New Eagle Hill Research Finds That Participation In Team Sports Has A Positive Impact On Employees' Business Team Performance & Attitudes In The Workplace

Workers on sports teams significantly more likely to tap into their individual strengths on the job and trust co-workers

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Eagle Hill Consulting

Jun 17, 2019, 10:00 ET

ARLINGTON, Va., June 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- New research from Eagle Hill Consulting finds that employees who participated in team sports at some point in their life are more likely to believe their work team exceeds its goals, trust their co-workers, and tap into their individual strengths every day on the job.

"This research makes it clear that businesses can learn from the high performance and teamwork culture that often is cultivated in sports," says Melissa Jezior, Eagle Hill's president and chief executive officer. "Across the board, we found that team sports athletes say their workplace teams are high performance, embrace continuous growth and change, have a common purpose, and capitalize on their strengths."

More and more, businesses are moving toward team-based initiatives. Harvard Business Review reports that employees spend 50 percent more of their time on collaborative work than they did 20 years ago. And, research from Eagle Hill Consulting finds that nearly half of the workforce says their work is becoming more team-oriented, while half of the workforce predicts that team-oriented projects will become increasingly prevalent at work.

"Business isn't a game, but it is a team sport. Gone are the days of working alone in closed door offices. Businesses that can figure out how to create a mission-driven culture that fosters teamwork broadly across the organization will have a competitive advantage. Building this type of culture is increasingly important as companies focus more on group initiatives, collaboration and trust to achieve the business goals," Jezior said.

In a new national poll of U.S. workers that examines teamwork and change in the workplace, Eagle Hill found that:

83 percent of team sports athletes say they use their strengths every day at work, as compared to 63 percent of employees who didn't play team sports.
76 percent of team sports athletes say they trust their teammates, as compared to 55 percent of employees who didn't play team sports.
73 percent of team sports athletes said their work team is committed to success, as compared to 49 percent of employees who didn't play team sports.
73 percent of team sports athletes say their team constantly learns and strives to get better, as compared to 50 percent of employees who didn't play team sports.
More than half (56 percent) of team sports athletes said their team enthusiastically responds to change, as compared to 35 percent of employees who didn't play team sports.
69 percent of team sports athletes say their team capitalizes on individual strengths, as compared to 48 percent of employees who didn't play team sports.
66 percent of team sports athletes say their consistently exceeds goals, as compared to 45 percent of employees who didn't play team sports.

The findings are contained in new Eagle Hill research, What makes workplace teams to go all the way?, available here.

The research comes as Eagle Hill launches new advertisements airing on Fox Sports during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup scheduled through Sunday, July 7^th. The ads are airing in Washington, D.C. on WTTG/WDCA and in Seattle on KCPQ/KZJO. View the advertisements here.

And last week, Eagle Hill released, The Change Agents Hiding In Plain Sight: Workforce Teams, available here.

The Eagle Hill Consulting Workplace Teams Survey 2019 and Team-Oriented Workplace Survey were conducted online by Ipsos in April and May 2019. Each of the surveys included over 1,000 respondents from a random sample of American adults who are employed either full-time or part-time across the United States. The surveys polled respondents on aspects of teamwork and change in their respective workplaces.

Eagle Hill Consulting LLC is a woman-owned business that provides unconventional management consulting services in the areas of Strategy & Performance, Talent, and Change. The company's expertise in delivering innovative solutions to unique challenges spans across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, from financial services to healthcare to media & entertainment. Eagle Hill has offices in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Boston, MA and Seattle, WA. More information is available at www.eaglehillconsulting.com.

SOURCE Eagle Hill Consulting