What have in common top athletes and managers?

Analytical skills and multitasking
Individuals who engage in highly technical activities, such as high-level athletes and coaches, must exhibit good problem solving skills and be able to deal with different problems in a short time while maintaining effective analytical skills. Indeed, in elite sports, there is a need to organize complex, time-articulated training programs that are strongly oriented toward achieving expected results.

Emotional control/distractibility
Highlights the ability to remain focused on the task in the face of many potential distractions both external (e.g., audience) and internal (e.g., distracting thoughts). In high-level sport, being able to control one’s moods, including moments of anger and frustration, is essential.

Time management
Indicates the extent to which an individual perceives himself or herself to be effective in time management, and requires the ability to be able to prioritize and assign responsibility. It also requires being able to set limits for oneself and possibly others. An example of dysfunctional time management may concern in training those athletes who are overly motivated to improve. They may want to train for an excessive number of hours, thereby failing to improve their skills and leading to an excessive state of fatigue.

Confidence and competitiveness
Indicates the extent to which an individual considers himself confident in his ability to encourage, motivate and support himself at every moment of his activity. Elite athletes, even in the presence of frustrating and unrewarding days, should perceive themselves as confident in their ability to do well and perceive themselves as motivated to persist in the face of these frustrating situations, even in the absence of support.

Effective interpersonal relationships
Indicates the extent to which an individual is confident in his or her ability to express his or her ideas both in a supportive environment and in more confrontational situations or in the presence of conflicting opinions. At the same time, it is important to know how to support and engage with others without overly favoring one dimension at the expense of the other.

Decision-making speed and accuracy
Indicates the extent to which an individual prefers immediate promptness in his or her responses rather than longer time frames characterized by greater accuracy. The effectiveness of these two decision-making modes depends on the characteristics of the tasks they habitually face. The cost that under stress might be paid by the quick decision maker is to respond impulsively without having given sufficient thought while that of the accurate individual is to need to gather too much information before acting.

0 Responses to “What have in common top athletes and managers?”


  • No Comments

Leave a Reply