On 12th October 2019, in the Austrian capital of Vienna, Eliud Kipchoge ran the 26.2 miles of the marathon in 1:59.40. This was the first time that the distance had been completed in a time under two hours. It was a truly historic moment in athletics, sport and human history.
In my upcoming book, “First Time Lean for Small Businesses,” I discuss a similar event to help uncover some of the foundational elements of continuous improvement. In that instant it was the first four minute mile, run by Sir Roger Bannister on 6th May 1954.
That Kipchoge managed to run twenty-six consecutive miles at an average of four and a half minutes each, is nothing short of sensational, and he is to be rightly lauded for that remarkable achievement. But, like Bannister, his was not an individual achievement. It was the achievement of a focused enterprise.
Like any focused enterprise, it began with a goal. This goal was embodied in the Ineos 1:59 Challenge and a project team was assembled to work on the attempt. With the goal in place, all of the actions could be identified to achieve success in the shared vision.
As of 2014, Kipchoge’s compatriot held the World Marathon Record, with a time of 2:02.57. This meant that 177 seconds needed to be shaved off the time. Over 26.2 miles, this meant that each mile needed to be run, on average, 6.76 seconds quicker. The team had their goal and initial measures in place.
Next came selecting the runners. As the pre-eminent marathon runner in the world, and current Olympic champion, Kipchoge was the obvious candidate to spearhead the campaign. However, on the 12th October, he was joined by an incredible forty-one pacemakers. These included World and Olympic champions from many distance running disciplines. The right people had been selected for the team.
In a previous attempt, the pacemakers had run around three participants in a diamond formation. This time, they ran around one participant in a “V” formation. The Ineos group were applying the PDCA cycle. Having failed in 2017, they used the learning to try out another experiment and hypothesis. Furthermore, they employed sophisticated Visual Management techniques. The pacemakers were laser guided. At any time, there was clear information as to whether the runners were ahead, behind, or on target. The enterprise knew were they were at any given time.
In true 5S spirit, the surroundings were carefully planned and chosen to
Further support from the environment came in the shape of spectators. It was reasoned that this would further motivate Kipchoge when the going inevitably got tough. Effectively, Kipchoge had hundreds of managers offering him support in his workplace. Whilst it is difficult to measure the overall effectiveness of this measure, it certainly didn’t do any harm.
In Kipchoge, the team effectively had a running machine. This machine needed to be looked after to prevent breakdown and sub-optimal performance. As part of the planned maintenance, Kipchoge was given fluids at frequent intervals, which were delivered to him by a colleague on a bicycle. Kipchoge’s running shoes were also of the very latest technological design – and were thought to be 4% more efficient than their predecessors.
With all this co-ordinated and focused activity, the enterprise gave themselves the best chance possible to reach their goal. True, they needed an exceptionally talented individual to deliver the triumph, but Kipchoge was able to produce his best only with the support of a team of individuals aligned in totality to the task of beating the two-hour mark. Rightly, it will be Eliud Kipchoge’s name that enters the history books, but his colleagues will have a remarkable story to tell.
In the businesses in which we all work, we are gifted to work with whole teams of talented individuals. Like the collective behind the Kipchoge success, we need to align our efforts to the goals that the customer sets for these teams. How can we support our value-added colleagues to do the best that they can, at all times? If we know where we are and where we would like to be, the rest is just about pulling on our trainers and joining the points – even if they are twenty-six miles apart.