{"id":31632,"date":"2025-11-18T18:08:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T18:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=31632"},"modified":"2026-03-05T17:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T17:09:22","slug":"is-your-team-ready-to-ride-the-trends-set-to-shape-high-performance-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/is-your-team-ready-to-ride-the-trends-set-to-shape-high-performance-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your Team Ready to Ride the Trends Set to Shape High Performance in 2026?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 18 Nov 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

Is your Team Ready to Ride the Trends Set to Shape High Performance in 2026?<\/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 Coaching & Development<\/a>, Data & Innovation<\/a>, Human Performance<\/a>, Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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At the 2025 Leaders Sport Performance Summit, some of the most respected leaders in high performance set out their plans to build the winning teams of the future.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

\n

By John Portch<\/h6>\n
\u201cI knew it was a mountain,\u201d said Johann van Graan, \u201cbut I didn\u2019t know it was Everest.\u201d<\/h6>\n

The South African, then with Munster, had agreed to become the Head Coach at struggling Bath in December 2021.<\/p>\n

A few days later, he switched on the TV only to see Bath go 0-28 down after just 25 minutes of their Champions Cup tie with Leinster.<\/p>\n

It prompted the Everest comment, as Van Graan told an audience at the 2025 Leaders Sport Performance Summit at the Kia Oval in London.<\/p>\n

He eventually took the reins at Bath\u2019s Recreation Ground in July 2022 and, over the next three years, led one of the most remarkable transformations in English rugby history.<\/p>\n

In May, Bath lifted the European Challenge Cup, Premiership and Premiership Rugby Cup.<\/p>\n

The tale of Van Graan\u2019s \u2018Rec Revolution\u2019 set the tone for an international gathering of over 300 high-performance leaders to share knowledge, best practice and inspiration.<\/p>\n

The agenda took its lead from our Trend Report<\/a> in which more than 200 performance leaders from almost 40 sports told us how they expect the industry to develop in the years ahead.<\/p>\n

Five trends stood out:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Alignment is now a competitive advantage<\/li>\n
  2. Leaders increasingly seek to empower and collaborate<\/li>\n
  3. Teams value resourcefulness over resources<\/li>\n
  4. Psychology will be a game-changer<\/li>\n
  5. Teams are engaging in a tech arms race<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Van Graan is at the vanguard of several of these trends and, across both days, the Leaders Performance Institute delivered a range of guest speakers from organisations including England Rugby, the Royal Air Force, and the Haas F1 team to speak to each trend.<\/p>\n

    The following is a snapshot of what they said.<\/p>\n

    1. Alignment is now a competitive advantage<\/strong><\/p>\n

    For evidence of the stock placed in being aligned, look no further than Bath\u2019s transformation from a rabble to the best team in England in just three years.<\/p>\n

    Van Graan said: \u201cI put up a picture of Twickenham on the very first day. I said \u2018I can\u2019t tell you how<\/em> we\u2019re going to get there, but we will<\/em> get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

    He wanted his playing group, coaches and other performance staff to coalesce around three values: connection, clarity and commitment. The trick was then bringing those to life.<\/p>\n

