EP02 | Resilience & Change

Setbacks rarely arrive at a convenient time. So what do strong teams do when plan A disappears?

In this episode, Dorien Leyers is joined by Erwin Janssen, Team Director at Team SD Worx-Protime, and Gille Sebrechts, Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President at SD Worx. Together, they unpack what resilience and change really look like in practice, not just as a mindset, but as a way of leading through uncertainty.

Using Julia Kopecký’s injury setback and return to racing as a starting point, the conversation explores recovery, mental strength, reorganisation and the importance of calm when momentum drops. This is an episode about protecting focus, staying grounded and helping people move forward when the road ahead is anything but clear.

People & Peloton

What can business learn from the peloton, and what can elite sport learn from the workplace?  In People & Peloton, we bring those two worlds together.

Hosted by Dorien Leyers, this SD Worx podcast pairs conversations from the boardroom with insights from the road. In each episode, leaders from SD Worx and Team SD Worx-Protime explore a topic that shapes performance today, from teamwork and resilience to leadership, growth, wellbeing and culture.  

Expect practical ideas, honest reflections and stories from high-pressure environments where decisions matter, trust matters, and people make the difference. Because whether you lead a company or ride in a team, success rarely comes down to talent alone. 

It comes down to how you work together when it counts.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Welcome to People and Peloton, the SD Works podcast where cycling and business come together. In every episode, we put two conversations next to each other: one from the boardroom and one from the Peloton. Together we'll discover their similarities and what both can learn from each other. This episode is about setbacks, about change you did not plan for, about reorganizations in uncertain times, about that moment where you realize the strategy deck is nice, but reality just walked in and reshuffled the cards. And today we'll unpack what resilience and change really look like. Not just in the body, but in the mind. How leaders create calm when pressure rises. How teams protect focus when momentum disappears. And what you do on Monday morning when Plan A is gone. My name is Doreen Leyers, and joining me today are Erwin Jansen, Team Director at Team SD Works Pro Time, and Gilles Sebrecht, Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President at SDWorks.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

So yeah, of course it was a dream to sign with SD Works Pro Time. So it was quite already the second camp that I had to take a step back. I couldn't train so much anymore, and um, you know, everybody keeps training and started racing, and I just all you wanted to do is do the same. Because yeah, that's where your heart is, the racing. Um, especially the classic season is something I love. So it was hard to miss out. Um, but yeah, you just tried to keep focused. Um, and rehab was of course really important. Um, I tried to focus on the small, small steps that I was making, even though it was a long, I think two and a half months that I couldn't that I couldn't really bike so much. So it was uh it was quite hard, yeah. It's difficult, especially now with social media, you see everybody doing their trainings, doing the races. Um, but of course it's also it was motivating to see the team win races, do good in races, um, because it made me eager to to work hard on the rehab and try to get back as fast as possible. Um, so yeah, and also had some contact with my colleagues, my teammates, which was really nice that they could text me now and then, um, yeah, to feel the support from them and also other people around me, um, my family and friends. Um, and yeah, just really stay focused and notice the small steps and then uh yeah, believe that the video will come back stronger.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Hello, gentlemen. Hello, very welcome, very welcome. Erin, we discovered Julia's story right before the introduction. So let me start with you. I'm wondering what's your first seven days protocol, let's say, when something like that happens, when injury strikes the team.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Uh first of all, um yeah, you have to to check with the rider what are the what are the problems. Uh so you try with your medical department and uh the sports directors and uh the performance guys, uh, you need to analyze from yeah, what is going on?

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Assess the situation.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Yes, yes, and then um, yeah, and of course, then we make a plan, also the plan how we can communicate it uh uh to the to the media, because that's in our business, of course, and sports business uh also very important. Yeah, and then you try also to to keep the trust uh with the rider, uh, and also um yeah, pretty fast. We try to make a plan on how how we can work to to her recovery and and yeah, what is the plan uh when she can raise again? That's always what they want to know. How long will it take?

