The Game Plan E-Book

Steve Bull

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 250

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

"Steve Bull is a true expert in his field. Anyone interested in winning will profit from his experience and knowledge."
—Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff

"Steve Bull’s ideas and techniques will equip anyone in business with a game plan for acquiring the winning edge."
—From the Foreword by Michael Vaughan

Mental toughness goes hand in hand with success and yet it is often misunderstood. True mental toughness is about preparation, resilience, control, risk management and above all execution. So, how do you utilise this elusive but critical attribute? By starting with a “game plan.”

The Game Plan is about winning. More importantly, it’s about you winning. It’s about how you can create a personal performance environment that enables you to deliver at the crucial times. The Game Plan explores different types of mental toughness and examines how each one can give you the platform for significantly increased levels of self-confidence and resilience. Learn the easy-to-apply lessons that have created an environment of success for a host of world-beating performers in the business world and beyond. Imagine being able to apply a winning performance mindset to everyday work situations such as:

• Making presentations razor sharp
• Wowing new clients
• Being in control during performance appraisals
• Staying cool during even the most hectic and pressurized days
• Maintaining your self-belief even when things go wrong
• Making the right decision at the right time.

Read and learn from The Game Plan and you will have at your fingertips a robust strategy to give you the edge over your closest competitors and the very best chance of success.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Chapter 1 - Beginning with the Ashes in Mind

Chapter 2 - What is this Thing We Call Mental Toughness?

It’s not easy

A model of mental toughness

Using this book

TIP 1: ADOPT AN ’ATHLETE MINDSET’

Chapter 3 - Turnaround Toughness

Kelly’s story

The Ashes 2005

TIP 2: RECONNECT WITH PREVIOUS SUCCESSES

TIP 3: LEARN AND MOVE ON

Chapter 4 - Critical Moment Toughness

David Cameron’s story

TIP 4: CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLES

TIP 5: SEE AND THINK SUCCESS

Chapter 5 - Endurance Toughness

Living in an age of stress

TIP 6: MANAGE YOUR ENERGY

TIP 7: MANAGE YOUR OUTLOOK

Chapter 6 - Risk Management Toughness

TIP 8: SEEK OUT THE CHALLENGE

TIP 9: REFRAME YOUR APPRAISAL

Chapter 7 - The Winning Environment

TIP 10: CREATE YOUR OWN WINNING ENVIRONMENT

Chapter 8 - Perspectives from the Front Line

Chapter 9 - Finalizing your Game Plan

Tony’s story

The process

Practise being a game plan coach

Next steps

More reading

Coaching

Notes

Index

Contacting the Author

The great thing about Steve Bull’s insights is that they stay with you. They provide an array of practical things to do that demonstrably drive team, individual and one’s own performance.

Trevor Bish-Jones,CEO of Woolworths plc

Steve Bull’s work has played a significant role in theEngland and Wales Cricket Board’s recent success bothon and off the field.

David Collier,CEO of the England and Wales Cricket Board

Steve Bull has made a huge contribution to the recent success of Olympic sport in the UK. His unique and sensitive approach has led to an increase in performance by individual athletes, teams and his fellow professionals alike in the most demanding of all sporting environments, the Olympic Games.

Simon Clegg,CEO of the British Olympic Association

Steve Bull has an incredible depth of knowledge andhis ideas are constantly stimulating and challenging.I admire the way he so easily presents practical modelsthat can be applied in the workplace every day.

Tony Holmes,Wholesale Director, Coca-Cola Enterprises UK

For the last five years, Steve Bull has translated lessons learned from coaching high performance athletes into first class development programmes that have created real and lasting impact for our organization. Mental toughness is a skill set that can be learned, can be put into action immediately, and which is critical for unleashing potential in our competitive, hard driving business environment.

Kim Steckley,Global Head of Succession Management,Roche Pharmaceuticals

Steve Bull enthused and inspired me in a way that has been the single most impactful intervention in my 16 year business career.

Paddy Dummett,People & Organizational Development Manager,Marie Curie Cancer Care

Copyright © 2006 by Steve Bull

First published 2006 by Capstone Publishing Limited (a Wiley Company) The Atrium Southern Gate Chichester West Sussex PO19 8SQ www.wileyeurope.comEmail (for orders and customer service enquires): [email protected]

The right of Steve Bull to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to [email protected], or faxed to ([phone].

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The Publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

British Library Cataloging in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

eISBN : 978-1-907-29318-4

Typeset in ITC Garamond 12/16pt by Sparks - www.sparks.co.ukPrinted and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall

This book is printed on acid-free paper responsibly manufactured from sustainable forestry in which at least two trees are planted for each one used for paper production.

