He also has many academic achievements not mentioned in his Wiki bio. He attained his primary sports education degree in the 1970’s. At the age of 68, he returned to education to do a PhD.  Of all his achievements, I think this impressed me the most. It’s a true testament to his drive and passion for sport and his own development.

I know very little about GAA or any other football for that matter. This is not something I’m necessarily proud of given that my grandfather, Ned Murphy, was a founding member and first chairman of Ballyboden St. Enda’s GAA. If he were still alive today I imagine he would be very disappointed by my lack of interest in GAA and he might have hoped that my interest in the event was based on a desire to learn more about Gaelic football.

Alas, this was not my motivation. Sports coaching is one of the many disciplines that organisational coaches draw on. Having seen the German team decimate the English team during the 2010 World Cup through superior team co-ordination, I have no doubt that organisations have a huge amount to learn from the principles of high performance sport.

This was my motivation; I wanted to learn from Mickey’s experience of facilitating high performing individuals and teams, and I certainly was not disappointed.

Here are some of the key areas he covered and my own thoughts on them.

(1) The Importance of Mindset

Mickey told us about a player he worked with that struggled with weight lifting. He could lift up to a certain weight but could not break that barrier no matter how hard he tried. At one training session, the trainers gave him heavier weights but labelled them as a lower weight.

The player succeeded in lifting them. On realising this, he continued to lift heavier and heavier weights in that session and totally smashed his original weight limit.

I think this is a very real example of something we all do to ourselves at various times in our lives – we get in our own way! What can we do about it? Exactly what Mickey and the team did for this player, test the assumptions we make about our perceived limitations.

So the next time you hear yourself making a limiting declaration about your abilities such as ‘I can’t’ or ‘I’m not able’, ask yourself ‘am I really sure about that?’. If you can’t be tough on yourself, find someone who will help you challenge yourself.

(2) Being Aware of how we Impact on others

Not only do we have the ability to either accelerate or limit our own performance, we can have a similar impact on the people around us. Mickey used an inspiring and thought provoking quote from American football player and coach Woody Hayes: “Humans are capable of far more than they realise…each individuals performance is predicated on what’s expected of him”.

Linked to this Mickey talked about a study carried out in the US in 1968. Teachers at a public elementary school were given the names of students who they were told would achieve rapid, above-average intellectual progress in the coming year.

In fact the students were selected randomly. However the study showed that the selected students did outperform their peers. The study concluded that this was the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy, the teachers had subtly and unconsciously encouraged the performance they expected to see.

Mickey’s observation was that as a coach he was mindful of his words and actions and how they might impact on others. This message really hit a cord with me because it’s probably one of my most important learning and development points on my journey to be a coach. I used to believe that I had to answer other people’s questions for them.

Thankfully this is not the case. Why do I say that? Well I find when I let others reflect and answer their own questions, the insights they have for themselves about themselves are far superior to anything I could have told them! My job is to ask the right questions and challenge their thinking in a supportive way, not to tell them what to do!

I believe this is a powerful message not just for coaches of any discipline, but for all of us irrespective of our roles in life. In a nutshell, I believe that negative talk is not motivational, it’s limiting. If you want to help someone succeed, focus on their strengths and show them you believe in them. Each of us is fully capable of tapping into our potential and talents when we feel good about ourselves.

(3) The Importance of Support

The importance of having a support team seems to be fully understood and accepted in the sports world. Mickey listed off a range of professionals required for the support team, including a physiologist, nutritionist, psychologist plus 4 or 5 more.

The qualities he required of these individuals included intuition, good communication and listening skills, team skills, willingness to take risks, ability to self-evaluate and passion.  Clarity around roles and responsibilities was also fundamental.

All of these qualities are highly desirable in the world of business. However, speaking from my own experience in organisations, the importance of support is often undervalued. In fact it can be perceived as a sign of weakness rather than a source of renewal and strength.

It took me a long time to realise this for myself. I’ve burnt myself out many times trying to be the hero, because I believed that was what I should do. If an athlete didn’t take care of their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs (by spiritual I mean sense of purpose) they would not perform to their best.

I now realise that the same applies to the rest of us no matter what profession we are in. Repeat after me: ‘If I am not taking care of myself, I am not reaching my potential’. Self-care isn’t an indulgence, it’s fundamental to being the best you can be.

(4) Back to the Future

Mickey reminisced on his childhood. He told us how his mother would give him 3 pence to get the bus to football training in Ringsend. He didn’t spend his 3 pence on bus fare though. He’d run from Cabra to Ringsend and walk back.

He showed us some photos from generations past where children played on the streets of Dublin and explained that if during a game of football the score of one side was obviously stronger e.g  a score of 6-1, the kids would rearrange the team so it was more balanced. His point was that everyone learnt as a result and it raised the game for everyone. He challenged the idea that putting a focus purely on winning is enough.

