The renowned Team Principal describes the foundations that enabled Mercedes’ dominance.
Set targets, and redefine them
It is widely known that setting targets is key in order to achieve, however, Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team, stressed the importance of redefining these targets in order to ensure longevity of success, when we spoke with him back in 2016. Mercedes had just won back to back F1 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships. They have since gone on to claim a further five drivers’ and six constructors’ titles. Wolff explained that at the start of each season, all of the senior staff members take 48 hours offsite together to redefine their objectives. He said: “we look at our values, our mission and our visions, we look at the functionality of the organisation and we come out with a list of objectives for the coming season, both personal and team objectives.” Wolff highlighted that underpinning this was the necessity to manage their talent and reinvent the organisation without destroying what they already have today. “What we try to achieve now is to maintain our status as the team to beat,” he continued.
Use your opponents as motivation
Wolff instils a philosophy amongst the senior leaders and filters it through the organization, that they must focus on their counter parts in opposing teams and ensure they are out performing them. “Each of us has an opposite number at Ferrari or Red Bull and if each of us does a better job than our opposite number then the collective result is going to be better,” said Wolff. He provided an anecdote about how one of his senior managers has taken this philosophy one step further. “One of our senior managers has a picture of his opposite number from a rival team stuck to the wall next to his desk. Every time he looks up from his desk he faces a big A4 printout… and he knows exactly who he needs to beat and already has the strategy to get there because the target is set.”
The moment you become comfortable, its time to move on
Wolff is focused on succession planning for the next generation of senior management and is constantly looking ahead. He asks: “How do you see the next generation of leaders after yourself? You have great coaches and leaders in the team now but what happens in five years?” Wolff believes that teams should build capability beyond their leaders, because the goal is for the team to continue to succeed once they’ve moved on. “Your legacy should be a structure that rolls. The wheel turns because you have built that capability,” he stated. Good senior leaders understand their time will come to move on to another position. It is something that’s very difficult especially if you’ve got a good role, you are well paid and you are having success. Wolff added: “you want to hold onto it, you want to stay there in that comfortable place. But the moment it becomes a comfortable place, it’s time for someone else to take over.”
Maintaining a ‘disruptive edge’
The approach Toto Wolff describes in the article reminds me of the insights Radically Traditional disclosed following their research into organisations who have enjoyed sustained success. Specifically, the seven organisations (including the All Blacks and NASA) were distinguished by the headline features of a stable core and disruptive edge. The commitment to regular reviews appears to provide Toto and his team the opportunity to celebrate and maintain their unique features (i.e., a stable core) whilst inviting opportunities for innovation (i.e., a disruptive edge).
Protecting time in a fast-paced and dynamic environment to conduct reviews and develop succession plans is vital. In my experience, a comprehensive review can often generate new and exciting work streams that help extend an individual’s comfort zone, whilst simultaneously strengthening staff succession plans.
Sir Dave Brailsford discusses how the INEOS Grenadiers have developed into one of cycling’s most dominant teams and we review his insights with the help of Leaders Performance Advisor David Fletcher.
A mixture of continuity and adaptation is key for sustained success
Sir Dave Brailsford, Team Principal of the INEOS Grenadiers (formerly Team Sky and Team INEOS), shared with our audience at the 2017 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London, how Team Sky first operated and how they became one of the most dominant teams in world cycling. “You can’t be a selection of people doing something in isolation, you have to have certain values and continuity to have sustained success over years and years,” said Brailsford. Right at the inception of Team Sky, the staff sat together and asked ‘what do we want to be about?’ and they realised that in order to succeed they needed to be able to adapt to the ever changing environment but also needed a few anchors and values to stick to through thick and thin. Team Sky, Brailsford added, had a line as a symbol for the team, and it signified continuity, but as he explained, “you’re never dealing with the same problem, it changes all the time and you have to recognise that and adapt.”
Success lies in planning
Everyone in sport, and life, knows that planning is a crucial part of success, with the old saying, ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’. However, Brailsford highlights that it isn’t the plan itself that is critical, it’s the planning process, and that “it is the discussions that are crucial.” He expects every one of his staff to have a professional opinion, as he always looks to work from the consensus, and only when this isn’t possible, will he arbitrate. It is important they always understand why, the power is in those discussions, and the team have all been involved in the creation of the plan. This planning is for the overall strategy, but also goes into the minute detail for every rider. “The more you have clarity and alignment, it isn’t that hard to deliver the performance, it’s when there isn’t clarity and alignment and you take a one-size-fits-all approach to every rider, it fails,” stated Brailsford.
