Performance Culture

By Erik Oestenkjaer

Sportspsychologist and mental trainer Erik Østenkjær has years of experience building cultures that perform in the highest leagues - both in sports and in business.

In this book, he will teach you how to build that culture, from laying it's foundation to it's continued maintenance. The minds of your coworkers are valuable assets that create culture and their attitudes and thoughts help shape culture - and you help shape them.

Together, you and i will examine obstacles to management and how to handle them, we will look at the right tools for the job and measure your performances. We will look at knowledge and how to make your culture thrive and disseminate information to make you stronger and prepared.
We will put the manager under a microscope and examine what to do and what not to do - making you a better manager in the process.

The entire book is backed up by cases from both the worlds of sports and business.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erik Oestenkjaer
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311766526

Erik Oestenkjaer

Dipl.Psych. MFCC. Erik Østenkjær has been a coach and sparring partner for elite athletes in 27 sports, in 21 countries. He has worked with most Denmark' leading football, handball, and ice hockey clubs, and is consulted by athletes from all major clubs in Europe. Erik Østenkjær has been practicing sports psychology as long as athletes have used mental training. In his work with athletes, coaches, parents and managers, he has gained deep insight into what it takes to your reach goals. "It is my experience that will, can change everything, and you can start strengthening your will at anytime, anywhere and at any age".

Book preview

PERFORMANCE CULTURE

MENTAL MANAGEMENT

© 2014 Erik Østenkjær and Sport Psychology Institute ApS

Illustrations by D-Store og Erik Østenkjær

Edited by Marie Lauritzen

Translation by Sune Jensen

Published by Smashwords 2014

Sport Psychology Institute ApS

Galgebakken 13

8680 Ry

Danmark

Phone: [phone]

www.sport-psychology-institute.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS MENTAL MANAGEMENT?

YOUR MENTAL IDENTITY

THE AUTOCRATIC LEADER

THE HUMANISTIC AND DEMOCRATIC LEADER

THE PSYCHOPATHIC LEADER

SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS AS ORGANISMS

SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS AS CULTURES OF LEARNING

COMMUNICATION

MOTIVATION

THE PROFESSIONAL AND THE AMATEUR ORGANIZATION

BARRIERS TO OPENESS AND DEVELOPMENT

POOR MANAGEMENT ATTRACTS POOR MANAGERS AND COWORKERS

COMMON PROBLEMS

THE IDENTITY OF THE ORGANIZATION

THE PARADOX OF THE IMAGE

SKILLS

TRADITIONAL VIEWS ON CULTURE

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

THE MENTAL ORGANIZATION

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT - THE SOFT AND THE HARD

PERFORMANCE AND PRESSURE

THE PARADOXES OF PERFORMANCE CULTURE

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS

OPERATIONAL STRATEGY

ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS

CLOSED VERSUS OPEN ORGANIZATION

THE PERFECT MENTAL MANAGEMENT PROFILE - AN IDEAL

THE DECISION PROCESS

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR SPORTS MANAGERS

CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS COACHING PROCESSES

CHANGING THE DYNAMIC PROCESS

FINAL WORDS

APPENDIX 1

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FOREWORD

Over the past 40 years, I have experienced much from the kinds of management and cultures leaders have helped create in the world of sports.

Besides suffering under bad management myself, I have seen the consequences of poor management for organizations, clubs and staff - both on the human and on the economic level. These consequences have had, and still have, a rub-off effect on society, especially as sports have become a bigger and bigger part of many people's values and quality of life.

There are plenty of good people working in sports, and the basic idea of healthy mind in a healthy body is worth striving for. All in all, I think we should strive to identify and use the best in ourselves and in one another.

We all know examples of people that exhibit disconnection between intentions and actions. Perhaps they are genuinely striving to help better people's lives and create good results, but it is likely that their intention-action discrepancy will cause them to continually violate basic ethical rules for coexistence. Their pursuit of results justify their own behavior to themselves, but often their real motive is the selfish need for own power and economy. This is all too common in the world of sports, and the time has come to reflect on what happened to good and ethical management.