I also agree that it’s great to win but if you don’t learn and grow in the process you are missing a huge opportunity. How often do organisational teams rearrange themselves to get the best out of people? I’ve seen a lot of re-org’s in my time but they’ve been about business strategy rather than leveraging the strengths and talents of the people working in the organisation.

Jack Welch’s vitality model which assumes a certain percentage of the organisation is underperforming at any point in time seems to be a more prevalent view of how to get the best out of a workforce. I could talk for hours on why I disagree with this. So maybe I’ll get into that in another blog!

Mickey spoke for an hour and had lots more wisdom to share with us around building expertise, the importance of discipline, keeping current with new knowledge and challenging traditional thinking. The more I reflect on his talk, the more I get from it and the more I see the parallel between building performance in sports and organisations. I hope I have passed on some of that food for thought.

What’s really unexpected for me is that it’s got me writing again. It’s been over a year since I wrote my last blog. I reckon Ned would be very proud that it was Dr Mickey Whelan and the GAA that inspired me to get writing again!

These facts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) are sobering:

• Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980
• In 2008, 1.5 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight. Of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese
• 65% of the world’s population live in countries where being overweight and obesity kills more people than being underweight
• Nearly 43 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2010

(http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/)

WHO state in the same factsheet that at least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight or obese.

The really shocking fact however is that obesity is preventable!  So why are we racing towards it with open arms?

We know what the problem is, the next logical question is; do we know what to do about it?

I did a search on Amazon to find out how many diet, nutrition and exercise books there are to choose from. Suffice to say there are too many to count. But as an example, “diet books” gave 51,885 results with 348 new arrivals in the last month, “nutrition”  11,037 and “exercise” a mere 110,538 results.

Impressive – clearly we have lots of information about what we should eat, how, when, in what quantities and what we need to do to burn it all off again. And, on an even more positive note, IQ is also not a limiting factor because there are both idiot guides and smart guides available!

So, if knowing that excess weight is not good for our health is not enough to spur us to healthy diet and exercise regimes, surely the images of physical perfection portrayed through the media would guilt us into better habits?

There is no doubt that media images of perfection fuel the diet and exercise industry. But didn’t WHO just tell us that obesity is on the rise?

We know what the problem is, we have a vision for how we want to be and we know how to get there. And I bet any of the 3,824 “personal change” books available from Amazon will tell you that if you want to change, you need a vision and you need a plan.

So why is obesity on the rise? Where are we going wrong? Kegan and Lahey in their book Immunity to Change talk about the  difference between technical and adaptive approaches to change.

Technical problems are those that require processes and routines. There is a cause and effect relationship, do this and that will happen. And technically speaking, if I eat less and move more I will weigh less. I know this because I’ve tried it and it works.

Every time I want to drop some weight, I eat less and move more and guess what? I lose weight. Trouble is I manage to find it again!!

This leads me to believe that weight-loss and exercise go beyond being technical challenges. As human beings we are emotional creatures that are essentially driven by our emotional needs. Emotional needs are not addressed through knowledge and process.

Of course, if we didn’t have systems, processes and routines life would be very chaotic – imagine having no rules of the road or traffic light systems! So believe me, I’m not dismissing them as unimportant. They are very important, just not the full picture.

If we approach weight-loss as if it is a technical problem that can be solved through knowledge and process alone, we are missing the point.

To understand what’s preventing you from achieving your goals, you need to understand what you are protecting. What is competing with your goal of weight-loss or fitness? What are you giving up when you pursue your goal of the ideal body size and weight?

What I’m talking about isn’t a quick fix or another miracle solution that will help you lose 7lbs in 7 days! This is a process that involves getting in touch with who you are and what really motivates you.

So how do you do that? The real starting point for change is awareness. If you are serious about losing weight, getting fit or any other goal for that matter, you need to become more aware of what’s really going on for you.

What are your emotional needs and what are you currently doing to feed them? Are you literally feeding them with lattes, chocolate or some other calorific delight?

Kegan and Lahey tell us about a man who struggled with his weight all his life. What he came to realise was that food in his family was synonymous with love. Before he recognised this, any attempts at weight loss left him feeling emotionally empty. His family also took his efforts to lose weight as a personal rejection. No wonder weight-loss felt like a hopeless struggle!

If you are serious about achieving your weight-loss and exercise goal, I recommend you put more focus on what’s really driving you.

1. Each day, take some quiet time. Sit comfortably and focus on your breathing. This helps clear the mind. Ask yourself what’s important to you. It might be helpful to write this down in a diary.
2. Keep a record of your eating – thinking – feeling patterns. Track what you eat and your exercise in one column; record the related thoughts and feelings in the opposite column.

After three weeks, look back over your diary to identify the cognitive and emotional patterns. What’s really important to you? What motivates you? What are your emotional triggers? How do your thought processes influence your actions?

