World Leading Judgement & Performance in Each Moment For Staff & Athletes!
"Performance is a behaviour, not an outcome"
Having worked in elite sports since the late 1990s, some common factors prevent teams & athletes from maximising their performance potential. I say performance potential as individual & team capability is another misunderstood element within 'High-Performance'.
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High-Performance is a term that many teams & organisations use; however, in my experience, people's daily behaviours do not align with High-Performance. In fact, I often experience leisure behaviours in many of these environments.​
What is the difference between Leisure,
Performance & High-Performance at 'self'?
Leisure
Only commits to actions/behaviours they like/want or mood dependent, unless being supervised. Even then may not commit with intention. Often doesn't commit to the choice needed when unsupervised. Their level of competency is not relevant; their behaviours are.
Performance
Lives excellence in each moment. Commits to the best choice based on what they know aligned to what's needed, irrelevant of the situation & who is around at the time.
Does not 'yet' have high competence in knowledge or skills, but makes exceptional judgement with what they do.
High-Performance
As with 'Performance' the person pursures excellence making exceptional live judgement based on 'need' & commits 100% to the choice & effectively reviews choice & execution live. High-Performance has high competence in knowledge & skills as well as the behaviours seen in Performance
Critical Elements That Impact Success
We have established my interpretation of 'High-Performance' at self. Still, we know that a group of independent, high-performing individuals does not ensure a high-performance organization or team.
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Far too often, I have seen 'funnels' within organizations & teams that are sabotaging performance potential. many individuals have not developed 'interdependent' skills to build an understanding of others, their role, their challenges & how your behaviours influence other people's performance & wellness.
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Establishing & embedding high-performing interdependent teams' software & hardware is not a short intervention with monthly reviews; it is a daily commitment to pursue excellence at self & with others. You have to be patient & relentless in ensuring everyone's daily behaviours align with any purpose that has been agreed upon, & that purpose has zero 'grey' for everyone involved.
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Below are just some of the critical elements that impact establishing & embedding high-performance -​
This is not for teams that are not committed in pursuing their own 'every time' excellence!
Once the need for change has been established, the journey of intentional commitment to different thinking & behaviours that may initially not provide the desired outcomes can be arduous & frustrating. The pursuit of excellence, meaning 'doing & being the best you can with what you have in the moment' aligned to the pre-agreed actions, is not an easy path, even if it is the path required to get you & your team from where they are to where you need to go & 'be'.
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I am often invited in by team bosses of numerous positions to solve issues which are normally directed at others in the team. In my experience, the required interventions involve everyone, including the boss.
If you recognise that change is required, even if you're unclear on the solutions, you must be prepared to commit to everyday excellence without compromise. Not for a few weeks or months; you must make it a way of doing, a way of being.
There are plenty of consultants & coaches who will happily come in, work a needs analysis, & provide you with strategies plus some training, but not prepared to commit 100% to ensuring that change is embedded over time & avoids those difficult conversations. This is not me; once we agree on the required behaviours with clarity, I will be relentless & patient in pursuing that every time excellence!
Forget 'marginal gains' if the required fundamentals are not yet embedded
Marginal gains have been the perceived silver bullet in elite sports & business since Sir Dave Brailsford publically introduced his 'aggregation of marginal gains' in cycling, which is often referenced in Formula 1.
Do you know where most organizations & teams' performance gains come from? Nailing the fundamentals of human & hardware performance. In my experience, I have not yet experienced a team who are nailing those everytime. Indeed, some organizations & teams have little to no clarity of actions in key performance fundamentals throughout their whole team.
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Part of my support is to identify what has been established in agreements, identify what is actually being lived by everyone of influence, & identify the sources of any breakdown or missing elements, & then establish any interventions that are required.
'Don't tell me; show me' every time!
'Don't tell me, show me' is one of the principles I share with all my sports & business clients. This goes both ways: for the bosses saying what should happen (are your behaviours supporting the words you're asking of others), For the people being asked to 'be' these words (don't tell me what you are doing, or what you should have done differently; show me).
Accuracy of self-awareness is critical
This is a huge area that influences our judgement & reflections of ourselves & others. When was the last time you recorded yourself interacting with others & performing? In my 20 years plus of getting managers, coaches & athletes to record themselves & use my self-reflection data-finding strategy, not one person has been 100% accurate in their own self-awareness.
This process of 'baselining' reality is a game changer in our own self-development & clarity of intention to commit to change. This can often help people connect to why they may not achieve the anticipated impact when interacting with others.
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This also helps everyone agree on their own priority focus, as often there is a disconnect between what someone believes they are doing/being versus reality. This is why you often find people saying "I do that anyway" etc.
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Establishing self-awareness accuracy is one area most people do not find comfortable doing & may find ways to not commit to this important process. Again, we must ask the question: are we committed to eliminating any grey, to establishing accurate data that can help everyone pursue excellence & establish High-Performance?
Embedding change is the least recognised craft
How often have you or your team been on training events, days, or workshops that you believed were effective at the time but regressed back to pre-intervention behaviours/actions within 3 to 4 weeks of that training?
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How often does an organization or team set out the vision, values & purpose during the off-season or pre-season, which is then forgotten within the first month of the season starting, only to be brought up when things are not going as well as expected?
