apply the F1 formula to your businessthe one per cent rule:

Williams’ chief technical officer, Pat Symonds, sums up marginal gains when talking about modifications made to its car in 2016: “The FW37 was a pretty effective car and so we concentrated on understanding the areas where we could improve it without losing the attributes which made it effective.

“We also use this strategy with our team which should see us better able to cope with the many variant scenarios that racing inevitably throws at you throughout the season.

Formula One racing is undoubtedly a precision, high performance team sport. For Williams Martini Racing, it takes a team of more than 650 dedicated individuals to get two F1 drivers primed and on the grid each Grand Prix. And over the last two seasons, only Williams and Mercedes have placed in the top three teams consistently.

What is their secret to success? How do they find the game changing improvements, no matter how big or small, to boost their position on the leader board? And what can business and industry leaders learn from the world of Formula One racing?

Often, too much focus is given to identifying one big moment or action responsible for success. Overlooked are the hundreds, if not thousands of small changes which can be made every day to optimise performance and drive success. Ultimately, it’s the sum of all the little things you do to optimise performance that leads to victory.

This strategy of breaking down every little thing to find those marginal improvements to give you an edge over your competitors, is used in virtually every sport as well as in business. It’s a term now known as ‘Aggregated Marginal Gains’, since coined and used very successfully by British cycling coach, Sir Dave Brailsford. The principle is incredibly simple — by improving every variable that can influence performance by just one per cent, you cumulatively get significant performance improvement. Applying this theory to achieve high performance will help you get ahead of the opposition as well as inch closer and closer to reaching your full potential.

The Williams Martini Racing team has spent the short ‘off season’ reviewing what worked and what didn’t, as well as looking for marginal gains across every aspect of performance, from design to engineering, to driving to management.

Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal of Williams Formula One, says constant and small changes can have a profound effect on the performance of the team.

“Our team knows that it is about finding those tenths of a second, those hundredths of a second, and those thousandths of a second that will narrow the gap, that will drive our performance and will make us winners again.”

“Our team knows that it is about finding those

tenths of a second, those hundredths of a second,

and those thousandths of a second that will

narrow the gap, that will drive our performance

and will make us winners again.”

Symonds says, “To achieve aggregated marginal gains, we work through the whole lifecycle of the Formula One car – from aerodynamics to design to manufacturing and then feed it all back into race engineering.”

“And it’s never a static process – our engineers, analysts and technicians need to be constantly reacting to every changing circumstance in real time, wherever they are in the world.”

But you don’t need to be a cycling or Formula One team to implement or benefit from marginal gains improvements. Businesses that want to grow and improve can apply these same principles on a daily basis.

In fact, organisations around the world have successfully applied the theory of marginal gains to achieve real improvement. Famous examples include Toyota, which uses a similar theory — Kaizen — to make hundreds of small improvements to their car manufacturing processes. Retailers are benefiting from adopting a marginal gains approach by improving their supply chain operations, and healthcare operators are making small changes by altering the labelling on medication so they can be easily identified under time pressure to avoid incorrect dispensing of drugs.

Claire Williams

The ‘just one more’ concept (J1M) is connected to an online rewards program, and employees are encouraged to recognise colleagues and peers every month.

J1M has been extremely well received and rolled out in other Randstad businesses around the world. We are achieving new heights in performance, productivity and engagement and we are celebrating every win and every proud moment.

But ‘just one more’ is not only about tangible and measurable items. It is first and foremost about creating the right mindset and the promotion of strong values we have in the business. Helping others, recognising them for their contribution to the strength of our culture creates a happy workplace with happy and confident employees. And happy employees make for happy customers.

As culture is driven from the top, I prioritise acknowledging every high performer on our J1M Google Community, to let them know in a public forum, that their efforts are being noticed and I appreciate it. I know they value this and it helps to maintain momentum.

People are always going to be your most critical asset to achieving high performance, and I focus on nurturing relationships and motivating our teams to reach even greater heights through a just one more mindset.

