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However, there are also a couple of concerning dimensions to this profile – particularly around emotional control and learning orientation. The relatively low level of learning orientation may indicate that this leader does not necessarily always learn from failure or setback. When combined with their high levels of commitment scores, this may create challenging behaviours when results are not coming as expected. The particularly low level of emotional control suggests this individual had the potential to negatively impact their team, through their behaviour – as their team was very likely to feel the full force of their leaders’ frustrations. It was likely that this leader created a culture where when the team were performing it would be high energy, fast paced and almost euphoric – but in the more challenging environment this team now operated in, the culture would, and had, become abrasive, erratic, and somewhat toxic. Conversely, looking at the team member. What is interesting here is the high ‘confidence in abilities’ contrasted with the low inter-personal confidence scores. This suggests this person is very comfortable in their thinking, and confident in their abilities – but is unlikely to articulate that in public. This individual was likely to be quiet and reserved in team meetings – which someone with a much higher inter-personal confidence score (i.e., the team leader) may interpret as being impassive. They may not always “stand their ground” when criticised. Combining this with the significant degree of emotional control and life control suggested that even when the pressure was on, and results were required this individual was unlikely to outwardly present any significant change in behaviour. By 41

comparison, the leader would be looking for a more expressive articulation of the need for urgency, commitment, and focus. In simple terms, we had a team member who saw their leader as aggressive and unrelenting, whilst we had a leader who saw their team member as passive and unwilling to pick up the pace when needed. Outcome: In this example we had a very positive outcome. Upon the team leader receiving their report, combined with their coaching debrief – they fully acknowledged some of the behavioural traits that their profile indicated. They quickly recognised how these behavioural traits could impact their team and where the potential points of conflict were likely to present themselves. For this leader, the MTQPlus report provided a heightened dose of self-awareness, and the individual took it upon themselves to consciously manage those areas of behaviour which others may find challenging. As a result, this individual continues to be very successful in their own endeavours, but increasingly they are also building a strong reputation for being a great team leader. Team Performance Situation: I was introduced to a relatively large team (60 people+) who were struggling to deliver the required organisational performance in an increasingly challenging economic climate. Seen by many as a highly competent and capable team, the disappointing level of results being delivered was somewhat hard to understand. I was asked to see if I could help to diagnose what the issue might be. It was agreed that the MTQPlus would be used to help to provide some insight. The team consisted of 60+ people and the 42

following outcomes reflect the average scores registered across the team: Fig. 7: MTQPlus – Group Report Insights: Overall this team had a mental toughness score marginally below average (5.45 v 5.5), which would not necessarily explain the disconnect between people’s perspective of the team, and the reality of what was being delivered. The management team seemed credible, and they always had a plan to drive improvement. So, what might be driving the disconnect with performance and results? The insight here comes from a more granular focus on the eight sub facets which provide a far more illuminating understanding of the team and its culture. Firstly, the team has a lower than average ‘Risk’ score, meaning that they may not always be the most responsive team and may find change a little more challenging than others. 43

The high interpersonal scores indicate that the team will come across confidently and credible in both written and verbal communication – yet their lower than average ‘confidence in abilities’ score suggests that individuals’ internal narrative was far less certain. They may be perfectly able – skilled and knowledgeable – but they may not have the self-belief to apply those skills. Whilst sounding confident externally they were likely to be cautious and potentially tentative when moving initiatives forward. Finally, the low levels of commitment scores were possibly the most telling indicator. This team was not the most goal- oriented team and with a low achievement orientation score, the indications were that they were likely to get distracted and demoralised if initial results did not meet expectations – which would then serve to reinforce those self-doubts indicated by the lower than average ‘confidence in abilities’ scores. This team was likely to only remain focussed and committed if there was positive momentum. Outcome: informed by the insights above we set about developing a range of interventions and process improvements within the team. The initial target was around improving commitment scores. Here we re-designed the way the team planned and set goals, reducing the timeframe over which goals were set, and creating targets for both lead and lag goals. Lead goals are short term goals which if consistently achieved will lead to longer term lag goals. This reframing of the goals and the associated shortened time frames had a motivating 44