SPEAKER_01 3:56

And will I be back 100%? That's also what they want to know, probably.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Of course, yeah, that's always the the big uh the big issue. Uh and depends it depends, of course, on the the kind of uh uh problem uh that they have. Uh but yeah, that's our job uh to bring them uh most of the time even better back than they uh yeah they they they get into the injury.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

How does a rider recover, maybe mostly mentally, I'm wondering, because they live towards this moment for such a long time, when it happens in a race, let's say, that very first moment. Do you go into their disappointment with them, or are they do they want you to be the one getting them out of it? I'm wondering.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

It depends, of course, on the character of the rider. They are all different, of course. But let me say uh I think it's important that you have a as a sports director, management, uh, staff of the team to get really into them and and and to feel with them because they were really focusing and working to that big day that they needed to uh to to to perform then. Um so, yes, we try um yeah, we try to to talk with them and sit with them, and of course, the the the the shoulder knock uh and to help them uh to help them to believe in in the recovery and yeah to come better out of it.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

But join them in their disappointment, I think that's important because it doesn't help to say, oh, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

No, no, of course not, of course not. Uh we always try to acknowledge the tragedy, yeah. Of course, and also analyze really what is the problem and and and don't make fake news for them so uh it's clear and and the the realistic uh situation that is what we uh that's really protecting them as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Of course, of course, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Uh a lot of them are uh also young riders uh uh in in a world top team. It's uh for sure if you look to uh to Julia, uh that was her first year, and then it's even uh it's harder if you yeah, if you have uh kind of this uh injury and you wanted to show it, uh that you that that we did the good show the world uh with her in into our team, and even then it's harder. So then it's really important that you stay close, give them the trust, take it easy. It is what it is, and we're gonna build to uh yeah, two better times.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Sheila, of course, I want to know what it's like in the business world. So I'm thinking, how do companies deal with a change, a setback, something that happens without losing that momentum?

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Yeah. I think it's it there's a lot of similarities. Uh, first of all, I think confronting the problem head on to Erwin's point, there's no point in uh in creating fake news. It's it's not a bad thing that we didn't make this deadline, for example, because then you lose all credibility. Because why did we work so hard to get to the deadline? Don't sugarcoat it. Don't sugarcoat it, you just face the problem head on. But to Erwin's point, I think also in business you want to protect the team. Like it is a bummer that we didn't make it. On the other hand, nobody died. So, what can we do to start building again? We diagnose a problem, you start designing for the next steps, and then you start implementing again. So, quite some similarities.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

I smiled because in sports we're always a little bit more lucky when nobody dies than in the business world. But absolutely, Gilles, I think something that I wonder is what when things go wrong, what do you think breaks first? And what do you have as a leader have to be very attentive for? Is it clarity? Is it people's energy? Is it maybe trust?

SPEAKER_03 7:43

I think it starts with clarity, and that's where leadership comes in. How do you keep everyone focused on what needs to happen? Because if you if they don't have the clarity, if a team is looking or searching for clarity, they very quickly lose trust in their own capability, in the fact that they can move on. It's the same for the rider. Will I ever be the same again? Um, and when they lose trust, they lose that energy completely. So it's it's exactly the same there.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

I think the trust, the process, I think we've talked about that as well, and and maybe it'll come back later in the episode, but here it's very important as well that people don't lose their trust in the process.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

Yeah, I think so. It's um and and it's something at a higher scale that you need to install in an organization. How do you get in a culture of uh where a failure as such is not uh an issue, but where we learn from it and where we then move on? And in that type of process, I think that's something that leaders need to create, and that really creates organizational resilience.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

But is resilience something that you can prepare for beforehand? Is it something you can train on?

SPEAKER_02 8:55

In I think in a in a certain way, yes. Um in a certain way, yes, uh, we we try to to big we we train uh a lot together, uh and and it's important that uh you have ups and you have downs. So um I think in a certain way we really train our our riders uh to uh yeah to to handle also big disappointments or big changes. Uh that's uh if you if you look how many races we race in a year, uh um and we won, for example, last year we won around uh 55 uh races, but more the races you race you lose. So it's really important um that that they know uh yeah to to handle the disappointments uh every week again. So yes, I think you you you forsook can can train it in a certain way.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

And I think it's because I I had to smile because you did it with us last year as sponsors, right? Uh we had some record years, and yes, you kept mentioning to me and Kobe, the the CEO of SD works, don't expect this to be the same every year, but in a certain way is also building resilience. Like that's true, that's true. It's not always gonna be that we win every week. It's uh and I think that's the way you train your your riders as well.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Yeah, absolutely. And that I think that's also important, and we we believe in uh uh winning races, and we believe in uh uh every time new target, but yeah, it's not so easy. That's what you say is not so easy, and yeah, therefore, um yeah, I think uh I think for sure in a certain way uh you you can train.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Now, as a leader, we're talking about coping with setbacks, of course, as a writer, as someone who works in a team, but as a leader, maybe it's also important that you train for it or that you are resilient. Of course, that's important. So, Gill, I'm wondering how do you cope with a setback personally? You keep up, and then when you get into your car, you're like, damn it.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

