Is culture the secret behind St Mirren’s recent success?

A graphic showing a league table of undefeated clubs this season has gone viral this week. In no small part because slap bang in amongst some of Europe’s elite clubs sits St Mirren. I explore to what extent a positive culture may be driving the Buddies recent success and how the actions of the club’s leaders are supporting those efforts.

Read time: less than 3 minutes

St Mirren’s upturn in fortunes

After achieving their highest league finish for almost 30 years, Stephen Robinson’s side have continued their impressive form into the start of the new season. Currently sitting 2nd in the league at the time of writing and outperforming teams with significantly more resources, supporters are double-checking their passport expiry dates… just in case. Longer turnstile queues and journey home times are the price of success, with increased crowds regularly seeing the SMISA stadium approaching a full house. A price the fans will be delighted to pay, for as long as they can.

Of course, the recent successes are likely to be down to several contributing factors. Those who’ve paid close attention to St Mirren in the past couple of seasons may point to savvy recruitment elevating the ability of the playing squad. Or perhaps the ability of the manager to set up a team that is hard to break down whilst still being effective on the counter attack.   

How culture may be playing a part?

Whilst all these things may be true, being a very keen observer of these recent successes, a significant factor that I believe may be fundamental to the impressive results is the positive culture that seemingly runs through the club. Only those within the club walls could testify to the accuracy of these observations, but the clues suggest that a supportive culture based on shared values of hard work, staying humble and teamwork has been forged. Shared values which provide an emboldened team identity that the players have bought into and providing a source of motivation for everyone to pull in the same direction.

What are the culture clues?

Evidence points to players leaving everything out there on the pitch, joined by supportive substitutes, just as eager to get involved in the goal and post-match celebrations as those who are playing. Furthermore, several of the players have talked up about the ‘great dressing room’. Albeit an often cliched phrase, the words are supported by the comradery seen in the fly-on-the-wall video content put out through the club’s social channels. Suggesting that the squad is not only cohesive on the pitch but off the pitch too.  Adding additional weight to the coaching mantra that ‘a happy athlete is a better athlete’.

Whilst many aspects of a culture may seem intangible, ultimately the proof of any culture is played out by what you can see – by what people do. And it’s these proof points which may suggest the culture currently in play at St Mirren is helping to drive their success.

How a culture can be facilitated

Everyone who’s part of the group is responsible for living up to the cultural values that have been developed. However, leaders such as a captain, a manager and the wider management of a club can take steps to facilitate outlets for that culture to be lived and to allow it to continue to thrive. Looking at St Mirren and some of their leaders, here are some examples of how they appear to be doing that.

Captain, Mark O’Hara:

• Acting as a role model by embodying the culture through his performances on the pitch.

• Pledging his long-term future to the club - showing commitment to the club’s long-term vision.

Manager, Stephen Robinson:

• Regularly repeating cultural values in post-match interviews may suggest that these are reinforced within his coaching.

• Keeping as much of the squad involved as much as possible, by regularly using his full allocation of substitutes. Helping to keep everyone feeling that they’re part of the group’s shared aims.

• Publicly championing players who display the team’s cultural values – particularly those who receive less game time and/or those who may be receiving fewer plaudits from others.

Off-the-pitch, club management:

• Strengthening the connection between the fans and club through improved engagement and communication activities. Providing greater potential for the team to achieve performance benefits from an added and more passionate support.

• Recruiting the type of people who will buy into the cultural values they have forged.

If you’re a sports team or organisation

An authentic and attractive club culture can help increase performance levels, participation levels and membership retention rates. My background in sport psychology and marketing helps me support both sport teams and organisations to develop their own unique culture and promote their culture effectively. Helping to improve the club environment and making themselves more attractive to new players/members.

If you would like any further information on how I could support you – please get in touch

How to spot and banish athletic burnout

Have you ever got to the point where you are sick of your sport? Recent Netflix documentaries profiling Mark Cavendish and Johnny Manziel have shone a spotlight on the dangers of athletic burnout. I look at how to spot the signs of burnout and the steps athletes, coaches and parents can take to prevent it.