Substantial discounts on bulk quantities of Capstone Books are available to corporations, professional associations and other organizations. For details telephone John Wiley & Sons on ([phone], fax [phone] or email [email protected]

To Alexa and Morgan who help keep me focused on the important things in life

Acknowledgements

As is usually the case, there are many people to thank, but first and foremost has to be my wife Donna, who supported my schedules throughout the process as well as providing really helpful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. To my parents, Perce and Mary, who were the first to educate me about the value of resilience and mental toughness. John Moseley, from Capstone, who showed a real enthusiasm for the idea of the book from the early stages. Michael Atherton, whose memorable performance against South Africa at Trent Bridge in 1998, and my subsequent conversations with him about it, kick-started my interest in conducting a rigorous investigation into the various components of mental toughness. Hugh Morris, Deputy Chief Executive of the ECB, who has provided endless support for my consultancy work in cricket. Robin Mills, from Woolworths, who gave up his time generously to be interviewed for the book and with whom I have enjoyed many informative hours of discussion and debate on the connections between winning in sport and business. And finally, the many other athletes and executives with whom I have worked over the years who have helped shape my thinking on the psychology of performance generally.

Foreword

I’m always trying to think about how we are going to improve and move to the next level or how I am going to get that little bit extra out of a player. Steve Bull has provided excellent advice and support in helping me to do this. During 2004 I was playing badly and I knew I had to do something to regain my form. I started seeing Steve on a one-to-one basis and we worked on techniques to help clear my mind and relax more. I respect his professional approach and his expertise in the psychology of performance. Mental toughness is critical in top level sport and I am sure that it’s essential for success in business too. Steve Bull’s ideas and techniques will equip anyone in business with a game plan for acquiring the winning edge.

Michael Vaughan, OBE, Captain of the 2005 Ashes winning England Cricket Team

1

Beginning with the Ashes in Mind

In the summer of 2005, the England Cricket Team regained the Ashes by beating Australia in a five match series, which has been described by many experts as the greatest series of all time. The ebbs and flows of each game were captivating, even to the non-cricket follower. The margins of victory were invariably desperately small. The pressure was immense throughout. Mental toughness played a crucial role from the opening minutes of the first day at Lords to the final climax at The Oval on 12 September. Going into this fifth match, England were winning 2-1 and needed at least a draw to regain the trophy that had eluded them for the previous 18 years. In his weekly column preceding the start of the match, Sunday Telegraph cricket correspondent Scyld Berry wrote:

The Fifth Test starting at the Oval on Thursday can absorb any superlative you care to throw at it. The biggest sporting occasion in Britain since 1966; the most important cricket match ever played in England, and the most significant anywhere if it ends up ending the Australian empire; and the climax of the most exciting Test series of all time.1

Scyld Berry,Sunday Telegraphcricket correspondent

So, under these extreme conditions, how were the players feeling going into this match? How did they prepare? How confident were they? How did they manage to stay focused on the right things? How did they deal with the pressure of expectation from the media and the public - not to mention that which they were placing on themselves? If you were advising those players in the lead up to the game, what would you have said? It’s too easy to simply say ’be positive - have confidence’. As Simon Barnes once wrote in his piece in The Times:

Confidence is a bar of soap in the power shower of the sporting life. Grasp it too tight and it squirts from your hands; reach to pick it up again and you are flat on your back.2

Simon Barnes,The Times

We know that under pressure people can sometimes find a few extra percent and perform above their natural levels. Equally, and perhaps more commonly, some individuals simply fall apart when the pressure is on and experience the dreaded ’choke’ - a word that is banned from being uttered in many sporting locker rooms for fear of the psychological impact merely thinking about it can have. The England Cricket Team had been accused of choking many times in previous years but something was different about the 2005 team. They demonstrated a degree of mental toughness and resilience which had been absent in the past. Their ’attitude’ was different and as Jonny Wilkinson once said:

That sort of attitude training, mental toughness if youlike, can be the difference between winning and losing.What you want to develop is the kind of mentality thatsays, in the last five minutes of a game when the scoreis tied, ’Give me the ball’ rather than ’I wish this wasall over, I can’t do any more’. Winners and losers aremade right there.3

Jonny Wilkinson, member of 2003 World Cup winning England rugby team

This new found ’attitude’ demonstrated by these England cricketers did not, however, suddenly emerge at the start of the summer in 2005. As the old cliché goes … it takes five years to create an overnight sensation. Performances on the field during the summer of 2005 had been the result of years of hard work and quality preparation which had begun when Nasser Hussain took over the captaincy in 1999 and set about creating a different kind of ’environment’. When Michael Vaughan was appointed captain in 2003, he continued to raise the bar until eventually England were in a position to present a realistic challenge to the Australian team which had occupied a pre-eminent position in world cricket for more than a decade.

