{"id":6030,"date":"2024-10-18T12:09:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T11:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/leaders-club\/?post_type=article&p=6030"},"modified":"2024-10-18T12:09:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T11:09:49","slug":"why-you-should-seek-second-opinion-teammates-twins-and-trusted-mentors","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/leaders-club\/articles\/why-you-should-seek-second-opinion-teammates-twins-and-trusted-mentors\/","title":{"rendered":"Why you Should Seek Second-Opinion Teammates, \u2018Twins\u2019 and Trusted Mentors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 18 Oct 2024 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Why you Should Seek Second-Opinion Teammates, \u2018Twins\u2019 and Trusted Mentors<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
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David Clancy and Richard Pullan set out their strategic and intentional approach to network building in a high-performance world of ever-growing complexity.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By David Clancy & Richard Pullan<\/h6>\n
“Your network is your net worth.”<\/em><\/h6>\n
Porter Gale, former VP of Marketing at Virgin America and a leading business and marketing advisor<\/h6>\n

In today\u2019s fast-paced world, high-performing individuals and teams face increasingly complex cognitive demands. These challenges are not just about processing information but also about managing stress, navigating uncertainty, and maintaining clarity amid competing priorities. This is where the power of strategic and intentional network building comes into play.<\/p>\n

There are several means available to help build this network. They include purposeful twinning with others, developing an ecosystem of critical friends and identifying a web of second-opinion teammates. Each of these connections provides leaders with the means to make more informed and rounded decisions, make perspective shifts as well as provide objective feedback.<\/p>\n

Twinning <\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Twinning’ refers to the practice of forming reciprocal partnerships with other teams or organisations that share similar goals, challenges, or conundrums \u2013 perhaps they might even be competitors, if the context makes sense. This is a huge part of what the Leaders Performance Institute does, in fact, forging \u2018partnerships\u2019 with teams and individuals. This is how the Houston Texans of the NFL became professional friends with the Texas Rangers of MLB, as an example. This symbiotic relationship allows for mutual learning and growth, where both parties can share best practices, resources, and insights. A term we often hear is ‘collaboration over competition’ \u2013 we can all row the boat faster<\/em> if we are willing to exchange protocols, philosophies and pain points.<\/p>\n

Professional sports teams all face their unique set of struggles but, oftentimes, there are numerous similarities with these. Sharing best practices and ways to approach challenges is a significant benefit downstream of this pairing. By \u2018linking\u2019 with another team, leaders can expand their knowledge base, reduce the isolation often felt in high-pressure roles, and benefit from other viewpoints.<\/p>\n

In terms of innovation, if teams are open to sharing what they do (to a degree), how they do it, etc, they can draw on the experience and solutions already implemented elsewhere. This save them time, effort, and energy. Food for thought.<\/p>\n

Critical friends <\/strong><\/p>\n

Critical friends play a unique role in leadership, deliberation and decision-making. A critical friend is someone who offers candid, constructive feedback and is unafraid to challenge assumptions. This is ideally someone outside the team\/ franchise. They are trusted individuals who can act as a sounding board<\/em> for ideas, provide a second perspective, and offer checkpoints when needed.<\/p>\n

Creating and nurturing these \u2018friends\u2019 requires energy and effort, but the payoff can be huge. As an example, if you are ideating a new return-to-play system and method, bouncing ideas off someone with exposure to this in another environment could help make your system better. A no-brainer if you ask us!<\/p>\n

We have witnessed the benefit in relation to cognitive demand also, as critical friends offer a safe space to validate thinking and refine or rethink ideas. Critical friends help prevent blind spots, biases and assumptions by encouraging the leader to pause and reflect before executing a critical task. The best critical friends strike a balance between support and challenge. They are not afraid to disagree, but they do so with the intention of helping the leader grow.<\/p>\n

Second-opinion teammates<\/strong><\/p>\n

Second-opinion teammates (teammates being a crucial word) serve a similar purpose, offering alternative viewpoints to ensure a more well-rounded decision-making process, such as another set of eyes on an MRI report and image for a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Particularly in high-stakes environments, seeking a second opinion reduces cognitive stress by distributing the weight of responsibility and allowing leaders to feel more confident in their choices. Knowing that a trusted colleague has reviewed the same data or proposal with rigour and objectivity can provide a sense of reassurance and clarity.<\/p>\n

Strive to stock a bullpen of second-opinion teammates. It\u2019s a game-changer.<\/p>\n

Mentorship<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves\u201d, said Steven Spielberg. To create themselves entails helping one to find their way. Consider giving a project to a more junior member of staff from a senior \u2018mentor\u2019, rather than the \u2018easier\u2019 option, of giving the project to a \u2018middle manager\u2019 who has done the type of project before. That\u2019s an example of what this could look like.<\/p>\n

Mentorship is a timeless strategy \u2013 one for managing both the emotional, physical and intellectual demands of leadership. This is typically someone with more experience who can offer guidance, advice, and lessons learned from mistakes, and successes. Great mentors provide leaders with the tools to think more effectively for themselves, enabling them, giving them their own toolkit; this helps them navigate complexity, prioritise, and mitigate stresses. They leave breadcrumbs behind.<\/p>\n

