Perform Like an Executive Athlete

Since 1998, performance and organizational psychologist Dr. Scot McFadden has helped the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars mentor established players into peak performers – winning 6 Division championships and a Stanley Cup along the way.

A popular speaker, Scot recently gave a presentation in downtown Toronto for the Strategic Capability Network.

The audience learned how business entrepreneurs, managers and professionals can apply competitive sports strategies to maximize performance in meetings, projects and other key business areas including leadership.

Turning a Distraction into a Success Story Motivator

Whether a hockey championship game or an executive presentation, peak performers need to have a clear head and a clear heart. Often winning depends on how effectively people can transform conflicts or distractions into motivating causes.

Scot gave an example of a 1998 Stanley Cup game in which Detroit management wanted to fly in disabled Red Wing Vladimir Konstantinov for a special pregame ceremony. Before a tragic car accident, Konstantinov had been one of the league’s best defencemen perhaps best described as an aggressive pest adept at throwing opponents off their game. Dallas Star management saw his presence at the pregame event as Detroit’s deliberate attempt to distract and psychologically intimidate Dallas players.

At first, Dallas Star management considered pulling their team off the ice during the Konstantinov ceremony. Scot transformed the distraction into a positive by suggesting that Dallas dedicate the game to their former rival. In doing so, Dallas players began to focus on the fact that they were playing a team that was missing Konstantinov -- previously one of Detroit’s best players. Free from psychological baggage, the Dallas Stars were able to play at their peak and won the game.

Defiant Determination

Another technique frequently used in sports to overcome distractions is to reframe potentially negative self-talk into a positive call to action along the lines of “Oh yeah? We’ll show you.” In both business and sports, defiant determination helps people to push through adversity.

Canadian athletes had no medals during the early days of the Beijing Olympics. Back in Canada, newspapers featured negative headlines like “No Medals Halfway Through” and “Are Medals Worth The Cost?” Scot explained that an effective performance psychologist would re-engage and re-inspire the athletes’ competitive forces with a call to action that would prove the skeptics wrong. Scot asked the Toronto audience how Canadian athletes could use defiant determination to transform the media’s negative headlines into positive self-talk. Positive rallying cries included motivational sayings like “We can be the first to win a medal” and “33 million Canadians are sending us their energy.”

Mental Preparation Includes Visualization

Scot teaches both athletic and executive clients that visualizing a successful outcome before an event often leads to peak performance. Quite simply, what people think translates into how they feel and therefore how they perform. If one vividly visualizes standing on a ledge of a tower or sucking on a lemon, the human brain responds with a queasy stomach or salivating in the same way as during the actual event. Therefore, people can practise appropriate responses while visualizing so that actions with the highest payoffs become automatic.

For example, one manager was known for losing his temper in meetings because of a personality conflict with a team leader in another department. For 15 minutes before an upcoming meeting, that manager closed his eyes to visualize becoming cool and analytical whenever his antagonist would say something aggravating. The pay-off? The manager’s superiors began to see him as a coachable executive candidate, an excellent listener and a superior team player.

Know One’s Own Weakest Link

Some psychologists say that business people should ignore their weaknesses and just stick to what works for them. But what about a manager who procrastinates and misses an important client deliverable? Or, consider an executive who never returns phone calls or emails.

To finetune the level of their performance to the highest levels, athletes and business people have to self-analyze and address their weakest characteristics. A bullying executive must acknowledge that he has to reduce his talk-to-listen ratio. An introvert lacking assertiveness skills needs to work harder at delegating her workload so that she can focus on the most important tasks. Overly sensitive managers must become more like executive athletes who leave their emotional baggage on the playing field.

Working on one’s weakest characteristics helps people push ahead when they would otherwise give in under the first signs of adversity. Payoffs belong to realistic optimists, who are most committed to working hard all the time to bring about those changes regardless of how painful those changes are.

Becoming a Model of Success for Others

Sometimes changes are as simple as dealing with highly charged issues after a good night’s sleep. Scot cited former Dallas Stars coach Ken Hitchcock, a disciplinarian who would storm the players’ room after a loss and yell at whoever had contributed to the loss. Team morale sank to new lows, with many star performers too distracted by fear to perform at peak levels.

Identifying Hitchcock’s short temper as the root problem, Scot persuaded Hitchcock to remain out of the players’ room after the game. Instead, Hitchcock would review that night’s game video on the following day while drinking his coffee over breakfast. Hitchcock would calmly mention any mistakes he noticed in an informal team meeting before morning practice.

Relatively conflict-free, Hitchcock led the re-focused Stars to their most wins in Dallas franchise history.

Peak Performers In Hockey & Business

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