In short, in 2005 England had a ’game plan’ and each individual player going into that famous deciding match at the Oval knew exactly what he needed to focus on in order to maximize his personal contribution to the team effort. They were not going to get carried away with the enormity of the occasion because they would be focusing on their own individual ’performance processes’ over which they could exert personal control. They would be totally prepared for all eventualities and feel absolute confidence in the knowledge that they had not left any stone unturned. They had established a ’framework’ for success which, although not guaranteeing victory, would certainly give them the best possible chance. And as Andrew Flintoff said at the conclusion of the series:

They say that victory goes to the side that wants it more.That’s an old cliché and it’s not true. Victory goes to theside that prepares the best.4

Andrew Flintoff, England cricket all rounder

This book is about winning - but not on the sports field. It’s about winning in business. It’s about ’you’ winning in business. It’s about ’your’ personal performance at work. It’s about how you can create a ’personal performance environment’ that enables you to deliver at the crucial times. The book will help you create a ’game plan’ which will give you the type of mental toughness required to be a high performer in the ever more pressurized world of corporate life in the 21st century. This is a world which is demanding, dynamic and driven. Mental toughness is essential if you are to ’thrive’ rather than simply ’survive’ in a culture which increasingly expects you to deliver more whilst spending less. The book will explore different types of mental toughness and examine how knowledge of each can give you the platform for significantly increased levels of self-confidence and resilience. Whatever your position or role in a company, there will be tips and advice in the book for you. The approaches I shall outline are those that I have found to be most successful in my business consultancy working with individuals ranging across the company spectrum from CEOs to new recruits. The content of the book is based around a model of mental toughness which I developed out of a piece of mental toughness research I conducted in my role as England Cricket Team Psychologist. As well as working directly with the England Team itself, this role has also involved running the Leadership strand of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s Elite Coaches’ Development Programme and has thus given me the opportunity to work closely with a wide range of high quality coaches as well as international players.

In 1996, I wrote a book called The Mental Game Plan: Getting Psyched for Sport, which provides the reader with a user-friendly guide to using mental skills in competitive sport. In the opening pages of that book, I asked the question, ’What is this thing we call mental toughness?’ and proceeded to outline a number of attributes demonstrated by tough performers such as high self-belief, staying positive in the face of pressure and having an extremely strong desire to succeed. Two years later I was working with the England Cricket Team during a summer in which they were playing against South Africa. England had not won a major Test series for over a decade and were 0-1 down in the series with two matches to play. The fourth match was played at Trent Bridge and it provided one of the most memorable periods of fierce competition between two players - Michael Atherton (who was batting) and Allan Donald (who was bowling). It was an awesome spectacle to watch as Donald peppered Atherton with a series of extremely fast and hostile deliveries. As the episode unfolded, spectators became aware that this personal battle would probably decide the entire five-match series. If Donald got Atherton out, South Africa would most likely win the game and hence the series 2-0 with a match still to play. If Atherton could hang on, and fend off Donald’s attack, England could win the match, level the series, and go to Headingley with a chance of sneaking an unlikely series win. The critical period of play lasted just under an hour. Atherton managed to hang on, see Donald off, and England won the match. They went to Headingley and won there too, claiming an unlikely series victory which is still remembered for that 60 minute hostile and aggressive interchange displayed at Trent Bridge. Some time after the series, I was still, as a psychologist, fascinated to reflect on Atherton’s performance and arranged to interview him at length about how he coped with the demands and pressure of the situation. That conversation sparked an interest in researching the area of mental toughness generally in cricket. I was becoming increasingly frustrated with supposed experts who were liberally using the term to label players without actually understanding what it was and how it could be developed. I wanted to understand mental toughness from the perspective of those who had ’been there and done it’ in order to ascertain what we could learn to help our younger players be ’fast tracked’ to a position of superior mental resilience. At the same time, I was very encouraged to hear from Atherton that although he felt some people were naturally tougher than others, it was a skill that could be worked on and improved.

I think some people have natural mental toughness and some people don’t but I do think that it can be acquired and you can work to get better at it.5

Michael Atherton, former England cricket captain

I proceeded to survey over 100 cricket coaches asking them who they thought the toughest England players of the 80s and 90s were and then simply compiled a ranking list to identify the most appropriate players to approach. Knowing most of them personally, I was then able to conduct an in-depth interview with 12 of the top 15 ranked players. The list was a veritable ’who’s who’ of English cricket and included Graham Gooch, Mike Gatting, Nasser Hussain, Darren Gough, Alec Stewart and of course Michael Atherton himself (who was incidentally ranked No. 1 by a considerable margin!).

