What does it take to coach a champion and keep them motivated? University of Houston track and field coach Carl Lewis knows a little about that. Lewis, himself a nine-time Olympic Gold medalist, recently coached 21-year-old Louie Hinchcliffe to the national men’s 100m title and the Olympic track and field team.
Most hiring managers aren’t trying to get their employees onto Olympic teams — but there’s still a lot they can learn from this legendary coach on how he keeps his athletes engaged, motivated, and successful as they work toward the highest levels of excellence in their field. Lewis recently revealed insights into his coaching process in an interview with Athletics Weekly. Here are the top 5 lessons from his approach and how they can enhance a company’s employee engagement and retention.
Remember: Consistency is the Key to Improvement
When describing Hinchcliffe’s success as an athlete, Lewis says, “For me, the biggest element of his improvement is his consistency.” Setting records is great, but for coaches and athletes like Lewis and Hinchcliffe, the day-to-day habits of excellence aren’t about records. They’re about showing up, putting in the work, and steadily improving over time.
It may sound simple, but focusing on consistency first can help employees master the foundations of their work until they’re second-nature. “Once you are fast and consistent, which is really difficult to do, then you have a whole other set of things to look at from an emotional and mental standpoint,” Lewis says. That’s when real growth can occur.
Support a Healthy Personal Life to Enable a Healthy Work Life
Athletes and employees have one major thing in common: they’re human beings. To show up to work every day, ready to focus and produce at the highest levels, people need to be stable and supported in their personal lives as well. That stability has been key to Hinchcliffe’s success, according to Lewis: “You know, he’s such a good teammate, his personal life is pretty settled and he does what he’s supposed to do ... the focus for Louie is there and that’s why he’s having such success.”
When employees’ mental and personal needs are being met, they’re better able to bring their full focus and motivation to work. Obviously, employers aren’t responsible for their employees’ personal lives. However, work is a big part of most of our lives, and when employers can provide benefits and tools to support employees’ wellbeing, they can benefit not just every individual on their teams but also the team and company as a whole.
Put the Right Systems in Place to Support Employee Growth
One great coach can’t provide all the support an athlete needs — just like one manager can’t do everything their employees need. Coaches, athletes, managers, and employees all operate within larger systems. For Lewis, the University of Houston and NCAA athletic systems are an important part of a champion athlete’s experience, from the quality and expertise of the trainers to the availability of medical care. “No post-collegiate athlete has a system that they have in college. It’s a great system where you can develop quickly,” Lewis says.
Within a company, no matter how big or small, there are processes, structures, and systems in place that impact how well an individual employee can perform in their role and how well teams can work together. Company leaders should regularly assess organizational support systems and make changes where needed to meet the teams’ and employees’ needs.
Focus on What You Can Control
For both athletes and employees, it can be easy to get caught up in big-picture questions and worries. “Will I win a gold medal?” “Will I earn this promotion?” “What happens if the economy dips? Is my job secure?” Those thoughts are normal, but for Lewis, they’re not helpful in coaching his athletes to success. “My goal is to focus on what you can control,” he says. For example: “I can’t control what place he gets at the Olympics but what we can look at is what his time is.”
It’s the same for employees: You can’t control the economy, the market, or even the other employees on your team. What you can control is what you do every day with the time you have. Keeping employees engaged, motivated, and committed to excellence in their roles starts with keeping them focused on what they can control: their schedule, their fundamentals, their performance, their relationships, and their steady improvement over the long term, day by day. By doing that, employees can manage their stress, achieve tangible goals, and build their self-confidence at work.
Embrace the “Run Your Own Race” Mentality
Even in a company where teams work closely together and depend on each other for success, every employee has their own unique strengths, goals, challenges, and experiences. The same is true for athletes. It’s easy to compare yourself to someone else, but the old adage “comparison is the thief of joy” has some truth to it. For his athletes, Lewis says, “My philosophy was not caring about others and just focusing on running faster than you.” And that includes an unhealthy focus on imitating supervisors you admire: “You know, I’m not going to talk to the athletes about my races and how fast I was in my career. You can look at that on [YouTube]!” Lewis says. “So by focusing on their individual goals [it] allows them to be in their own space.”
Teamwork, cooperation, and mentorship are healthy and necessary components in most workplaces and career paths. However, the key is to acknowledge and appreciate each employee’s individual “race” and encourage them to develop and strive for personal goals and improvements in addition to showing up for the team they’re a part of. Employees are more likely to be engaged and to stay long term with companies that challenge, empower, and support them in their individual career paths.
By focusing on consistency, personal wellbeing, strong support systems, controllable outcomes, and individual development, managers can train, engage, and retain Olympic-level employees who drive motivated, focused, and high-performing teams.
