{"id":10710,"date":"2022-06-28T10:35:19","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T10:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=10710"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:11:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:11:34","slug":"why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Sustaining Success Requires More than Just Marginal Gains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 28 Jun 2022 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Why Sustaining Success Requires More than Just Marginal Gains<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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Sir Dave Brailsford discusses how the INEOS Grenadiers have developed into one of cycling\u2019s most dominant teams and we review his insights with the help of Leaders Performance Advisor David Fletcher.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By Sarah Evans<\/h6>\n
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    Understand your core values and stick to them<\/h6>\n<\/li>\n
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    Clarity and alignment from everyone is key<\/h6>\n<\/li>\n
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    Improvement requires change, and change requires action<\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    A mixture of continuity and adaptation is key for sustained success<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Sir Dave Brailsford, Team Principal of the INEOS Grenadiers (formerly Team Sky and Team INEOS), shared with our audience at the 2017 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London, how Team Sky first operated and how they became one of the most dominant teams in world cycling. \u201cYou can\u2019t be a selection of people doing something in isolation, you have to have certain values and continuity to have sustained success over years and years,\u201d said Brailsford. Right at the inception of Team Sky, the staff sat together and asked \u2018what do we want to be about?\u2019 and they realised that in order to succeed they needed to be able to adapt to the ever changing environment but also needed a few anchors and values to stick to through thick and thin. Team Sky, Brailsford added, had a line as a symbol for the team, and it signified continuity, but as he explained, \u201cyou\u2019re never dealing with the same problem, it changes all the time and you have to recognise that and adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Success lies in planning<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Everyone in sport, and life, knows that planning is a crucial part of success, with the old saying, \u2018fail to prepare, prepare to fail\u2019. However, Brailsford highlights that it isn\u2019t the plan itself that is critical, it\u2019s the planning process, and that \u201cit is the discussions that are crucial.\u201d He expects every one of his staff to have a professional opinion, as he always looks to work from the consensus, and only when this isn\u2019t possible, will he arbitrate. It is important they always understand why, the power is in those discussions, and the team have all been involved in the creation of the plan. This planning is for the overall strategy, but also goes into the minute detail for every rider. \u201cThe more you have clarity and alignment, it isn\u2019t that hard to deliver the performance, it\u2019s when there isn\u2019t clarity and alignment and you take a one-size-fits-all approach to every rider, it fails,\u201d stated Brailsford.<\/p>\n

    Improvement requires change<\/strong><\/p>\n

    It is one thing being successful, but a much harder task to be able to sustain that over many years. \u201cIf you do the same thing you\u2019re going to go backwards,\u201d explained Brailsford, \u201call of your competition will be looking to beat you and to improve, so you can\u2019t just do what you did to be successful the first time round, you have to adapt and continually improve. Brailsford stated that the \u201cdifference between good and great is someone who does something.\u201d Change requires action, and the people who win and make a difference are the people who do. \u201cThe people in Team Sky can be bothered to do the things that maybe people in other teams can\u2019t be bothered to do, and that makes the difference,\u201d said Brailsford. \u201cImprovement requires change, but the problem is not all change equals improvement.\u201d It can be very tempting to change things for change\u2019s sake, so you have to be deliberate about it. You have to understand what interventions are going to give you the greatest reward and do a couple each season. \u201cBeing excellent at the simple things is the key to winning,\u201d highlighted Brailsford. If you start to do too much with things which occur on the periphery, you miss the basics, which will be a disaster. You need small scale actionable improvements over time \u2013 the \u2018marginal gains\u2019 which Brailsford has become so well known for. Finally, he added: \u201cIt is all about action, talk about it and do it. It might not work, but at least you know. We don\u2019t wait, we\u2019re first.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Fuelling the incessant demand for the new<\/strong><\/h6>\n
    The Leaders Performance Institute reviewed the session in tandem with Leaders Performance Advisor David Fletcher, the Senior Lecturer in Performance Psychology at Loughborough University, who shared his views on the topic of sustained success.<\/h6>\n

    David, do Dave Brailsford’s words still ring true?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    A universal truth apparent throughout Dave\u2019s comments is that sport at the highest level is characterised by fierce competition and winning by small margins. Underpinning success in elite sport is the ability to continually raise performance to higher levels. In essence, those who are able to enhance performance sooner, to a greater extent, and\/or on a more sustainable basis than the opposition are victorious. This results in goals and standards moving onwards and upwards, which in turn fuels an incessant demand to find new means and methods to stay ahead of the performance curve. It is clear that, as a leader in elite sport, Dave is \u2013 and has to be \u2013 very focused on what it takes to attain and sustain the highest levels of performance in elite cycling.<\/em><\/p>\n

    How do you feel this space is evolving in sport?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    There are two things that I think are particularly fascinating about the innovation required to stay ahead of the performance curve in elite sport. The first is how best to harmonise the latest advances in sports science and medicine together with the art of high-performance coaching whilst remaining sensitive to the uniqueness of every training and competition context. I believe that the best leaders and teams are those who are able to work together to capitalise on each other\u2019s strengthens whilst developing areas for improvement, regardless of whether they are the \u2018simple basics\u2019, \u2018marginal gains\u2019, or more sophisticated technologically-based advances \u2013 it all counts toward staying at the top. The second area relates to the increasing awareness that winning should not come at all costs. Following concerns about the price that some athletes are willing to pay in their pursuit of excellence and about the lengths that some coaches will go to drive their teams toward victory, there is a recognition and desire to find more ethical ways of attaining and sustaining high performance whilst maintaining and enhancing wellbeing. As a consequence, striving for high performance and holistic health has rightly become the focus of most modern day leaders and coaches in elite sport.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

    \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Sir Dave Brailsford discusses how the INEOS Grenadiers have developed into one of cycling\u2019s most dominant teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10706,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[20,2],"pathway":[295],"topic":[297,296,338,299],"sport":[344],"class_list":["post-10710","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership-culture-performance","category-premium","pathway-leadership-development","topic-adaptability","topic-culture","topic-listening","topic-team-building","sport-cycling"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Sustaining Success Requires More than Just Marginal Gains - Performance Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Sustaining Success Requires More than Just Marginal Gains - Performance Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sir Dave Brailsford discusses how the INEOS Grenadiers have developed into one of cycling\u2019s most dominant teams.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Performance Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T05:11:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-1390121983-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1804\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/performance-institute\\\/articles\\\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/performance-institute\\\/articles\\\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why Sustaining Success Requires More than Just Marginal Gains - Performance Institute\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/performance-institute\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/performance-institute\\\/articles\\\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/performance-institute\\\/articles\\\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/GettyImages-1390121983-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-28T10:35:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-15T05:11:34+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/performance-institute\\\/articles\\\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/performance-institute\\\/articles\\\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/performance-institute\\\/articles\\\/why-sustaining-success-requires-more-than-just-marginal-gains\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/GettyImages-1390121983-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leadersinsport.com\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/GettyImages-1390121983-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1804,\"caption\":\"ZAMUDIO, SPAIN - APRIL 07: Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers looks on before the 61st Itzulia Basque Country 2022 - Stage 4 a 185,6km stage from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Ingeteam Parke Zamudio on April 07, 2022 in Zamudio, Spain. 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