Ep 3: Going for the win
I have invested in myself over the last decade.
And still, not only learning but actually digging deeper into my own true 'WHY'.
My aim was to find the purpose behind my competitive work ethic - and it made me change certain behaviours
Armed with this knowledge, I can now anticipate the stressors, and focus on the patterns I have identified and which work best - for me and for those around me.
What did it bring me?
Freedom ...and a true competitive advantage.
Margo Wiltens
Rael Bricker
Hi, I'm Rael Bricker, and I be one of your hosts with the Business Excellence podcast.
Lindsay Adams
And I'm Lindsay Adams, I'm the co-host.
Rael Bricker
and together, we're going to be talking about what makes up Business Excellence. And we believe that you can never be perfect, all you can be is excellent. And in our businesses and in our lives, we want to achieve excellence. And that's why this is the Business Excellence podcast. Hi, and welcome back to the Business Excellence podcast and today's guest is Margo Wiltens and with me is my co-host, Lindsay Adams, who will introduce Margo more formally.
Lindsay Adams
Hi, everybody, and welcome back. And it's my pleasure today to welcome Margo. Margo is the coach of the Australian beach volleyball team, which are planning to go to the Olympics in 2021. Hopefully, there will be an Olympics in 2021. But anyway, let's work on that premise. And chatting with Margo earlier, she tells me that in this industry and the beach volleyball industry, she is the only female at this level, coaching. So that's quite an achievement. Margo, welcome and delighted to have you here today. Give us a bit of background. We know that you live down in Adelaide, Australia. But give us a bit of a journey of Margo. I mean, obviously, you've come here from the Netherlands. fill us in on what happened, you know, how did you get to come here?
Margo Wiltens
Hey, guys, thanks for having me on the show today. I'm actually delighted to be here as well. Yeah, so going back to my journey, which started in the Netherlands, obviously, always with an eye already on Australia. I can't really tell you why that is, but 12 years ago, I came to this beautiful country for the first time and it just made sense to me. I remember flying actually away from Adelaide crying that I had to go back to the Netherlands. I extended my horizon by being here in Australia and I travelled around for like a month. I did the same two years after that and I always wanted to go back, and I knew that I someday that I would come back here, and I got that opportunity two years ago.
I was offered a position in volleyball Australia, and I became the head coach for anything that was under 25 years old. So, in other terms, I was responsible for the strategy and the development of the pathway for Volleyball Australia to lead into 2028 Olympic Games and a 2032 Olympic Games. Yes, well I was really cool and especially working and working at the a AIS, such a legendary place and already so much legacy was there to create a next level hopefully for the sports and for Australia. Yeah, it was an honour, obviously.
Lindsay Adams
You mentioned you came here 12 years ago, just fill us in, what were you up to before you came to Australia? Has it just always been beach volleyball? Or have you been? Have you had other business interests, give us a potted history perhaps.
Margo Wiltens
Yeah, I did have other business interests. I'm actually an international law graduate. So, I have a law degree behind my name. I did a master’s in international law and corporate law. tried it or sort of tried it. I had to during my graduation, I had to attend internships in law firms. So, I needed to make quite a case for myself because ever since I will live and breathe basically, I know high performance as no other. My family was involved in high performance sports. And I don't know any better than I was on the court since I since I am 12 years old.
So always my daily routines was built around being your best self on the court being excellent in what you do. Yeah, so high performance is always been a part of my life. Like ever since I know I've been training for high performance. I've been standing on a court with a volleyball in my hands, but also in the gym. It was always about being better every single day. And my entire family actually lifts that philosophy. We always challenge each other we always support each other, and we always encourage each other to become our best. And
I'm raised with a philosophy of whatever you can get, go for it. And if it's difficult, just embrace it and overcome the challenges. And I guess being excellent or striving for excellence in everything that I'm doing. I take that with me also in studying. So when it came to making the choice for study, I chose to study law and purely because I was actually interested in corporate law and criminal law, but I ended up more on the contract law side of things. I just find it very interesting to build a case, manipulate basically the arguments and to make sure that you fight for your client’s interest or for your interest, see what is possible between the lines, find little loopholes.
Yes, there's the rule, but what is what lies behind that role? And I guess you can transfer that as well, to all the challenges that I went through in life going from a new job to a new to another job, always searching for Okay, well, this next, what can be better, and the world is bigger than only having one job or one study. So yeah, I guess my journey has not only studying law, but ever since I graduated, I got my hands on multiple postgraduate courses. And yeah, I ended up in interesting environments where I'm challenged in business and people skills and communication in education. So yeah, like, that's where we are right now.