Improvement requires change
It is one thing being successful, but a much harder task to be able to sustain that over many years. “If you do the same thing you’re going to go backwards,” explained Brailsford, “all of your competition will be looking to beat you and to improve, so you can’t just do what you did to be successful the first time round, you have to adapt and continually improve. Brailsford stated that the “difference between good and great is someone who does something.” Change requires action, and the people who win and make a difference are the people who do. “The people in Team Sky can be bothered to do the things that maybe people in other teams can’t be bothered to do, and that makes the difference,” said Brailsford. “Improvement requires change, but the problem is not all change equals improvement.” It can be very tempting to change things for change’s sake, so you have to be deliberate about it. You have to understand what interventions are going to give you the greatest reward and do a couple each season. “Being excellent at the simple things is the key to winning,” highlighted Brailsford. If you start to do too much with things which occur on the periphery, you miss the basics, which will be a disaster. You need small scale actionable improvements over time – the ‘marginal gains’ which Brailsford has become so well known for. Finally, he added: “It is all about action, talk about it and do it. It might not work, but at least you know. We don’t wait, we’re first.”
David, do Dave Brailsford’s words still ring true?
A universal truth apparent throughout Dave’s comments is that sport at the highest level is characterised by fierce competition and winning by small margins. Underpinning success in elite sport is the ability to continually raise performance to higher levels. In essence, those who are able to enhance performance sooner, to a greater extent, and/or on a more sustainable basis than the opposition are victorious. This results in goals and standards moving onwards and upwards, which in turn fuels an incessant demand to find new means and methods to stay ahead of the performance curve. It is clear that, as a leader in elite sport, Dave is – and has to be – very focused on what it takes to attain and sustain the highest levels of performance in elite cycling.
How do you feel this space is evolving in sport?
There are two things that I think are particularly fascinating about the innovation required to stay ahead of the performance curve in elite sport. The first is how best to harmonise the latest advances in sports science and medicine together with the art of high-performance coaching whilst remaining sensitive to the uniqueness of every training and competition context. I believe that the best leaders and teams are those who are able to work together to capitalise on each other’s strengthens whilst developing areas for improvement, regardless of whether they are the ‘simple basics’, ‘marginal gains’, or more sophisticated technologically-based advances – it all counts toward staying at the top. The second area relates to the increasing awareness that winning should not come at all costs. Following concerns about the price that some athletes are willing to pay in their pursuit of excellence and about the lengths that some coaches will go to drive their teams toward victory, there is a recognition and desire to find more ethical ways of attaining and sustaining high performance whilst maintaining and enhancing wellbeing. As a consequence, striving for high performance and holistic health has rightly become the focus of most modern day leaders and coaches in elite sport.
Dan Lewindon of the LTA explores how the organisation seeks to develop coach and player relationships in a high performance environment.
1. Be sure to understand and value the individual
There is a growing awareness across all sports that wellbeing and resilience play a key role in the achievement and sustainment of success. Dan Lewindon, Head of Performance Science and Medicine at the Lawn Tennis Association [LTA], explained in our Virtual Leaders Meet in 2020, that in fact, wellbeing and resilience “sit front and centre in our discussions about our athletes and in our conversations with them.” It is critical to understand the individual as a whole, their abilities, their drivers, and take the time to understand their individual backgrounds and experiences that make them who they are. Lewindon also highlighted that individually tailoring the approach to each athlete is crucial and “our understanding of their context is key in building a relationship of trust and ultimately influence.”
2. Shape your environment and communication
There has been an explosion in specialism within sports science which has created the opportunity for dedicated expertise and diverse thinking in how you solve problems. However, Lewindon warned that this could lead to silo thinking and unnecessary noise. He explained how it is critical to filter these into a system that is clear and cohesive, with an integrated approach in a “structured and safe environment where stake holders and support staff can share their views and feel valued for doing so.” If this is done right it creates real clarity for the athlete, and reduces unnecessary noise and distraction. Lewindon also highlighted how imperative it is to communicate with care: “don’t use overly technical or medical language with the athletes, do what is best for them, not for you”. The trust that staff members create, the genuine connection they have with the athletes, and communication they use, can have a huge impact on the performance outcome.
