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What makes a winning mindset?

Mark Bailey, Managing Director, Dukes Education discusses what sets up a team for success.

In November 2023 Sancton Wood School hosted a ‘thriving minds’ conference for gifted and talented pupils across Dukes, and one of the optional breakout sessions was on high performance in sport. I was invited to deliver the session, on the dubious grounds that I had played rugby for England before decimalisation.

So what factors are key to high performance in sport?  The basic answer to that question is widely known to coaches everywhere, and commonly categorised as the five Ss: speed, strength, stamina, skill and pSychology. Of course, the degree of importance of each “S” factor varies from sport to sport.  For example, speed and strength are essential in rugby, but almost irrelevant in darts.  The one factor which is highly relevant to both rugby and darts is pSychology. Indeed, it is arguable that for anyone operating at the level of international sport, then the presence of the requisite degrees and combination of speed, strength, stamina and skill should be taken as a given. This would imply that a key differentiator of performance at the highest level is what happens between the players’ ears.

Is it really the case?  The first place any self-respecting rugby player would look for an answer is the New Zealand All Blacks. After all, they have won three World Cups since its inception in 1987 and held the World Number 1 spot for 80% of the time over the past twenty years.  Their own assessment of the reasons for their stratospherically high performance is unequivocal.  They identify the central importance of a ‘team culture built on humility, unity, and a deep reverence for the black jersey with the silver fern’.   As they state on their website, ‘better men make better All Blacks’ and ‘no individual is bigger than the team’.  No references at all to searing pace, tackle count or ability to pass off both hands.   Instead, they want the world to know that what matters is this: ‘wearing the black jersey comes with a responsibility to enhance its legacy’.

So, I got to thinking what was it about the regime established by Geoff Cooke (Team Manager) and Roger Uttley (Coach)—both trained schoolteachers—in the late 1980s which transformed the England rugby team from perennial under-achievers to the 1991 Grand Slam winners and World Cup finalists?  Other than dropping me from the team, that is.  Again, the answer would be the culture and mindset which they established among the squad: to be uncompromising about individual and collective responsibility for setting and maintaining high standards; to have pride in what we were representing; and to engender positive reinforcement of what went well, while shedding the fear of failure.

These assessments of successful rugby teams are strikingly similar and they are the assessments of people involved in teams which, by any objective standards, have performed highly.  Of course, the All Blacks are supremely fit and skilled, and that England team was pretty physical too.  The point about the All Blacks, and about the attitude instilled by those schoolmasters Cooke and Uttley, is their conviction that when speed, stamina, strength and skill are more-or-less equally distributed across the leading performers, then it is the mindset that is the determinant of success.  Or, in the words of Mauricio Pochettino, ‘you can have all the talent that God provides you with, but without attitude you won’t achieve anything’.

Mauricio might say it, but the view is also supported by a battery of scientifically controlled research.  Under the general heading of pSychology are attributes such as motivation, stress control, anxiety control and self-efficacy.   Motivation is the desire to work hard, to train, to learn, to improve, and to maintain this desire over extended periods.  Stress control is reaction under pressure or under threat, especially in the cauldron of a high intensity match.  Anxiety control also relates to the private, nagging, middle of the night doubts and fears that we all have, sometimes mild sometimes severe, but which are compounded for elite athletes because of the exposed nature of their performance and the intense scrutiny.  Self-efficacy is the individual and collective belief that the other four Ss are securely in place and ready to be utilised to achieve the set goals.

We all know that weight training, running and skills drills will improve performance in sport.  It is less obvious, however, that each of these psychological features can also be improved and, in doing so, lead to enhanced performance.  For example, self-esteem can be improved by the recognition and adoption of good mental routines, such as being kind to self and to team-mates (yes, kindness!); recognising and celebrating positive aspects of self and performance; building a support network, based on friends, family, and team-mates; and setting difficult but realistic challenges.  These in turn contribute to improved confidence and to greater self-assurance in one’s personal capabilities and also in the team’s abilities.

All of this sounds rather humdrum. But, there again, success is about breaking down complex and multi-faceted tasks into manageable chunks and then ensuring that all the little pieces are reassembled harmoniously into the whole at the right time. Hence the massive growth in interest and investment in sports psychology. Mindset can be trained and improved, no less than the body.

One final thought.  The key to the enduring winning mindset of the All Blacks is their recognition of, and ability to relate to, a set of higher values. At one level, these develop a sense of identity and of belonging. At another level, they break down self-absorption and create a sense of greater purpose. They turn mirrors into windows. High performance on the global stage, coupled with humility. Now there’s a thing.