Too often I have been confronted with styles of management and managers who have failed on the human level, no matter economic or professional results. I have also experienced how the morality and rules these managers have created, has brought about an infinite amount of grief and misfortune to a lot of people.

Above all, I have a dream of creating a new type of management built on entirely different attitudes to ones self and the role as leader. A type of management where the people in sports are more important than personal gains or power. A culture where prosperity and development can progress without all the distractions. It is a dream I believe in, and one I hope I share with many others.

So, the dream is to help create a management style that supports a performance culture based on humanistic values.

I have often been told that I am not loyal to the clubs and organizations I have worked for. It is an opinion that may seem correct if seen from the outside, since I have often been public about internal relationships in these businesses and clubs. Mostly, the Medias interpretations of my statements have been completely true to my intentions - though, I have never spoken of individuals, and therefore the Medias portrayal of cases with names will have to be on their conscience.

I have never hidden my experiences and have always made sure to take matters up internally before making any external statements. I have always considered this solution as a last resort to affect a club or organization when everything else had gone wrong, and no one would listen.

I have never sold myself to a club or organization with the promise of loyalty, and I have never given any club or organization the impression that by hiring me, they had bought my loyalty.

When I am hired as a developer of organizations or as a consultant on sports psychology, my task has always been to optimize performances on all levels. It is my clear conviction that this assignment can only succeed by dealing with the reality of the organization, which means that I focus on my own experience of the organization, paying no mind to what others think can and cannot be said.

To get an understanding of my work, and the reason for this book, it is important to understand that I have consciously decided not to be loyal to a club or organization - and thereby submitting to it and its demands for silence. Of most importance must be to come close to the truth about the processes that happens, so I am able to help my clients optimize their performances.

The title of this book says it all. It is about the culture, the mentality and the attitudes we create, and the recognition of the fact that to change mentality, you have to change attitudes. That requires dialogue with all involved parties.

The book is based on real events and experiences, and solely on theories, hypotheses and thoughts I have developed or use in my professional life.

There will be examples from companies, clubs and organizations I have worked with through the years, but I will refrain from naming them. Often the used example is not unique, but an expression of something I have encountered on numerous occasions. The managers described here are persons I have encountered, and, when mentioned, they too are an expression of general observations, not simply representations of a single individual.

If I deviate and choose to name organizations, it is only with the intention of bringing a general example to the fore. That means that I have not personally worked in or with these organizations. Instead, my arguments are based on common journalistic research.

The intent of this book is to create more openness about what happens in sports organizations, and to further debate on management and management styles. This can help grow abilities currently being neglected by the organizations, contribute to the development of management talent - the purpose being to create greater performances for all of us to enjoy.

Blind loyalty to others is betrayal of your own ability and your own success.

I would like to thank all the organizations, clubs, businesses, managers, coworkers and athletes that have put their trust in me through the years, and who have used my knowledge and ability.

I am grateful for the experiences and opportunities I have had in the world of sports and would like to thank those who have read drafts of this book, been critical and contributed with input. I would like to thank Coach Lasse Kristensen and chief consultant Hans Lauge for their concrete questions and constructive criticism. Likewise, I would like to thank Jens Erik Lund for his illustrations to this book and Marie Lauritzen for editing.

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You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude to what happens to you and what you want to control.

Decisiveness is a trait of highly performing men and women; any decision is better than none at all.

Develop an attitude of gratefulness, and be thankful for everything that happens to you; that is how you create a better situation for yourself.

The goal is the course, and the process is the correction.

If the process does not move you, you are standing still.

If you are valuable, you have to be a good person in your own self-development process.

The only thing that matter is what you want.

You can only grow if you are willing to feel stupid and learn new things.

Social relationships are an indication of a mature ego.

