The March Toward Becoming a Corporate Athlete
The phrase “corporate athlete” has become a regular part of my vocabulary. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the expression, a corporate athlete is an individual that strives to achieve maximal performance both in business and their personal life.
After reading Great By Choice and Uncommon Service (two great books that I highly encourage everyone to read), I was inspired to infuse the philosophy of the corporate athlete into our culture here at Ross Mortgage. This desire recently led to two company-wide initiatives that I’m very excited about.
In an effort to ensure our team of exceptional people are provided with the resources they need to excel at their job and at home, we’re taking steps (literally) as a company to enhance our ability to provide exceptional service and maintain an active, healthy lifestyle.
Since part of maintaining peak performance in the office and at home requires finding time to stay physically, mentally and emotionally fit, we started a corporate wellness competition that challenges each member of our team to walk a total of 280 miles (that’s all the way to Mackinac Island) within eight weeks, for the chance to win weekly prizes and a weekend at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.
To help our employees achieve this goal of walking 20 miles per week, we gave everyone a device called a Fitbit that they can use to track their daily level of physical activity. Stay tuned—we’ll be recapping the leaderboard and announcing contest winners on our Facebook Page.
While our “March to Mackinac” competition focuses on personal achievement, we’re also making strides as a company to enhance our ability to provide exceptional service, by providing our clients with closing documents 48 hours prior to their closing date.
As I previously mentioned, the book Great By Choice heavily influenced my desire to infuse the philosophy of the corporate athlete into every aspect of our operations. Based around the idea of the “20-mile march,” the book demonstrates how exceptional performance is achieved by consistently operating at an optimal pace, rather than going great lengths to meet deadlines.
When employees continually overexert themselves, burnout is likely to set in, and performance suffers as a result. Winning the daily marathon of effectively handling pressures at work, performing on demand and managing time is a direct result of carefully planned processes and procedures. It’s when you implement these processes and procedures cross-departmentally that the entire company will function like a well-oiled machine.
As we continue to move toward our personal and professional goals, I ask you to consider, what’s your “20-mile march”? Whether you’re taking strides to live a healthier lifestyle or trying to improve your processes and advance your career, I encourage you to set measurable goals and march toward it with diligence and confidence.
