THE MOST NERVE-WRACKING PRESENTATION I'VE EVER GIVEN...

What follows is a personal story that I recently posted on another social media platform, but which I believe is also highly relevant to the LinkedIn audience.?

It's something that happened to me over 15 years ago but that I only recently chose to share and relates to a presentation I gave on elite mental performance to the men's first-team of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club.?

(Bear in mind that it was written for fans of the club, so some of the names and context may be unfamiliar. (Although some of you who know me well may guess who the 'good friend' who set it all up is!)

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THE PHONE CALL THAT CHANGED MY LIFE: A PERSONAL STORY ABOUT THE ALBION THAT I'VE NEVER SHARED BEFORE…?

It was late March 2009 – just shy of 15 years ago - and I was at my desk in the offices of the company I worked for near Hove Station when my phone rang.?

On the other end of the line was someone whom I’d never met or spoken to before, but it was a conversation that - just a few days later - would result in me working with the whole of Brighton & Hove Albion’s first-team squad for over an hour.?

Twice!?

It is a story that I've never shared before, but, if you are interested, here is how this most unlikely of experiences came to be...?

The call was from Russell Slade who had been appointed Brighton & Hove Albion manager earlier in the month. A good friend of mine who had been involved in Russell's appointment knew that I had a passion for psychology and behavioural science, was working with psychologists, and that in recent years I'd started presenting on the subject internationally.?

Russell wanted to know if my research had thrown up any insights that the team might find useful and that may aid their performance as the last few games of the season approached and we fought to stay in League One.?

He was pushing on an open door.?

"I'd love to" I blurted out, but, having discussed what he was after and arranged a time and date, part of me began to wish I hadn't been so hasty as, just a few minutes after the call had ended, my excitement turned to nerves. What had I just agreed to?!?

The issue wasn’t presenting itself. I was used to presenting my employer’s business to prospective clients and large groups, but this was a very different subject and a very different audience! After all, I’d not been designing and delivering workshops & training sessions related to mental and team performance for that long and the audience was going to be BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION'S FIRST TEAM!! MY CLUB!!?

But, then again, it was also an opportunity.?

As those of you who follow my posts here on Twitter will know, I always try to go into situations with an optimistic mindset and, whilst failing miserably wasn't my aim, if it happened, at least I'd have learnt how NOT to do things and what DOESN'T work which, after all, would still be very useful moving forwards, too.?

The date was set, I was to be at the Sussex University campus at 2 pm and I had a one-hour slot.?

Looking back 15 years on I can still recall the nerves I had as I introduced myself to each of the squad on that Wednesday afternoon.?

Shaking hands with the likes of Glenn Murray, Adam El-Ab, Adam Virgo, Lloyd Owusu, Michel Kuipers, Dean Cox, Nicky Forster, Tommy Elphick, Andrew Whing and Adam Hinshelwood (to name a few) was surreal and the whole experience seems from another life. However, whilst it was utterly terrifying, I can now look back on the experience as one of the proudest moments of my fledgling career.?

As with any presentation, starting the session well was crucial. No matter who the audience is, getting them to engage with you, trust you and, ultimately, feel you are worth them investing their time in what you have to say can be a challenge. But those of you who remember him will recall Russell’s lighthearted manner and, although I can’t recall exactly what he said, he introduced me with humour which broke the ice and (somewhat) calmed my nerves.?

In order to build a connection, early on I thought it important to point out that I was a fan, I attended games at the Withdean and wasn’t just some corporate ‘motivational speaker’ (I detest the name and those who identify as such) with the usual “you can achieve anything” psychobabble BS. My session was based on peer-reviewed mainstream behavioural research and not from the pages of the book ‘The Secret’.?

In terms of content, whilst I can’t find my notes from the session itself, I do recall a few of the psychological areas we explored as a group. It wasn’t a presentation per se, but more of a workshop with plenty of interaction.?

1 - Motivation: We explored why humans do the things we do. I asked what their motivational factors for being a footballer were. What motivated them to win? Was it money, acclaim, peer adoration or something else? Once identified it can be a useful reference point when trying to perform at one’s highest level. We explored intrinsic (internal) as well as extrinsic (external) forms of motivation and the fact that often intrinsic ones can be more powerful.?

2 - Beliefs: We explored the lack of science behind the idea that THE ONLY thing you need to ‘achieve’ is to ‘believe’ (specifically that believing something GUARANTEED it will happen). But also, the idea that, whilst it doesn’t guarantee success, beliefs are HUGELY powerful, and that expecting success can have an impact on our behaviour and experience. (My take on it was that whilst every BHAFC player believing they were going to avoid relegation wouldn’t guarantee it would happen, UNLESS they believed it the chances of it happening were much smaller. (It's useful to be optimistic. It’s an integral facet of optimum performance in numerous areas. It just doesn’t guarantee the outcome that you believe in.)?

3 - Blame: We explored the blame culture and the benefits of sharing blame as opposed to passing it on to someone else (in relation to a bad pass or someone underperforming on the pitch). This area also involved the benefits of cultivating empathy within the group.?

4 - Emotional State Management: This was all about controlling the controllables and exploring how humans react emotionally to certain situations – especially negative ones. It looked at optimism v positivity in relation to going a goal down or missing an easy chance. It’s one of my favourite areas.?

5 - Group Dynamics: The penultimate part of the session was the most interactive. Before the session, I’d got a blank A4 sheet of paper for each of the players and written their name on it. I then left the sheets on different tables around the room, gave each player a pen and asked them to write something positive about each teammate. The result was me standing in front of the group and reading 2 or 3 positive things about each person before handing them their piece of paper. The activity was so powerful and left every player with a positive memento of the session day and with what I hope was a heightened sense of group cohesion.?

6 - Finally: As a final exercise I stopped, paused and said the following. “Stand up if you think we’re going to avoid relegation.”. I think it was Nicky Forster who stood up first but soon, one by one, and in silence, each and every member stood up and the group broke into applause. It was fantastic. And I was a relieved man!?

A couple of weeks later I had another call from Russell. It seemed the lads had really enjoyed it, and would I go back to deliver another session??

The truth was I hadn’t got enough content to do something similar. But I did go back, this time to the Withdean, and presented a session to the squad that I had created six months earlier. It was the story of a 9-week, 3300-mile charity bike ride around Europe that I had organised and completed the previous summer to raise money for stroke victims after my brother-in-law had suffered one whilst out cycling and that had left him in a wheelchair. It again touched on some of the things we’d covered in the first session but, perhaps more importantly, helped remind all of us that we shouldn’t take our physical abilities for granted and that, as professional footballers, literally hundreds of thousands of people would love to be in their position.?

As many of you will recall, under Russell’s leadership, results slowly improved in the remainder of the season, and a 1-0 win at the Withdean against Stockport County on May 2nd secured our status in League One.?

I can’t reiterate enough how kind Russell Slade, Bob Booker and each and every player was to me. They even invited me into the changing room afterwards to celebrate with the players.?

It was unreal!?

And that’s about it. I’m just a fellow fan who, after careful thought, decided to share my experience in the hope that other fans may enjoy a glimpse into performance psychology in 2009 at our beloved club.?

But just one final thing.?

I did say in the title that the phone call changed my life.?

And it did.?

It gave me the confidence to continue on my journey. Just a year later, I left full-time employment and started working for myself as a professional speaker, and although the specific area of behavioural science I work in has evolved somewhat, I have now spoken and trained around the world in over 30 countries to tens of thousands of people.?

And yet, here’s the thing…?

…I’ve STILL never been as nervous as speaking to the players of our special club!!?

Cheers.?

Jonathan

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