{"id":20939,"date":"2023-10-23T08:18:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T08:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=20939"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:11:07","slug":"do-you-sense-your-staff-holding-their-tongues-if-so-perhaps-its-time-to-ask-yourself-if-you-are-as-good-a-listener-as-you-think","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/do-you-sense-your-staff-holding-their-tongues-if-so-perhaps-its-time-to-ask-yourself-if-you-are-as-good-a-listener-as-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you Sense your Staff Holding their Tongues? If so, Perhaps it\u2019s Time to Ask yourself if you Are as Good a Listener as you Think"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 23 Oct 2023 <\/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

Do you Sense your Staff Holding their Tongues? If so, Perhaps it\u2019s Time to Ask yourself if you Are as Good a Listener as you Think<\/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
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Category<\/div>\n Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/do-you-sense-your-staff-holding-their-tongues-if-so-perhaps-its-time-to-ask-yourself-if-you-are-as-good-a-listener-as-you-think\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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In his latest column, Iain Brunnschweiler explains why listening \u2013 and having the humility to listen well \u2013 is the special sauce of the best teams.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By Iain Brunnschweiler<\/h6>\n
Your heartbeat is racing, and you\u2019ve got a sick feeling in your stomach.<\/h6>\n

You are about to walk into a meeting with the rest of your leadership team and you know that you\u2019ve got something to say to add value to the conversation. However, the dynamic in the room means that you already know that you will hold your tongue and won\u2019t feel comfortable to say what you really think.<\/p>\n

Sound familiar? If it doesn\u2019t, then you\u2019ve done extremely well to navigate a career thus far without this experience!<\/p>\n

For the majority of us, this kind of feeling may have occurred a handful of times, or it may have occurred hundreds of times. You might be reading this thinking that this is exactly how you will be feeling either tomorrow, or later this week.<\/p>\n

Seeking optimal <\/strong><\/p>\n

This situation surely cannot be optimal. It cannot be optimal for the individual who is suffering the anxiety-inducing thoughts, and it certainly cannot be optimal for the business who is deploying this group of people to work together.<\/p>\n

Whether in business, music, sport or military, the ability for us to maximise the combined forces of those \u2018in the room\u2019 is absolutely paramount for success. And, more importantly, for the humans involved to feel comfortable enough to contribute and feel valued.<\/p>\n

One of my key focus areas in recent years has been supporting people to work better together. In sports, a key objective has been to look at what is broadly termed \u2018co-coaching\u2019.<\/p>\n

Co-coaching is the ability for multiple coaches to work together in the same coaching session. With growing support staffs, often in elite team sports today there will be two or three technical coaches, along with multiple other specialists such as strength & conditioning coaches, analysts, psychologists and physiotherapists. With all of these expert practitioners on the same field at the same time, the coordination of their roles and responsibilities is paramount. So, co-coaching could describe two coaches working together with the same squad, in the same session. Or it could be an entire support staff of seven or eight working together at the same time. This can get pretty complicated, and it is very easy for their to be a lack of role clarity, which results in a lack of impact on player development.<\/p>\n

In my experience, there are three broad, fundamental qualities needed to co-coach effectively. They are:<\/p>\n

1) Having an aligned purpose or intended outcome.<\/p>\n

2) Having clarity on individuals roles in order to achieve the outcome.<\/p>\n

3) Having a level of respect for the other members of the team and the contribution they are making.<\/p>\n

The special sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n

As my old boss, the relentlessly successful Simon Timson (currently the Performance Director at Manchester City) once said to me, we need \u201cno precious professional boundaries\u201d. What the heck does that mean, I hear you cry!?<\/p>\n

Well, I learned, and then experienced exactly what that meant during my time at England Cricket. We had a performance support team comprising technical coaches, an operations team, a physio, S&C coach, analyst, psychologist and education\/welfare coaches. Similar teams will be present in many sports performance\/development environments.<\/p>\n

However, I have rarely experienced these teams operating anywhere near optimally together. And that\u2019s where Simon\u2019s wonderful phrase comes in.<\/p>\n

For example, as the head coach of a national age group team, I embraced the view of the physio. This is not uncommon, he is a highly qualified technical expert in his field. However, it was not just his physio-medical view that I would be seeking. I would also genuinely embrace his view on the way a batter had approached an innings, or the field setting that we were going with during a youth international match. That\u2019s what it means, that is what Simon meant. As a staff, we were aware that there was a high level of technical expertise in our own fields, but the special sauce was that we trusted each other to provide a view that wasn\u2019t necessarily in our lane. The fast bowling coach could genuinely provide a view on the gym programme or the analyst discuss the education provision. This feeling that we had amongst us is rare. Too many times I have seen people being shut down because the leader in the room was not open to a level of cognitive diversity. Their mind was shut to the fact that someone deemed to be a non-technical coach might actually have value to add.<\/p>\n

So what led this group to come to this place? I think there was one fundamental skill that we worked on, got better at, and evolved: listening.<\/p>\n

It sounds simple, but how often do you REALLY listen to your colleagues? Listen to understand. Listen with all of your senses. Listen for the story behind the story, for the values or beliefs that might be guiding the narrative. To create and hold space for the contribution of others, as a leader, rather than to fill it with your own preconceived ideas or to confirm your own biases.<\/p>\n

Listening is a whole lot harder than it sounds. Especially when the heat is on, and decisions need to be made. Listening takes energy and it takes attention. It is also really easy to hear what you want to hear rather than what is really being said. I have often asked a player \u201cHow was training today?\u201d To which the answer is almost invariably \u201cGood, thanks\u201d! Only by asking a better question such as \u201cWhat did you learn in training today?\u201d, or \u201cWhat made you think the most in training today?\u201d, and then really listening carefully to the answer have I unlocked conversations with players that I never thought I would have.<\/p>\n

So when you reflect on your own contribution to a team, or specifically a team meeting, please do consider the role you are playing. Are you causing anxiety in others, to the point at which they may not say the one thing that could be critical to success? Are you creating and holding the space to genuinely listen? Because if you aren\u2019t, then you\u2019ll almost certainly be making much worse decisions due to not having the full picture from all of the minds you\u2019ve got in the team.<\/p>\n

Questions for leaders: <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • How aware are you of how members of your team are feeling in different meetings?<\/li>\n
  • To what extent do you embrace the thinking of someone who may not be a technical expert in that area? (Some call this a \u2018na\u00efve expert\u2019)<\/li>\n
  • How much of your energy and skill are you protecting to genuinely listen?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Iain Brunnschweiler runs the Focus Performance Consultancy. He is a former professional cricketer, has authored two published books, and most recently was the Head of Technical Development at Southampton Football Club.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

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