No, and the paper saying so is written by management researchers rather than coaches. came to public attention when British cycling won a record eight gold medals at . The ethos of aggregating small improvements across many areas had been central there since arrived in 1997. Hall and colleagues point out the concept predates all of that.
Their interest is in what transfers. The approach is used across many sports, where it has contributed to individual and team achievement at the highest level, and the paper outlines examples of how it developed. It then takes a management perspective, considering how a marginal gains approach might be implemented in a .
Marginal gains is now one of the most borrowed ideas in sport, and the borrowing usually starts with British cycling. The concept came to prominence during the London 2012 Olympics, when Team GB cycling won a record eight gold medals, and a philosophy of small aggregated improvements was credited for it.
The money came first. Since National Lottery funding was awarded in 1997 to develop British cycling, the ethos of making aggregated small gains across many areas to improve overall performance had been central to its success. That is fifteen years of sustained investment behind the result, which is rarely mentioned when the philosophy is recommended to others.
Hall, James and Marsden offer a deflating point about originality. The concept of marginal gains is not new, and the approach is used in many sports, where it has contributed to individual and team achievement at the highest level. The paper outlines examples of marginal gains and how they developed across those sports.
The second half is where the authors’ own field shows. They add a management perspective, considering what implementing a marginal gains approach would involve in Fire and Rescue Service organizations. One caution about weight: this is a five-page article in a practitioner bulletin, offering a considered perspective on transfer rather than evidence that the transfer succeeds.
wat. Eight gold medals made the idea famous; the idea was already old.
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The story is usually told as a cycling invention. Treating it instead as an old management idea that cycling applied well changes what you can reasonably claim it will do elsewhere.
How do we know?
An article in HR Bulletin: Research and Practice sets out the history of the marginal gains concept in sport, gives examples of its development, and discusses implementation in an organizational setting.
What is still unknown
A short article in a practitioner bulletin, five pages long, offering a perspective rather than evidence. It describes an approach and a possible application without testing whether the transfer works.
Learn something?
Where to next
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