3. Have a clear plan and processes
Lewindon stated how important it is to understand how to support the athlete, and how to shape the training environment and programme, in order to go after the priorities needed for performance. You must make it crystal clear to the athlete how everything aligns, be that testing, monitoring or training techniques. “It is important the athletes and coaches understand the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ this is going to impact their performance,” said Lewindon. This understanding then provides the confidence and clarity needed in order to push forwards. “The individual development plans that are successful are those which are genuinely owned by the athlete” he added. The athletes are part of the conversation, process and it is written in their language. Finally, the review process is critical, it is not something that you just make once and then never look at again. “Plan, do, review, regularly,” said Lewindon. It takes real time and effort to do, but it is crucial to take time to both look back and to plan ahead.
Chris Scott, Senior Coach of the Geelong Cats, discusses the balance of challenge and support, as well as the blend of long and short-term goals, in high performance environments.
High performance environments are all about balance
Clubs and people are often judged heavily on whether they win or lose, and of course winning is every team’s goal, but the context for each team, and opportunities they might have are so different, explained Chris Scott, Senior Coach of the Geelong Cats in the Australian Football League, at our Sport Performance Summit in Charlotte back in 2020. “We focus in too much on standards, it’s important, but only one part of the high performance environment” stated Scott when delving deeper into what makes a successful team environment. He emphasised that if you only look to drive standards in training, then you miss out on some other crucial aspects which make up a winning team such as psychological safety, wellbeing and most importantly enjoying playing the sport. “You need to be really clear on when to push, but it needs to be balanced off with the work outside of those hard periods,” he added. If the players are dreading turning up to training every day, you’re not going to get the best out of them, and pushing them hard constantly, is an unsustainable model.
When to prioritise the future over short-term success
One of Scott’s biggest strengths is his ability to collaborate with a large group of staff and players. This skill is crucial when dealing with a wide range of players, with many being only 17 years old, to those in their mid-30s approaching the end of their careers. Being able to provide messaging and alignment for that broad spectrum of players is a key attribute for a successful coach. One of Scott’s first priorities was to “embrace change, and transition young players into the team.” However, when bringing in youth, you need to have older players move on, and managing those transitions can be very challenging. Scott emphasised that it is crucial to articulate that plan to the wider squad and make it very clear to the older players “they weren’t just going to be thrown on the scrap heap.” It is so important to give the older players the respect they deserve and manage the transition effectively, so the team can be successful both in the short and long term. How this transition is managed also has a huge effect on the mid-range players, and their perception of how they will be treated when they come towards the end of their careers. So having these conversations in a really open, honest and respectful way is key.
When to empower the players and when to use your expertise as a coach
Player empowerment as a concept has grown more and more popular as a coaching method, and numerous teams see great success when it is adopted. However, Scott explains that how and when you empower your players can be crucial, and also how the context of your own environments play a big role in this. “Fundamentally I work for the players as a coach, so what they believe is best for their performance is of paramount importance,” said Scott. But, he caveated this with saying that ultimately the coach needs to take the final responsibility and had to set the overall principles by which the team is aligned. It also depends on the make up of the team. If you have a squad who are very individual and you give too much responsibility to the whole squad, the result will be people pulling in different directions and no cohesion. Scott explained that the most effective way to marry player empowerment with cohesion was to “make sure the views of the most influential players are congruent to the ways the senior leadership want to lead the club”. Finally, understanding when to empower the players and ask for their feedback and when to take the lead and use your own expertise as a coach is critical to success.
Quins’ Danny Care and Billy Millard deliver key insights around how they managed to turn their season around to secure the 2020-2021 Gallagher Premiership title.
Reconnect the playing group with the club’s history
Quins were languishing in sixth place in the Premiership in January 2021 and were without a head coaching figure. Six months later, their player-led squad were champions and this season reached the semi-finals again. The club’s Head of Rugby Performance Billy Millard took the reins and would hand control back to the playing group. Before that, he needed to restore confidence and re-establish a sense of purpose. He understood the need for the team to go back to their roots, to understand their history and culture. “Quins have always been entertainers, that’s why we’re ‘the Jesters’, and we had to tap back into that,” Millard told an audience at the 2021 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London. The team created a clear vision which underpins everything they do, and means they are all aligned and striving for a greater purpose. They understand their history and what it means to play for Quins – it is more than just winning and the team is worth more than any individual. It is everyone’s responsibility to bring success to the club, everyone has their part to play, and therefore the sense of a team is embedded and felt even stronger.
