Sport New Zealand’s Connecting Coaches has already been all I expected it to be and more. Hearing from Steve Hansen, John Key, Ralph Pim and Michael Henderson on this first day has helped refocus a number of my own perspectives on implementing successful coaching systems and through the ever-present theme of values-based leadership this will help develop myself not only as a coach but as an individual too. A lot of my own perspectives and values are a result of internalising and critiquing my own experiences. While I’m encouraged to see so many of my own ideas widely used, I’m also inspired to see so clearly where I can improve. Turning to wider sources is a crucial tool I intend to use much more frequently from now on.
You can keep up with more great media releases and updates from this convention here.
A point made by Raplf Pim from observations of top sports organisations was that success at the top level was 90% due to creating the right culture and 10% due to creating the right strategy. Performance culture is a multiplier, where correct values bring more out of individuals than would otherwise be possible. I have been contemplating ideas of this nature for most of this year, but now it is very clear to me that building culture is more effective at improving performance than I tend to give it credit. In the past I have tended to focus all my energy on the hard facts of training because ambition and motivation are not noticeable issues in my own sporting career, but upon reflecting on the revolutionary training culture of AOTC starting from 2010, it is clearly demonstrated that the training culture we developed boosted the performance of wider group of people and set in motion standards of training commitment that many of us still refer back too, and ultimately culminated in our first international gold medal.
I also noticed that the Sport New Zealand Coaching Strategy was uncannily similar to my Development and Performance in Orienteering model, which is a huge confidence boost. Perhaps there was some shared inspiration through others who have contributed to my work, but regardless, Sport New Zealand and I are clearly on the same page.
I’m looking forward to rolling more of these ideas into my development and high performance systems for orienteering before the development and coaching workshop next weekend.