SIX BATTERIES OF CHANGE 24 roles, responsibilities, structure and tactics – a rigorous application of action planning and implementation. It’s important to note that the application of the marginal gains principle was also a cultural thing. In an interview in Harvard Business Review, Brailsford commented: “Perhaps the most powerful benefit [of marginal gains] is that it creates a contagious enthusiasm. Everyone starts looking for ways to im- prove. People want to identify opportunities and share them with the group. Our team became a very positive place to be. One caveat is that the whole marginal gains approach doesn’t work if only half the team buy in. In that case, the search for small improvements will cause resentment. If everyone is committed, in my experience it removes the fear of being singled out – there’s mutual accountability, which is the basis of great teamwork.”14 As we will show later, teamwork, accountability and a strong drive to achieve excel- lence are key elements of a healthy culture. Finally, Brailsford realized that more was needed than a healthy culture and top support. He chose to spend a significant amount of time and resources on individual coaching, investing heavily in supporting the athletes. This includ- ed employing the best technology and providing psychological support from Peters, Team Sky’s psychiatrist. Specifically, Peters taught Wiggins and the other riders to control their ‘chimp’, the emotional and irrational part of the brain, which has the potential to inhibit performance. No other cycling team invested so heavily in this kind of coaching. Arguably no team had a stronger connection with its employees than Team Sky. Of course, Team Sky had the money to invest in all this, and clearly Wiggins had, and today Froome has, the legs of a champion. But we believe that it takes more than money and stars to build a successful organization. The six batteries of change help to explain why Team Sky has been so successful. As in other successful organizations we have worked with, we believe their success is largely determined by design, not by chance. Team Sky has con- sistently built an organization that continuously feeds energy into all six bat- teries of change.