Read time: less than 3 minutes

What we mean by athletic burnout

Firstly, let’s address a common misconception… athletic burnout is not just an outcome of overtraining. Whilst overtraining can make burnout more likely, there’s a lot more to it. Athletic burnout is a form of excessive disillusionment towards a sport an individual takes part in which negatively impacts their physical and psychological wellbeing.

Burnout is likely to lead to people feeling pretty rubbish about themselves, make them perform poorer, and in extreme cases, it may cause them to walk-away from their sport either temporarily or altogether!

It can impact anyone

The additional pressures, stakes and demands of elite sport may make burnout a more obvious risk in professional sport. The personal reflections of Naomi Osaka and Adam Peaty may suggest that burnout impacted their decisions to step away from competing, despite being at the very top of their sports. But whether you’re an Olympic champion, Park runner or 28 golf handicapper, burnout could impact any of us, old or young. Somewhat depressingly, in 2016 research in the States suggested that 70% of children drop out of organised sport by the age of 13 with burnout related reasons being the most cited causes. So, what as individuals, parents and coaches do we need to look out for?

The warning signs of athletic burnout

There are three main symptoms to look out for which, if they’ve been occurring over a prolonged period of time, may be a sign that someone is experiencing burnout.  These are:

1. caring less about their performance than previously,

2. having a reduced sense of accomplishment or enjoyment from their sport,

3. being left physically and emotionally exhausted from their sport.

Preventing athletic burnout

The good news is that there’s some steps we can take to greatly minimise the risk of athletic burnout from happening. It's important to make sure that the sporting environment, the social relationships we have and the way we review our performance supports a healthy relationship with our sport.    

Here are some tips which will help you feel like you ‘want to’ compete in your sport, rather than feeling like you’re ‘having to’.

Keep it fun.

This might sound obvious, but when we get caught up in performance gains or competition we can easily lose sight of why we took up our sport in the first place. Think back to enjoyable times you’ve had in training or competing and focus on how you can keep that element of fun in your sport.

Seek out supportive people.

Do not underestimate the power of social support. Hanging out with people you like and being with supportive people can buffer the effects of stress and make burnout less likely. Try to seek out a training environment where, ideally, you have some control of what you’re doing and where you’re more likely to receive positive feedback.

Mix it up.

Having a variety of interests, sporting and otherwise, has been shown to support better mental wellbeing. If you’re starting to become sick of the sight of your running shoes, tennis racket or the football pitch then consider replacing one training session a week with another sport. Or something completely different altogether! You might find that it doesn’t just help protect you against burnout, but helps you become a better athlete.

Take control and alleviate stress.

When assessing your performance in competition or training, try to focus on the aspects which you can positively influence in future. Having a sense of control not only helps alleviate stress, which feeds burnout, it can act as key motivator and help you make proactive steps in achieving viable improvements.

Watch for harmful perfectionism.

Striving for perfection can help drive you towards your goals, but unhelpful perfection tendencies have been related to increasing the likelihood of burnout.  If you’re someone who is loaded down with concerns about making mistakes, being compared negatively against peers, or perhaps continually feeling like you’re not meeting your performance expectations you’ll be more susceptible to burnout.

Be kind to yourself, reframe your thinking and try and catch yourself if you’re in the habit of continually thinking negatively about yourself.

Ego versus self-improvement

For many, Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon loss to Carlos Alcaraz signified the passing of the baton to be the top dog in men’s tennis. But why might Novak’s post-match comments suggest he’s aiming to come back even stronger?  

The blog explores the impact ego can have on sporting performance and whether we should look to feed or starve it.

The defensive ego

Post-performance interviews from athletes, particularly following defeat, are not always the best source material to base judgements or predictions off. Emotionally charged answers may make good headlines, but they often bear little resemblance to how the athlete would respond following a good night’s sleep. When feelings have the chance to be counterbalanced by considered thought, a greater sense of perspective can take hold.