Foster a sense of belonging
As soon as you understand and buy into the vision, values and culture, you are part of the Quins family and part of a legacy of Quins players who want to keep this culture alive, explained Danny Care, the Quins and England international scrum-half, who spoke onstage with Millard. Every player is there to bring Quins success, and to do that every individual must give 100% for the good of the team. “One of the key reasons we were successful, was having 45 players fighting for the same goal”, explained Care. It was a whole squad effort, not just the 23 playing at the weekend. Each player also has the freedom to be themselves, and is not put in a box, they are accepted and allowed to express themselves as they are aligned to the higher purpose, and belong to the group. Enjoying the process and feeling part of something bigger is often more fulfilling than simply winning, and Care stated emphatically that winning at Quins, where he has played since he was 19, “was the proudest moment of my career”. It is the sense of winning with your team who have been pulling towards the same goal for a higher purpose that adds to the achievement and success.
Trust, respect and empowerment
The staff value demonstrated that they valued the players’ opinions by asking them to take ownership of the programme and how they wanted to act within it. “I’ve never known an environment where we’ve felt more empowered because we were asked questions,” Care said. The players are empowered to think about what will get the best out of them, what they want, the most crucial piece being that their input is listened to and therefore they feel respected and trusted. This allows the players to feel valued but also in turn holds them accountable to their actions and decisions. The players must be able to understand what gets the best out of themselves as individuals and as a team. The support staff are also listened to and empowered to make decisions on the running of the programme. “Everyone was accountable and empowered and they really enjoyed it,” explained Millard. They are given autonomy and their expertise is listened to, therefore further increasing their feeling of being trusted and respected.
Have a family-first approach to people
Care emphasised the importance of making each individual feel seen as a human and not just an athlete or part of a machine. They took a family-first approach, knowing that whilst, yes, rugby and winning is important, people have lives outside of this and family is everything. Millard gave a brilliant example of one player’s mother being unwell during the week of the most important game of the season. The coaching staff and team’s response was “family comes first, just go,” says Millard. The player came back for the weekend and played exceptionally well – he had been understood and cared for as a human. Care highlighted from a players perspective, that decision from the coaching staff “filtered through the rest of the squad, and we feel empowered, trusted and listened to.”
Operating from a sense of belief not fear
The player-led approach to training and taking ownership breeds a sense of confidence that you have done everything in your power to prepare correctly. Confidence that the game plan is the best way for you to be successful, and trusting the processes in order to achieve your outcome goal. This is critical mid game when things might not be going your way, “by sticking to what we believe, what we’ve trained” explained Care. Having a unified approach is the best approach for success, and players not going off script trying to solve the problem individually. If you lose, which any team is bound to do, believing and trusting in the team’s process and not panicking. This is embedded from the owners and filters down the club giving everyone confidence that their position isn’t under threat from one or two negative results. Operating on a sense of belief and confidence rather than fear. Belief in the individual’s ability but also that of everyone around them.
Recommended reading
What Does Deloitte Think Makes an Inclusive Leader?
Four Factors when Making Diversity Work for your Team
How Inclusivity Unlocks Innovation and Performance at Selfridges
Framing the topic
A topic which has come up a number of times as an area of focus or improvement for many of the teams in our membership is how to create more inclusive environments, especially in high performance sport. In this topic-led virtual roundtable we had a great conversation about what many of our members were currently doing to promote ED&I [equality, diversity & inclusion] within their environments and areas which they were finding challenging.
Key areas of interest identified by the group:
Discussion points:
The team behind the team
This year (2022) marks the 20th Anniversary of the English Institute of Sport (EIS). We were formed in 2002 and have grown significantly over those 20 years to become a world leader in sports science, medicine, innovation and technology.
