British cycling is going through a period of success that has never before been seen on these shores, and maybe will never be seen again. They transferred their incredible success on the track in Beijing back in 2008 onto the road.

In 2009 Sky Pro Cycling was formed with the aim of having a British winner of the Tour de France within 5 years. Even though Bradley Wiggins had surprised the cycling world with a 4th place finish in that years event it was still a very bold ambition that few thought would be achieved.

After all, in the 100 odd years of cycling history, 4th was the best position a Brit had ever achieved. Suffice to say, unless you’ve been in a bunker for the last month you’ll have seen Wiggins victorious in the Tour de France, as well as achieving gold in the Olympics time trial.

So how has this incredible achievement been done? With the success British cycling has achieved there has been a lot of attention given to their methods, but one thing I’d like to focus on for this particular blog is that of questioning the norm.

For you see cycling, and road cycling in particular, is littered with history and tradition. From training to nutrition the sport has ways of doing things that are seldom questioned.  This status quo is maintained because team managers are usually ex-riders and so the modus operandi gets passed down from generation to generation.

Except the Sky team did things differently. They famously hired Tim Kerrison to coach Wiggins, a man from a swimming background who could look on how to prepare and train with a fresh mind. One obvious manifestation was in the racing program Wiggins undertook this year.  Traditionally riders would race as part of their training, attempting to gradually peak for the races they wanted to win. This would see them race frequently throughout the year, often disrupting both their training and more importantly their recovery.

Kerrison changed that, placing emphasis on training at their Tenerife base, with Wiggins entering just a handful of races throughout the year. The result was that in addition to his Tour win, he also won the Paris-Nice, Tour of Romandie and Dauphine stage races. Great results in their own right, and a series of victories that has never been achieved before in the history of the sport.

These kind of conventions and traditions are evident in all of our working lives.  We develop habits that allow us to work on autopilot, oblivious to the possibility of doing things in a smarter and more effective way.

Just as in cycling, your industry can become incestuous. Managers can read the same publications, they can attend the same conferences and talk to the same consultants. The intellectual gene pool of an industry becomes stagnant.

If you can uncover these industry dogmas in your own organisation you too can set off on the innovative path to success enjoyed by British cycling.

Image of Bradley Wiggins in the Tour De France courtesy of Radu Razvan / Shutterstock.com