For a defeated athlete, they may need to respond to awkward questions about their own talent and capabilities. Or indeed the talents of their victors. Questions which pose a threat to their self-esteem and carefully crafted self-identity. An identity as a champion rather than an also-ran. Often, this results in attributing defeat on anything other than their own performance or talent. The incompetent referee, the bad bounces, the dodgy meal they had the night before… And why not, when confidence can play such a key role in getting the best out of athletes. Inaccurate, or even absurd, excuses can support athletes maintain their self-esteem so that they can approach their next game, match, run with the necessary confidence to perform at their best.

Opting for self-improvement

But in Novak’s post-match press conference, rather than going on the defensive and seeking out excuses, he spoke of his admiration for his Spanish opponent and the lofty status he now has within the game. Calmly acknowledging that Alcaraz was currently the best player in the world and describing the new Wimbledon champion as having all the best bits of ‘the big 3’ in his game. Arguably praise which went far beyond any ‘gracious in defeat’ necessities and perhaps surprisingly effusive from someone who is front and centre of the GOAT debate with potential motivations to futureproof that status.

Djokovic’s post-match comments may suggest that rather than going into ego protection mode, he was already able and choosing to respond to questions in a more objective manner. Shoring up the ego at all costs may have made him feel better about himself in the short-term, but athletes who do so continually and without rational reflection risk blinding themselves from the truth and the adjustments they need to make for long-term improvements. By Djokovic acknowledging and accepting the challenge he now faces with Alcaraz moving from young pretender to number one, he’s given himself the opportunity to shine a lens on what he may need to do to get back on top.

Recognising and using your ego

Regardless of the level you compete at, how we perceive ourselves and how we wish others to do so can motivate us to reach our sporting goals. The need to feed our ego and meet the expectations we set ourselves can drive us to pursue personal bests or dig deeper to beat close rivals. Protecting your ego can be a sound strategy when in the middle of competition. Where there’s few alternatives and/or where maintaining confidence must trump anything else.

However, be aware of when your ego is at risk of holding you back from reaching your potential. It may obscure you from seeing the necessary improvements to take your game to the next level. Or it may encourage you to avoid competing altogether, as your ego seeks to remove any potential threat of failure. Or perhaps even if your ego allows you to compete, it may push you to do so with less than 100% commitment, so that it can easily rationalise away any failings with a simple ‘ach, well I wasn’t really trying anyway. If I did I would’ve won’.

Whether we should feed or starve our ego is perhaps more a question of timing. But, being able to recognise how your ego can impact your decision making and performance can be the first step in making your ego work for you.

How using values can benefit your game

Ahead of Wimbledon fortnight, we look at what we can learn from Venus Williams and Andy Murray’s continued desire to compete. And how you can use your own values to gain more enjoyment AND performance from your game. 

Last week in Birmingham, former world number 1 and multiple Slam winner Venus Williams took to the court at 43 years old.  Having not beaten a top 50 player since 2019, and with a current world ranking of 697, few would have given her a chance in her opening match against top 50 ranked Camila Giorgi. However, not only did Venus win, she outlasted her opponent in a 3-hour marathon, despite nursing a leg injury. A few days later she was back to do it all again, but this time was edged out in another 3-set epic to the week’s eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Many have posed the question as to why a player who has already achieved everything there is to achieve in the game would carry on playing when their ‘best days’ are evidently behind them. Others go further. Replacing the question with a strident view that past champions should step away before they veer too far from their peak. For example, a bleacher report article from 10 years ago (yes, 10!) implores Venus to retire or risk ‘marring her legacy’. Likewise, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone in Scotland, tennis fan or otherwise, who’s not been involved in a similar discussion about ‘oor Andy’ in recent years.

