Kelly Walsh and Jonathan Zneimer
In sport, as in coaching, unlearning ‘weaknesses’ can lead to a real step-change in performance
Coaching and sport go hand in hand. From the Inner Game to the GROW model, we have seen companies transferring lessons and transforming performance as a result.
In sport, where the smallest of margins separate winners and losers, performers and their coaches seek to develop mindsets that make game-changing shifts. Inevitably this involves learning, but we’ve noticed that real step change occurs when they embrace the principle of ‘unlearning’.
Unlearning is the process by which we discard obsolete or misleading knowledge and routines to make way for new knowledge.
Roger Bannister’s refusal to believe the scientific ‘evidence’ that it was impossible to run a sub-four minute mile epitomises this – and shows what can be achieved as a result.
At performance development consultancy Lane4, we have our own example of how unlearning can support performance – Adrian Moorhouse, Lane4’s managing director, is also an Olympic gold medalist.
Adrian was tipped for gold in the 100m breaststroke at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. However, he finished a disappointing fourth and the media came down hard on him. The Daily Telegraph went so far as to say that “Adrian Moorhouse should do himself and the sport of swimming a favour and retire”. It hit Adrian hard; he knew he had to do something differently.
Up to this point, Adrian believed that if you want to achieve something you have to go out and make it happen on your own. Following Los Angeles, Adrian had to unlearn this over-reliance on ‘self’ and start to look at the support team he could build around him. He still believed in personal responsibility, but he had let go of the ‘lone performer’ mindset.
When Adrian stopped thinking he had to control everything, he became open to the support, knowledge and experiences of others and learnt to share his performance. This shift led to his gold medal at Seoul in 1988.
For many performers, winning gold is an indication that nothing needs to change. Adrian and his coach did not fall into this camp. His 1988 win was by a much narrower margin than expected so they analysed his performance and looked for development areas.
Adrian’s coach identified that his dive was a relative weakness. He was roughly 0.2 seconds off the fastest in the world – a significant handicap. He used data and feedback to raise Adrian’s awareness and encourage him to do something differently.
Motivated to stay ahead, Adrian set about the challenging task of unlearning his dive through a step-by-step process developed by the coach. As a result, Adrian was world number one in his event for a further three years.
When Adrian moved from sport to business, he had to learn to ‘become the coach’. Until this point, despite building a team around him, Adrian’s focus had been on his own performance. In business, his attention had to shift to spending 90 per cent of his time thinking about the performance of others. He had to unlearn a lot of self-motivated behaviours and become more inclusive.
We believe Adrian’s stories contain valuable insights for the workplace and the practice of coaching. If we seek to understand ourselves better and challenge our deeply held assumptions, beliefs and routines, we can make the changes we need to get the performance we desire.
Kelly Walsh is research manager and Jonathan Zneimer is practice director, both at Lane4
Coaching at Work, Volume 6, Issue 3