A game of football has a clear objective, to win by getting the ball in the net more than your opponents. Yet losing seems to spin millions of people into a negative decline. There are clear rules to follow, with performance closely monitored and in most cases feedback is instantaneous. Everyone’s roles are clearly defined, with set pieces practiced and prepared ahead of being required. Yet the passion to win is intense, and the fear of losing is immense. Imagine if you could do this in the workplace? Or imagine if after a game of football you needed to wait three months for your feedback in a performance review?
After the disappointment of Sunday it has been scary, interesting, infuriating and bizarrely addictive watching everyone’s reactions. Some people ignored the loss, preferring to talk about something else. Others people scrutinise the game in great detail, picking holes in things which could have been better. A few people rush to talk about the future and that in two years football will definitely be coming home. But the majority of people seem to turn to blame.
However, as Gareth Southgate said ‘we have to hold our hands up, Spain were better’. And that is the reality of the situation. On the day, in that final, they were better. They achieved the objective and got more balls in the net than us. That said, England didn’t get anyone sent off, they didn’t lose their temper and they played well for some of the game, when they happened to have possession. But how can psychology help us understand more? And most importantly what can we learn from this experience?
Reframe the Situation
The first one is, England didn’t lose. England came second. Out of 24 teams who took part we were better than 22 of them. The same as we did in 2020. That is no failure. We qualified, we then got into the last 16 and then we secured a place in the final. And if you think about when we were playing at our best was it just skill or was there something else?
Strengthscope™ is a psychometric which helps people identify their strengths and highlights how peak performance requires more than just the right competencies. The Strengthscope™ model below demonstrates the zone of peak performance and what is required to get there.
Reflecting on the football journey it is clear that players have the skills and the knowledge, they certainly demonstrate this for their clubs. The goals are clear. Yet what about the strengths or energisers? Strengthscope™ research identified 24 strengths which fall into four sections: Emotional, Relational, Execution & Thinking.
By focusing on our strengths, which are the qualities which enable us to perform at our best, is proven to enable people (and therefore their teams) to achieve higher levels of resilience, confidence, engagement and success.
Understand Your Strengths
If everyone can use their underlying qualities which energise them this lifts everyone. Understanding your strengths ensures that everyone can bring their best self to work. The Strengthscope™ wheel below shows how these 24 strengths can be built into a profile. Generally, people have seven significant strengths. Each of these strengths produces productive behaviours which allow people to deliver their best results. Afterall, just because someone is able to do something it may not mean they want to do something.
Think about the different roles in a football team, there may be different strengths which would make you successful. As a whole team there are some strengths which would be critical for success, all of which we have seen during England’s Euro 2024 campaign.
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- Optimism
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- Resilience
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- Self-Confidence
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- Collaboration
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- Results Focus
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- Flexible
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- Common Sense
What would this look like for your team in your organisation?
Facts vs. Feelings
Humans have cognitive processes which can distort their perceptions. Cognitive dissonance happens when people have inconsistency with their actions and their beliefs. During football, which is extremely emotive for many, this urge can be stronger. Therefore, it is important to stick to the facts, but also identify feelings as they occur. On Sunday night, many commentators and spectators left the stadium due to the feeling losing evoked. However, the only way to improve your ability to overcome this feeling is to experience it. Repeatedly.
Turning off the game, walking away and not celebrating Spain’s well deserved and amazing achievement is all about avoidance. As is blame.
It is also important to understand feelings, and some of our strengths can help us with this. In the sentence above we wrote ‘not celebrating Spain’s well deserved and amazing achievement’. This is a matter of opinion, rather than fact. And people will have different feelings when they read this – depending on their own personal allegiances.
Give THINK Feedback
THINK feedback is about asking – Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind? The one thing the England Manager has appeared to do is ensure all feedback meets these criteria. In fact, in football the “is it true” element has led to extreme technological advancements to ensure wherever possible decisions are made based on fact. Did it cross the line or not? Was it off-side or not? We discussed the THINK feedback model in a previous article.
The other side to this is to review, evaluate and question the information you read or watch. Headlines currently dominating the news are ‘Gareth Southgate QUITS’, and ‘England Manager to step down after England’s defeat’ (Metro, 2024). Yet the facts are Gareth Southgates contract was due to end in December 2024, and always had been.
Looking at the facts, in the fifty years before Gareth Southgate took charge England had won seven knock out games across 25 tournaments. Under his tenure England won nine knock out matches across four tournaments. England have only ever made it to three tournament finals, one before Gareth Southgate and then two during his tenure. When you crunch the numbers that is over an 800% improvement in performance under his stewardship (ITV, 2024) in just eight years. Nothing, no manager had ever done before.
Why Don’t We Focus on Strengths More?
Unfortunately, humans have a tendency to focus on the negative. This negativity bias is a cognitive tendency which was designed to protect us. Just as not all emotions are equal, not all thoughts are equal. When presented with a mountain of positive feedback, or information, as humans we are hardwired to select and focus on the negative aspects first. Research suggests the ratio is 5:1 in favour of negativity. That means our brains need at least five positive pieces of information to counteract one negative piece (Psychology Spot, 2019). Though some research suggests this can be higher.
This is why understanding people’s strengths is vital. This helps us focus on positivity. The elements which really energise us, and thus empowers us to do out best work. So if you would like to know more about how Strengthscope™ could benefit your business please message us as we have a team of highly experienced Master Strengthscope™ Practitioners..