What next? Personally, I find that raised awareness around something is often enough for me to take control and move forward. However, there are times I need to find additional avenues of support.

Either way, you have taken the most important step forward towards achieving your goal – understanding what’s getting in our way. Now you are ready to make a plan that you can follow through.

Reading Paul Dervan’s article from 6^th November on O2 IdeasRoom about the need for strategic focus in business got me thinking about the relationship side of business.

How often in a business environment do you see people interrupting conversations to answer their phone or checking and sending emails or text messages at meetings?

Did you know that etiquette dictates that the person in front of you take precedence over phone calls, emails, tweets and text messages? Surprised?

These behaviours are so prevalent; we often defer to the modern communications devices without thinking about it. Don’t get me wrong; I’m as addicted to my emails, texting messaging and social networks as much as the next person.

However, in order to truly harness the power of modern technology we need to remember that communication is about relationships, not technology. Technology is the means, not the end.

According to a survey carried out by Business Performance Perspectives (www.bpp.ie) 100% of professionals surveyed value manners in their business dealings. 71% define rudeness as indifference or inattentiveness. Nearly half (46%) would move their business elsewhere if they were on the receiving end of bad manners (up from 26% in 2008).

Of course, good manners shouldn’t just be reserved for clients or potential clients. How people treat each other within an organisation is just as important to the overall health of a business.

A culture that accepts a focus on multi-tasking communications to get things done is sacrificing the relationships that give a business its competitive edge. Employees might be getting things done, but if they aren’t fully connecting they are potentially misinterpreting information and working with incomplete information, which when combined, results in reduced performance, problem-solving and creativity.

Many organisations depend on global virtual teams. If it’s not possible to meet face to face, technology offers great alternatives such as audio, video or web conferencing, web collaboration and online meeting services.

The need for etiquette is just as important in these situations. You may feel free to text, tweet and email without the other participants being able to see you. Happy Days! However, the downside of multi-tasking communications in this situation is the same as others – incomplete and misinterpretation of information. And there is also the risk of embarrassing yourself by raising points that have already been covered!

Etiquette involves respect for others and self, consideration and honesty. Here are some simple guidelines to keep in mind when working with others:

• Focus your attention on the person you are with
• Turn off your mobile phone or blackberry when meeting clients and colleagues
• Agree regular breaks to allow participants to check messages during longer meetings
• Know why you are attending meetings, if you have no clear purpose don’t go. Get cc’ed on the minutes
• Don’t ever deliver bad news by email

Communication technology offers amazing opportunities to connect and build relationships.  Once you’ve connected, remember to focus on the relationship. It’s the quality of the relationships that defines the quality of the business.

Zeus and Skiffington say it’s about change and transformation. I like this; it captures the essence of coaching and is often all that is required to satisfy the friendly enquiry.

Of course, coaching is a very broad field and is an emerging profession.

Organisations such as the Association for Coaching, European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and the Life and Business Coaching Association of Ireland have emerged to promote good practice and ethics.

In my view, this is a very important and necessary step in the development of our profession.

There are many types of coaching; life, spirituality, sports, parenting, business and executive coaching are some of the variations.

My field is business and executive coaching. Having played a leadership role in a large multinational for many years, the challenges that individuals and organisations face in mobilising and achieving change fascinate me.

When I first decided to pursue coaching training, I wanted to ensure that I would receive top class training and that my qualifications would have national and international credibility and currency.

It took many months of research and my final choice was supported by a recommendation from a trusted colleague – always a good start and end point.

Interestingly, I have found coaching to be an effective and personally challenging catalyst for my own development. When I started my training I believed coaching would be something I would learn to do – and learning to do it is important.

However, I also quickly learnt it was a personal journey, one which I needed to embrace if I wanted to authentically facilitate the change and transition process for others.

I fully appreciate how frustratingly confusing it can be for individuals and organisations looking for a coach. My advice is to use the various coaching organisations’ websites as a starting point.

When I’m asked for a 90 second elevator pitch about what to look for in a coach, I use Peter Bluckert’s five higher level competencies of executive coaching. The depth of competence required in each will depend entirely on what the individual or organisation wants to achieve.

The first is business competence which involves an understanding of how organisations work, culture, strategy, leadership and politics.

The second is coaching competence. This is a combination of skills, process, methodology and mindset of the coach.

The third is psychological competencies. A coach needs to understand how change takes place and why it often doesn’t take place.

The fourth is interpersonal and relationship management competencies. This is about the coach’s ability to build and form a relationship with the coachee.

In organisations, the coachee is often not the sponsor. Therefore, an ability to manage the triangularisation of the contracting process is critical to success.

The fifth competence is professional practice. This includes adhering to a code of ethics, honouring confidentiality agreements and maintaining the highest standards of professionalism.

Yes it’s about change and transformation, but it’s also about a lot more.

Isolde Norris: Director at KOI Business Coaching & Consulting Limited
www.koiconsulting.ie