Performance Talk

As the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi draw ever nearer, we are hearing more and more coaches talk about the need for their athletes to be ‘psychologically’ prepared in order to perform. While such commentary is of course reassuring, it is unfortunate most are continuing to make the mistake of assuming their athletes’ ‘improved’ mindsets will come about as a result of better planning and organisation as opposed to it being a direct consequence of deliberate, intelligent intervention.

An article written about the Silver Ferns in the New Zealand Herald on the 18th of this month emphasises this issue by saying that ‘Adopting the right mindset to cope with the unpredictable environment expected in Delhi has been the key focus for the Silver Ferns after their disappointing 2-1 series loss to Australia’. During the interview, Ferns coach Ruth Aitken said “We did a lot of work on our contingency plans in terms of ensuring you can play if someone is being shut down or if an opposition decides to not allow you to do a particular thing” following criticism over their inability to maintain composure and execute under pressure. While Aitken’s comments including “we’re looking at how we can respond more appropriately and quickly to the barriers” are certainly relevant, it is important we understand that an appropriate high performance mindset must be consciously created in order to be realised rather than assuming it is something that will naturally occur if we get our planning and organisational structures right.

While I have no wish to criticise Aitken, her comments are consistent with most of our elite coaches who tend to believe the job of creating a ‘better’ mindset is simply a matter of ‘better’ planning and preparation rather than it being a direct result of specific interventions designed to ‘increase’ their athletes’ ‘psychological’ capacity. In other words, an athletes ‘physical’ performance can in virtually every situation be directly attributed to the quality of their ‘mental’ performance or, put another way, it is more often than not an athlete’s lack of ‘capacity’ that causes them to perform poorly or capitulate as they often do.

Creating the right mindset

Creating an appropriate high performance mindset is in my opinion something that requires just as much effort as skill development however, because of the way it is viewed i.e. because of the way most people perceive it, they tend to think of it as something some people can do with relative ease and others less so - rather than viewing it as something that can be dramatically improved within any human being who remains conscious.

Regrettably many coaches, and managers for that matter, tend to think there are only two states. Either ‘right’ and therefore good, or ‘wrong’ and therefore bad i.e. most people think of a person’s mindset or State of Mind like a light switch in that it is either ‘on’ or ‘off’. However under examination it becomes increasingly evident that mindsets are far more like dimmer switches in that they can be either completely off i.e. completely inappropriate or they can be absolutely on i.e. highly appropriate. In between are increasing levels of appropriateness or inappropriateness depending on which way you look at it.

The important point here is that if we were to appreciate the above, we will be more likely to understand the significance of, and thus take a keener interest in, 1) the quality or ‘appropriateness’ of our own mindset (in terms of its ‘fit’ for purpose) and the unquestionable impact it has on both our performance and results and 2) the mindsets of those with whom we interact or lead.

Summary

Whether we like it or not, our state of mind has a major bearing on our performance and therefore the results we achieve - meaning it will either be a key to our success or a cause of our failure.

If you are serious about performance, call us or refer to our website www.craigsteel.co.nz to find out how we can enable your team to advance.