Yeah, it's uh something like that in a certain way, very close to it. I mean, it's um I think as leaders we talked about it before that creating clarity is important and creating a certain environment of safety for your people, so you can't start to freak out whatever you want to do. That's what I mean, of course.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

So you need to be calm on the outside, indeed.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

The the key word for me is remaining composed. Okay, you confront the situation head-on, but you don't panic, you don't freak out, and in the evening you go for a run, and then you can freak out on your own.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

But to your wife, or to my wife, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

But then she also tells me, like, just calm down, it's not the end of the world if you face the minor setback, but it's uh which also helps, right? Uh the perspective of someone who's a bit further from it to calm down and to stay composed.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Erin, do you have an example, uh, a specific moment where you really remember that you had to have those two faces that you really kept strong in front of that rider, but inside you were thinking this is really, really bad.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

No, yeah, there we are. We have, of course, several examples. But if if you look to last year, uh when we uh we had uh our journey with Lotte Kopecchi uh going to the for the yellow in the Tour de Frost, and that we that was a really big journey, and where we choose uh all four, uh including Lotta, of course. And then if you see uh yeah, she had some injuries in the winter, of course, but if you uh we we saw then uh during the Giro d'Italia that it should be very hard to to go through with our plan for the yellow jersey. So then we sit together and talk with her and talk with her manager, and then of course, inside it feels for all of us, but certainly for Lotte, uh as a kind of a yeah, a failure. Yeah, uh so we we cannot do, we cannot go for uh for yellow. So we make the decision that day that it should be better to take off the pressure, and uh yeah, uh we should not go for the yellow jersey. So yeah, inside it feels, of course, uh we we all cried in a certain way, but from the other side, then you need to stray stay strong as a leader because we did all. Uh, we need to analyze later what's what went wrong, uh, and we choose now the best possible way uh to go to the Trude Frost. And I think we make good choices because we had several uh stage wins and we won the green jersey and lottery. I could also enjoy in a certain way uh this True de Frost.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

A team effort.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

Yeah, and I think as a leader, what Erwin did there for me showed what we talked about before. You called us, uh, your sponsors, your stakeholders, you told us, Look, guys, we've had this debate. Yeah, tomorrow in the press we're gonna take off the pressure. So in the outside world, we will communicate to protect the rider and protect Lotta, which then I think gave the liberty to the team. So for me, that's exactly how you should behave in such a such a moment of crisis.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

So you have a lot of people to think about in that moment, Erin.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Of course, of course. It's of course not only the rider, the the rider is for us at that moment really important, and sure if if if it's one of your top riders, um, but uh of course you need to think about everything. You you know media and sponsors, stakeholders, everybody, so yes, yeah. Yeah, but okay, that's the the role from the leader.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

That's part of the job. Yeah, Gila, is there one example? Because I love examples. Is there an example in the SD works world where you that you want to share with us that you say that that was a pickle, that was something that I really took home that evening, and I thought, okay, how are you gonna solve this? Yeah, a big setback.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Yeah, I had one, and by now talking, I I had another one, so I'm gonna go for that second. Choose, choose. Yeah, I'm gonna choose. We had uh with one of our products, uh so we sell HR services but based on IT products. And as you know, IT sometimes things go wrong. Um, but with this particular product, we actually had almost never an issue over the last 10 years. It always was stable, customers could rely on it, it was never down. But I arrived in the office one day and I uh met my uh chief technology officer, and I immediately saw on his face something was wrong. So they had been up from five that morning because the system was down, it was the end of the month, uh, which means that we can't do the payrolls then, uh, which has a big impact on our customers and which is a core business. It's our core business. And in that sense, that's still okay, that happens from time to time. It's a moment of crisis, but throughout the day we had all these crisis calls, and it's like almost a military protocol. Teams come in from uh around Europe from the group, and in the afternoon, around two, we had a call and said, Okay, look, guys, where are we? We're now seven hours in the incident, and all of them looked at me and they said, We don't know. Oh wow and then they stayed silent. So these were all senior people, they had done that multiple times before. I'm not the IT expert, all of them are, and they just looked at me. What do we do now next? So for me that was let's say a moment of crisis, and that moment where you say, Okay, you need to stay composed because if I Well, what did you do? I stayed calm and I said, Okay, but then we look for everything what we have not tried yet. It's a very simple answer. In that sense, it's not rocket science, but I think your job is to stay calm and to just say, Okay, we haven't found it, we continue. But that continued for uh 20 more hours, so it's which That was my next question.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yeah, when did it get results?