factor in the team and helped them navigate more effectively the uncertain economic climate. It created a more iterative approach informed by a much more responsive feedback system on how performance was tracking. Secondly, a number of short online training programmes were developed to provide support to team members around specific skills we had identified as lacking such as focus control, goal setting and the disciplines of execution. These 30–45-minute online sessions were designed and delivered by team members, to ensure the content was tailored to the specific needs of the team and were made freely available to the wider team for them to use and access whenever suited them. This programme of activity not only has started to turn the curve on results but is also having a positive impact in regard to staff satisfaction and engagement scores too. Cultural Challenges Situation: At the request of a concerned HR team, I was asked to work with the senior leadership team of a business unit where concerns had been raised over the work demands being put upon team members, and where there had been an unusual level of staff churn in recent months. Unusually for such circumstances, (being introduced by HR to resolve an issue) senior leadership were both curious and supportive of what insights I could bring and were eager to understand how I could use the MTQPlus to help them unpick their challenges. 45

The sampling produced a fascinating picture and provided some powerful insights. Fig. 8: MTQPlus – Group Report Insight: In this example, the real insight came not from the whole group scores, but when I looked at the average scores by seniority. When we sampled, we segmented the team into three groups: Group 1 were the senior leaders within the business unit; Group 2 were middle management; and Group 3 were the more junior staff. Research tends to indicate that in organisations mental toughness links to seniority. In most cases the senior team tends to be the most mentally tough. This makes logical sense, as we know people on average tend to get more mentally tough with age, as they learn from life’s lessons – and often there is, in general, a clear correlation between seniority and age in most organisations. 46

Interestingly within this team, whilst the most senior team overall were the most mentally tough, in a number of facets they were actually less mentally tough than their management population. This, we are beginning to see, can have some interesting implications – often creating frustration, conflict and ultimately churn. In this team there were a number of interesting observations: There is a significant variation in the average scores on life control for the Senior leaders and the managers compared to junior staff. This created a concern over the level of ownership and empowerment junior staff were feeling - and may play a part in understanding some of the issues that the HR team had highlighted. Of particular note are the commitment scores where we see a fascinating picture with the senior leaders actually having the lowest commitment scores in the business. This is largely driven by an unusually low goal orientation within the senior leadership. This finding was so surprising I asked HR to review it against a number of other data points in the business to assess its accuracy. Other data sources indicated behaviours and outcomes that we thought may be consistent with this insight and therefore took it to be an accurate insight. The confidence scores were also interesting, particularly the inter-personal confidence scores which were high across the team – but particularly in the middle management population, indicating a population who were quite happy to speak their minds, would have an opinion on most things and would be happy having challenging conversations to hold people to account. 47

This data set drew us to the hypothesis that it was not the senior leadership that was driving a ‘pacesetting’ culture (Goleman, 2002), but more possibly the middle management team. They were significantly more focused and committed than the senior leadership, with a high degree of life control and very high levels of interpersonal confidence. The challenge was that they seemed to be completely unaware of the extent of the impact behavioural traits linked to these high scores were having on the wider team, and by extension the role they were having as a management population in shaping a high challenge, high attrition culture. Outcomes: We developed a series of interventions around 3 pillars: Junior Staff: Empowerment and engagement - we have reviewed and revised several processes within the team to enable younger members of the business to feel more connected and valued within the teams. This includes an improved onboarding process, project kick-off process and post project lessons learnt process. Further to this the business has introduced a mentoring process for more junior staff. Managers: Raising levels of Self-Awareness - Post the coaching debrief for each manager, we developed individual ‘awareness plans’ for managers where they are being challenged to consider their behaviour, and its subsequent impact, in a number of areas of their daily work. This includes areas such as conducting personal development reviews with team members, goal setting and establishing agreed work/life balance thresholds within their teams. The intention to move them away from a ‘pacesetting’ style to more visionary and coaching styles. 48