Our primary objective is to provide the outstanding support that will enable sports and athletes to excel, both on and off the field of play. We achieve that by working in close partnership with sports and our other stakeholders. While this report will focus on the EIS’s work, we could not operate or deliver any of the services you will read about without the support and partnership of the sports we work with and multiple other organisations. We are grateful to all our partners for their collaboration and feedback which helps us to learn and improve the services we offer.
After our formation in 2002, the EIS has continued to grow and add new services to our portfolio, meeting the growing needs of the high performance system. After Rio 2016, where the EIS contributed towards 93% of medals won by GB athletes, we created a world-first Athlete Health team, as well as taking on responsibility for a dedicated Performance Innovation team. By the time the Tokyo Games came around, we were proud to be working with 40 different Olympic and Paralympic sports, as well as sending more than 100 of our people to the Games as part of the official support teams for Team GB and ParalympicsGB.
The Covid-19 pandemic was a recent example of how well the EIS adapts to handle challenging situations; our medical teams worked extensively with sports to produce Return to Training guidance, enabled athletes to continue heat training by installing individual heat tents at sites across the country and administered more than 500 Covid tests to athletes.
We are committed to putting people at the heart of extraordinary performance and none of our success as an organisation would be possible without our 350-strong expert team. Our people work tirelessly behind the scenes to problem solve and innovate, often working as part of, or as an extension to, a sport’s personnel. I am delighted that through the course of this Special Report, you will hear from a number of that team, some of whom have been with the EIS for over 15 years!
I am immensely proud to lead this great organisation as we look to another 20 years of outstanding support. I hope you enjoy reading about our teams, projects and successes, as well as hearing from some of our much-respected colleagues from the world of high performance sport.
Matt Archibald, CEO, English Institute of Sport
Kevin Yusuf Coleman, the former Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Brentford FC [now the Diversity & Inclusion Lead at the BBC Studios], is speaking at November’s Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London. The English Premier League club have been noted for their work in delivering upon their EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] goals.
At the top of the conversation, he highlights the findings of some research conducted by management consultancy firm McKinsey. “If you’re in the top quartile of gender and ethnicity you’re about 25-30 percent [more profitable],” says Yusuf Coleman. “Just in terms of pure cash, if you’re a more diverse and inclusive organisation you do better, as well as it being the right thing to do.”
In this chapter, through Yusuf Coleman’s words, we highlight four factors to consider when trying to promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
1. EDI must be intrinsic
Yusuf Coleman emphasises that EDI must be part of your cultural identity, not just some add-on, which is all too common. “I’ve spent most of my life in sport trying to justify why EDI was a good idea and it was really refreshing to come to an organisation where it was already front and centre,” he says of a club situated in one of London’s most diverse areas. “It was already one of our two biggest priorities and it was more how we do it than why.
“It makes logical sense for us to have an understanding of having an inclusive environment for staff to work in, an inclusive offer for our fans and players and wider communities. It makes perfect business sense as well as being the right thing to do.”
2. Accountability is key
As Yusuf Coleman says, every staff appraisal at Brentford includes a section on EDI accountability. “If everyone is accountable then they will make it relevant to them.” Equally, your staff and athletes can play a fundamental role in bringing EDI to life. “You never design a programme, or anything that’s supposed to help any particular community without them being part of it.”
EDI can also be tracked. “It has to be something physically practical that you can measure so it means something to everyone, otherwise it is a slogan and when the next CEO comes in there will be another slogan and another acronym.”
Yusuf Coleman recalls his time as Equality & Diversity Manager at the Football Association [FA]. “We had monthly poll surveys where you had lots of questions around inclusion and belonging and you looked at how much people strongly believed in them or slightly believed in them and how that changed every month. And actually, over a period of two years, you saw the change in how people feel about the organisation. You have to be clever about things you normally can’t measure and it can feel like fluffy clouds, but you have to find a way to try and measure them.”
3. Create experiential learning opportunities for staff
“EDI, to really get it, you have to understand it and feel it,” says Yusuf Coleman. “People from diverse communities, from under-represented communities who might have experienced discrimination, for example, will understand it more because of life experience. And if you’re from the majority, if you’re a white middle-aged man like me, you don’t have those experiences to inform you.”
Experiential learning is a crucial tool. “We all talk about the ‘70:20:10 rule’ where if you experience something it’s much more impactful, especially around EDI,” he continues.