Rael Bricker
So, Margo, when we first spoke about, you know, the words that drove you or drive your philosophy, you said, going for the win? What is going for the one mean, and how does that imply excellence?
Margo Wiltens
I love this question, because touching on what Lindsay asked him before, but tell me more about your journey. I guess a couple of years ago, would answer this question with winning me reaching the highest podium. However, I did change my definition, because I do think that serving the mission is even bigger than reaching the podium. Serving the mission means that you look around you and make sure that your environment is accelerating is thriving and not only goals is the end goal, it is what you achieved along the way towards that when that is what true winning for me means that led to the actual gold that is winning for me.
Lindsay Adams
Okay, that’s interesting, do you think everyone is capable of winning or achieving excellence?
Margo Wiltens
Um, I think that is also depending on what success is relative to belief and opportunity and the environment as well. So, to answer this question, excellence can be determined by the individual and him or his ability, it depends on the goal that you want to set, if you're smart, and you can make success every single day, or you can live to your fullest capacity in the given opportunity of the day, then I would say everybody can be excellent, or you can win the day. But it comes back to believing as well and also the support system around you, I would say.
Rael Bricker
Okay, that's great. Margo, and leading on from that, and you say the support system, leads me to people and in our conversations, you've spoken about people first and obviously, as a high-performance coach, you're coaching people, how does that relate to the people around you? Your mantra of people first, and how does that relate to business?
Margo Wiltens
It relates to business, I guess, in the simple, embedded simplistic way of saying people drive success, no matter how good or how great, your idea is, you need people to execute it, and you need always people to lean on and then it comes back, I guess, to your own moral or your own values to say. Do you maybe use people for your benefit? Or do you make sure that they also benefits from your success? That's again, depending on what you're trying to achieve.
For me, the beauty of people lies in being distinct, everybody has different abilities or capacities to use and to utilize and yeah, purposes are different, different and therefore you need different people to reach various goals. So, for me, people first, I always see the individual first and working with athletes, for instance, I'm depending on one hand on the depth of the athletes. On the other hand, it is up to me as a coach to find the key to keep the key for learning the key for success, the key to cooperate with that particular individual, to make sure that I'm on track with this person and to make sure that become closer and closer to that ambition to the reality of success.
Rael Bricker
Can I ask you a question about small business? And you and I were talking the other day, and you mentioned that in normal volleyball, so indoor volleyball, where you have a team of five or six people, volleyball has become so specialized that everyone has a role to play on their team. But on beach volleyball, were the only two people on the court. Everybody has to be good at everything. How do you think that works in terms of businesses and start-ups and growth?
Margo Wiltens
Yeah, I lost a lot of the similarity in that, so also going back to small businesses, I think from my ends, you can make it as small as you want, like in big, big companies, or big organizations, people work in smaller teams or smaller departments. And if you can find a key to cooperate with each other, if you can, really make sure that you understand one another or that you are better in communication, you can work more effectively with each other. If I'm looking at beach volleyball, for instance, if we take that as a as an example, the framework that is built is starting with communication is starting with looking at each other and actually making an agreement to each other, that we will build our relationship as a base for our cooperation.
If that is not existing, no matter if we have shared goals, we won't have any constructive foundation to build on for any success and in business, that is the same thing. You need to have the buy in of your people and you need to have the willingness to cooperate together and to be understanding for one another, even though you don't agree, but you have to serve that mission. Again, you have to lead successfully to the end products, and you can't do that if you just want to rely on yourself, you need to include the other people. And that's no different from a team sport, or, or an individual sport where you also need to work with coaches or experts, then in another company, sometimes what is at stake, that is the actual difference. But the concept is exactly the same.
Lindsay Adams
I you know what you're saying your goal is music to my ears. As you know, I'm known as the Relationships Guy around the world and, you know, I heartily agree with you and I believe that relationships underpin everything that we do and if you can't be in relationship or get into relationship, it just ain't gonna work. So, I'm curious. What makes excellence within high performance, sport or business? You know, how would you define that or how would you know, how do we know that someone's excellent in that space?
Margo Wiltens
All that comes back to which measurements obviously, do you have in place? How do you define success? But like, if, if I'm purely thinking about my own experience, when I felt that I created excellence, or that I was a part of somebody else's excellence, or if I'm looking at myself, I think it is important that you go back to the core, why are we here? And if you can identify that purpose and you can answer the question with, I live up to that, why every single day, and I try every single day to enhance that why, then that's a good start.
