COACHING & LEARNING DURING A PANDEMIC

"The view you adopt profoundly affects the way you lead your life" (Carol Dweck)

Simple but true, and despite the obvious agreement to the notion above, on a personal note I have avoided moving from effect to cause during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite knowing I was living & working in a mindset of effect. And it is only recently that I have understood this in order to start making any change.

But why......

I wish I had some sort of enlightening moment to discuss as part of this short article, but the truth is there are a few simple learnings that have been born out of the varying situations we have found ourselves in on a global scale - in my own case, and for my own understanding I find it easier to make a correlation to sport, namely football.......

1) SOME DISTANCE IS GOOD DISTANCE

Aside from the obvious 2 metres required, the pandemic has provided the time, opportunity & space to reflect on the tiny amount of planning I was affording myself in the flow of everyday work, knowing my preference is that of a social environment - it became easy to bounce from meeting to meeting / conversation to conversation, and lose sight of the 'why am I doing this', which was usually common practice before entering a work or sporting setting.

The facilitation of churn would then develop, and the quality of the work done would often become secondary. No commute, better management of time and space has allowed a re-evaluation of what had become standard practice, and PLAN/DO/REVIEW - a common phrase from one of my UEFA B License tutors way back when, has become common place from my kitchen table come office in order to avoid this going forward.

In football I would not go into a new game without reviewing the previous one whether good are bad, making corrections & developments in training & preparing for the new challenge at the weekend, however I have found myself churning in work in the early stages of lockdown, guilt of not being in the office maybe? a feeling of presenteeism looking at the screen blankly on some days contributed I am sure. But the space from standard day to day has really reinforced the importance of checking that you are still feeding into the wider goal or picture, staying on track, and not 'ticking boxes' for the sake of it. If you are like me and you can admittedly become tunnelled (especially when you're excited about a new project) take the time to ask yourself why you started and whether it fits in the goal, whether it be business or a sporting context.

2) THE IMPORTANCE OF CLEAR COMMS

Working at Gymshark has most certainly embedded the importance of this, as the company is always working on ways to be incredibly transparent in all things, from being brave enough to admit where we get things wrong, all the way to basic communications on what decisions are being made, how they effect and impact people and what they can expect.

Linking directly to point 1, distance from normality has afforded time to consider how important clear communication is, a huge assumption I know but it is almost British culture to skirt around important subjects, and while I am not linking directly to government updates about Covid-19 you can see how this notion can be easily reinforced :). But what makes comms clear?

In my humble opinion it is the listener...... and the questions they ask.

Before the change in working arrangements I was unaware of my own inability to allow myself time for reflection, when given instruction through comms or in discussion, I would find myself saying yes I understand or no I do not need more information in a desperate attempt to go away and impress with my delivery at the first time of asking. This would correlate with over promising and under delivering and letting people down. For a coach this is the opposite of good practice, and the learning has been to engage properly with the communication given, ask questions and do not be afraid to get full understanding, it does not make you an imposter - it makes you effective, in whatever context you are working in.

3) LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FIXED & A GROWTH MINDSET

This is not preaching about something new, merely something that has been brought to my conscious mind by a close friend and coach in recent times. For the most part during the change in environment & circumstances I have chosen to live with a fixed mindset i.e:

'Responded to failure in anger, refused to change course and used the term 'I dont have the ability to do this', blamed circumstance and refused to see challenge as anything more than static'.

Until the point where I was challenged on the use of negative language, and was asked - 'so is the problem the challenge or is it you'...... When I left my ego at the door, and the overwhelming urge to respond defensively surpassed, it became obvious. My final learning during this strange situation is that the mindset you choose is......your choice.

Skills are learnable, feedback promotes learning and the challenges 'like staring at your screen for hours wondering where you add value' is a springboard for growth, you can do something about it - unless you choose for it to be that way. Therefore I am now going to work harder on maintaining a growth mindset, treating these changes and challenges as a learning, rather than searching for confirmation that I am not adding value, character or intelligence - and becoming consumed by it.

To close, I acknowledge that all people's situations are different and individual to them, and should not be compared because of this, but I hope the above offers some nuggets that provoke a thought for one or two at least. Comments and discussion as always are welcome and appreciated ??.