Secret of Elite Sports Performance a Winning Formula in Australian Workplaces
- Written by Alex Whitaker
What do AFL Grand Finalists Adelaide Crows and Nestlé Cereal Division’s award-winning sales force have in common? According to mind performance expert, Derek Leddie, both groups have learned the art of mental focus, enhanced resilience and an ability to perform at peak levels when under enormous pressure.
Leddie is the co-owner of Collective Mind, the elite performance company behind the Adelaide Crows' renowned pre-game ‘stare’. He maintains that the psychological and neurological tactics employed by professional sports teams and individuals are just as effective in developing high-functioning, high-performing business teams. The trick, he says, is to help employees mitigate the influence of workplace pressure and distraction.
“Most people are willing to acknowledge the mental pressure faced by, say, an Olympic athlete or a football player in a Grand Final”, Leddie remarks. “Few are aware of the epidemic of poor work performance sweeping through Australian businesses. The minds of our workers are being pressured to juggle ever-increasing demands – to overachieve – and they are being asked to do so without being given the requisite tools.”
Over the past several decades, mind performance training has become ubiquitous in the world of elite sport and now, Leddie says, there is a growing number of corporations beginning to understand the importance of peak mental performance in the workplace. “Increasingly, our work is coming from the corporate sector - companies like Nestle, Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Allianz are using our methods to build resilience, increase focus and maximise potential in their workforces.”
Jim Batchelor, MD of Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, explains why he decided to join the list of executives transferring mind performance training from the sports field, into his business. “Stress, constant pings, mental pressures and work life balance imperatives… it’s all noise in our heads and impacts on people, both at work and at home. We are wanting to take the stress out and give people a way to cope with modern realities. Since undergoing the training, the team has become closer and we’ve seen different degrees of change in people’s happiness, confidence and productivity” he says.
Leddie believes that the most successful programs are those based on the concept that high performance at work, like high performance in sport, is reliant on a number of factors – mental, physical and lifestyle-related. “Optimum performance comes when the mind is in a relaxed yet highly-alert state of readiness; when our attention is focused fully in the moment, and we aren’t distracted by over-thinking or stress-based survival responses. There are several steps you can take to access this mind state, including getting enough rest each day and avoiding stimulants like coffee and energy drinks”, he advises.
Importantly, for any CxO looking to introduce corporate mind training, Leddie says mind performance education can deliver quantifiable results. “The work we do is outcome based and measurable, with participants results benchmarked against a database of 5000 healthy minds”, he explains.
About Derek Leddie
Derek Leddie is a Mind Performance Expert who has trained over 2000 people in leading organisations and sporting teams, and co-owner of Collective Mind. He built his previous business, market strategy consultancy, The Leading Edge, around the peak performance of the senior leadership team and the unique culture that glued people together. This business grew to $36 million turnover and $6.5 million profit. After selling The Leading Edge he spent the next five years using his extensive market research skills to study, understand and practice non-conventional philosophies on driving mind performance. Derek’s expertise is in developing and training mind tools that lift performance, and he is the co-author of a new mind performance book, Missing in Action. For more program info: http://www.collectivemind.com.