But on the other hand, you also want to attract people that are interested in your excellence you don't want to scare people off, then what is the value of that excellence, excellence also includes other people, it inspires, it ignites and it also includes to be curious to what I said before, I guess, if I relate excellence to my own definition, I want to be excellent because I want to move forward and I want to keep growing, and I want to keep learning and what I'm doing or what I'm committing to.
I think that is an important thing to say, if I'm committing to something, I want to be good at it, which means that I want to say I took everything that I could possibly think of and I tried everything in my power to maximize this experience or the outcome of it and if I can answer that in a positive way, I can say I strive for excellence, and if the outcome is positive, I am excellent in what I did.
Lindsay Adams
I love that. And I'm also curious, Malcolm Gladwell talked about 10,000 hours, you know, and he's been quoted and re quoted and misquoted and he talked about you know, you had to put in 10,000 hours before you became an expert. How much time do we need to invest to become excellent in either sport or business? I'm curious to wonder what your opinion is, do you have a view on that?
Margo Wiltens
Yeah, I'm smiling over here, the 10,000 rule, I think, from a sports perspective, I am actually coming from a generation that did 10,000 hours. Whereas I find myself now teaching differential learnings and also highly aware of peer decision rules and the loss of learning and everything that you can possibly think of, I think we broaden our horizon of knowledge as well.
For coaches, there is so much more to work with, basically. But they're still lies through fear and the 10,000 hour rules like, you know, as good as I do, aren't like if we're looking at learning or being smarter in how to figure out how to actually get from A to B, that also comes with experience. So, look at my journey, I have a university degree, and every now and then I get asked, so you're not working in law, you know, the lawyer? And don't you think you threw away your education and I'm just smiling again, and saying to that person, do you really think that I would be where I am today without every single thing that I did in my journey previously.
So obviously, university, like ingrained and embedded as a certain way of thinking, that enhances my way of thinking in any other area that I come across in my in my career, or in my life. So, the more I learn, the more association sort of more connections I can actually make, the more effective and the more efficient I will be in the next challenge, or at least, that is what I find.
Rael Bricker
Margo in sport and in life and in business, does everybody need a coach and should they be a coach for the long term? Or should people identify shortcomings that a coach can work with them over a period, and then they move on to somebody else who helps him with another aspect of life or business?
Margo Wiltens
I think, a coach, in the old terms or in a more traditional way is I think, often related to an educator, somebody that teaches you stuff, or tells you how to do it. I think in recent times, we are looking at a coach, which can mean anything wellness coach, individuality, coach, business coach performance goals, it can be anything, it comes back, are you willing to open yourself up for a confrontation, or your maybe call it a weakness or your inability and are you willing to make an investment to grow or to be better, to be more excellent than maybe you already are.
So, I guess it comes back to making a choice making a decision and it also comes back to allowing yourself or acknowledge the fact that maybe you need somebody else, to let you grow or to close the gap to close your performance gap going from A to B and it may be a long story short, I think everybody can, is in need of a coach or an inspiration, or a mentor doesn't really matter which label you choose, it is more so allow yourself to be surrounded by people that inspire you that sparkle you and that energizes you and also that challenge you and that make you feel uncomfortable, because that's the beauty, it's step out of your comfort zone. By doing that you've already increased your comfort zone, and therefore, you will be greater and you make the people around you greater.
Lindsay Adams
It is interesting. You know, I've often looked in from afar and thinking in the sporting world, people have had coaches for I don't know, forever. But in the business world, it's only a more recent phenomenon. And I think there are definite advantages in having someone to hold you to account kick you in the butt and point you in the right direction occasionally. So, thanks, Margo. I think with that, we'll wrap it up here. Margo, thank you so much for being with us today. I go sure listeners want to get in touch with you or find out more about you. How would they do that? Do you have a website you have an email address? You have a phone number? No, don't give you a phone number!
Margo Wiltens
I have a website that's the www.coachlife.com that are you. I'm also associated with Integrus Global and you can find me on LinkedIn very easily.
Lindsay Adams
Cool. And do you have a direct email address?
Margo Wiltens
Yes, that's Margo@coachlife.com, just flick me a text I'm always happy to discuss or to be in contact.
Lindsay Adams
Fantastic. Okay, there you go. Ladies and gentlemen. If you want to get in touch with Margo, feel free. She'd will kick your butt, you know, for a small fee. So, with that, I think we'll wrap it up rail back to you, my friend.
Rael Bricker
Thank you very much, Lindsay. Thank you, Margo. And that wraps up today's episode of the Business Excellence podcast. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of the Business Excellence podcast.