In some respects, we can only speculate as to why Venus and Andy continue to put in the hard graft, all the while being compensated with fewer obvious rewards. They’d probably have hung up their racket by now if winning was their sole motivation. A safer bet is that they simply love to compete. The intrinsic reward, that inner contentment, of being in the heat of battle. We can perhaps assume that competing is fundamentally important to them. A value that they are prepared to fully commit to, irrespective of whether that results in victory or defeat.

A better question might be then, ‘Whilst they still enjoy competing… why would, or even should, they choose not to?’

Those who counter by talking about ‘tainted legacies’, make this case through the lens of their own perspective. Taking the position that our sporting heroes should not only consider, but prioritise what others think about their past achievements when deciding what to do next. Equally, it assumes that only an athlete’s results, the stats, are remembered and deemed worthy of admiration. Rather than taking into the account their personal qualities and character. Surely those who witnessed Venus’ exploits in Birmingham would say that her incredible will to win only adds to her legacy rather than diminishes it. Similarly, whilst Andy’s rise to world number 1 was remarkable, perhaps his greatest cause for inspiration has been to show that even with a metal hip you can still compete when you have courage, resilience, and heart in abundance.

How to start using values in your game

Whatever sport you play, making decisions based on other people’s perceptions or desires is unlikely to leave you feeling fulfilled. Neither will it give you the opportunity to reach your potential, whatever that may presently be. Instead, a happier and more productive path is likely to be found when you discover what values are important to you and commiting to these when you perform. These values will be unique to you, but one might be ‘to compete’ on every single point or in every single challenge. Or perhaps you might value ‘being bold’, by always seeking to play on the front foot.

Whatever your values are, committing to them is also more likely to support the opportunity for positive outcomes to occur. Additionally, your commitment, or otherwise, to these values is wholly within your control. Therefore, evaluating your performance, in-part, against how well you committed to each of these values can and should be part of your post-performance analysis.

Lessons to takeaway

1. To help maximise enjoyment of your sport, try focusing and acting on your own values, whatever they may be, rather than solely focusing on win or loss outcomes which may not be fully in your control.

2. Unlike the quality of your opponent, the external conditions, and luck, the values you have remain the same.  Acting on these values can therefore help give you mental clarity and provide a more consistent approach to your game.

3. Don’t let a fear of failure and other people’s perceptions of your results hold you back. Only by putting yourself on the line will you give yourself the opportunity to reach your current performance potential.

4. And if you’re still concerned about what others may think of you, remember that how we go about playing the game, rather than our win/loss numbers, are what people typically admire most about us.   

Managing sleep to avoid a nightmare performance

Stefanos Tsitsipas exited the French Open quarter finals this week, in-part blaming his flat performance on a pre-game nap. But how much can sleep (or the lack of it) impact the performance of athletes? And what can we do so that sleep works in our favour? 

First things first, let’s not knock sleep. For good reason it’s lauded as the most important recovery tool we have to re-energise the body and mind. Which is why those competing at the sharp end of sport try and a get a lot of it. And I mean a lot.  For example, Holger Rune, another French Open quarter finalist this week, puts his head down for 9-13 hours each day. A mere nap compared with former Chelsea footballer Michael Essien who would rack up 14 hours a day during his playing days. But as much as sleep is important, knowing the right time to catch 40 winks is equally so.

It’s only relatively recently that sport scientists have begun to better understand how an athlete’s ‘circadian rhythm’ can impact their performance. Both physically and psychologically. When I first heard of circadian rhythms I thought it may have been something I’d stumbled through at a Ceilidh. Alas, our circadian rhythm is largely just a fancy term to describe our internal clock which regulates our sleep-wake cycle. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, minimising the disruption to our natural sleep-wake cycle is something athletes look to avoid. For elite tennis players like Stefanos Tsitsipas this can prove tricky, when you consider tournament schedulers can have the players competing on court anytime from mid-morning to midnight. Not to mention the constant hazard of jet lag when competing on a worldwide tour with the inevitable and frequent crossing of time zones. Some level of disruption is largely unavoidable.

