“Even on the coaching side, I was very conscious of keeping the good stuff. I would ask what else we could do or how we could do this better and again…”
Sir Clive Woodward, coach of England Rugby team when they won the Rugby World Cup in 2003
The positive pivot
I observed a field hockey coach with her team that had just lost a game. The team culture was one of focusing on the positive, building from strengths and magnifying the good. The coach had a clear understanding of the power of reflective practices in a competitive sporting environment where a “we-can’t-slow-down” mentality often prevails. In spite of the loss, the players did not dwell on the question “what went wrong?”
This is the potential of the positive pivot, where the question one asks leads the conversation down a more positively powerful path. The team began with magnifying the good and shining a light on what worked well. This was not “paint-on-positivity”. The players provided clear and specific evidence of success instead of “good job” and “way to go.” The team made sure they pivoted quickly from analyzing failure to analyzing success. They looked more holistically at the game and noted that it had in fact been lost in a ten minute session. The focus though was not on the ten minutes. The players pivoted and began to analyze the success factors of when they were on top of the opposition and playing well.
The positive pivot is where the question one asks leads the conversation down a more positively powerful path.
The 5 powerful questions
Coaches can use the powerful question technique to delve deeper into the mindset of the player to help them understand how they can be their best more often. This is classic Elite Thinking methodology. The reflection questions were, “ What was going on when we were on top? What worked well when we were under pressure? How were we feeling? What was creating our successes?” And, “How can we do more of that?” The responses were “We kept our structure and shape. Our communication was loud and clear. We stuck to our game plan of where we needed the ball to be. The energy was high. We were making the second tackles.” These questions led the analysis into the strengths of the team and set the team up for a positive future. The old adage of “you get more of what you focus on” is true. The coach had trained the players to focus on the path that would provide them the greatest opportunity for success by asking questions that led to a better future. The players were generating ideas that would be there to lean on and guide them in their training and in the next game. They had discovered exactly what led to their success and therefore were crystal clear on what they needed to do in the forthcoming games.
This approach should be used when winning games too. As Sir Clive Woodward says about the focus on the positive, in his book Winning! “[A] great time to do that is when you’ve won; to actually be very self-critical when you’ve won a game is great. Players are not used to that because of the tendency to overreact in the face of a loss…[W]hen things are going very well … use this information to reset the benchmarks and understand how to make further improvements. It’s about concentrating on success, not failure.” (1) The coach and players do not neglect weaknesses but redress the balance so that they are using “reflective practices which provide a more sustained focus on [the team’s] performance successes and strengths.” (2)
They had discovered exactly what led to their success and therefore were crystal clear on what they needed to do in the forthcoming games.
2 more powerful questions
These two powerful questions are used when the coach is seeking to understand what makes the player “tick.” The coach and player work side-by-side to figure out what the recipe is for optimal performance. In sport and in life, the coach (and leader) is seeking to find out how to get their players to be their best selves more often. The coach as leader is attempting to create an awareness for the player (and the coach) of what the optimal mental conditions are for each player to succeed. The two simple but powerful questions are, “Under what conditions do I excel? When I am playing at my best, what am I doing/feeling/thinking?” Coaches that take the time to help each player uncover the answers to these powerful questions are shining a light on each player’s elite performance recipe. This is critical for the coach as they are quickly able to redirect a player’s focus, shift the conversation, and provide the environment where they will get the best out of their player. Importantly, the player’s awareness of their best “recipe for success” means that they can consciously create that state that will provide them the platform to perform more consistently at their best.
Developing self-awareness
Coaches are not absolved from giving advice and remedying skill issues, but the job is no longer to give unsolicited advice. That is an outdated coaching (and leadership) model where coaches are the fount of all knowledge, seek to find faults and have all the answers. This is ineffective. Simply being told does not constitute understanding. The coach needs to model this process and before launching into offering great advice, should ask great questions. This takes time. The coach is building a strengths-based culture.
There is an added benefit to this reflective approach. Elite Thinking coaches are developing thinking players. Players who can make better decisions, show greater self-awareness and who have better judgement about their own play and the game itself. When a player truly understands something, they can transfer and apply this knowledge to new and challenging situations. The coach cannot think for the players and to have a team of thinkers is a winning advantage. Furthermore, to have players who know their strengths and how to get into their elite performance zone, have more success on the field and in life.
Conclusion
Coaches using the Elite Thinking model have moved on from the outdated industrial age model approach to coaching. There is less telling and yelling. The Elite Thinking coaches are proficient at the positive pivot and asking powerful questions that aim to elicit answers from the players that encourage them to think deeply about the game. The opportunity for coaches to enhance players’ self-awareness and to create a different process of thought that builds momentum towards better results lies in the questions. The positive pivot and the 5+2 powerful questions drive successful results.
References:
1) Woodward, C. (2005). Winning! London: Hodder Paperbacks.
2) Dixon, M., Lee, S. & Ghaye, T. (2015) Strengths-based reflective practices for the management of change: applications from sport and positive psychology, Journal of Change Management.
Dr. Peter Dry
March, 2021
peterdry@thepdlearninggroup.com
Peter uses his Elite Thinking methodology to unleash the potential in teams across all sectors.
It is a framework that emerges from positive psychology designed to build a world champion mindset. The framework is grounded in the belief that greater levels of self-awareness around the strengths of an individual builds sustainable success for players and teams. Elite Thinking is a solution-focused approach which entails identifying what creates a successful team, who the team is when they are at their best and then aiming to replicate that each game. The coach’s role is to engage the players’ strengths and highlight positive performances to create confidence, belief and enthusiasm and ultimately outstanding performances. Focusing predominantly on the positive, the strengths of the players and magnifying or appreciating best practices and moments of the individuals and team builds a winning culture.
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