Mentors can help leaders manage cognitive demands by offering perspective on what truly matters, helping to sift through the noise and focus on the signal i.e.\u00a0what is essential. They also provide historical insight, showing leaders that many challenges they face are not new and can be tackled using time-tested methods. This reduces the sense of overwhelm that comes with thinking one must always reinvent the wheel. The issue you are facing has been faced and solved before.<\/p>\n

Moreover, mentors are invaluable in helping leaders manage their wellbeing, as they can provide reassurance and encouragement when times get tough and they can acknowledge that these times come with the intense world of competitive sport.<\/p>\n

Building a network<\/strong><\/p>\n

In high-pressure environments, leaders often find themselves juggling multiple competing priorities, balancing short-term, \u2018urgent\u2019 demands with long-term, \u2018important\u2019 goals.<\/p>\n

Here are five reasons for nurturing a network to help with this:<\/p>\n

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  1. Perspective<\/strong>: By offering alternative viewpoints, these individuals help leaders avoid tunnel vision, providing the clarity needed to make more informed decisions. As author John C. Maxwell said: \u201cone of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination\u201d.<\/li>\n
  2. Stress relief<\/strong>: They provide a safe space to vent frustrations or discuss difficult situations, reducing the emotional and cognitive strain on the leader.<\/li>\n
  3. Cognitive load reduction<\/strong>: They help leaders prioritise by distinguishing urgent tasks from important ones, easing decision-making and reducing the burden of figuring everything out on their own.<\/li>\n
  4. Feedback loops<\/strong>: They offer real-time feedback, allowing leaders to course-correct early, reducing the mental load associated with second-guessing decisions.<\/li>\n
  5. Confidence<\/strong>: With someone experienced offering reassurance or advice, leaders can make decisions with greater confidence, reducing self-doubt, fracturing under duress and mental fatigue.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What makes a good mentor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The best ones share several key traits that make them invaluable in helping leaders grow and meet the demands of high-performance sport.<\/p>\n

    Here are five traits we often see:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Trustworthiness<\/strong>: A good mentor must be someone the leader can trust implicitly. This relationship relies on openness and honesty and, without trust, it can\u2019t function effectively. Trust hinges on credibility, reliability and that willingness to be vulnerable. Look up the Trust Equation<\/a> for more on this.<\/li>\n
    2. Empathy with objectivity<\/strong>: They need to be empathetic to understand the leader’s challenges, but objective enough to provide clear, unbiased feedback. A mentor must challenge, but from a place of care, not criticism.<\/li>\n
    3. Experience and expertise<\/strong>: Particularly for mentors, having a depth of experience is critical. They need to offer insights that come from having walked the same path or navigated similar challenges.<\/li>\n
    4. Active listening skills<\/strong>: The ability to listen without immediately offering solutions is key. Great mentors and critical friends give space for the leader to articulate their thoughts fully before stepping in with advice or feedback. ‘Beware the advice monster’, as Michael Bungay Stanier wrote in The Advice Trap<\/em>. And, as Stephen R Covey proclaimed in his book The Seven Habits of Effective People<\/em>, \u2018seek first to understand, then be understood\u2019.<\/li>\n
    5. Encouragement to reflect<\/strong>: The best mentors help leaders reflect on their own experiences, pushing them toward self-discovery and growth, rather than always offering the answers themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      And let\u2019s not forget that mentors need mentors. This could be your partner at home, as an example.<\/p>\n

      So, here\u2019s our challenge for you reading this article today \u2013 take on a mentorship role in some capacity, to give back\u2026to pass the ladder down,<\/em> as it were.<\/p>\n

      Final thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n

      In today\u2019s fast-paced and ever-evolving landscape in high-performance sport, a leader\u2019s success isn\u2019t just defined by individual strength – but by the strength of their network<\/em>. Jobs these days in sport are complicated and complex. It is now rarely possible for one individual to serve a function fully without seeking support from other disciplines, to deliver the final solution to a given problem.<\/p>\n

      By cultivating relationships through twinning, critical friends, second-opinion teammates, and mentorship, leaders create a support system that fosters psychological safety, collaboration, and continuous learning. These connections enable leaders to confidently navigate complexities, make incisive decisions, and lead afront with impact. After all, just as every great athlete stands on the shoulders of their team, no leader can truly flourish without a trusted network standing behind them.<\/p>\n

      David Clancy is a Learning and Development Consultant at the Houston Texans<\/strong> and Director at The Nxt Level Group<\/strong>. <\/em>He is also the Editor of Essential Skills for Physiotherapists: A Personal and Professional Development Framework<\/strong>, which is available now from Elsevier.<\/em><\/p>\n

      Richard Pullan is a Director at The Nxt Level Group<\/strong>, the Visionary Founder of The Altitude Centre<\/strong>, and leads the training of clients for flash ascents of Everest and other 8,000m peaks, while also preparing professional athletes and elite sports teams. He is formerly of Sporting Health Group<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

      If you would like to speak to David and Richard, please contact a member of the Leaders Performance Institute team.<\/em><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

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