The results of this study were published in the national press but in the course of conducting the interviews and analysing all the data, I began to formulate a model that had wider ranging implications beyond cricket. It appeared that mental toughness was not as straightforward as many people would think and could even be categorized into different types requiring different ’mindsets’ for different situations. The model that emerged appeared easily applicable to other sports. I began reflecting on the experience I have had of working at three Olympic Games as Great Britain Headquarters Psychologist. During these events, I had observed how athletes, and indeed team managers, coped with the multi-faceted pressures which are so evident in the Olympic environment. I had seen mental toughness at its best and at its worst. I began reviewing all I had learned over the previous 20 years working in elite sport. During that time, in addition to my work in cricket, I had consulted with performers from the professional tennis circuit, the European PGA golf tour, both the English Soccer and Rugby Union Premierships, professional motor sport, the British Ski Team, the British Equestrian Team, the British Track and Field Team and many others.

Pulling all this material together, I then set about creating a model that would add value to my executive coaching in the corporate world. I tested the model with many individuals across a wide range of very different blue chip organizations in both the UK and the United States. Although the corporate context varies enormously between these companies, the challenges facing individuals seem to me to be remarkably similar. People are challenged with working long hours, have to perform under extreme pressure much of the time and must deal with constant change, adversity and setbacks. Confidence, clear thinking and resilience are prerequisites for success and will discriminate between winning and losing in the same way that they will in sport. It is my observation that many people in corporate life do not fully appreciate that they are ’performing’ and hence would benefit from a ’performance mindset’ in dealing with their job demands. Consider the following situations that people encounter during their day-to-day business life:

• conducting a one-to-one performance appraisal,

• making a presentation to the board,

• meeting a new client in a situation where it is crucial that a good impression is made,

• getting through a hectic 12 hour day which includes travel, several meetings, a working lunch and report writing,

• running a team meeting,

• presenting a monthly progress report to colleagues.

This list could go on and on but my point is that these challenges are ’performances’. Not in the sense of a Shakespearian play but in the sense of an athletic performance. They require focus, confidence, resilience, quick thinking and the ability to deal with distractions and pressure. In other words, they require ’mental toughness’. This being the case a great deal can be learned from the attributes and behaviours of the elite, mentally tough, sports performer.

In summary, the notion of the ’corporate athlete’ as originally described by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz several years ago, is resonating more and more with the business clients I come across these days. Individuals need a ’game plan’ to help them prepare for, cope with, and learn from, the pressures they are facing in everyday corporate life. This book presents a framework for that ’game plan’. I hope you enjoy it and I’m confident that if you apply the principles and techniques outlined you will significantly increase your prospects of winning in business by developing your mental toughness.

2

What is this Thing We Call Mental Toughness?

Winning is about individuals performing when it gets tough, not when it’s easy.1

Michael Vaughan, Captain of the 2005 Ashes winning England Cricket Team

It’s not easy

Corporate life is tough these days - tougher than it was in previous years. Just as performance standards have increased dramatically in elite sport, so they have in business. Working hours are long, the demands are relentless, and the technology age, which has given us the capacity to communicate so quickly and efficiently, has simply piled on the pressure. So let’s make one thing clear from the start - performing at your best is not easy. If it were, we’d all be doing it a lot more often. Performing under pressure is tough and requires a mental approach that does not come naturally to many people. Fear, anxiety and poor emotional control are the default position for many in the corporate world … but not for winners. Winners have the capacity to enter challenging situations with confidence and a sense of excitement. They enjoy the buzz of having to execute quality performance against the odds. They love the ’great white heat’ of competition and seem to thrive on the pressure occasions. How do they do this? How do they stay focused? How do they remain calm? How do they display such a strong sense of self-belief when the circumstances appear so dreadful and intimidating? Answer - they are mentally tough. But what does that term mean? What is this thing we call mental toughness? The model that I’ve created in recent years is based on 20 years of work as a psychologist in elite sport and 10 years of corporate consulting as an executive coach. The model has been tried and tested in all sorts of different environments and will help you develop your winning edge by becoming more mentally resilient. The basic premise of the model is rooted in the importance of ’thinking’ in the performance process. As a sport psychologist, I have been fortunate to make a living for the past 20 years out of being a ’mind coach’ to athletes. This does not negate or trivialize the role of physical or technical abilities. Quite the opposite in fact. I maintain that if you get your mind right then you are simply allowing yourself the opportunity to display your natural talents to the best of your ability. Mind skills are not a substitute for other talents but rather the prerequisite for achieving optimal performance levels by coping effectively with the pressure of the situation. This is true whether it be on the playing field, in the concert hall, in the boardroom or in the office.