Leaders: Goal Setting and Communication – I supported the senior leadership in establishing a new goal setting methodology within the business and creating a clear accountability framework to support it. This is also beginning to help improve communication across the business and between the levels of seniority. Whilst this initiative continues at the point of writing, anecdotal evidence offers an insight to a positive direction of travel. We have already seen HR take a step back as the noises of disgruntlement within the team have begun to subside. The team continue to outperform many of their competitors and despite some continued staff churn, are beginning to attract staff - becoming seen as a forward thinking, fast paced, well performing unit. We soon begin to re-sample the team to understand what, if anything, has changed in terms of the mental toughness profile of the team over the last twelve months with staff leaving, new staff joining and a swathe of new processes and approaches introduced. Hopefully the next set of data will provide an equally fascinating and healthier picture. Bias Identification Situation: As discussed earlier in this chapter, it is always interesting to view the results generated within a team through a number of lenses to identify if we can identify any potential unconscious bias. That is exactly what I did with one team, when I split the data by gender – revealing a somewhat surprising reality. Within this team we found a significant disparity in the results between male and female respondents. In almost every single 49

facet, we found that women’s scores were roughly 1 sten (1 score) lower than their male colleagues. Fig. 9: MTQPlus – Group Report – Male and Female split Insight: Research indicates that there is very little, if indeed no, differences between men and women on the mental toughness scales. As such the above results were somewhat startling. Clearly there would be many factors influencing this, but it was clear that there was some inherent bias in how the business was structured and operated, which impacted negatively on the females within the business. The organisation in question, immediately recognised that this was a surprising, but yet deeply disappointing insight, and immediately steps were taken to review existing processes and protocols. Everything from recruitment, onboarding, appraisals 50

and progression processes were reviewed to understand how to address this gap. Small focus groups were developed with female staff to try to identify some of the more nuanced patterns of behaviour that may have inadvertently created an environment in which women were not necessarily best supported. Outcome: The outcome is that the business has reviewed several aspects of their operating practices. They have been able to: • Establish new working practices designed to better reflect the working and family patterns of their female staff – offering more flexibility around both location and hours of work. • Re-align the type and nature of team development activities to ensure they better reflected the interests of the wider staff population. • Develop a number of targeted training and mentoring programmes to support their female staff to assure, and even encourage, their female staff to be able to progress their careers in an equivalent time frame to their male counterparts. This was an incredibly challenging data set for the business to reflect upon. Without the insight provided by the MTQPlus, and the framework it represents, this invisible and unconscious bias would have continued to limit and suppress the aspirations and opportunities available to an entire segment of the businesses’ population. 51

In summary The challenge for organisations and their leadership teams has often been the invisible and fluid nature of concepts such as culture and mindset. To take the old management adage ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure’ and as such, few have had the courage, or expertise, to actively cultivate their organisations culture. Yet, the reality is that such concepts will be having a material impact on performance. Finding appropriate tools and approaches to help us measure, and manage, such concepts therefore is becoming a compelling area for consideration. My assertion is that whilst the Mental Toughness Questionnaire is not designed to be a cultural diagnostic tool – the reality is that it can provide a useful insight to the ‘group’ mindset of both teams and organisations. In so doing it provides an insight to the organisational culture. Whilst we may not advocate using the MTQ in isolation for this purpose – there is little doubt it can provide some illuminating insights. Such insights provide a useful framework for us to consider how we can better support and empower our staff to be the best version of themselves, and in so doing, provide a fulfilling and engaging environment for them in which to work. 52

4 USING MENTAL TOUGHNESS TO SUPPORT ORGANISATIONAL TRANSFORMATION Peter Wortley In the previous chapter we saw how the mental toughness model can be used to provide valuable insight. By using the MTQPlus tool to diagnose differences in thinking patterns between groups and harnessing this insight to inform the interventions to bring them together we can build a common organisational culture. Another facet of mental toughness is the fact that it is never static. As discussed in Chapter 1, mental toughness in an individual can be developed and can erode with experiences. Therefore, if we can establish conditions and support for members of an organisation which develops their mental toughness, then this may raise their individual performances and result in a collective shift in organisational performance, potentially transforming the organisation. Why use the mental toughness concept to transform an organisation? The first part of my working life was spent building the skills and experience which lead to a successful career as a Managing Director specialising in transformation and turnarounds of the organisations I managed. The primary focus of a transformation manager is to develop a clear strategy for the organisation, turn this into achievable, measurable objectives and actions and to apply appropriate levels of pressure to people in the business to ensure that the actions are delivered, and the objectives are met. 53

