The past couple of weeks at the Paris Olympics has brought incredible displays of talent, sportsmanship and determination, with Team GB excelling across many different sports, breaking records, and committing more impressive feats to the history books. Aside from the obvious sporting prowess and the number of medals achieved, what has really struck us about Team GB at the 2024 Olympics is the level of teamwork, support and camaraderie on show, and the fundamental role this has played in their success.

As businesses, there’s lots we can learn from Team GB about effective teamwork and mindset and the role it has in overall performance. In this blog, we draw from the insights and experiences of our athletes to share our own teamwork tips and how we can apply them in business to boost success

Our first tip is inspired by GB track cyclist, Sophie Capewell, and the words of wisdom given to her by her late father and fellow cyclist, Nigel, who finished fourth at the Atlanta and Sydney Paralympics. Nigel urged Sophie not just to aim for bronze as he did, but to strive for more. She said: “He bred that into me so we are not aiming for third, let’s put it that way!”

Nigel’s lesson clearly had the desired effect for Sophie, as she won the gold in the women’s team sprint and smashed the world record at the Paris velodrome alongside teammates, Katy Marchant and Emma Finucane.

The lesson we can learn from this? Never approach a task with a limiting mindset or a pre-conceived belief about what you’ll be able to achieve. When you give your all and work together as a team you can break down boundaries in business and even surprise yourself.

Our second tip is drawn from Team GB’s incredible Performance Services team, comprising of medical officers, nutritionists, psychologists, physiotherapists, and performance analysis and performance science specialists. This reinforces just how much athletes need more than physical fitness and skill to perform well.

Our lesson? Just as every successful team relies on all sorts of mission-critical functions to help it operate and achieve its goals, a business relies on each department and team member to perform well and succeed together. HR, finance, admin – you name it – they’re all key to a business’ overall success.

Our next teamwork tip is inspired by Team GB’s qualifying skateboarders – Sky Brown at 16 years old (and just became a two-time Olympic bronze medallist!); Lola Tambling at 15 years old; and Andy MacDonald at 51 years old. These athletes are proof beyond doubt that age is just a number.

Our lesson? You’re never ‘too old’ or ‘too young’ to trailblaze and achieve great things. The most successful teams are often made up of a diverse range of people and each bring their own skills, strengths and unique perspective.

Rising star, Grace Crompton, never set out to become an Olympian in rugby sevens. She trained to be an athlete originally, clocking just 27.57 seconds for 200m aged 13 and achieving a triple jump personal best of 10.53m in 2017. However, the challenges of competing in an individual sport pushed her to find a new passion. She discovered that she loved competing as part of a team and this year, she became the youngest member in the UK rugby sevens team aged just 22.

Our lesson? Life and your career can take you down many different paths and it’s okay if you don’t have everything planned out – you can discover your passion and what you’re great at along the way. Your experience gives you a unique set of skills to apply to every new challenge. Team Tactics’ sales and operations director, Charles, is also testament to this, as he joined the corporate events world after a successful 25-year career in wealth management!

At the Paris 2024 Olympics, GB’s men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team made history with Olympic gold, successfully defending their title three years on from the Tokyo games. Reflecting on the victory, Team GB’s Duncan Scott said: “When we come together as a team, it is really special. I am just so proud of how we all swam our legs. Jimmy did [his best since 2015] and then Tom and Matt also bought it back so strong. I am buzzing with that.”

Our lesson? Celebrate the achievements of your teammates and be just as proud of them as you would be of your own. When you truly get behind each other, the team becomes stronger as a unit and can achieve incredible new heights.

Our next tip takes inspiration from the incredible GB women’s quadruple sculls team, made up of Hannah Scott, Lauren Henry, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw. The team just snatched the gold medal after tailing the Dutch team for 1,999 metres of the race, beating them by just 0.15 seconds in a dramatic photo finish.

Our lesson? Give it your all to the very last stroke and don’t give up. Every push counts from every member of your team in achieving your goals.

Our next tip is inspired by a quote from British athlete, Matthew Hudson-Smith, just after he narrowly missed out on gold at the 400m men’s final. After overcoming a number of personal struggles, he entered the Paris 2024 400m final as the favourite. While he was pipped to the post by Quincy Hall by just 0.04 seconds, Hudson-Smith carved three tenths of a second off his personal best and set a new European record. Reflecting on his performance he said, “Sometimes the journey is better than the result and it’s been a hell of a journey. I’m just grateful. I’ve got an Olympic silver medal and how many people can say that?”

Our lesson? Even if you slightly miss out on a new opportunity or the result you were after, sometimes you just have to take stock, celebrate the fantastic things you have achieved, and appreciate that the path to success isn’t always straight-forward.