To throw another factor into the mix, some of us are naturally morning, afternoon or evening people. In other words, athletes will perform at their best at different times of the day. In experiments using the dreaded BLEEP test, researchers have suggested that an individual’s fitness performance can vary by a whopping 26% depending on when we do it. Equally, how much sleep we get and when we take it will impact all important stress levels.  Stress levels that, if not regulated properly, will negatively impact concentration, energy levels and technique.

So, when sport is often decided by the finest of margins the impact of sleep and scheduling can therefore not be overlooked. When it comes to sleep and our own circadian rhythms, we’re unlikely to have the power to arrange races or matches to align with our peak performance window.  But there are some things within our control.  And it’s these things that we should focus on.

Here are some of my tips to avoid you being a Sleepy Stefanos and to help you bring your A game to your next big sporting event.

1.  Increase your night time sleeping hours.

It’s simple… but it’s effective. Don’t underestimate the benefits of a good night’s sleep.  Athletes who increased their nightly sleep time from 6.5 hours to 8.5 were shown to improve their speed and accuracy.  Increasing your sleeping time has also been shown to make you less susceptible to injury.   

2.  Get to know your peak performance window.

Try to keep a performance diary or perhaps use a fitness app to gauge your physical performance when training or competing at different times of the day.  This is not an exact science as there are other physical and psychological factors which will impact your sporting performance. But taking this kind of approach may help give you some indication of your peak performance windows.

3.  Make adjustments to your sleep and training schedule in advance.

If your next big race starts at 10am, but you usually sleep until 9am and hate those morning runs… it’s probably not going to augur well in terms of your performance on the day!  Even if it’s a struggle, try to mirror the race-day environment by incorporating morning runs into your training schedule.  Additionally, adjust your sleep schedule a week or two in advance, so that you still get the necessary sleep, but which will also mean you wake up earlier.  On the day of the race, you may not feel like it’s morning at all.

4.  Be conscious of what your optimal stress levels are.

Whether you perform at your best when you’re super chilled, super pumped or somewhere in between will be different for all of us. Take steps in your preparation, such as using music, meditation or self-talk to try and get your stress levels in your optimal pre-performance zone.

The power of belief in sporting performance

Sheffield Wednesday provided an incredible sporting comeback story last week when they overcame Peterborough in English football’s League 1 play-offs. And with it, showed why simply having belief in yourself can bring you success that others couldn’t imagine possible. Learn about the methods you can use to boost your sporting confidence.

Speaking in the immediate aftermath , Wednesday’s captain Barry Bannan told Sky Sports that he’d never stop believing his side could overturn the 4 goal first leg deficit and by doing so reach the play-off final. A hard task, almost unbelievable you might think. Particularly so considering that in English league play-off history no team had ever recovered a 3 goal deficit, never mind 4.  It’s maybe easy to say belief was never an issue once you’ve actually achieved, if not the impossible, the very improbable. But as he spoke of his and the team’s pre-match preparation he, perhaps unwittingly, revealed a range of methods that he and the coaching staff used which could only have helped instill some of that belief. Or in other words, boost their confidence.

We’ll shortly look at some of those methods, but before doing so it’s worth highlighting that the relationship between confidence and sporting performance is complex.  

Some researchers have argued that confidence is the most significant psychological factor to positively influence the way athletes perform. Not least because it frees athletes from the constraints of anxiety, allowing them to play their natural game and their technical skills to flow naturally. It's too simplistic to say ‘the more confident athletes are the better’ though. We can all recall examples, perhaps from personal experience or watching from afar, where motivation, concentration and the quality of decision making drops off when confidence veers into over-confidence.

Generally speaking though, confidence supports performance. That’s why a core part of any coach’s job must be to instill belief in their athletes.  There’s a tendency to portray a fatalistic picture of confidence. But as Barry and his Sheffield Wednesday colleagues proved, there are strategies you can use to increase your sporting confidence. Reflecting on some of what they did, here are some tips to boost your confidence to help give you the opportunity to perform to your potential.