Although this is by far the fastest, and most common, way of achieving an organisational transformation, it is not without its downsides: ▪ Applying pressure to individuals does improve performance in many cases, but can also lead to stress and pressure in others. Sustained levels of stress and pressure, which exceed the level the individual is able to manage, can lead to an erosion of mental toughness and affect their ability to thrive, perform and enjoy their environment. ▪ Often organisational transformations are accompanied by an increase in staff turnover, particularly at senior levels, this being one of the main reasons for this. ▪ The change in organisational performance is not always sustainable. The source of stress and pressure is usually applied via the senior team from the very top of the organisation, often the transformation MD. When they leave for the next challenge, the source of pressure on the organisation is removed and this often results in a deterioration in organisational performance. This is not the most effective way to improve the performance of the business. I was much less aware of the impact my management style had on the behaviour and performance of those around me. An alternative model of transformation involves the development of the mental toughness of the employees and managers within the organisation through the development of the skills, knowledge and processes to manage people. As the average mental toughness of a team increases, theory and practice suggest that team members apply more pressure to 54

themselves and on each other, drive and adopt change more readily, focus on actions rather than apportioning blame, accept responsibility and hold each other accountable and perform better as a result. This model of transformation may take longer to achieve results and be more complex to implement, but by developing the mental toughness of those within the organisation, organisational transformation can be achieved without the loss of experience and performance sustainability concerns from the traditional model. It requires that, in managing change, we explore the impact of change on staff and managers, assess their capability to respond positively and we deal with any issues which suggest that some may not respond well. By doing this we are building the internal capability of the organisation, the capability of its people, to deal more effectively with change. This chapter gives an overview of one of the initial case studies implementing this model of transformation. We will cover how this transformation programme was designed, why the development of mental toughness in the employees was an integral component of the programme, how this was implemented and achieved and the impact the programme had on the organisation. At the end of the chapter, we will discuss what worked well in the programme, what the return on Investment was and what could have been improved in future programmes. We learn all the time. 55

The chapter will conclude by summarising recommendations for those wishing to understand and develop the mental toughness of their people to transform the performance of their organisation. Background on the organisation Our client was a division of a major international organisation, a large provider of outsourced services to the catalogue and online retail industry, providing a range of services, including call centres and web chat services, to support sales processes. A large part of this business was to support the provision of credit to consumers who the organisation engaged and interacted with under UK Consumer Credit legislation and regulation. When we first met with the client, all of the primary contracts were operating at a loss and there were a number of aspects of the business which were underperforming. The organisation contracted with us, as part of its transformation, to have an impact upon: ▪ Client metrics and contractual targets, mainly those associated with customer service, were not being met on a regular basis and this resulted in fines and contractual penalties. ▪ There were high levels of waste and inefficiency caused by poor management practices and a lack of ownership of business goals by the staff. ▪ Staff engagement was extremely poor with high levels of absence and staff turnover. At the same time, in 2014, there were also significant changes to UK Consumer credit regulations. The UK Financial Conduct 56

Authority (FCA) became responsible for regulating consumer credit and the emphasis of this regulation shifted from ensuring legal compliance towards ensuring that organisations ‘treated customers fairly.’ Audits by the FCA, prior to our engagement, found significant failings in the culture and practices within the business. Penalties and action were threatened if significant improvements were not achieved quickly. The culture focussed largely on maximising sales, and this was underpinned by the measures and targets focussing on these, more easily devised, measures of success rather than a more balanced, rounded set of measures. Initial Fact finding and analysis Before identifying potential solutions and designing the programme, we spent a period of time analysing the organisation to understand its current state. The client operated out of five sites, four of which were in the UK and one in South Africa, and we spent time at each site to understand whether there were operational and cultural differences between the sites. We found that each of the sites were similar in the way they operated; they were based on the same operating model and had identical operating processes and measures. The business had grown organically, and key people were taken from existing sites to set up new sites, exporting the culture as they did so. Management style and culture was similar across all the sites. Managers and Team Leaders operated on a model in which they saw their role as one of command and control along with being the source of “motivation” for team members. 57

