Olympic Champion turned sports industry legend

Ellen van Langen won the olympic games in 1992.

While it was an individual win, Ellen attributes a lot of her success to her team, including her coaches and physiotherapist, for getting her to that iconic moment.

After starting her career as an athlete, Ellen later became an athlete manager and is currently the director of FBK games, an annual track and field event in the Netherlands, as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings.

Self-described as having a notorious team player spirit, Ellen also considers herself extremely goal-driven, which has helped her to work with all kinds of people and coordinate massive events. Working with teams across the world in different countries and with people from different backgrounds has taught her a completely different approach to working with people.

Working in China, for example, was a completely different experience. Social expectations and cues are different than in the West, however once you are able to navigate the differences between people, work becomes much easier.

When it comes to praising her team, Ellen admits that the pressure and focus of a project makes you hyper focus on the result and can distract you from thanking your team, however it is crucial to acknowledge how everyone contributes to an event’s success. It is never because of the efforts of one person that events of such scale are successfully orchestrated. Ellen works with many volunteers and she argues that even though they’re volunteers, they still like to see the fruits of their labour and be appreciated for their efforts. They should be acknowledged with care.

On the topic of remote work, Ellen believes a lot of small talk has disappeared and while remote working has been beneficial in some areas, it’s still difficult to keep a team together without in-person meetings.

What do you think? Can teams still function the same and have close interpersonal relationships working remotely?

To hear more on Ellen’s mindset when she is managing her teams, listen to our podcast episode this week with Mission Team founder Patrick K. Magyar.