{"id":25907,"date":"2024-06-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=25907"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:10:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:10:56","slug":"the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-3","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Debrief \u2013 a Snapshot of Powerful Discussions Happening Right Now Across the Leaders Performance Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 5 Jun 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

The Debrief \u2013 a Snapshot of Powerful Discussions Happening Right Now Across the Leaders Performance Institute<\/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\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-3\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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The May agenda was dominated by cultural enablers, the fundamentals of communication and the impact of mental skills work.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By Luke Whitworth<\/h6>\n
May was the month where Emma Hayes signed off at Chelsea Women with a fifth consecutive WSL title, Red Bull\u2019s reigning world champion Max Verstappen extended his lead in the Formula 1 World Championship, and Tadej Poga\u010dar won his second Grand Tour at the Giro d\u2019Italia.<\/h6>\n

Those three, different as they are, share a reputation for sustained high performance and, as such, represent the profile we had in mind as we picked May to launch of our latest Performance Support Series.<\/p>\n

That series \u2013 which has two sessions still to run at the time of writing \u2013 was just one of the opportunities on offer to Leaders Performance Institute members through their membership during the course of the month.<\/p>\n

There was much more besides and The Debrief<\/em> is designed to keep you on the pulse of contemporary thinking across the high performance space. Do check out some of our upcoming events and virtual learning sessions to help you to connect, learn and share with your fellow members from across the globe.<\/p>\n

Four interconnected cultural enablers<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have all asked ourselves this question at various times but Dr Edd Vahid and Management Futures decided to delve a little deeper.<\/p>\n

In June 2022, the business and leadership consultancy commissioned Vahid, the Head of Academy Football Operations at the Premier League, to undertake a piece of research to discover the \u2018secrets of culture\u2019. Two years later, this project, titled \u2018Cultural Hypothesis\u2019, is on the cusp of publication.<\/p>\n

Ahead of its release, Vahid is leading a three-part Performance Support Series at the Leaders Performance Institute that seeks to explore the enablers in high performing cultures.<\/p>\n

The first session, which took place in early May, was a useful way of testing the importance and relevance of the four interconnected enablers highlighted by Vahid in the Cultural Hypothesis: purpose, psychological safety, belonging and cultural leadership.<\/p>\n

Vahid explored each enabler in turn.<\/p>\n

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  1. Cultural leadership<\/strong>. It is seen as a super enabler. When you\u2019ve got strong and aligned cultural leadership it will be a precursor to psychological safety and belonging.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Questions for you to consider in your organisations: <\/strong><\/p>\n

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    • Who are your cultural guardians?<\/li>\n
    • How are you supporting the development of your guardians?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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      1. Psychological safety<\/strong>. This was prominent in Vahid\u2019s findings. Author Amy Edmondson in her book, The Fearless Organization<\/em>, suggests that \u2018making the environment safe for open communication about challenges, concerns and opportunities is one of the most important leadership responsibilities in the twenty-first century\u2019. She also highlighted the importance and relationship between cultural leadership and effective psychological safety.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Questions for you to consider in your organisations:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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        • What are you doing to build safety?<\/li>\n
        • How do you respond to mistakes in your environment?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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          1. Purpose<\/strong>. Most high performing cultures have an inspiring purpose. Vahid referred to clothing brand Patagonia, which says \u2018we\u2019re in the business to save our home planet\u2019 and its every action is driven by that purpose. Those organisations that are attending to culture regularly are taking the time to check-in on their purpose; what it means for the organisation and the individuals within.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Questions for you to consider in your organisations:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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            • Does your organisation have an inspiring purpose?<\/li>\n
            • How closely aligned are an individual(s) and organisational purpose?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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              1. Belonging<\/strong>. Ultimately, we want to get people to a point of challenge, but that doesn\u2019t always happen by accident. The In his book Belonging<\/em>, Owen Eastwood wrote that \u2018our senses are primed to constantly seek information about belonging from our environment. We are hardwired to quickly and intuitively understand whether or not we are in a safe place with people we can trust\u2019. Most optimal environments where there is a high degree of psychological safety is where individuals feel comfortable to challenge.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                A question for you to consider in your organisations:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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                • What belonging cues are evident in your environment?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                  Achieving communication nirvana<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  Win, lose or draw, teams are constantly in transition and, as such, they need different things from their leaders at each stage in their development.<\/p>\n

                  This can be tricky because you can\u2019t shortcut the development of rapport, belonging and trust \u2013 all are critical to team development and effective transitions \u2013 and yet teams and leaders still face pressure to perform now.<\/p>\n

                  That comes down to good communication, as discussed in a recent Leadership Skills Series session.<\/p>\n

                  In fact, it is worth exploring five levels of communication as experienced in a team setting. It is useful to think of the following as a pyramid. Teams begin at No 1 and work towards No 5, with increasing exposure to risk, vulnerability and criticism at each level.<\/p>\n

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                  1. Basic ritual:<\/strong> this is a safe place to start. When sharing basic rituals, we are weighing each other up and there is an unconscious measuring process going on.<\/li>\n
                  2. Sharing information:<\/strong> the next layer up is when there is a confidence and trust to begin to share information. This might be personal information or progress and insights on internal projects.<\/li>\n
                  3. Exchanging ideas and opinions:<\/strong> now we want to know what people really think. This is where the risk factor in teams can be increased. The asking of opinions and ideas. There may be an exposure to risk and a need to be bolder.<\/li>\n
                  4. Free expression of feelings:<\/strong> some teams never really get to this stage. This can be a drag on potential when you can\u2019t share feelings and there is a lot of energy wasted. There can be an atmosphere of tension.<\/li>\n
                  5. Unspoken rapport:<\/strong> this is the nirvana. The stage where things happen and others know how to respond.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    Five fundamentals when measuring the impact of your mental skills work<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    In the modern landscape of high performance sport, we often here the phrase \u2018everything that is managed is measured\u2019.<\/p>\n

                    Such is the desire to show impact and return on investment, we are indeed measuring much of what can be measured.<\/p>\n

                    Nevertheless, it can be difficult to measure the impact of areas such as coach development work or, as discussed in a recent Virtual Roundtable for Leaders Performance Institute members, mental skills work.<\/p>\n

                    While it is tempting to jump into the measuring process, it is important to first build some pre-requisites.<\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. Have you defined and discussed what are we actually measuring and why? We can\u2019t be trapped into the tendency to measure for measure\u2019s sake.<\/li>\n
                    2. Does trust exist in the environment between staff, players and the coaches? When we think of the success of effective mental skills or sport psychology support, trust is a cornerstone of a well-functioning approach.<\/li>\n
                    3. Additionally, how can you work through your coaches to get athlete buy-in while garnering their feedback on the athletes\u2019 growth and improvement?<\/li>\n
                    4. Are your data and insights valid and reliable?<\/li>\n
                    5. How regularly and intently are you debriefing? As part of the process, make time to debrief and discuss results to understand how stakeholders are interpreting data.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n
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