Ok, I admit, I was a complete cynic about the Olympic Games coming to Great Britain. I’m not a sports fan, and I hate crowds. So I didn’t buy any tickets; and I declared that I would be staying away from London for the duration.
But now I’m kicking myself. What a fool. It’s not that I really want to go to watch the sports in action; I get a better view on the TV anyway, and can just watch short clips…but I would love to experience the atmosphere. And more than that, I am fascinated by the slick organization of this huge event. I have always said that the Brits do pomp and ceremony really well – you just have to watch our Royal Weddings and our Jubilee celebrations. These past two years have been amazing reminders of how good we are at that. But this Olympic Games surpasses those events 100-fold.
The question I keep asking myself is “how did they motivate so many people to do such an amazing job?” And I’m not really thinking about the sports-men and women – I get their motivation, going for gold. But what about the 30,000 catering and cleaning staff for example? I hear that their food is the best of any Olympics (and we used to have a really bad reputation in the UK for our stodgy food). How did their boss get them to that point? What did she do to build their skills for this very unique situation; how did she get them prepared to cook for such a huge amount of people; how does she keep them going day after day, churning out so many meals? This is just one example of the leadership that is required to put on such a show. I listened to an interview this morning with the head gardener! He has had a team of one hundred people working on the site around the stadium, with all its trees and wild flowers. I bet that is a spectacle to behold. I wish I could see that. What about the co-ordination of that breath-taking opening ceremony – there were so many elements, with so many people involved…musicians, dancers, actors, Olympic cauldron maker, the Queen (wasn’t she game for a laugh?) to name just a few. Then there are all the volunteers who I hear are based in every corner of London pointing people in the right direction, smiling all the way. I could go on and on. I’m in awe of all these people – and of their team leads.
I suppose that there must be a huge amount of intrinsic motivation here. People WANT to make this the best Olympic Games ever; they want to show off our beautiful country, and our organizational skills; they want to support our sports-men and women to do their best, by making everything run like clock-work. So maybe the team leaders’ jobs aren’t all that hard. Their people are already motivated.
But I am certain that there have been obstacles along the way, and there was this looming deadline that they all had to work towards. So I salute all of those team leads for overcoming those challenges, and for creating this brilliant Olympic Games. You and your teams have pulled it off. It’s more than just an event, it’s an experience, and even though I am not there in London, or Eton Downey or Weymouth, I am deeply moved every day by the experience that you have created. (in other words, I have cried every day since the start!)
And now, I am listening to Take That on the radio singing “This could be the greatest day of our lives” and I am in tears again! More golds today? I hope so. This is the greatest show on the planet. Go Team GB (sports and non-sports people alike).
