Building And Maintaining Successful Working Relationships In High Performance Sport

On June 18th - 19th the Institute of Sport's Pursuit of Excellence Programme (PEP) delivered an intensive two-day problem based learning workshop tailored for Horizon programme coaches focusing on the theme of 'Building and Maintaining Successful Working Relationships in high performance sport'.

The workshop was designed and facilitated by the Institute of Sport and An Garda Sيochلna at the Garda Training College, Templemore, Co. Tipperary. 13 high performance coaches from 10 sports attended the event, which aimed to achieve the following learning objectives within the realm of relationship management:

-Develop a full understanding of the performance value in building and maintaining relationships;
-Identification of the value of relationships pre, during and post competition phase and how these aspects can be developed and maintained;
-Identify key strategies and approaches to building effective relationships in various setting;
-Start a process of understanding 'self' and personal preferences towards relationship types and how we react in certain situations;
-Identification of key individual areas of coach development and start to consider how the coach can improve relationships in their own setting

'Fantastic two days surrounded by some incredible elite coaches from various Olympic sports. Great bond and sharing of information amongst the group. We were really challenged and bought out of our comfort zones. Very positive learning experience, which will aid our coaching practice moving forward. Invaluable!' Steven Macklin, Athletics Ireland

Day one of the training event involved a range of group and individual task designed to focus on relationship management skill development. Each coach completed a 10-minute scenario with a method actor all of which is designed to help coaches to generate feedback concerning how they respond to typical frontline challenges involving a range of significant others.

'Challenging two days getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Great learning experience and exchange of problem solving ideas from different perspectives' Dave Mannion, Rowing Ireland

Day two of the training event provided coaches with an opportunity to reflect on day one's activities. Coaches were given an opportunity to identify different strategies that they could of have deployed in their 10 minute scenario. The event concluded with a master class session on trust and trustworthiness. Coaches were given an insight to An Garda Sيochلna's perspective on trust from a public policing perspective. The Institute of Sport would like to thank An Garda Sيochلna for providing PEP coaches with such an impactful professional learning experience.

Further information on the PEP programme can be found at - http://www.instituteofsport.ie/Institute-of-Sport/Coach_Zone/The-Pursuit-of-Excellence-Programme-2014-2016/