The power of marginal gains

As the Olympics draw to a close, an article from the BBC suggests that small incremental changes can bring about significant results.  The article, ‘Should we all be looking for marginal gains?’ highlighted the practices of Sir Dave Brailsford who applied the principle of the 1% to significantly improve the outcomes for British Cycling – and we all know the results over the last two Olympic Games.  The doctrine of marginal gains is built around a philosophy of applying small incremental improvements to many processes (or component parts of a process) will deliver significant collective benefits over a period of time.  Many businesses have started to apply the principle of the 1% to drive their improvement agendas.  And as leaders, we know it is more efficient and effective to introduce smaller improvements that it is to revolutionise a process, team or business.  So change the way you think and be on the lookout for those small changes you can bring to your team or business and focus on reaping the collective rewards that such an approach has been proven to deliver.  Happy Leading.