1. What are key components of cultures that have been able to sustain?
Some of our members are currently engaging in a series of learning centred around culture and change. What showed up really clearly in the initial research were four key enablers of high performing cultures, and some questions to accompany them:
1. Cultural Leadership – who are your cultural guardians?
2. Purpose – does your organisation have an inspiring purpose?
3. Belonging – what belonging cues are evident in your environment?
4. Psychological Safety – how do you respond to mistakes in your environment?
2. What are the different levels of communication in teams?
For the latest iteration of our Leadership Skills Series, our members focused on the topic of transitions in teams, and took a closer look at the communication period, which consists of:
• Step 1: Basic ritual – this is a safe place to start. Unconsciously measuring and assessing.
• Step 2: Sharing information – to begin to feel confident in communicating on both a personal and professional level.
• Step 3: Exchanging ideas/opinions – now we want to know what people really think. Starting to show transparency.
• Step 4: Free expression of feelings – there can be an atmosphere of tension as you approach the top of the hierarchy.
• Step 5: Unspoken rapport – this is the nirvana! Things are happening, and responding is comfortable.
Teams are constantly in transition and need different things from us as leaders at each stage in their development.
3. How do we measure the impact of mental skills?
There is a natural desire to show impact and return on investment across all areas of a high performance unit, however for some technical areas such as mental skills development and even specialities such as coach development, it can be a little trickier to capture the insights to highlight the clear impact it has had.
A few questions our members posed to help one another capture the impact of mental skills more effectively:
• Have you defined and discussed what are we actually measuring and why?
• Does trust exist in the environment between staff, players and the coaches?
• Are your data and insights valid and reliable?
• How regularly and intently are you debriefing?
4. What makes Carlo Ancelotti so successful?
Well, there’s many reasons. Seven big ones after he lifted the European Cup for that many times as a player and manager over the weekend. However, we’ve settled on four reasons that define him as one of the most talented coaches of all-time.
Away from his leadership traits, he has a zest for life, a love of people, good wine and fine food too (he’s not the only one). I’ve been lucky enough to meet him a couple of times, and I can safely say he’s a lovely fella too. What’s not to like and admire about Don Carlo?
5. What stops a succession from being successful?
Misalignment with values and common goal. “We would say any role is 50% culture, 50% capabilities,” says Anna Edwards, from Elite Performance Partners. We sat down with Anna and her business partner Dave Slemen, to delve into all things succession planning and organisational design for our latest Leaders Special Report. Download for free here.
6. Are you really best in class?
It’s time to prove it. While our Leaders Sports Awards is mainly a sports business affair, two of our new sparkly categories – Trailblazer and Unsung Hero – are particularly relevant to a high performance crowd – aka, you lot.
Time is running out, with the Monday 10 June deadline approaching faster than Euro 2024. Here’s how to enter, and where to enter. Drop us a line if you have any questions.