Effective adherence change strategies for individual, small or large organisations follow the same fundamental principles, with some variables within scalability & the peer support/challenge groups. They are designed to shift new behaviours & skills into our everyday 'normal': our go-to daily actions.
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This process is not a few weeks or months; expect a minimum of 6 months of relentless explicit daily commitment to establish the new behaviours & actions. & expect to invest in any pre-agreed behaviours daily. It's not something you stop doing or being.
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My change support strategies underpin all my interventions & have taken decades of research & development to establish. They are often the difference between progress & regression or stagnation.
Invest in ensuring everyone excels in live judgement
I am sure we can all agree that live judgment is critical for any organization or team that must commit to choices in an ever-changing environment. You can train this, & you can accelerate each person's confidence & competence within it. In my experience, effective live judgement has seven critical elements that include accurate live evaluation of commitment to choice, choice & execution post action. Without an accurate & speedy post-action conclusion, the cycle of live judgment has no flow.
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Think of golf as an example; traditional golf focuses on the pre-shot routine but very little investment in the post-shot routine. & yet, one of the challenges for many golfers is not being emotionally & performance influenced by a perceived poor shot, which can often have a negative influence on future judgement & execution.
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I have developed the Action Review Process (ARP), which improves live judgement & reflection. It is also a powerful tool for sharing reflections with others to identify the source of both unacceptable & exceptional performance.
Build proactivity & competence in eliminating any grey
A common barrier to high-performance is the presence of 'grey'; a lack of clarity in a task, role, expectation, permission & 'what ifs', an environment that doesn't embrace or celebrate people proactively seeking to eliminate any grey.
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This can often lead to micromanagement & have a negative impact on rapport & empowerment. Allowing 'grey' to be present will also slow down progress, increase errors & hijack time that could be served elsewhere.
Organization & Team Services
Training & Coaching
Staff
My training & coaching interventions are highly interactive & tailored to individual & team needs. They aim to improve self-awareness, clarity, & ownership while enhancing judgment, reflection, & interdependence.
Scalable Change
Support
My organization's interventions are designed to be scalable for businesses of all sizes. All interventions are based on embedding the required changes in systemic processes & human behaviours.
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Developing & Supporting Mentors
To ensure internal sustainability, we identify individuals with the right skills & opportunities to mentor staff during our interventions. We provide additional training & coaching to develop skilled in-house mentors who can enhance both individual & department performance, providing stability & scalability.
Common Team Issues That Impact Performance
Organization Issues
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Departments are not collaborating effectively
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Lack of role understanding
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Lengthy, ineffective staff communication
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Some staff lack empowerment to 'own' their role
Managing People Issues
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Feeling frustrated with some staff members' lack of competency & proactivity in live decision-making
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Having to repeat myself in tasks & roles
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Spending too much time micromanaging others
Growth Issues
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The team is expanding or has a high staff turnover, but the quality of services is decreasing.
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They may be losing clarity of identity in staff behaviours & struggling to train new staff to the required quality.
Embedding Change Issues
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Although we have provided training, much of it is not being implemented after the training sessions.
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We are struggling to change staff behaviors that do not currently align with the values and purpose of our vision
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We are not witnessing the necessary change.
Identifying Need - Embedding Required Behaviours
Establish Lighthouse - Identify Need - Establish Value - Enhance People - Support Required Change
People are not robots. Changing daily behaviours is tough; a day of training here & there will not facilitate change.
Part of my support is focused on identifying the source of any required change, & providing interventions to ensure human & organizational change is embedded beyond training interventions.
My robust change strategy to identify 'need', to cultivate the required behaviours & skills -
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Ensure clarity of 'Lighthouse' has been established
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Win the hearts & minds of every one of influence
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Establish self-awareness in the present to reality compared with the 'Lighthouse'
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Identify the required changes at self & as an organization (independence & interdependence)
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Identify the priority focus
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Share a robust judgement & reflection process - the ARP (Action Review Process)
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Agree & commit to priority focus
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Set up peer support & challenge groups to drive the change
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Commit to the pre-agreed time frame
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Review, celebrate, & adapt where required
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Set new priority focus when ready & if needed
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Establish clarity on the new focus
Warwick Cain – GB Basketball National Team Director/Head of Performance
"Mark is an outstanding coach mentor and innovator in sports personnel management. He is a leader in his field and has changed professional best practice in talent and elite coaching especially in the UK.
He brings a different perspective which challenges traditional coach leadership practice and clearly focuses on athlete empowerment and positive coach behaviours including greater self-awareness and analysis. He had significant impact with National Youth team coaches when I was the National Teams Director with GB Basketball".​
Martin Vlk
Head of Coach Education & Methodology
Football Association of the Czech Republic
"Marks ‘Need Centred’ principles are a perfect fit for soccer to support Managers & coaches in developing adaptive interactive teams, & effective communicators for both players & the coaching staff.
I believe the PDS would have a tremendous impact on team culture & performance for any football club, & indeed any sports team."
Mike Ford - England Rugby Union & British Lions Coach
​“As an England rugby union coach I have attended plenty of career development and coaching courses. These courses have provided me with many good ideas, concepts and theories, but non have impacted on me the way the PDS Performance coach course has.
Any coach who is serious about maximising the performance potential of the athletes and teams they are working with needs to experience PDS Performance coach course for themselves.”