The mental strength is so important … there’s no limit if you’re prepared to get in there and fight it out.2

Duncan Fletcher,Coach of the 2005Ashes winning EnglandCricket Team

The power of the mind is an accepted fact these days and there are libraries of books devoted to the topic. Many of these books, however, are quite long, involved and generic. I want this book to be ’punchy’ and focused on the business environment. I want you to be able to read this book quite quickly and hence start using the ideas straightaway. The model I am about to introduce you to is not complicated, even though it is derived from many years of research and consultancy. It will help you to think more clearly about the pressures and challenges you are facing and put realistic plans in place to allow you to ’raise your performance bar’.

A model of mental toughness

The following examples illustrate the kind of challenges which face people working in business and serve to introduce the various dimensions of the model upon which this book is based.

Mental Toughness Scenario 1: Geoff - 35-year-old marketing manager

Geoff is a confident guy who has had many successes during his time working in three different organizations over the past 12 years. However, the team that he manages has failed to deliver against its targets this year and Geoff is feeling responsible for the disappointing performance. Added to this, he has recently received a poor performance appraisal from his boss which ranked as the worst he has ever had. He is feeling very down about the current situation and is aware that his confidence has taken a beating. He and his team have a tough time coming up in the next few months and he knows that he will need to be resilient and tough to deal with all the impending pressures that are inevitable. But he can’t seem to get positive about things and he is struggling to regain his usual confidence. Each day seems to present another potential disappointment and Geoff knows that he must break this cycle of negativity in which he finds himself.

Geoff needs to turn things around in his own mind before he does anything else. He has to display mental toughness for his own good and for the benefit of his team. In short, Geoff needs some coaching on Turnaround Toughness. This is the first part of the mental toughness model and is all about regaining self-belief when things are going badly. Turnaround Toughness is about dealing with adversity and setback. It’s about coming back strong when things seem to have gone against you. We’ve all experienced this challenge at certain points in our lives. How do we regroup and focus on a positive approach for moving forward? Consider these specific situations:

• Bouncing back after failing to gain a much-deserved promotion.

• Staying positive when working for an unsupportive or critical boss.

• Maintaining commitment to your organization when facing the imposition of unrealistic performance targets by senior management.

• Sustaining self-belief when you have performed poorly in the last few team meetings and received feedback about your lack of constructive contribution.

• Getting some really bad luck at a time when things needed to go your way.

How do you cope with the pressure these situations create? You must reconnect with your previous performance accomplishments and make sure that you approach your future challenges with a confident mindset that focuses on success and achievement rather than failure and disappointment. The world of elite sport is packed full of stories exemplifying this type of mental approach and Turnaround Toughness.

The two Olympic Golds and six world titles may go down as the defining statistics of my career, but I am more proud of making the most of my limited talent and never refusing to believe I wasn’t going to win at the Olympics - even after missing the 1992 Games through injury and those in 1996 due to illness the day before I was due to race.3

James Cracknell, Double Olympic Gold Medallist

James Cracknell had more than his fair share of ups and downs during his amazing career as an international rower - including being part of Steve Redgrave’s team which famously won Gold (Redgrave’s fifth) in Sydney in 2000. The quote above illustrates how Cracknell demonstrated Turnaround Toughness after having to deal with the disappointment of missing out on both the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics before finally getting his chance in Sydney.

Mental Toughness Scenario 2: Laura - 28-year-old sales executive

Laura is a talented salesperson who regularly exceeds her annual targets. She is a confident extrovert who loves the challenge of influencing customers and closing deals. Her interpersonal communication skills are very strong and she is highly regarded for her contributions to team meetings. However, next week Laura has to make a presentation to the senior management group for the first time. She knows that two of the executives to whom she will be presenting are well known for their harsh views about the sales team as a whole and although Laura has been performing well, she knows that this will not count for much in this particular situation. She is nervous about the presentation and is concerned that she may blow her opportunity for impressing the key decision makers in the organization. At the back of her mind she knows that she can do it but she is becoming increasingly anxious about all the things that could go wrong in the ten minutes she will be ’on stage’ presenting.

Laura is aware that her performance in this meeting will be closely scrutinized and that her reputation within the company will be significantly influenced by how she does. She has the ability to execute an excellent performance but she has to be focused and clear in the manner of her delivery. Laura needs some coaching on Critical Moment Toughness