Management time was scarce, with an average management ratio of between 1:8 and 1:10 managers to employees. Recruitment and training of new staff was the responsibility of a separate training department at each site. There was an extremely high demand from operations for the supply of trained people, caused by the high levels of turnover and absence. As a result, the training department became focussed on delivering the quantity of trained staff supplied to operations, largely at the expense of suitability of staff to the roles and their level of competence following initial training. A classic case of quantity over quality. The combined effect of all these factors was that the Team Leaders in the operations department were under extreme amounts of pressure. Operational targets and key client metrics were monitored in real time and thus were a constant source of focus and pressure from management because they were not being met. Team members were heavily dependent on management input to support, control and motivate them and staff ratios and levels of staff competency meant that there was insufficient time to do this effectively. The extreme levels of pressure on the Team Leaders ‘spilled over’ onto employees from this lack of support and Managers were also being ‘sucked down’ to fill in gaps left by the Team Leaders ability to cope. Pressure, therefore, affected the entire operations team and the way they operated: ▪ Levels of absence amongst team members and Team Leaders was high. 58

▪ Levels of commitment and engagement with the business were low and staff retention levels were poor. ▪ Levels of focus, commitment to the work were poor and resulted in observable levels of poor behaviour and performance. ▪ High levels of energy and low levels of emotional control amongst Team Leaders and employees resulted in frequent ‘flare-ups’ of emotion across all of the operational areas, affecting the wellbeing and morale of the teams and impacting on business performance. As a result of these findings, we set out to design a programme of support for the business, based on three themes: a. Creating a culture based around Treating the Customer Fairly (TCF)- raising the awareness of all the operational and training teams of the components of TCF and how it could be put into practice within the business. b. Developing the Mental Toughness of the Managers and Team Leaders – allowing them to cope with and thrive within the levels of pressure the business was under. c. Creating a coaching culture – giving the Managers and Team Leaders the skills and ability to develop capable, empowered mentally tough team members who were able to operate without high levels of support and management. Mental toughness was chosen as one of the key aspects which would be desirable to develop across the business as there were desired behavioural outcomes from developing each of the elements of mental toughness: 59

Mental Subscale Elements of Desired Behaviour and culture Toughness Scale Challenge Risk Increased flexibility of staff and a Commitment Orientation willingness to take on and generate new ideas and ways of working which would Learning develop a culture of continuous Orientation improvement. Goal Increased willingness to give and receive Orientation feedback so that there is learning and development at all levels Increased levels of awareness around a rounded, balanced set of targets and goals across the business Achievement Engagement to develop actions to ensure Orientation that the goals and targets are met. Discipline to operate to the T&C scheme and ensure that systems and processes are adhered to. Control Life Control Increased ability to take responsibility for and focus on all aspects which drive business performance, including holding other departments to account and establishing internal customer-supplier relationships. Emotional Able to deal with difficult situations in a Control calm, rational manner, both internally and with customers to increase both employee engagement and TCF Confidence Confidence Competent, motivated team with belief in in Abilities their own ability to manage employees and support the customer Interpersonal Ability to challenge others, whistle-blow Confidence and report instanced of non-compliance so that they can be addressed Table 1: MTQPlus – Factor Overview 60

The Organisational Transformation Programme The transformation programme was designed around some core elements: A series of five one-day workshops – to deliver the programme content in an efficient, effective manner. Each workshop was designed around a theme: 1. Launch and buy in – enabling the vision of the future state of the organisation to be understood and applied at the participant’s level 2. Working in Financial Services – Understanding the principles of legislation, regulation and what TCF really means 3. Knowledge of self and others – Introducing mental toughness as a tool for understanding yourself and reading others and adapting to their needs. Participants all completed the MTQ psychometric assessment and received feedback on their results within coaching sessions. 4. Feedback and coaching – Introduce the principles of coaching, developing coaching skills and behaviours, reviewing the benefits the participants have had from their coaching and encouraging them to coach their teams through 1:1’s and team meetings 5. Managing performance – Knowledge of how to use the appraisal process to manage performance and behaviour, set goals and targets which motivate the individual to improve and by supporting their continual development. Workshops were designed and delivered in a facilitated group coaching style to enable all participants to complete the learning cycle: 61

