Is success in the mind? What do you believe?
When I first arrived in Guernsey in 2001 I was confronted by the phenomenon of the, “Island Mentality.” I was told people were lazy, gave up quickly, were threatened by the success of others, got defensive, ignored critical feedback, and success was relative to other people. Success was about being the best in the Island or selected for the Island representative team. I heard some cricketers described as, “talented but lazy,” “gifted but not bothered,” and I was frequently told, “If you drop him, he’ll quit.” As we know, these behaviours are not conducive to players reaching their potential.
As every coach, teacher, manager, parent or indeed anyone who works with people will know, this attitude is not just a Guernsey one. Equally not everyone in Guernsey is like this, far from it!
As a coach I want to develop players who focus on being the very best ‘them’ it is possible to be. How? By challenging themselves, believing in the value of effort, wanting to learn, being inspired by the success of others, searching out feedback, and seeing failure as part of learning.
How many of your players are currently coming close to fulfilling their potential? How many are failing to do so because of unhelpful attitudes or behaviour?
A key difference between those who fulfill their potential and those who don’t can be attributed to their ‘mindset,’ their belief about where success comes from.
The work of Professor Carol Dweck (now the Eaton & Virginia Professor of Psychology at Stanford University) through over 30 years of research, has identified two mindsets: the ‘growth mindset’ and the ‘fixed mindset.’
The behaviours of both these mindsets stem from beliefs about ability or intelligence (these are interchangeable depending on the context); whether we believe our abilities can change and grow or whether we believe they are fixed.
In a fixed mindset you would believe that success is down to innate, inherited traits. The world of the fixed mindset is about measuring your ability, and in fact every situation is a measure of your ability. It is a world of threats and defences and results in the behaviours that were described as part of the, “Island Mentality.”
In a growth mindset you would believe that abilities can change. It is a world about learning and growth, and every situation is seen as an opportunity to learn, grow and improve. This results in behaviours that as coaches we want to see in players, those positive behaviours I describe above.
These beliefs about ability are often buried within our unconscious mind. They are shaped over time and drive our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. As a player if you believe that success is down to an innate ability, “You’ve either got it or you haven’t,” why would you practise your skills, seek challenges and put in maximum effort?
As a coach, if you hold a fixed mindset about mental toughness, for example, why would you try to teach or develop it within sessions? Instead your focus is likely to be on identifying mentally tough players versus those who aren’t. So what do your players believe? What do you believe and how does it reflect in your coaching?
As coaches we shape players’ beliefs about themselves by the messages we send, both verbal and non-verbal, consciously and unconsciously. It is critical that we understand more about our own beliefs and behaviour in order to help develop the most helpful attitudes and behaviours of our players. Regarding mindsets, one person may hold varying beliefs depending on the attribute. For example our research to date shows that players and coaches hold more growth minded beliefs about technical skills (e.g. throwing, catching, batting and bowling) than the psychological and tactical elements (e.g. motivation, resilience, captaincy).
Our individual beliefs are communicated when we coach through the following ways and situations: what we reward, how we praise and give feedback, how we select teams, the people we hold up as role models, and how clubs, boards and associations define success and celebrate achievement.
The good news is that behavioural change can be almost immediate. What is needed is an understanding of how to explain and instill the growth mindset and challenge the fixed mindset. However, developing a growth minded sporting culture is a shared and long-term challenge for all stakeholders. If achieved, the benefits can be astounding. The journey begins with self-awareness, with us as individuals. So, first and foremost, what do you believe?
An extract from 'The Growth Mindset Coaching Kit'
Written by Jeremy Frith and Rachel Sykes - www.frithsykes.com