Normalising mental skills for teams: Part Two: How to successfully integrate into a team

A few weeks ago, I began a three-part series dedicated to the role of mental skills within elite teams. My goal has been to help normalise mental skills in both concept and practice. The positive response to the article both surprised me, as well as confirmed my suspicion that this area of high performance is woefully under resourced. This under resourcing is not necessarily seen in the academic field, where one can find many outstanding publications dedicated to the mental side of performance.

What has become apparent is we haven’t done a great job of taking that tremendous and relevant knowledge and help teams integrate it into programs and individuals apply it to their performance. The feedback I received was that there is a great need for clear and practical guidance as to how we might do a better job of this. It’s an important discussion, we don’t want mental skills relegated to a peripheral subject and athletes left devoid of education, tools and support that are necessary for them to turn potential into performance

In this article I am going to shift the focus away from the programme side of things and concentrate on what the provider needs to do once they are a part of a team. Though the focus is specific to the role of mental skills, I do believe what I am communicating will have some relevancy to anyone who is part of a support staff with a team.

So, you end up getting the job you have been hoping for, and now it comes time to get to work. What can you do to integrate well into the team, grow trust with athletes and coaches so you can do the job you hired to do?

I am going to present four key principles that I see as being central to having success, these we not learned by reading a book on the subject; I found them out the hard way. Each of these principles were discovered by making mistakes, some of which cost me influence while others cost me my role. I hope my experience will prevent others from going down the same path. As I introduce these principals, I want a guiding thought to undergird all of this. That being, we have to be tradesmen and not just philosophers in order to have influence. Our teams need clear, practical and applicable skills that can be accessed every time they compete.

Good ideas may connect people to the possibility of growth, but actions allow that growth to occur.  

Principal #1: Get your hands dirty

When I first started in the role, I took up the unfortunate posture of sitting on the side-lines or in the back of the room, notebook in hand, imagining that I had to be some sort of guru that observed, and then gave precise and life changing insights from afar. I still feel a deep “cringe” when I write this as I reflect on some of my behaviour. I don’t know what I was thinking, but the nature of being the guy in charge of the “mind” meant that I felt I had to sit slightly distant from the group to stay objective and profound. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

When you are working with people in helping them to overcome quite daunting and personal challenges, the most valuable currency you possess is trust. You won’t build trust from an ivory tower. You only build trust by getting your hands dirty. If you are only engaging with athletes outside of training and games, then your impact will be limited. Endless coffees can’t replace being on the field or court as the athletes you are trying to help are placed under pressure. You will learn what makes then tick, what they are good at and where they need to grow. Grab a tackling bag, catch balls, put out cones etc. Engage with the athletes when it’s appropriate, so they see you as part of the team and therefore a valued resource in their pursuit of high performance. They won’t engage, begin to trust you and use your expertise if you stay distant, ethereal and unapproachable.

Sitting in the shadows and having nothing to contribute instils no confidence to the players and the other staff that you are there to bring value and to help move the team forward. Be proactive, get involved and integrate into the environment you find yourself in.

Principal #2: Feed the Hungry

One of most challenging aspects of coaching is trying to help athletes who don’t appear to want the help you are offering. I use the word “appear” as there are genuinely those who do want the help but lack the courage or confidence to ask for it. They may feel that in asking for help that are portraying some sort of weakness that may be held against them. This is becoming less common as most of our athletes have been taught and encouraged to seek out help when they require it. However, with mental skills there are still a number of barriers that apply to other traditional aspects of performance. There is an acutely personal nature to talking about what you might fear, what evokes anxiety or admitting you are struggling with lack of belief. Unfortunately, in some settings, there is still a stigma when it comes to discussing these things.

One mistake for a mental skills coach is to try to force your work on those who don’t want to engage. In doing this, you can come across as desperate and insecure. The guiding principle that has most helped me is that of “feeding the hungry”. What that practically means is my primary focus is on helping, supporting and engaging with those who want to grow. I have seen little or no success trying to force my work down the throat of an athlete that may feel at that time they don’t need my help. All we can do is continue to build relationship with the person, finding common points on interest and as trust grows, they may or may not open up. From time to time we can check in and reinforce our availability but do this with no expectation.

The final thing I would add is that if we find no-one engaging or limited “hunger”, then we might need to adjust our message and approach as it is likely we are not connecting with the needs of the athletes or we have made it so complicated that engaging seems a waste of time.

Principal #3: Stay in your lane

One of the interesting feedback points I have received from head coaches when discussing mental skills has been the common statement that “quite a few of the providers come across as insecure, and at times high maintenance”. In part I understand this; almost everyone else in the environment has quite clear roles and clear reporting structures. Often the mental skills coach feels a bit isolated and disconnected from the other staff. At times they may struggle to see the value they are bringing. What this can cause is a real insecurity as to whether they belong. This can cause of couple of unhelpful behaviours to emerge. Some check in with coach at every opportunity to make sure they are doing a good job while others begin to stray out of their lane in order to project value. This may sound a bit of an oxymoron considering my encouragement to integrate, but you also need to stay in your lane. Unless clearly communicated and defined, your job is not to analyse every part of the environment and contribute to every aspect of high performance. Chances are you were brought into a program because a number of athletes are underperforming, and the teams needs some help. This is not the ideal model as we have discussed, but the solution is not over-projecting your knowledge and, out of insecurity, demanding that you have more influence. Stay in your lane, do your job well as you prove your worth, and everyone in the environment will see this.

As the profound Maori proverbs says “Kāore te kūmara e kōrero mō tōna ake reka”, translated to English this states that “the Kumera (sweet potato) never speaks of it’s own sweetness”

Don’t let your ego get in the way of delivering the important work you have been engaged to deliver.

Principal #4 : Build a program

The final principle may be the most important. If we want to change how the role is perceived, and therefore enhance its impact, we need to present it much differently than we currently are. A deficit model where only the troubled are engaged, that is void of structure and has limited focus on on-field performance can quickly morph into a counselling service. It’s not to say that counselling doesn’t have a place in High Performance Sport. It is critical for any athletes who are attempting to overcome mental and emotional issues in their life, and it is valuable to get access to someone with expertise who can guide them in different areas of their life.

I am not talking about that when I am talking about a mental skills coach in a team context. There is a massive need for a focus on personal wellbeing and life away from sport, but that can’t be replace the need for a simple and practical approach to the performance demands that are placed on athletes.

We need to build a program that allows athletes to approach the mental side of performance as a skill that can be grown. That means we take the traditional approach to skill development that is found in the other aspects of performance. Assess where the athletes are at in their mental proficiency, give them tools and a program to improve and monitor their progress regularly. In the teams where I have seen the mental skills grow, we have had mind gyms, have given programs with practices they can do every day, and then have regularly discussed what was working and what wasn’t.

In closing, it is becoming more and more vital for teams to have access to mental skills providers who are able to work within their athletes and coaches. There are still a few barriers to overcome as a stigma still exists in some circles. We don’t want to further confirm this narrative by becoming isolated from your team, constantly trying to convince people you have value and not staying in your lane. Build a program that is relevant, get your hands dirty and engage with those who want to grow.

In the final article I will address how leaders in the environment (head Coach and Performance director) can best utilise the expertise of the mental skills resource you have engaged with.