Managing Psychological Performance

Posted on March 4, 2008

Our world is a game of perceptions. We experience the world through our senses whose only function is to transmit an electric signal to our brain. The task of our brain (mind) however, is gigantic since it must analyze and… interpret the (electric) information transmitted by our senses.

In the world of athletes where performance constitutes the ultimate objective, the athlete forms his interpretation of a situation by evaluating the gap between his current state (his current capabilities) and the task to be accomplished. In order to bridge this gap successfully, the athlete must possess the necessary resources and qualities to accomplish the task, but most of all he must be aware of it.

The required resources will vary according to different disciplines but generally, those considered to be essential are :

-An optimal level of physical condition

-An excellent mastery of technical level

-An excellent capability for analyzing information

-An excellent capability for anticipating

-A custom-designed training program

-Supervision that encourages the development of competencies

-Implementing a structure for effective problem resolution

-The mastery of stress management strategies.

It is essential to provide the athlete with an environment that offers the best possible support to him so that he can reach his ultimate potential, but all of this will be completely worthless if the athlete “thinks” that he doesn’t have the required resources or the ability to “bridge the gap” that will allow him to reach his objectives.

Obviously, no one can dispute the fact that performance lies on the combination of a number of technical factors aimed to help athletes reach their full physical potential. However, the final result derives from what happens in the mind of the athlete… from what he considers to be “his reality”. If from this reality, the athlete concludes that the gap is too difficult to bridge, he will then commit mistakes which will confirm to him that “everything is going wrong”. That’s when real problems begin.

Managing performance implies providing the athlete with the best possible training conditions. However, the factor that will make all the difference, and which all too often is cast aside, is in the way the athlete thinks… and the people who instil in him this way of thinking.

To evaluate his abilities for bridging the gap between his current situation and the targeted performance objective, the athlete proceeds stage by stage :

1. First, he evaluates the requirement (gap to bridge) and everything that it implies. Then, he classifies his response as a “challenge” or a “threat”.

2. Next, he considers his resources and those available to him to help him meet the demand. If he estimates that the resources are adequate and sufficient to help him progress, “the gap to bridge” will become a challenge. On the other hand, if he perceives the resources to be insufficient, the athlete will then face what becomes a “threat” for him.

3. If the athlete feels he is facing a threat (a gap too large to bridge), he then risks using two counter-productive strategies : denying the problem or attempting to manage the emotions that he feels. From this moment on, he will spend his energy trying to forget what troubles him or trying to control his emotions. These two strategies distract the mind of the athlete from the concrete actions he needs to make in order to reach the targeted performance level. He then begins to make more and more mistakes.

4. Aiming at a performance objective (bridging the gap) generates a process in which actions and strategies will be applied in order to reduce the gap and reach the targeted objective. The part of the performance process that is totally ignored is based on the fact that very rarely do people (athletes, trainers and other sports specialists) question the current strategies : Is the training program effective or adapted to the athlete? If so, how has it been measured? Concretely or just so-so… Does the trainer provide teaching, communicate expectations, or propose solutions to problems encountered in a productive manner?

Does the athlete effectively manage the impact of others’ expectations of him? If the answer is yes today, you know that it may be different tomorrow, so validate this information regularly.

Managing performance implies knowing the psychological processes governing the “mental world” of the athlete. This is not an abstract world, quite the contrary; it is a world where each mistake stems from a behavior, where each behavior results from an interpretation, and where each interpretation is based on the notion of “perceived resources and capabilities”.

Managing performance is first and foremost helping the athlete structure his environment and his perception of the world in such a way that everything confirms to him that he can learn, solve this problem, find the appropriate strategy and thus reduce the gap… and succeed. It is to embark the athlete in a world where his brain searches for solutions instead of fighting against real and potential consequences of a problem.

For many coaches, the most difficult thing is to understand that their interpretation of the world and of what needs to be done in order to succeed is not necessarily what the athlete believes in or needs. Every coach must constantly ask themselves two questions :

Is my “interpretation” of performance really what is required to succeed?

