Dear leaders, this week I am going to share with you something that was sent to me by one of my former team members.
This (pic) is a Japanese curler, Satsuki Fujisawa, she is Olympic level, meaning she is one of the top three or four athletes in her field from her country, she has dedicated years to the craft and competing at a once in a lifetime event against the best the world has to offer.
The message was written on her hand before she went out and importantly it was in view while she competed.
The message reads:
“I’m a good curler.”
“I have confidence.”
“Let’s have fun”.
I love these:
“I’m a good curler” - reminder this is what you are and what you are doing and you are good. Good is a better-placed word than great, good guides you, great can mislead.
“I have confidence” - keep reminding yourself you are confident and keep it front of mind even if you have one off-moment when performing.
“Let’s have fun” - helps to remove some of the pressure off you and helps to remind you that having fun while playing sport helps you to perform well.
Why was this sent to me?
I was and am fascinated by the world of psychology and the impact short messages can have on people, particularly on high performing athletes and colleagues.
I have loosely studied psychology throughout my career and it has helped me coach and mentor many great people.
I might have said about my love for the TV show Billions and why I believe many businesses would benefit from having their own Wendy Rhoades, a psychology-based performance coach ensuring high performing traders hit record goals and pick up their confidence when second-guessing decisions.
This particular team member and I worked together on developing their perceived weaknesses and there were three areas that they struggled with and needed some coaching around.
Standing in front of a large audience and delivering a message that hit.
Being able to concentrate on delivering an important message to senior people.
Confidence.
Our Process
We worked on breaking down the messaging, always having a single post-it note with the messages in their hand when delivering a message.
Small, subtle and keeps you on track.Always have a specific small notepad with the core takeaway on for when they were delivering messaging to the leadership team and cross off when completed the message like a task.
This works well pairing with presentations and if you are in external crisis situations (which we were from time to time from the company we guided) it really helped to reduce panic.Writing down feedback given and keeping a record of the positive messages and comments from the meeting. I am a huge advocate of having nice, positive and good feedback records. The power of re-reading on down days or bad days can be priceless.
The trick is to keep a series of the same small notebooks and see the journey you went on. Ensure you have the date written down and the context of the meeting included, this will be great to read back through and provide you with confidence and a timeline of how you have evolved.
I have to admit this specific person was and is a secret weapon and were brilliant, collaborating with them was great and all they needed from time to time was a little nudge or reassurance.
I learned a lot from them and I am proud to still be able to help coach and collaborate with them.
When you are developing leaders is in your department or company, these little exercises are ones they will pass onto others and tiny acts of psychology really do help the day to day and the careers of those around you.
Have a great week and consider how you might leverage something as small as a note written on a team members hand to help them progress.
Thanks,
Danny Denhard
Would you like to be coached by me? Hit reply and let’s talk!
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