▪ Information is presented in a manner which allows it to be challenged, explored and understood. ▪ Group discussions enable participants to contextualise the information and understand how it applies to their area, situation, and circumstances. ▪ Individuals are encouraged to reflect at the end of each workshop and determine actions for themselves to implement. ▪ There was a 3 week break between workshops to enable participants time to implement their actions. ▪ At the following workshop, participants share the results of their actions and what they have learned from taking them. One-to one coaching – all the participants received coaching after each workshop in order to: ▪ Support the learning cycle by encouraging action, creating the desire to drive the changes and encouraging reflection on the outcomes of the learning ▪ Develop the mental toughness of all of the participants by coaching participants in all facets of mental toughness: o encouraging stretch, embracing the discomfort of something new and reflecting positively on the learning o enabling participants to understand themselves and relate positive achievements to their own values and drivers o supporting them to focus on things they can control and influence and enabling action o encouraging them to explore and practice interventions and activities which improve and maintain emotional control 62

o reflecting on their successes and achievements to develop confidence ▪ Developing coaching behaviours and a belief in the coaching process by: o providing a role model of coaching o being open about the coaching process and the tools and techniques the coach is using; showing participants how it has supported their development o encouraging them to use the techniques on their teams to develop the mental toughness of the team members Ideally, we would have chosen one site to pilot the roll-out of the programme. We could then use this pilot to develop the programme, measure its effect, use this data to optimise the programme design and then implement the resulting programme across the other sites. There was, however, an urgent need to demonstrate an improvement in the behaviours and culture across the entire business in a short time period to the FCA regulators, in order to avoid disciplinary action. The roll out of the programme was therefore implemented simultaneously across all of the sites, with coordination and feedback sessions before and after each workshop delivery to capture learning and share best practice across each of the facilitators. The entire programme was rolled out across all 5 sites and delivered to over 200 managers and Team Leaders in just over 4 months. The implementation team was selected for this programme based on a number of criteria: 63

▪ Their ability, experience, and knowledge of coaching ▪ Their understanding of mental toughness and how to develop it in others ▪ Their openness to collaborate to support the development of the programme content and provide insight and feedback to continually improve it and share learning and insight. The implementation team were all involved in an initial launch event to develop their ability to act as a team, collaborate and support each other. The launch event was also used to educate the team and agree how we were going to standardise our delivery of the programme in each the core aspects: ▪ The principles of TCF and how they needed to be applied across all aspects of the client’s business to create a culture which met the requirements of the regulator. ▪ Workshop delivery style and how the learning cycle would be enabled in participants. ▪ Mental toughness and how to develop it in others, as workshop facilitators and coaches ▪ Coaching – Rather than standardising the coaching process itself, coaches were encouraged to adapt to the needs of the individual participants. The session reviewed the principles of coaching, coaching theory and best practice, and standardise the reflection and note taking to ensure that participants could be ‘handed over’ between coaches if necessary. Prior to the delivery of each workshop, all of the implementation team participated in an online session to discuss 64

the workshop content, understand its purpose and to become confident delivering the content as well as suggesting improvements. Following the delivery of the core program, we continued to provide coaching support to all Senior and middle management across all of the sites, for a period of six months, in order to: ▪ Embed the new processes and encourage the management teams to lead by example and demonstrate the value the new processes have on their direct reports, thus encouraging them to use them ▪ Support them through the changes of behaviour they need to adopt to support the changes in the culture and processes. As a result of leading a more mentally tough team, their leadership style needed to adapt more towards a coaching/supporting style, rather than the directing style they have primarily adopted before the changes ▪ Observe the impact on the business performance and compliance to understand whether further support or interventions were required. The Results and outcomes of the Programme As a result of the program, a number of changes were observed across the business: ▪ One-to-one sessions became a normal way of working. Every month all employees had a scheduled session where feedback was sought and given in both directions. These sessions also became used as coaching sessions to support the teams to improve. 65