1.        Reflect on the positives in past performances.

Past performances are the most important factor to influence confidence, so seeking and reflecting on the positives of past experiences is vital. Whilst Wednesday had just been heavily defeated by Peterborough, they’d also finished 19 points ahead of Peterborough in the league.  Additionally, they’d already scored 5 goals in 3 other matches that season.  These factors could perhaps have been used by the coaching staff to instill belief that they could upset the odds.

2.       Seek out role-models.

We compare ourselves to others all the time, so using a role-modelling effect can be a really effective strategy.  The Wednesday players were shown videos of footballing comebacks as part of their preparations. Seeing other teams achieve success from a similar position they found themselves in gave the message that their task was not insurmountable.

3.       Listen to the right people.

What others say to us can have a direct impact in shaping our confidence.  Surrounding yourself with others who give words of encouragement and help instill belief in your own abilities can support you.  Barry Bannan said that his phone had been red-hot following the first leg, but he’d ignored the naysayers and only engaged with those who were positive.  A sound strategy!

4.       Visualise positive outcomes.

Seeing is believing. Using visualisation techniques to form a mental image of a positive outcome can enhance your belief that that outcome will occur. The Wednesday players had been practicing penalties in the build-up to the 2nd leg, in the event that they were able to take the game to an unlikely penalty shoot-out.  As it transpired the practice would have come in handy, as they won on penalties… however, the fact they were preparing for a positive outcome may have helped the players picture success.

Combatting mental fatigue in the SPFL play-offs

“The games are crazy.” 

These were the words of Partick Thistle striker Brian Graham after his late strike gave his side a 4-3 victory over Queens Park. A goal which means Thistle have taken one step closer to top-flight football following the first leg of their Scottish Premiership quarter final play-off match. 

You’d be forgiven if you thought the words ‘quarter final’ shouldn’t appear anywhere near a play-off descriptor.  But that’s because for those teams finishing 3rd or 4th in the Championship, each forward step in the play-offs is couched in the context of Scottish Football’s very own marathon. A marathon which, in the history of the play offs, only Livingston have successfully completed. The prize of Premiership football brings added prestige, income, and umpteen opportunities to complain about VAR… but only if they can navigate six highly pressurised games.

You’ll no doubt hear pundits trot out the cliché that the players will need to treat each of these matches like a cup final.  But cup finals are notorious for being physically and mentally draining. In part because of the stress-induced effects pressure can bring on the body and brain. Football’s dynamic, fast-paced and unpredictable environment means precise and fast decision making is needed over the 90 minutes. But mental fatigue has a negative impact on players’ decision-making abilities as well as their discipline, motivation, and ultimately their overall performance.  So where does this leave the Thistle and Queens Park players? 

With another potential five ‘cup final’ games to come, here are some strategies they could consider to limit the effects of mental fatigue taking over:

1. Keep the message simple

   There’s likely a lot of things going on in the players heads already.  Coaches should try and keep any pre-game instructions simple to avoid adding to the ‘noise’ and the potential for further distractions.

2. Build in adequate recovery time between games

   The games come round quickly but trying to find ways to help the players recharge both physically and mentally will be vital. Each of us relax in different ways, allowing the players to have a beer or two post match may be no bad thing.

3. Limit phone use

   Scrolling through news, social media and replying to messages can add to mental fatigue. Keeping phones away from the dressing room would be advisable and trying to encourage players to limit their use in between games would even better.

4. Don’t look too far ahead

   Talking of or thinking about multiple upcoming ‘cup finals’ could be overwhelming and add to mental fatigue. Coaches should focus on breaking the task down. Yes, I’m turning to another cliché… but taking ‘one game at a time’ is the order of the day here. Keeping the pre-match preparations as normal as possible should help them to do so.

Best of luck to both teams and, as a neutral, here’s hoping for the crazy games to continue!