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.

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INTRODUCTION

For  some time I have thought about writing a book on performance culture and mental management, but have constantly asked myself if I was experienced enough to do it. Do the experiences I have matter to others?

My professional life has consisted of a long range of tasks involving solutions to problems: tasks which usually have revolved around the individual person. Work with organizations and businesses have also comprised a large share of my tasks, whether they were from the world of sports or not. I have been fortunate to work with several different cultures, in several different countries, from which I have gathered the knowledge I will try to pass on in this book.

Knowledge builds on experiences, and those experiences have been centered on problems. This is part of the basis of my job, and the tasks I have handled for my clients.

Therefore, it has been natural for me to build the book around a wide selection of these tasks, and thereby state my thoughts, theories and hypotheses through my experiences. It should therefore be obvious to the reader that the book is based in the realm of the subjective, and that I in no way contend that the thoughts, opinions and actions stated here are final truths or evidentially valid theories or results. The depictions here are all about my experiences, my truths, my ability to understand and my ability to develop.

Management or leadership is about the role of the leader. This is obvious will most people think, but if it is so obvious why do we need all the existing management theories? Why ask yourself and others what good management is if it is so obvious?

The difficult part about management is that it is about people: the manager and the coworker as people. We humans are different; we cannot be classified and typified without in some way or another not fitting the model. This concerns managers as well as coworkers.

This book is about what makes us leaders. I will pass on my experiences of the leaders I have known and experienced in practice. I will seek to describe what, in my estimation, often fails, what works, and the consequences different management styles have had for the businesses, clubs and organizations I have been involved with.

In the first part of the book, I will examine the leader: the different types of leaders I have encountered, and the paradoxes I have seen between person, task and image. Then, I will focus on the different cultures I have experienced, and which have contributed to the basis of the existing mentality. Among other things, we will be examining organizational structures and identities. Finally, I will specify the theories and methods I have used, and which I consider necessary for mental management.

It all started with curiosity. In the world of sports there is a tendency never to blame the management and the CEO, no matter the results or performances. How come? Why is it always the athletes, players and, certainly not least, the coaches who are to blame? Why did the administrative CEO and the sports manager still have jobs, when the club they were responsible for went from being fourth in the top league and having an income of 40 millions, to becoming a league two bottom team with barely 8 millions left?

Why do failures like these have no consequences for the top management? How can it be that Denmark's second largest football club, in less than seven years, suddenly found itself fighting relegation and a broken economy? Seven years of poor results without consequences for the manager? And what happened when KBH Handball were fused with KIF handball - where were the managers responsible for the poor economic results?

Is my intuition correct? Can it really be true that the poor management gets off scot free in sports organizations and clubs, where everything else depends on performance and results?

Before I started this book, I contacted a reporter. I asked him to uncover the exchange rate of management and staff in Danish football's top tier clubs throughout the last ten years, ending in 2011. By no means was I surprised by the results of his investigation as it completely and utterly supported my intuitions; we were now two who had examined this, and there were factual numbers.

The reporter got another assignment: to examine the educational level of CEOs and sports managers and to ascertain what role DBU and similar organizations play relative to the demand for education in this area. What do they think about the fact that they may end up placing totally inexperienced leaders, without real management education, in charge of a staff worth millions? Is there coherence between the quality of leadership in sports, and the budgets management have at their disposal?

The results of the reporters investigation was the starting point of this book and can be found as an appendix in the back.

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WHAT IS MENTAL MANAGEMENT?

Mentality is our attitudes, what we think, and therefore mental management is borne out of leading with attitudes.

All people, no matter age, gender or cultural background, have opinions. Some have many, some less, some are said, others unsaid, but a common factor is that we all have them.

If you can accept this prerequisite, you will also understand that all people have a right to opinions, because without opinions, no actions, and without actions you will not be able to fulfill basic physical and psychological needs.

Mentality and behavior are inseparable and