same things. A good foundation, with strong processes and a winning culture and a plan for financial success, sustainability and a generational legacy.

Engaging with an experienced business coach to support your business development journey makes perfect sense, particularly the coach has decades of experience behind them, a great knowledge-sharing base to draw from and the ability to develop your own potential with you.

As Mpumulelo says: “As an athlete, you run, you jump, you swim – but there is a real science behind getting someone to their success.”

It’s always a ‘team’ sport!

As much as we admire and, at times, even ‘hero-worship’ our great sportsmen and women, they would be the first to tell you that their success is never about them alone.

The same holds true as business owners. No man is an island. We need to surround ourselves with a strong and efficient team working together to accomplish the company’s vision and goals. Similarly, there is great value in support leveraged from other professionals and specialists who have skills complementary to ours.

Step by step, and the power of positivity!

Jason speaks about positive mindsets, incremental improvements, goals, and consistency. “Break it down and celebrate those gradual improvements and you will be surprised at how easy it becomes when you remain consistent. Consistency is the name of the game in whatever you are doing. A little every day rather than a lot sporadically.”

Mpumulelo puts Jason’s support into context: “If I did not have a coaching team, I would probably have reached a three out of ten in terms of realising my potential. I would have been good, but not have competed nationally, nor represented the green and gold internationally, nor be at my second Olympic Games. I am sitting at about an eight out of ten right now. They take me beyond what I thought that I was capable of through their combined experience and expertise.”

This echoes my experience of business coaching partnerships. Consistent, incremental improvements to reach goals and to realise the potential that each business owner and business has. And then to surpass it. Many business owners opt to ‘go it alone’, without expert support and guidance and tools, and I have met many three out of tens that I believe could be eights.

I believe that who we are in life shows up on the sports field and, similarly, what we learn from sport (as player and/ or spectator) can stand us in better stead in our lives. Throughout our conversation, Mpumulelo used the pronoun ‘we’ – referring to himself, his coach, physiotherapist, medical support team and more. It is an example to me of powerful partnerships and of the powerful positivity of collaboration towards surpassing potential and leaving a legacy.