What we can learn from the success of Team GB

Team GB won an incredible 67 medals, across 22 sports, ranking Team GB second in the world rankings. How did this happen?

Believe in extraordinary

The sheer breadth of athletic outperformance cannot just be down to the will of a few individuals. This was the culmination of a long-term vision, to inspire the nation with Olympic athletes in the pursuit of excellence, combined with the implementation of a focused dynamic process. 

Despite the uncertain economic environment, the PPF has applied the importance of mindset, skillset and toolset to deliver strong investment returns

The result: a team-based drive for excellence that should inspire us all. 

Laura Trott and Max Whitlock, demonstrated their ability to win gold and achieve incredible goals. But can we identify common threads in their performances? What can we learn, and is it possible to apply some of these lessons to the Herculean task of solving the UK’s pensions crisis?

I have identified three recurrent themes in Team GB’s performance. The importance of mindset, skillset and toolset.

Mindset – Team GB women’s hockey

Team GB’s women’s hockey team’s mantra was simple: Be the difference, create history and inspire the future.

They felt if they could deliver on those goals – focusing on what they do and taking their role as hockey players to a new professional level – they would embed a winning culture.

Skillset – Team GB’s cyclists 

“We now have a team that will search the ends of the earth for that final marginal gain,” Ian Dyer, head of British cycling, said.

The year 2016 was success by design. A system based on marginal gains was a key reason why team GB cyclists excelled in Rio. This focus on incremental gains transformed the team’s skillset, whether in the keirin or the omnium. This approach was first seen in London 2012 and has now spread to the rest of Team GB.

Toolset – Team GB’s rowers

Rather than using just grit and determination, Team’s GB rowers incorporate data to analyse and benchmark their performance. 

“By partnering with SAS, we now have the capacity for much more in-depth and speedy analysis of the rowers, allowing us and them to optimise every session,” Sir David Tanner, GB rowing team performance director, said.

This new toolset allowed them to drive efficiency of performance and ultimately, “make the boat go faster”.

Protecting people’s futures

In the world of defined benefit pensions, the best example of a pensions Olympic athlete is the Pension Protection Fund, which has embraced new thinking, new skills and new tools to safeguard pension funds. The PPF has set itself a clear vision. “To pay the right people the right amount at the right time.”

Medal-winning investment strategy

Despite the uncertain economic environment, the PPF has applied the importance of mindset, skillset and toolset to deliver strong investment returns. They moved to a hybrid asset allocation and use illiquid assets, to provide long-term cash flows to match their liabilities. 

Looking ahead, the PPF will grow to more than £26bn in assets. As a result, it will continue to make significant changes to the investment strategy, for example by bringing part of its liability-driven investment portfolio in-house. 

The PPF now goes into the future with a strong balance sheet and the confidence that it is well-placed to protect the 11m members it serves.

I hope that like Team GB, the PPF can inspire the nation’s pension funds in the pursuit of excellence.

Robert Gardner is a co-founder of consultancy Redington