During his time at the FA, Yusuf Coleman arranged for a staff visit to the Neasden Temple, which is about 2km from Wembley Stadium but not a place most staff had visited. “[It’s about] being creative and helping people to experience diversity and inclusion for themselves is going to be more impactful than paying for corporate trainer a lot of money to come in with a white board for a few hours.”
4. You never succeed at EDI
Yusuf Coleman clear on that point. “You never succeed at EDI – no one is ever successful,” he says, adding that organisations should revisit their EDI strategy every two to three years. “You might be more ambitious in three years’ time or you might revisit the same thing. Never think of it as something you’re going to achieve. It’s ‘are our indicators good? Are we ahead of society? Are we leading society? Can we be seen as good practice or are we flagging behind?’ That’s really your only two litmus tests. As businesses, you don’t have to be more diverse than society, you don’t have to hit every target, one thing that’s really key is being humble and knowing where you are.”
Encourage innovation in a safe and inclusive environment
Selfridges is the UK’s premier high-end department store chain and must continuously asks itself “how can we make a point of difference?” EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] is at the heart of their response to that question, as Melissa Clottey, the founding Chair of Selfridges’ Diversity Board, told an audience at the 2021 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London. She explained that if you prioritise EDI, you are encouraging difference, which breeds innovation, which ultimately increases growth and impacts the companies bottom line. Innovation is critical, and having the thought process of “nothing is off the table, there are no right or wrong answers, all ideas are in, how do we collaborate together?”
Diversity of thought brings added impact and credibility
Clottey highlighted that Selfridges’ EDI strategy has given the organisation the framework by which to truly embed EDI into the DNA of the company. Twelve people from different parts of the company, ranging from retail to the head office, to whom ‘EDI’ meant something very different, came together to build their EDI strategy. It was this diversity of thought and experience from within the group that enabled their strategy to be so impactful. They came up with three pillars which cover ‘people, customer and product’ and, as Clottey admitted, “We wouldn’t have come up with such a wide-reaching strategy without that diversity of thought in the group.”
EDI is a collective responsibility
Clottey and the EDI group at Selfridges recognised that in order to truly embed EDI they would need buy-in from both the executive level and people ‘on the ground’. However, they believed that step one on their journey should be a bottom-up approach; to listen to their employees, understand what they need and want, and build their strategy from there. This being said, having support from the executive level has also been crucial, and every month they invite one executive member to sit in on their meeting and ask for a task from them. “We listen to the director, take on their advice, and build it into the strategy,” said Clottey. They introduced a ‘diversity squad’ to help drive engagement, and make sure it was always being pushed on the agenda, and fully embedded into the DNA of the company.
Cultural identities – how do you tell the story of yourself?
Clottey explained that a cultural identity is when you tell a story of yourself to others so “you can find similarities and celebrate your differences.” This was something that, though their links with Management Futures, a management consultancy specialising in business and leadership skills, Selfridges were able to roll out across the whole organisation. They allowed people the space to speak and be open, so they could share their lived experiences, “the things you wouldn’t necessarily think about someone based on their visual representation.” This allowed them to find connections with one another and improve that sense of inclusion and belonging.
Recommended reading
Selecting and Training Elite Performers in the Special Operations Command
Belonging: The Ancient Code of Togetherness
How a Coach Can Begin to Improve their Communication Skills
Framing the topic
In this Member Case Study format of our Virtual Roundtables, Rachel Vickery, one of our Performance Advisors and expert in human behaviour and performance, spoke about communicating effectively in highly pressurised environments. Rachel specialises in working within high pressure, high stakes environments, and looks to understand what happens to high performers within these situations from the perspective of the human stress response, and how this shows up, and impacts performance.
One thing Vickery was keen to stress to start with, is that irrespective of the arena of performance, whether it be a team sport, individual, or not even sport-related, a common factor is the human stress response. It is primal, survival-driven, and we all have it.
Consequences of the human stress response on communication
Your body language and ‘vibe’ will impact those around you
Keep the performance critique to the hot wash
The trust you need in the pressure moment is earned away from pressure
Self-communication
The main overarching point Vickery stressed was that in pressure moments, most people need to feel like someone has their back, that someone believes in them, and their performance is part of something bigger than themselves. If, as leaders you can instil this into the players and create that trust away from the pressure, you will be able to build a deep connection and work effectively under stress.
Attendee takeaways
