One of the biggest names in world cycling has turned to a Hull performance and management consultancy to help his athletes stay at the front of the pack.
Sir David Brailsford has inspired unprecedented international success in Olympic velodromes and across road cycling’s biggest races.
Now he has recruited Trans2 Performance to develop key members of the superstar Ineos Grenadiers cycling team.
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The task involves helping the team prepare for the highest profile races in the global cycling calendar – the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and La Vuelta a Espana.
Having helped deliver 16 Team GB Olympic gold medals and seven Tour de France triumphs, expectations are high of a man who decided to approach Trans2 after listening to their podcasts on his bike.
Sir David, team principal, said: “I listen to a lot of podcasts where I think I can learn something. I came across the T2 podcasts and I was intrigued. I listened to another and another and I really, really like the work that these guys are doing so I got in touch.”
Trans2 Performance was established in 2015 by chief executive Martin Johnson, after he became frustrated with traditional training and development practices that he felt offered no lasting impact.
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His new approach to help individuals develop and form positive traits, beliefs and behaviours that can embed for a lifetime proved popular after the launch in early 2019 of T2 Hub.
The centralised service was focused on private businesses and some public bodies, and its success has supported a move to bigger premises and expansion of the team.
It has seen 100 per cent growth through the pandemic as a result of the demand for staff development, engagement and support. A team of 10 full time employees and contractors are now generating revenues of £1 million.
In addition to securing the Ineos Grenadiers as a client, Trans2 has landed contracts with major brands including fashion retailer Belstaff, multi-national green power giant Orsted, and global consumer credit operation TransUnion.
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It was a T2 Hub podcast about organisational development and design that first intrigued Sir David. After more listening, the approach and some virtual meetings, he visited the Hull office, where they formulated a plan. This was followed up with a team meeting for Martin in Paris, and in the coming weeks he will join them in Spain as preparations intensify for the 2022 season.
He said: “We have been contracted to support Dave and the Ineos Grenadiers n their people development programme and we are absolutely thrilled and delighted with that.
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“We are going to work with the whole squad, with Dave and his senior management team, coaches and directing staff, helping them to develop their people and understand how they can communicate better, drive a productive culture, increase collaboration and understanding, self-awareness coaching.
“His approach is to invest in his people, develop his people and he thinks we are the best organisation out there to help him do that.”
'Sport is about human beings and how they perform, how to get the best out of them'
Sir David has underlined the importance of developing the individuals in his team and promoting collaboration.
Reflecting on his appointment of Trans2, he said: “In every sport there’s a technical aspect and a tactical aspect and there’s a side of sport that is man-made, but fundamentally sport is about human beings and how they perform, how to get the best out of them.
“Once you embark on a career in elite sport you know it’s an ever-evolving area. I see myself on a treadmill and I have got to keep running to stay on it – for me that means you have to keep abreast of anything which will help you with your development of people.
“Talent is important but we are in the business of enabling people to really get the very best out of their talent. If we don’t believe in other people why are they going to believe in themselves?
“When we started out with the British cycling programme we had one gold in 76 years of trying and we went from there in a very short period of time to winning a lot. People didn’t believe it was going to happen, but we had the talent.
“It was a people programme that we were trying to bring to the fore in the velodrome and apply to cycling – and then, lo and behold, there were champions everywhere.
“But the moment you stop and take for granted then you are in trouble, and that’s why I am engaging with Trans2 because it causes you to self-reflect. Martin has a very structured mind and when he imparts knowledge he does it in a very clear and concise way which is what attracted me to Trans2 in the first place.”
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