Throughout the pandemic we know that uncertainty and anxiety increased in workplaces all over the country and mirrored the difficult circumstances our athletes were facing. Their performance prompts the question – how did our sporting teams perform so remarkably well despite the uncertainties they were facing? What lessons can we as business leaders take from our Olympians in how to deliver world-class performance under the most trying circumstances?
No-one knows more about pressure than this year’s Olympics athletes.
Between postponed dates and a global atmosphere of uncertainty, Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic teams faced more challenges the months leading up to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics than most of us could imagine. And yet, they showed up – and achieved one of the most successful Games in our country’s history. So, how did they do it? How did they perform to the standard they did, while also taking care of their own mental health? And what can leaders in the business community learn from those who coach our sporting heroes to glory?
To find out, CMHAA board member Melinda Upton sat down with Ian Robson, CEO of Rowing Australia; Josephine Sukkar AM, Chairman of the Australian Sports Commission, President of Australian Women’s Rugby and Principal of Buildcorp; and Steven Worrall, Managing Director of Microsoft Australia and New Zealand and CMHAA Chair.
Watch The Catch: Balancing Mental Health, Wellbeing and Performance below. Or, read on for some highlights from this fascinating discussion.
Show up with authenticity
Having served as CEO of some of Australia’s most beloved and high-performing sports teams, including Hawthorn and Essendon AFL clubs, before joining Rowing Australia, Ian Robson’s career has taught him a thing or two about leadership.
“As Australians, we want our leaders to be as much among us as above us,” Robson told his fellow panellists. “We need someone to blow the whistle, but when it’s time to go, we know we’re all going together.”
Robson believes that, given Australia’s ‘in it together’ culture, the best way leaders can encourage their people to talk about and prioritise their mental health is by doing it themselves. “I’ve learned that it’s okay to say to my leadership team colleagues, ‘I’m struggling at the moment – I’m feeling really stretched and I need some help’,” he said. “We want our athletes to trust and believe that there are really significant resources and networks around to support them, and that to put your hand up is actually a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.”
Whether the teams in question are at Buildcorp or in the sporting arena, Josephine Sukkar couldn’t agree more.
“It doesn’t necessarily need to be, ‘I am vulnerable and here I am’,” she said. “It can just be showing up exactly the same predictable way in scary times.”
Sukkar shared a story with the panel that, for her, encapsulates the power of this approach. “When we first went into lockdown, Tony and I jumped onto our iPads to make a video message,” she said. “And it was a clumsy message, as you can imagine with 62-year-old Tony and 57-year-old Josephine – it wasn’t smooth. But apparently, it was authentic because it was so bad. [The Buildcorp team] know that whenever it’s smooth, there’s usually someone from the marketing team or someone external managing that.
Normalise the difficult conversations
Australia’s elite athletes are a small group of people, with lives that are very different to the majority of ours. Yet they carry our hopes and dreams on their shoulders, representing our country and the ambition of its people on the world stage. We watch them closely because what they do matters.
As Sukkar said to the panel, “sport is just a microcosm of the whole community”. And if this is the case, we at the CMHAA sense change in the air.
From Simone Biles to Naomi Osaka, more athletes are opening up about their mental health and prioritising self-care than ever before. In doing so, they are normalising conversations about wellbeing that are long overdue – and teaching us some important lessons that we can bring to our own workplaces too.
All images courtesy of Rowing Australia