    \u201cOne of the things that we underestimate is what alignment really looks like. We can never communicate enough. Do we really let people know what standards actually look like, what we actually are, what are we actually going to attack?\u201d<\/h4>\n
    Johann van Graan\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
    \"\"
    Bath Head Coach Johann van Graan in conversation with host Iain Brunnschweiler.<\/p><\/div>\n
    2. Leaders increasingly seek to empower and collaborate<\/strong><\/p>\n
    John Mitchell offered another inspiring story from the world of rugby union.<\/p>\n
    In 2023, when he signed on as Head Coach of the England women\u2019s national team, it was Mitchell\u2019s first time coaching a women\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
    The Red Roses had a genuine shot at winning the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup on home soil in 2025, but a talented team needed an experienced guiding hand.<\/p>\n
    The team delivered, with Mitchell receiving plaudits for his role as England secured their first world title in 11 years.<\/p>\n
    Two months on from that achievement, the audience found Mitchell (affectionately known to his peers as \u2018Mitch\u2019) in typically reflective mood alongside the recently retired Emily Scarratt, who was part of the Red Roses\u2019 winning squad.<\/p>\n
    Sport (and rugby union) grows ever more complex and yet, after 30 years, Mitchell feels he has never been better equipped to coach.<\/p>\n
    \u201cYou don\u2019t have the full scope,\u201d he says of his early coaching days in the mid-90s. \u201cYou have strengths early on that are recognised but then also you sometimes don\u2019t know the whole of yourself. So you take the time to understand the whole of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
    He came to a critical understanding. \u201cWhen I was younger, I was going to try and be right. Maybe I was trying to prove myself as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
    \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be absolute or right when making decisions. Just use your people. Listen to your people. They\u2019ll give you information; and probably enough information \u2013 you don\u2019t need it all \u2013 to be able to make decisions.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    John Mitchell\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
    \"\"
    England Red Roses Head Coach John Mitchell shakes hands with former England fullback Emily Scarratt at the conclusion of their panel session.<\/p><\/div>\n
    Emma Keith built on the theme of empowerment in her presentation on officer training in the Royal Air Force.<\/p>\n
    \u201cCultures and environments can only grow when everybody takes accountability,\u201d said the Commandant of the RAF\u2019s Tedder Academy of Leadership. Keith, a group captain, is the first female to run RAF officer training.<\/p>\n
    \u201cThe standard you walk past is the standard that you accept. That can be poor infrastructure that you don\u2019t report; it could be poor behaviour. If you walk past it, you\u2019re saying it\u2019s okay. And that\u2019s a slow rot from within.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    Emma Keith\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
    \"\"
    Group Captain Emma Keith talks to UK Sport’s Alex Stacey following her presentation on officer training in the Royal Air Force.<\/p><\/div>\n
    3. Teams are prioritising resourcefulness over resources<\/strong><\/p>\n
    As Team Principal of MoneyGram Haas F1, Ayao Komatsu knows as well as anyone that his team is competing with better resourced and more illustrious teams.<\/p>\n
    The team has 375 staff members, which may sound like a lot, but it pales in comparison to the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren.<\/p>\n
    \u201cIf we cannot work together, if you\u2019re not supporting each other, if you\u2019re not aligned, we\u2019ve got zero chance against organisations minimum three times our size,\u201d said Komatsu, who had just flown in from the Brazilian Grand Prix in S\u00e3o Paulo where Haas\u2019 Oliver Bearman achieved a creditable top-six finish the weekend before the summit.<\/p>\n
    \u201cI know we have good people. It\u2019s a matter of putting it together, giving them clear direction, and an organisational structure that promotes \u2013 forces \u2013 communication.\u201d<\/h4>\n
    Ayao Komatsu\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
    \"\"
    Ayao Komatsu, the Team Principal of Haas F1, shares insights into life in the pitlane.<\/p><\/div>\n
    Similarly, albeit in vastly different circumstances, the Red Cross must make the most of its limited resources when emergencies strike.<\/p>\n
    Chris Davies, the Director of Crisis Response and Community Resilience at The British Red Cross, cited his team\u2019s core operational process:<\/p>\n
    \u201cFirst off, ensure that you\u2019re not over-promising and under-delivering. So you know what resource you have and work with key partners to make sure that you know which resources are available to you so that you get that embedded into the planning; and then we\u2019re really clear on the capabilities that we have. It\u2019s the basic forms of: what capabilities do you have? What can you deploy and when? What\u2019s your deployment times?\u201d<\/h4>\n
    Chris Davies\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
    \"\"
    Chris Davies of the British Red Cross in full presentation mode.<\/p><\/div>\n
    4. Psychology will be a game-changer<\/strong><\/p>\n
    The mental and behavioural side of performance was an ever-present topic on both days of the summit. Our guests discussed several elements:<\/p>\n
    The importance of individual expression<\/strong> and acceptance<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \u201cPeople need to be themselves. It doesn\u2019t matter where you\u2019re from, what language you speak, the colour of your skin \u2013 everybody\u2019s mum and dad loves them.\u201d<\/h4>\n
    Johann van Graan<\/pre>\n
    Belonging as a contributor to wellbeing (and performance)<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \u201cThere is potentially 40 women in a group and they\u2019re all going to be quite different and they\u2019re going to need something different, but nonetheless, they\u2019re all as important as each other and need to be valued in the same way.\u201d<\/h4>\n
    Emily Scarratt<\/pre>\n
    Psychological safety<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \u201cIf you\u2019re afraid of failure, nobody\u2019s going to move. So you\u2019ve got to give them a clear message that, \u2018come on\u2019, you\u2019ve got to almost take yourself out of your comfort zone every day. If you haven\u2019t taken yourself out of your comfort zone once a day, actually, I don\u2019t think you\u2019ve done your job.\u201d<\/h4>\n
    Ayao Komatsu<\/pre>\n
    5. <\/strong>Teams are engaging in a tech arms race <\/strong><\/p>\n
    Professor Tom Crick spoke in his capacity as Chief Scientific Adviser at the UK Government\u2019s Department for Culture, Media and Sport.<\/p>\n
    He presented on the growth of AI and continually stressed how important it is to keep \u201cthe human in the loop\u201d regardless of whatever advances are coming.<\/p>\n
    To this end he offered Leaders Performance Institute members a series of recommendations.<\/p>\n
    You must be able to explain why you are using an AI tool\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \u201cYou can\u2019t just say \u2018the computer says so.\u2019 There has to be some understanding and explainability, and there has to be trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
    An AI tool should not replace your people\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \u201cAI should not erode or disempower or remove agency for people within your domain. It should augment human capability, not replace it,\u201d said Crick. He added: \u201cIt is about co-design, co-decisions and co-evolution as we go forwards \u2013 keeping humans embedded in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
    Don\u2019t assume your AI tool is right\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \u201cDon\u2019t automatically trust the system. Always ask: is that the right data? Does that feel right? Can we verify and validate it another way?\u201d<\/p>\n
    \"\"
    Tom Crick, the Chief Scientific Adviser at the UK Government\u2019s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, answers questions from Leaders Performance Institute members.<\/p><\/div>\n
    Next stop for the Leaders Performance Institute<\/strong><\/p>\n
    <\/p>\n
    Leaders Meet: Australia<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n