In each case it is not a matter of trying to achieve a ‘quick win’ or overhaul an entire team or business. By making better decisions on a daily basis, small and regular improvements will eventually extend the gap between a successful business and its competitors.

So, how do you apply this to your business, whether you are operating in government, manufacturing, education, finance, IT&T, pharmaceutical, construction, FMCG or any other industry? How do you determine what needs adjusting and how can you make marginal gains with your people, your customers and your business processes?

As the official partner of Williams Martini Racing since 2006, and as one of the leading providers of specialised recruitment and HR consulting solutions, Randstad is committed to striving for perfection through aggregated marginal gains with a concept known as ‘just one more’.

The just one more mindset has been instrumental in re-engaging our 700+ employees with Randstad’s brand, our unique culture, vision, values and strengthening a collective ambition to go above and beyond at all times.

We encourage everyone to speak up, to find those ‘one percenters’, those small improvements and to voice their opinions and ideas which will innovate and set us apart and have a positive impact on our customers and our own way of working.

“To achieve aggregated marginal gains, we work

through the whole lifecycle of the Formula One car

— from aerodynamics to design to manufacturing

and then feed it all back into race engineering.”

Pat Symonds

5.

4.

6.

Review and measure your progress to ensure your team has clear action points to follow.

Before you start, establish a future date on which you’ll measure and review the progress of marginal gains. Analyse and adapt to continue making those marginal gains on an ongoing basis.

Never lose sight of your company culture.

Creation of the right environment and encouragement of the promotion of common values ensures that progress is made with a genuine interest and a deep understanding of what needs to be achieved through behaviour changes and ongoing improvements. Embed this mindset within your organisation.

To identify the one per cent opportunity gains within your business, follow these six important steps:

Identify the processes that are key to achieving your end goal as a business.

Every single task and activity they require should lead to your overarching goal — the best quality services you deliver or products you create. Develop a plan which sets out how and when you will measure them.

Assess each of these processes and the current strategic position of your business closely to determine where marginal gains can be achieved.

Consider factors such as the time spent by sales and business development staff on administration; where burdensome manual tasks could be automated, or how a process can become more efficient. Ask those working at the coalface of your business as people doing the work every day are likely to have a range of suggestions around how things can be improved. What small things could you streamline or be doing better?

Consider the experience, knowledge, skills and capabilities required to achieve your end goals.

What talent is required for certain roles to get there? What skills do you need to help move the business forward? Review your existing talent including managers and employees at all levels — particularly those whose functions will be critical to your future success. Look to implement small changes now that will make a big difference in the future. Identify any talent gaps in your current workforce that will need to be filled in the foreseeable future.

Remember to consider the broader political, economic, social and technological environments your business may need to succeed in the next two to five years.

Requirements for digital/technical skills, employment regulation, the number of women in senior roles and outsourcing of HR services are all likely to increase. By acting now, it’s possible to start making minor tweaks that will have a bigger impact in the future.

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2.

3.

By continually adjusting and striving for high performance, your team will start to taste success. But just as Williams never takes their foot off the pedal, neither should your business. Once you start to enjoy success, it’s imperative you keep improving and cultivate a deep desire amongst your team to continue achieving marginal gains moving forward. Only then will you consistently maintain a leadership position over your competitors.

Whether Williams Martini Racing remains in the top three in 2016 is yet to be decided. But focusing on making aggregated marginal gains may see them perform above and beyond the competition by the end of the season.

The question is... have you got a marginal gains mindset that will improve your business by the end of the 2016 Formula One season?

Randstad is proud to be a global partner of Williams Martini Racing since 2006.Randstad is one of the world’s leading

recruitment & HR services specialists,

passionate about matching people with

organisations that will develop their

potential and matching organisations with

people that will take their business to the

next level. The Randstad Group employs over

560,000 people every day with the aim of

‘shaping the world of work’.

www.randstad.com.au

Frank Ribuot is the Chief Executive Officer of Randstad Australia &

New Zealand. For more articles or research reports on strategic talent

management, employment trends or building a strong employer

brand, visit www.randstad.com.au/workforce360