{"id":29334,"date":"2025-02-03T13:23:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T13:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=29334"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:10:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:10:46","slug":"the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11","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-11\/","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 3 Feb 2025 <\/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-11\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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This month we touch upon the power of flexibility, relatability and collaboration in leadership and what you need to know to be better in each area.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
Did you see January as a time for reflection or a time for pushing on towards your goals?<\/h6>\n

Ideally, you found time for both and, here, we highlight a selection insights from the first month of 2025 that may help you to consider a problem in a different way or enable you to identify the right people to whom you can turn.<\/p>\n

We hope to see some of you in Melbourne later this week for the Leaders Sport Performance Summit.<\/p>\n

And, whether or not you can make it to the Glasshouse, here are five thoughts for all leaders to ponder.<\/p>\n

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  1. Redefine or reframe the problem with alternative goals<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you can find new ways to consider your problems, it can open up new ways of thinking.<\/p>\n

    In this article<\/a>, John Bull of Management Futures used the example of an elevator. Perhaps your goal is to make the elevator go faster, but what if your aim was to make the wait less annoying?<\/p>\n

    \u201cMost hotels will put a mirror beside the elevator,\u201d he said. \u201cThat seems to kill time when we\u2019re looking at ourselves in a mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Bull suggested we \u201cthink of at least three different ways we could define our goal, to help open up new ways of thinking about the problem\u201d.<\/p>\n

    He also share the STOP process for creative problem-solving:<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

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    1. As a leader you\u2019re not bulletproof \u2013 don\u2019t try to be<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In November, John Longmire called time on his 14 years as Senior Coach of the Sydney Swans. He has taken a new position as the Swans\u2019 Executive Director of Club Performance but, before doing so, he reflected on his tenure as Senior Coach, which brought two AFL flags and four Grand Final appearances in total.<\/p>\n

      You can read his thoughts here<\/a>, but here is a snapshot of his desire to remain \u201cconnected and relatable\u201d to his players and staff. As he said onstage at November\u2019s Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London, \u201cthe coach is no longer looked upon as being bulletproof\u201d whatever their standing may be within the game.<\/p>\n

      His final speech to the players and staff as Senior Coach attested to that belief. He weaved in personal stories and his voice cracked at times. He wiped away tears too.<\/p>\n

      It called to mind the weekly \u2018storytelling\u2019 sessions that Longmire made a key feature of the Swans\u2019 environment. He told the Leaders audience that players and staff share stories or complete a series of tasks for discussion each week. Recent examples included writing \u2018a letter to your 16-year-old self\u2019. These sessions are popular with players and staff alike.<\/p>\n

      \u201cSometimes it\u2019s a photo of something that mattered to you and quite often there\u2019s tears involved,\u201d he said. \u201cThe way I looked upon coaching 25 years ago is completely different now \u2013 these 18, 19, 20-year-olds need to be able to relate to you. If you can show that you\u2019re human, you get a lot more back.\u201d<\/p>\n

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      1. Performance improves when you match team density, size, and space to the task at hand<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        The question of team dynamics<\/a> sits at the heart of\u00a0The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups\u00a0<\/em>by Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey and Robin Dunbar. The trio has spent decades observing the worlds of academia, business, and government as they look to better understand the workings of high-performing teams.<\/p>\n

        Camilleri and Rockey came to the summit in London to discuss how their research has its applications in the world of sport. Decision-making was one such area:<\/p>\n

        For decisions made at speed, you\u2019ll count on five people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Five is the number of intimate relationships a person can have. Rockey said: \u201cThese are the relationships that protect us, make us thrive, and ensure that we go through life in a joyful way. They protect us from ill-health and from some of the psychological challenges that we might have from feeling insecure.\u201d They, of course, occur in intimate spaces.<\/p>\n

        For more complex decisions, you\u2019ll count on 15 people (including your original five).<\/strong><\/p>\n

        The \u2018pain\u2019 comes when you look to insert new thinking into complex decision making in a group space. \u201cWe spend about 60 per cent of our social time with just 15 people,\u201d said Rockey. \u201cWith the 15 in the workplace, they would have built long-term relationships and loyalty to you over time \u2013 that\u2019s how we work as humans \u2013 so breaking up those people to bring in new thinking is painful.\u201d<\/p>\n

        According to Dunbar, the upper limit on the number of social relationships we can enjoy is 150<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Dunbar suggests that people can have no more than 150 social relationships at any one time. \u201cIt\u2019s a very stable number across all societies and cultures,\u201d said Rockey.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \"\"

        From The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups by Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey, and Robin Dunbar.<\/p><\/div>\n

          \n
        1. Athletes crave individual \u2013 and team \u2013 development<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Young athletes are bolder in stating their desire for belonging and connection than their forebears, but this comes with a paradoxical demand for more personalised training and attention. There are clear implications for the time coaches spend on team dynamics in an era where the power has shifted to the athlete. The topic was discussed on a recent virtual roundtable<\/a>. \u201cStaff and coaches are more vulnerable,\u201d said one participant, who pondered where the balance needs to sit. \u201cGive the athletes a voice and a choice, give them ownership, have the consultation, but there is a line too.\u201d<\/p>\n

          Another participant with experience of coaching in European football, highlighted that individual work will mean different things to different people and can be dependent on team selection. They argued that there is room for better management of expectations and, more broadly, a consensus for coaches and athletes alike on what constitutes \u2018individual\u2019 training.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. The best performance tools are co-designed<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            In February 2024, the England & Wales Cricket Board launched its Insight 360 platform, which adopts a data-driven approach to athlete and performance management.<\/p>\n

            Ahead of the launch, the ECB gathered input from practitioners and coaches across the English game. \u201cThis means Insight 360 is bespoke for women\u2019s cricket,\u201d said Anna Warren, the Head of England Women\u2019s Science & Medicine. Players, she said in this article<\/a>, are happy with an app that allows them to review their own data in as much detail as they like. \u201cThis is good for player buy-in, which is always a challenge in relation to athlete monitoring.\u201d<\/p>\n

            There is also the power of a co-designed project. UK Sports Institute have found as much with their\u00a0Project Minerva<\/a>. Dr Richard Burden, the UKSI\u2019s Co-Head of Female Athlete Health & Performance, said: \u201cGet the practitioners involved, get athletes, get the teams and bring them along with it because if they\u2019re onboard you get easier access to them and you\u2019re going to produce something that\u2019s more translatable, meaningful and applicable to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

            Warren is on the same page with Insight 360. \u201cYou can link loads of different data sources together and start to answer some key performance questions \u2013 we\u2019re not looking at everything in isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

            \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":29335,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[20],"pathway":[295],"topic":[301,334,299],"sport":[349,321],"class_list":["post-29334","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership-culture-performance","pathway-leadership-development","topic-agility","topic-leadership-of-self","topic-team-building","sport-australian-football","sport-cricket"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Debrief \u2013 a Snapshot of Powerful Discussions Happening Right Now Across the Leaders Performance Institute - Performance Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Debrief \u2013 a Snapshot of Powerful Discussions Happening Right Now Across the Leaders Performance Institute - Performance Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Performance Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T05:10:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2195839971-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11\/\",\"name\":\"The Debrief \u2013 a Snapshot of Powerful Discussions Happening Right Now Across the Leaders Performance Institute - Performance Institute\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2195839971-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-03T13:23:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-15T05:10:46+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-11\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2195839971-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2195839971-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 25: Madison Keys of the United States poses with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after the Women's Singles Trophy Presentation following the Women's Singles Final against Aryna Sabalenka during day 14 of the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 25, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. 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