▪ Targets for all teams included a balance of both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ measures of success, including the use of competency frameworks to coach and manage behaviour. ▪ All teams had continuous improvement and process improvement meetings, where opportunities to improve how they did things were discussed and controlled experimentation was encouraged and implemented in a methodical manner ▪ Internal compliance audits were encouraged and treated as a source of learning and an opportunity to identify areas to improve ▪ Increased level of ownership and responsibility at all levels, rather than a culture of blame. Internal customers and suppliers held each other accountable and supported improvements to the way they worked together. ▪ An atmosphere and culture of calm efficiency began to emerge, rather than the previous excitable culture. Team leaders confidently managed conflict These observable changes translated into a number of improvements in the performance of the business: ▪ Full compliance with the FCA was achieved without any penalties. The change programme was acknowledged in the audit as a key component of achieving the change in culture across the business. ▪ Achievement of the majority of client metrics, resulting in a turnaround in business performance from a loss making to a profitable position. 66

▪ Significant reductions in absence and staff turnover levels ▪ Significant improvements in efficiency across the business. Summary This case study demonstrates a number of key aspects which are invaluable in designing organisational transformation programmes which lead to sustained results over the long term. By transforming the way people are managed, coached and supported in an organisation, at all levels, the mental toughness of the individuals in the organisation can be developed. This results in a number of positive outcomes which can transform the performance of the organisation: ▪ Individual performance increases, leading to increased organisational performance. ▪ Interaction between individuals increases and peers challenge and support each other to resolve issues and increase performance. ▪ Ideas, solutions and change is pushed up the organisational structure, improving the quality of solutions and reducing resistance to change within the team members. ▪ Team members are more independent, releasing capacity within management to work on making the future better rather than maintaining the day-to-day performance. 67

There is one aspect, however, which is worth noting. It is critical that the management team also receive support to develop their levels of mental toughness alongside team members. Otherwise, many of these positive effects will be stifled and have little effect, or even a detrimental effect, on organisational performance. 68

5 CREATING SALES TEAMS WITH A NEW CULTURE WITHIN A MAJOR GLOBAL ORGANISATION THROUGH AN AWARD WINNING PROGRAMME Jason Wyatt and Adrian Green Building on the previous chapter, this chapter reports on the use of the mental toughness concept in a key area of work: sales. The culture of sales is often unique but it is clear that the best practice ideas that are utilised have significance for a wide range of employment situations. This chapter explains how the global brand of JCB Excavators used the 4Cs Mental Toughness concept and the MTQPlus psychometric measure as key components of a targeted development programme to deliver sales growth and professional development. The solution was branded as The CornerStone Programme and is now well known and identified with in the organisation. Developed with pressurepoint Effectiveness Services, the CornerStone Programme received widespread appreciation for its effectiveness and impact leading to recognition with the prestigious 2022 Princess Royal Training Award. This award honours employers who have created outstanding training and skills development programmes which have resulted in exceptional benefits for the organisation and its employees. The award was presented by HRH Princess Royal who is President of City & Guild which organise the award, and works with, education providers, employers and governments in over 100 countries across the world to help people, businesses and economies grow. 69

What did the CornerStone Programme set out to achieve? In 2019, the decision was taken to develop a training solution to support the regional sales team in the UK to \"turnover more stones to do business\". A central theme, and driver for the programme, was that the field sales environment required the sales teams to be ambitious seekers of opportunity, curious and confident in their abilities to explore opportunities. Determination to persevere in pursuing these new opportunities and demonstrating resilience to bounce back from setbacks were equally important. In addition, the programme had to address qualities such as weighing up the big picture and living the JCB brand line of 'always looking for a better way'. Ultimately this required the development of an enhanced culture within the regional sales teams at support functions that would translate into delivering some important and challenging objectives. The JCB Parts Sales teams were experiencing a period of accelerated growth with new markets and products; the aim of the CornerStone Programme was, in the words of Jim Collins, to take the team from \"Good to Great\". Those familiar with Collins’s work will know that he identified Hardiness as a key component of moving from good to great. Hardiness is an early precursor of what we now understand as the mental toughness concept. The outcomes initially expected included: 70

