Last week I spent a considerable amount of time talking with the team psychologists from various elite sporting organisations and clubs. These are people for whom their remit is to support the athletes and team to be at their best and manage their mental mindset and that of the collective team to deliver the best performance they can. David Priestley from Saracens told me about his mantra of ‘comfort the challenged and challenge the comfortable’ which he’s used to great effect, Dave Readle from British Cycling shared with me how humour is a vital resource for him (check him out on Twitter @DaveReadle) and Tom Bates from West Brom FC (@TomBatesCoachng) talked about the importance of supporting people to stretch beyond their comfort zones.
It got me thinking about who the Team Psychologists are for teams in business? I’ve yet to come across a team in an organisation who has a dedicated resource who is solely there to support the psychology of the team, I wonder what would happen if there was one……….