Developing mentally tough leaders

In order to perform at the peak of their personal potential as an individual, leaders need to be mentally tough. Individual performance strongly correlates to a person's mental toughness, a concept developed from resilience theory and sports psychology by Dr Peter Clough of Hull University. According to Clough and Strycharcyzk, 2006, "Mental toughness is the quality which determines, in some part, how individuals deal with stressors, pressure and challenge... irrespective of the prevailing situation or environment".

Mental toughness has four main components:

Challenge - The extent to which individuals see problems or change as an opportunity. At one end of the scale we find those who thrive in challenging, chaotic and continually changing environments. At the other end we find those who prefer to minimise their exposure to change and challenge, usually through the creation of routines.

Commitment – Best described as 'stickability'. The ability of an individual to carry out tasks successfully, despite encountering problems or obstacles which might arise along the way. At one end of this scale individuals are able to achieve their objectives, even if the task is extremely difficult to achieve, they encounter significant adversity, or the deadlines are extremely demanding. At the other end, individuals may be so daunted by a task or deadline that they convince themselves that they will not be able to achieve it and give up before they even start.

Control - The capacity of an individual to remain in control of their work and their environment. Generally individuals with high control are able to multitask effectively, without feeling out of control. Two sub-scales have been identified for this component:

Emotional Control – the extent to which an individual is able to keep anxieties in check and maintain control of their emotions. At one end of this scale are those who are able to remain calm at all times, even when faced with the most intense pressure. At the other end are the individuals who are rarely calm inside and tend to react to stressors in their environment fairly readily.

Life Control – How much individuals feel that they control their lives and determine their own future. Individuals at one end of the scale feel that they make a real difference and determine their own path in life, whilst those at the other end of the scale feel like they cannot determine their destiny and things happen to them.

 

Confidence – The degree to which individuals believe in themselves and their ability to carry out tasks. At one end of the scale individuals are not inhibited in their performance by self doubt or concerns about their capacity to achieve their objectives. However individuals at the other end of the scale have a tendency to dwell on setbacks or mistakes and allow them to undermine their self belief. Again, two subscales have been identified for this component:
 

Confidence in abilities – How much an individual feels they have the ability to cope with the objectives they are set and set for themselves. Individuals at one end of the scale will not be limited by doubts over their ability to perform whilst those at the other end will be plagued by self doubt in most aspects.

Interpersonal confidence – Usually termed assertiveness. At one end of the scale we find individuals who are unlikely to be inhibited or intimidated in social settings or when dealing with others, even if they are dealing with difficult people. At the other end of the scale we find those who have difficulty expressing themselves and their opinions to others.

Mental toughness can be developed in individuals and as they build their mental toughness, they become more focussed on their personal objectives and less distracted or inhibited by factors in their environment - hence they perform better and are more likely to perform close to their potential.

Through coaching and a number of other interventions, we can develop mental toughness in leaders. Each of the scales however requires different aspects of coaching intervention to develop them, as shown in the table below:

 

 

 

The drawbacks of being mentally tough

There are downsides to developing mental toughness. As mental toughness develops, individuals can become less sensitive to their environment and less aware of their influence and effect on those around them. Mentally tough leaders often become so focussed on what they need to achieve that they can become remote and lose their ability to take their team with them.

Taking each of the scales in turn, we can see some of the potential downsides faced by those at the 'tough' end of the scales:

Challenge – High scorers on the challenge scale may seek constant change and challenge and may drive change even when it is not needed. They create an environment which is constantly changing and challenging and are stimulated by it, but this environment may appear stressful to those who are not at the high end of the scale. They can also have difficulty motivating themselves to do mundane activities

Commitment – High scorers on this scale have a tendency to maintain focus and effort on achieving an objective they have committed to, and are likely not to step back from it if the going gets difficult, but respond by putting in more effort rather than reviewing the objective and whether there is a better way of achieving it.

Life Control – High scorers may have a tendency to over control everything around them, which may make others feel disempowered.

Emotional Control – High scorers could become so calm that they rarely show emotion. They may become difficult for others to read and engage with and also have difficulty showing passion and inspiring others.

Confidence in Abilities – High scorers could become over confident and over commit and under deliver. They may also have a tendency to dismiss criticism and any opportunities to learn from the feedback from others.

Interpersonal Confidence – High scorers may dominate the conversation, not allowing those less confident to contribute even if they are more competent and able to assist with the achievement of an objective. Where this occurs others will be demotivated.

Building, maintaining and leading a team requires the leader to be sensitive to others in order to adjust their leadership and communication style to get the best out of the people around them. Leaders can develop these abilities, however the more sensitive they become to others and their environment, the more likely they could become distracted from their own personal goals.

 

Peak performance for a leader – can it be achieved?

The peak performance state for a leader is therefore to be both mentally tough and sufficiently sensitive to tune in to their surroundings, not a natural state for most people. In our terms individuals can do this by developing and maintaining a soft, sensitive and adaptable outer layer to their personality whilst keeping a relatively rigid, focussed inner core.

This state is complex and not easily developed or maintained, but it does provide the key to how we can get the most out of ourselves as leaders. Because it is an unnatural state in most, if not all of us, individuals require constant intervention in order to develop either their sensitivity or toughness and maintain the balance of having both. One of the most effective forms of intervention to develop and maintain this state of peak performance is through providing external challenge through coaching.

The term coaching covers a wide range of styles, from mentor right through to councillor. Therefore in order to get the most out of a coaching intervention, it is vital that leaders select a coaching style which provides sufficient challenge to them to modify their behaviour as required, otherwise the optimum leadership state is unlikely to be ever achieved. Also, as the state is unnatural, individuals who do achieve it may need constant challenge to maintain this through a program of long term coaching support.

As the peak performance leadership state is a difficult balance to achieve, the coaching program should be flexible enough to support the individual to either maintain their mental toughness or develop their sensitivity, as either could be required at any time as their state changes. It is also useful for the coaching process to be informed through the use of psychometric assessments of the client.

Overall, achieving the peak performance state in a leader is extremely difficult to achieve, but when it occurs it can be completely transformational. As a leader I can remember times when I have been able to operate in this state for prolonged periods and the businesses I ran were transformed as a result. I am also fully aware of how fragile this balance can be at times, particularly when I did not have sufficient support or challenge to maintain my state.

Based on this experience, we at The Results Centre have developed our coaching to provide the support and challenge to enable our clients to achieve this transformational state. This is not just a methodology, however, the transformations we make in our clients are only possible if we maintain a balanced state in ourselves in order to be both sensitive to the needs of the client and mentally tough enough to provide appropriate levels of challenge. For this to occur we work as a team to challenge each other and constantly maintain our personal states so we can do the same for those we work with.

For more information about this, or to find out more about the challenging coaching style we have developed and the clients we have helped transform into truly great leaders, contact us at info@theresultscentre.com.

 

The author

Peter Wortley is a Partner at The Results Centre. He has more than 25 years experience in business across a range of sectors including Automotive, FMCG, Food Packaging, and Leisure.

He has worked in France and the UK for Magna, Johnson Controls, Michelin, Autoliv STADCO, and LB Europe. In his last role as a general manager within Magna, Peter turned a loss-making division of 600 staff into a profitable £75m business.

Peter has a great deal of expertise in developing mental toughness, an area of psychology where he has conducted a great deal of research and case studies. He is also qualified in the use of a number of other psychometric tools and measures and is able to apply them to develop individuals and teams.

He has a BEng (Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering, a MBA and is a ILM Level 5 coach. He delivers sustainable business change through executive and team coaching.