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Yeah, we we had a quick fix which helped, but it stayed so unstable that throughout the night we had people staying staying on call the entire night and trying. Uh but that's also when you see true leaders stepping up and and true resilience of your organization. Um because interesting. Yeah, we had some people making very tough and very courageous decisions in that moment, so it's uh also a learning moment afterwards.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

So we can say we get to know people in moments of crisis?

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Sure. I think it's a saying, or I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but absolutely in the sports uh you see when it's uh yeah, when when there are big uh big issues, then you see most of the time also also in a group of riders, and you see the real uh the real leaders also in that writer's part. Uh they they stand up then.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

And people can surprise you, I think.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Yeah, indeed, indeed. Yeah, we fixed in that incident, we fixed things we had been trying for two years. And we had like very lucid people who said, uh, it's already bad, what can go wrong? I'm just gonna try. Yeah. And these were not people that I would have expected the front. It's uh like in the Peloton, all of a sudden someone stands up and I can imagine, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Now for a young talent, Erwin, the the pressure to prove yourself is huge. That's the whole point. They want to prove something to themselves, to the world. How do you cope with someone who's literally at the sidelines for a while? And how how do you make them not lose that drive? Because that's what drives them, I can imagine.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Yeah. I must say it's it's it's not only for the young rider uh who is coming into a team and has an injury, or it's also for the experienced riders who are longer with us. Okay. So it's it's always a problem if they if they if they are uh gone for a while. So what we do then is to try uh in good contact. Uh so uh there is every week contact with them, uh with the medical department, with the performance team, with the sports directors. So we really stay in really close contact, I think, much more than than in in business most of the time. Um and then for us, important is that we have a plan and that they have the trust in or plan how we're gonna build up to so they need new goals. Yeah, they need confidence, they need new goals, they need to feel safe, a trust in the process. Um so, and but that's really important, and we ask them also, for example, Julia last year. We asked them, come to a race. Yeah, uh you go with us of you go in the car with the swine yours and you give the bottles and this kind of thing. So keep in touch, yeah, also with the team. Uh, and that's that's what we try. Uh, we uh our DNA in the in in the in the in the team is uh we are kind of a family-owned company, uh so there are short lines, and we try to really uh behave together like friends, like family. So for sure, as if someone is going out for a while, really keep them close.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Yeah, and as Julia mentioned in the in the clip, I think social media and and being online and with that smartphone, it's a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that you stay in touch, that you get to distract yourself. But if they see all of the other ones posting their amazing training of the day, I think that can be quite discouraging.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Yeah, absolutely. And also, absolutely, uh for example, uh, we we are, let me say, a winning team. So uh luckily we win a lot. And if you are out then for half a year and you see your team winning and winning, winning, that is a nice feeling. But if you sit on the side, then it feels even harder. Uh so this is that is what we need to to protect them and so to take them and and have also uh make also a party if we win and not uh being only at home. So yeah, that's what we try.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

You said that the SD works uh example was a teaching moment, Gila. Um and I I know you a little bit now. I know that you're very confident, but you're very aware of uh where you can improve. Is there something you can share as a leader that you say, ah, actually, if if something ever happens like that again, I think that is something I would do a little bit differently. Is there something as a leader that you say that was not the best thing I should have said or done?