Is my way of training my athletes really help them to progress or does is it make them sink further?

Many coaches believe that saying “you’re not fast enough around the corners” to an athlete in an aggressive tone is sufficient for him to correct the problem. But how can the athlete correct the problem if he doesn’t know why he’s not fast enough in the corners. If you know why, then explain it to him and show him how he can correct this problem.

However, if you don’t know why he is not fast enough in the corners and you believe that the phrase mentioned above should solve the problem, and in addition you yell at the athlete because he’s not improving… then I suggest that you consider changing jobs!

Managing performance requires an outstanding ability to communicate. Would you believe that only 10 % of all trainers and other sports specialists have this ability? You don’t believe me? Then surely you’d be interested in a little test. Let’s look at this true story… A professional golfer comes to see you to tell you that he’s having a hard time, that he doesn’t often hit the ball the way he had planned to and then he doesn’t know how to compensate afterwards. What do you do to help this athlete? First of all, you conduct your own analysis of the situation and then you propose your own solution and then you go on to something else… Now that your work is completed, let me propose my analysis of the situation… It is not the only way, but it has produced the desired result : solving the problem. Let’s look at my analysis of the situation :

1. The golfer perceives a threat: “I often bungle the hit I planned to make”.

2. The golfer estimates that he doesn’t have the necessary resources to solve the problem: “I don’t know how to compensate afterwards”.

3. The golfer is troubled by this situation ; he focuses on the negative emotions it produces within him.

4. To solve his problem, he attempts to change his feelings, which does not result in improvement.

This is the “real world” the golfer is struggling in. But can this world be changed? Why not? It is a world that the golfer has created and in my view, it’s totally different… Let’s see how asking simple questions can sometimes “change the world”.

1. So, you often don’t hit the ball as you had planned? Yes! You are better at golfing than I am, so can you tell me who can always hit the way they had planned? Well nobody… You mean that it’s impossible? Am I wrong? No… I don’t think you’re wrong…

2. If no one can succeed in hitting the ball as planned every time, then how do you think they make up for it? They manage their emotions better than me. And what makes you think they’re managing their emotions and not something else? I don’t know where you’re going with your question… Well, you’re a professional golfer, right? Right. And as a professional golfer, am I over-estimating you if I say that no matter where the ball is located on the green, you can think of a way better than any other common mortals to get it closer to the hole? Well yes, you’re right… So why rack your rains over it if it doesn’t fall exactly where you wanted it to fall? It seems to me that if your ball falls within 2 meters from where you wanted it to fall, you can surely find the best way to get it closer to the hole from this spot?

3. It is this non-realistic demand on yourself that is causing all these harmful negative emotions, now, don’t you think? Yes… let me think about this a bit…

4. And why waste your time putting demands on yourself that your ball must fall exactly where you want it to and then managing all the stress that comes when it doesn’t? Could you perhaps instead decide on the best spot for your ball to land, knowing that it could fall a little to the left, right, further or closer than you’d like? Could you imagine an “ideal zone” then? An ideal zone from which you could think about the best way to get the ball closer to the hole? Isn’t it easier and more effective this way? Well, I guess so…

This brief intervention has allowed for a simple thing : eliminating the possibilities for failure that the golfer formerly imposed on himself and from which he couldn’t escape.

Ah, yes. With a good model for analysis we can find “real”, effective solutions. Isn’t this what we all want?

Dr Denis Boucher PhD, holds a doctoral degree in medical research. He also completed a master degree in exercise science where he specialized himself in sport psychology.

He’s also a member of well known scientific organisations: ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), APA (American Psychological Association), IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain), Canadian Pain Society, ASCH (American Society of Clinical Hypnosis).

He is the editor of the Web site http://www.winesomefitness.com a Web site dedicated to health and fitness.

Article Author :Denis_Boucher