We are Golden
by PRLInnovación.
Some people (and only some people) of the generation of this article’s co-authors will smile when they think back to the television series, The Golden Girls. And almost as Sophia Petrillo would say (…”Sicily, 1929), we look back at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games to find other golden girls: The women’s grass hockey team that won the gold medal. However, not many people know the story of this medal goes back even further.
Spain qualifies for Barcelona 1992 and the coach, Jose Manuel Brasa, sets the following scenario for the pre-selected team:
España se clasifica para Barcelona 1992 y el seleccionador, Jose Manuel Brasa plantea los siguientes escenarios posibles al equipo preseleccionado:
- the first option was, simply, go out on parade,
- aim for fifth place,
- reaching the semi-finals with the chance of a medal, but to achieve it they would need to have endless concentration and run with an “inhuman cost”.
The temptation of winning a medal was big, in equal proportion to the sacrifice it entailed, they were aware that just participating in itself was a big achievement.
Still from the documentary Hockey ’92, golden women.
At this point, it was no secret that the team chose option 1, despite the cost because, when you focus on an objective, achieving it reaches limits never experienced before. And at this point, we all know the outcome: a gold medal at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games.
Ultimately, life is often about choosing when, because of circumstances, sometimes by chance, we are given a clear opportunity for growth and limelight.
Something similar has happened with the pandemic we are experiencing. It has been a situation that has placed health and safety professionals from organisations in the spotlight. We have qualified, without meaning to, to play in the most powerful leagues. Now it is in our hands to take a step forward to compete at the highest level.
Gone are the times of complaints, moans and non-conformity because, by turning a curse into a blessing, we are the ones who have the approach and position to show that the professionals who share a passion for safety, health and well-being are the cornerstones.
At 
we are firmly committed to this and that’s why we launched the “Professional development” line of work a few years ago. Focussed on our partners for them to define the professional profile they want to play with, and of course, aimed at entrepreneurs, directors of operations, recruiters and HR directors to definitively clarify our capabilities and potential.
This is our profession and our passion. We will build the future of health and safety professionals. We have a challenging and complicated task, but we have shown that we know how to do it.
What about you? Where do you want to play?
We have to decide whether we want to go out and parade at our Olympic Games or we want to choose a medal. We don’t know the path or the cost either. I’ve decided to be golden….what about you?
In case you are still thinking about it, here are 5 pieces of unsolicited advice to reach your organisation’s Olympic final and become gold:
1. Vision: Don’t think about what your organisation needs today, tomorrow or this month. Think about what it will need in the medium and long term, and get ready for it. The social environment, its strategic global plan….that’s where you should be aligned. Remember that “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision” Hellen Keller.
2. Run fast away from loss aversion: an economic term referring to the strong tendency of people to prefer to avoid losses before achieving equivalent or greater gains. Or, in other words, playing not to lose instead of to win. Here we want to win the Gold. It is no use going out on parade, remember.
3. Break away from the biases and paradigms that immobilise you: Fight and commit. Win or make a mistake, but don’t stand still. Don’t stop dancing. The only thing that keeps spinning tops spinning is angular momentum. That’s the only thing that enables them to keep moving. Nobody will come looking for you. And we don’t want another pandemic in order to be at the forefront again, do we?
4. Look within yourself. Use your tools and grow. You have spent many years training yourself and you may not be using everything you know. Do you need any additional tools and knowledge? Look on the market. It is full of people wanting to help you.
5. Do you think that big achievements and advances have been reached by thinking small? Think big. Be ambitious. Have you been told you can’t? Show them otherwise.
This is our road map, what about you? Will you come with us?
Autors: Julia Díaz y Hugo Tovar. Special thanks to Luis Fermoso, sports journalist and assistant director of “Informe Robinson” (Spanish sports magazine programme), for creating great stories and bringing them to us all.