SPEAKER_03 21:36

Yeah, I think in that example, um, and building on what Edwin just said, in the morning I trusted the process maybe a bit too much because I saw that my CTO was was freaking out and I told him, like, okay, trust the process, take your time and let's uh you check in with me when you're stuck or whatever. But I didn't hear anything in in the hours afterwards. It's the moment that I stepped in around two in the afternoon, I didn't do anything that was rocket science, right? I I just asked some questions, I pulled some additional people in the room, but I think it gave an additional boost. And it's that staying connected, staying very close. So if that would happen again, I would not wait four or five hours. I would really say, okay, and in an hour let's meet. I was a bit too too humble, as in I can't contribute content-wise to this problem. But just being there is also a contribution.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

We talked about immediate feedback. Maybe Edwin sometimes immediate feedback needs to become an immediate pep talk.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Sure, sure. Yeah, for for us in in tough sports is really important because you have every week you have new races. So it's really important to give directly after the race or directly after the injury, uh analyze, look what what can we do better next time, what did we learn, etc. etc. But then with a positive focus on the next race. So that means also a pep talk from okay, uh, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna kill them next week, for example.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

We'll be back.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for these insights. I just have a quick extra questions, but let's uh find out what Yulia had to say finally about the team and the recovery.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Yeah, of course, uh partly of it is yeah, the medical team that helped me um guide me through the process of rehab. Um, but also I didn't feel so much pressure that I had to come back as quick as possible. It was the focus to yeah, get as yeah, make sure my knee was good again and not start racing too early and stuff like that, because then it's yeah, you can make it worse again. So it was nice that I didn't feel the real pressure, because of course, as a young rider, you wanna like show I really wanted to show myself as quick as possible in a new team. Um, but to feel that the team was still uh behind me and supporting me, even though I was not on the bike every day, um, of course, is also really helpful to keep my mind a bit easy. And my shape was getting better and better already the week before, at a week and a half at the Worlds in Rwanda. Um, but it's it's amazing to have that feeling to be part of really part of the team, and even though, of course, I was riding in a different different jersey, not the team jersey, but yeah, to be part of Lorena's winter and um to do a good result myself and feel really good on the bike is super super motivating. And I think it also helped me in the winter to get like the confidence back that you miss a bit during the season when you're focused on just getting stronger and stronger and stronger again. But then to also like show I am strong is yeah, that's really that's super motivating.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Well, it's clear that the support from the team was priceless for uh Julia. How is she now, Edwin?

SPEAKER_02 25:16

I must say uh she's uh she's happy because she's on the bike uh uh pretty good again. So she had a really good uh trainings camp and down her first race last week, and yeah, we expect a lot uh from her. She's in really in good shape, really good mood. So uh follow her.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Yes, absolutely. We do, we do. Gill, maybe one thing that you would steal from the cycling world into the business world after our conversation?

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Yeah, I think celebrating success, like Erwin now says with uh with Julia coming back. That's something we we are celebrating. The victories we celebrate, but in business that's typically something that we forget to do. We reach a target and we move on to the next one. So uh that's true, or we reach a deadline and it's evident and then yeah, it's seen as normal, um, which it should be, but at the same time, you also need to uh enjoy the wins.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

It's still an achievement, of course. Maybe a question to both of you how can we uh prepare for a setback?

SPEAKER_03 26:15

I think you need to envision it, uh you need to uh acknowledge that it's a possibility, and then you're already a bit prepared. Um that and combining it with celebrating those successes, you you know it's never gonna last. So there's always something that will come your way, so be prepared for it.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Okay, Erwin? Yeah, I think uh if if you work hard as a team and as a rider, um then you get more and more experienced, and then uh yeah, you can handle these uh moments uh always better and better.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

And how about dealing with the setback? So post factum.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

It's taking distance, I think, and how bad is it really? Assessing that situation uh and then trusting the process that you will recover from it. The only way is forward.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Bygones be bygones.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Yeah, I think what you said that's in the sport and our team exactly the same.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

And then a final question to you both, gentlemen. One thing that every leader should ask themselves once in a while, maybe every day.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

For me, I would uh I think that from this conversation, am I still close enough to my people? Do I really feel what their current mood is and whether I should step in, yes or no?

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Could one I think for me, for us is more is uh more of a haw. Has everybody around you, so in the team writer stuff, is there enough uh trust to work every day hard uh with each other? That's for me the most important.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Okay. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

With pleasure, thank you. It was a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

And if I may sum up this episode, to achieve change, you have to confront the problem head on. And from there, it's trust the process. The good news is that resilience isn't just something you can hope for. You can maybe prepare for it by building routines, setting expectations, and creating a team rhythm that holds when the pressure rises. You might lose more races than you win. Well, that's not failure, that's reality. What matters is how you deal with the disappointment. And when a crisis hits, people may surprise you through their actions. Thank you so much for listening and watching and discover the other episodes of People and Peloton about cycling and business at SDWorks.com or your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, bye bye. SD Works.