THE RUNNING
MANN the running mann by STUART MANN
Life Lessons from the Road : Use Goals to Drive your Journey
Due to the COVID-19 lockdown , I have not been able to get my usual marathoning and travel fix in for a while , so this month I ’ d once again like to delve into the world of business , and how lessons learnt in running can be applied to that very different world .
When it comes to major undertakings , we ’ re often told “ It ’ s a journey , not a goal .” However , I ’ d argue that goals are vital to ensure that you make progress on your journey – and I ’ ve got the data to back this up ! Working in the corporate world , I ’ ve been on the receiving end of major change management transformations – and in several cases I ’ ve been partially responsible for inflicting them on sizable chunks of the workforce .
Studies suggests that up to 80 % of organisational change initiatives fail . I contend that one of the major reasons for this dismal performance is that we place all the emphasis on the journey at the expense of the goals . Goals give impetus to the journey , and without goals your journey is likely to result in aimless wandering in the wilderness . And who better to highlight the impact of goals on performance than 20,000 Comrades runners !
Making it Within Cut-off
The graph above , shaped in an interesting Christmas tree , pagoda pattern , plots the number of runner that crossed the Comrades 2019 finish line in 15-minute intervals . No surprises that the ‘ love handles ’ are the last 15 minutes before each medal cut-off . For example , more runners sneak in between 7:15 and 7:30 for a silver medal than in the preceding two hours .
This pattern continues for every medal category , all the way through to the final 12- hour Vic Clapham medal cut-off . Without fail , the final 15 minutes of each medal cutoff dominates the finisher number stats . It is quite incredible the effect that a small piece of metal ( and the bragging rights that go with it ) has on Comrades runners .
Perhaps an even greater illustration of how goals impact performance was the introduction of the 10-hour Robert Mitshali medal in 2019 , named after the first black runner to compete the Comrades , albeit it unofficially , in 1935 . The graph below , comparing the 2017 and 2019 ‘ Up Run ’ finishers , illustrates the impact that the new medal had on the Comrades field .
The percentage of runners finishing in each 15-minutes segment is almost identical , except for a few significant deviations . The biggest shift is that a significant portion of the field who usually finish in the last 30 minutes before the 11-hour bronze medal cut-off are now able to lift their performance to earn the new sub-10-hour medal .
As one of those runners , I can personally attest to the power of the new medal . The 2019 race was my 10th Comrades , and in all my previous runs , I ’ d never run a single step up Polly Shortts , the last and most famous of the big hills on the ‘ Up Run .’ I normally look forward to a nice long walk when I reach Pollies , but in 2019 I managed to run the whole damn thing . Why ? For a shiny new medal .
Importance of Goals
I think this says a lot about stretch goals and how to motivate your staff . Very often managers set stretch goals that are completely ridiculous . If you ’ d offered me a significant financial incentive to run a sub-7:30 silver medal time , sensible
Images : Martin Mulder and courtesy Stuart Mann & Comrades Marathon Association
The ‘ Christmas Tree ’ of Comrades finishers per 15 minutes split .
A comparison of the finishing times between the 2017 and 2019 Comrades ‘ up ’ runs .
28 ISSUE 141 MAY 2021 / www . modernathlete . co . za