▪ Increased sales turnover from new and existing customer and dealer relationships. ▪ Higher yield from sales programmes. ▪ Reduced time to market for global sales programmes. ▪ Reduction in costs through sales orientation of support teams. One crucial component was consultation with the intended participants to understand their roles, environment, and constraints within which they worked, as well as their expectations from a successful programme. This consultation was extended to other stakeholders, including Line Managers and Senior Management. The observations from this discovery phase highlighted several key themes: ▪ Desire for a model on which they could develop their behaviours. ▪ Enthusiasm for change and finding a better way to drive sales. ▪ The vital nature of relationships between the Regional Sales Team, Dealers, and the end customers ▪ The role of pressure within a sales environment demands a mentally tough mindset. This led to the creation of a detailed brief to respond to the development need and which had, in its development, engaged with and carefully considered the participants' position. How did the programme come together? Getting the right team in place The next step was to engage with a partner to create and deliver the programme with JCB staff. 71

The search for a training partner was. The 'big names' in the L&D world offered great solutions. However, there was often something missing – a disconnect. They lacked a \"story\" with which the programme could engage stakeholders and participants. The sales world differs from many others in that salespeople are like athletes in many ways. Most elite athletes have to deal with adversity and setbacks, while maintaining positivity, optimism and performance. Michael Jordan demonstrates this perfectly. He is considered one of the greatest basketball players ever, selected for 11 All-NBA teams, winning: 5 MVPs, 6 Finals MVPs and 6 NBA titles. Yet he is quoted as saying “I have lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I have been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” And there are countless comparable examples from elite athletes in many sports.” In the world of golf, Formula 1, rugby, football or even snooker, the very best will win only a small proportion of the competitions they enter. They become used to understanding success in a different, perhaps nuanced, way. For this reason, salespeople are often referred to as \"the athletes of the business world\". Enter Adrian Green. Managing Director of pressurepoint Effectiveness Services, an organisational, team and people development company. Adrian had enjoyed an international track athlete career – competing in the steeplechase, one of the most demanding disciplines in the sporting world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he found a niche in a specialism in consultative selling development. He had positioned MTQPlus 72

(and the mental toughness concept) at the heart bespoke modular programmes that built mental toughness in individuals and teams to enable high performance. This concept and measure were to the key elements of the CornerStone Programme. Mental Toughness and Sales Sales is often reported as one of the most pressurised professions, and the qualities required of high-performing salespeople closely match the 4Cs model, making the MTQPlus ideal for CornerStone. The 4Cs are the four main components of the concept. These can be related specifically to the sales environment: Commitment: Salespeople and those who support them must be clear about the purpose of their role and, from that, set and respond well to goals and work daily to achieve them, especially where targets can often be set for them by others. Challenge: Success in sales growth relies on maintaining existing customers and identifying new opportunities, markets, clients, etc., and being minded to convert these opportunities in to new business. The team needs to be comfortable taking risks and stretching themselves to optimise the present options. This is very much at the heart of the CornerStone Programme, capturing the JCB brand line of – 'always looking for a better way'. In sales, not everything will go to plan, so salespeople also need the ability to learn from experiences and have the resilience to bounce back and keep going. Confidence: Confidence in your abilities as a salesperson inspires confidence and trust from your customer and from other 73

stakeholders too. It also means that the salesperson often has sufficient belief in their skill set to deal with whatever happens at the time. Interpersonal confidence allows an individual to work with and influence all levels of stakeholders to achieve more. Control: Life Control is about self-belief – the sense of \"can do\". In sales, the greater your ability to control the controllable increases your chance of success. Emotional Control is essential in all walks of life, especially in sales, where listening to your customer or other stakeholder and using emotion to your benefit is vital to building strong and lasting commercial partnerships. As explained in an earlier chapter, the 4Cs concept has now developed into an eight-factor model. Each of the 4Cs has two contributory factors which are all independent of each other. Each person will have their own mental toughness or sensitivity levels across each factor. This makes each salesperson unique. An introduction to the content of the programme Diagnosis and setting a benchmark Every participant completed the MTQPlus before the programme and shortly after completion to measure and demonstrate the personal impact of the CornerStone Programme. Structure Participants were provided with 1:1 coaching sessions to support them in making changes to achieve their personal and professional goals for growth based on feedback from the completion of the MTQPlus measure. 74

Participants in the CornerStone Programme benefited from eight modules of face-to-face training that incorporate the mental toughness concept very much at the heart of the programme. The modules cover the following: ▪ the importance of knowing your 'game', ▪ mastery of self, ▪ emotional intelligence, ