Gilbert Enoka has a long history of success as a mental skills coach with New Zealand’s corporate and sporting elite. He is internationally renowned for his 20 year history with the All Blacks, first as their mental skills coach and now as manager. He has been with the All Blacks for over 250 tests and during that time the team has won back-to-back Rugby World Cups, one Laureus Award (for the best team in the world), 17 Bledisloe Cups, three Grand Slams, seven Tri Nations and five Rugby Championships.
Gilbert’s Highlights
4:30 The fundamentals of a high-performance environment that endures
8:10 The Power of the Mind
11:45 Asking if the situation was dealing with you or the situation is dealing you.
12:40 Mental skills growth
16:00 Material benefits of physical fitness on mental health
19:50 Richie McCaw’s formula
23:00 Everyone has fear and nerves but it is how you deal with that
24:50 Getting out of your own way
26:20 Three things that leaders must have
27:20 Be where your feet are
36:10 Everyone has 2 lives. Your 2nd begins when you realise you’ve only got one.
39:40 Parallels from the All Blacks’ World Cup recovery to Business recovery from COVID-19
BIG PAUSE
31:45 Be at your best when your best is needed & not all moments in time are equal
34:15 Above and below the line thinking
45:45 Strategies to maintain and support psychological safety
50:40 Young kids using their mindset to enable them to be the architect of their “best life”
The fundamentals of a high-performance environment that endures
It is about understanding how to align people for a cause
The most successful centenary businesses are traditionalists; they understand the core of what they are about and they never mess with that.
They instead disrupt the edges and look at small incremental improvement without disrupting the core.
Understanding the core, preserving it and sending strategic disruptions around the edges.
The “Power of the Mind”
There are moments in time that are defining; there is no secret sauce to success but comforting the problems and sometimes the brutal reality enables you to deal with pressure.
Acknowledging the problem and ensuring the mindset is right is key. Skills set do nothing if the mindset is not right.
The key question to ask yourself is are we dealing with the situation or is the situation dealing you to you.
Mental skills growth
Starts with the leader and them understanding the importance of mental skills.
To build the team’s capacity to mentally handle situations is connecting training with resilience and putting it front and centre.
COVID-19 is the perfect situation to build mental strength and dealing with emotional stress.
Material benefits of physical fitness on mental health
Mental health is being challenged during this time. Physical fitness intrinsically connected to mental health and if you are not doing physical fitness your mental health suffers.
In your opinion why is R McCaw so successful?
Hardworking, humble, and authentic. He works on himself and his game which enables him to lead and inspire others. His behaviour is also reflective of this.
“The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.”.
Everyone has fear and nerves but it is how you deal with that
We all have a load that we can carry, the key is not to get stuck or break.
Getting out of your own way
There are moments that raise fear and if you can acknowledge it and then use your skills and talent that you possess more than often not you will succeed.
Three things that leaders must have
Wish big, have a back bone to front the obstacles and have fun olong the way.
Be where your feet are
Be in the present, not the past. Be in the moment is what matters and not what has happened before or that comes after; your action in the moment is what makes the difference.
When you connect moments together, you create momentum.
BIG PAUSE
Be at your best when your best is needed & not all moments in time are equal
It is most important to be at your best when it is needed and not all the time. There are particular moments when it is imperative.
Champion performers deliver in the big moments.
It is one phrase that can really be used as a tool.
In a given moment you can interpret something either positive or negative and there are associated behaviours to each.
It isn’t about going below the line, but recognising when you do go below and use steps to get above it.
Everyone has 2 lives. Your 2nd begins when you realise you’ve only got one.
Sometimes we take things for granted and life is great but you can get exposed to an experience that changes your perspective.
It is a moment in life when you truly settle on and recognise what is important in life and what you are going to prioritise; this enables you to thrive not survive.
Parallels from the All Blacks’ World Cup recovery to business recovery from COVID-19
It is not about what the market brings but what you bring. The decisions you make far outweigh the situation.
Post the Rugby World Cup it was important that the team prepared both physically and mentally.
Talking about what energises you and what are you struggling with really helps. It enables you to identify situations that can bring stress.
You also don’t need to go far into the future and bring fear to the forefront. You need to instead focus on the now and what you can control.
What is expected form leader is judgement and not stamina.
Sustained success
The moment you think that you have made it, you stand still. You need to have a thirst to take people the next step.
Strategies to maintain and support psychological safety and connection amongst your team members to drive individual and collective performance
Learn to understand that vulnerability and sharing it shows strength. As a leader it is extremely important to be seen as human.
As a Leader you need to understand that people will always be in two modes either survive or thrive scale. To do this you need to remove of fear so that you can truly listen.
Young kids using their mindset to enable them to be the architect of their “best life”
What we reinforce and what we value is the biggest example for our kids.
Children need the structure and tools to be able to change their mindset. Collaborating with others helps us generate ideas on how we can do this as parents. Them being able to change and control their mindset will enable them to succeed.
Your host, Shaun, sits down with inspirational individuals who share key learnings from their own experiences on becoming great; whether it is in their own career, in their own field or inspiring growth across a business.
Together, each month, we will unpack key actions on how we can all learn from others’ experiences; unlocking our own scope to grow so that we can all become the best version of ourselves.
Shaun McCambridge is the Managing Director of Stellar Recruitment, a devoted husband and father to four spritely children.