As an athlete on the world stage, the defining factor in being able to perform at my best wasn’t about my physical attributes or my talent, it was what was going on between my ears and my ability to maintain, under pressure, a great thought process.
When organisations schedule and implement staff training programs in response to diminishing returns, they typically get caught in a skills trap, seeing them continually invest in the development of skill sets. In a lot of cases, people are already at their best from a skills perspective, so how do you break through the skills ‘glass ceiling’ and improve the performance and capabilities of your team?
As an athlete, there were many things I could have improved on, but not dissimilar to people in a corporate environment, there comes a point when you are as good as you can be at what you do, so you need to look outside your technical skills to level up. With a focus on mental preparation, or our skull skills, you allow yourself to effectively combine the two. When you’re already as good as you can be from a technical skills perspective, you need to invest in your mental skills to win the day.
The talent myth often sees organisations continually searching for professional talent to secure over their competition, in an attempt to maintain their competitive edge and/or build on their success. More often than not this only sees them employ more of the same talent they already have. Levelling up comes down to a combination of both technical skills and mental skills. Those who become the best at what they do or seen to be at the top of their game, have strong mental skills. Their ability to develop and combine these skills is what separates them from those who only have physical skills, technical skills or natural talent alone.
Fortunately, mental skills, or skull skills, are learnable. Those at the top of their game have learned to use their skull skills to perform better under pressure and to allow them the means to respond with focus to failure or testing situations. Regardless of the sometimes chaotic or ever-changing nature of business, people with solid skull skills are more open to feedback and more candid in their conversations, which allows them to operate at a higher level of performance.
Our Skull Skills program is designed to increase awareness and build greater capacity for leaders on the move within their organisations looking to unlock both their skills and that of their team members through new mental frameworks. Not only will it enhance their character, it will also allow them to practice better judgement in working with and/or managing the people around them. Participants will develop the skills required to implement defined plans for the benefit of both the team and the organisation, whilst also building capabilities in responding calmly to problems and identifying solutions in a timely manner.
Skull Skills takes participants on a journey which delves deeper into their personal character allowing them to smash through the skills ‘glass ceiling’, perform at a higher level and win the day.
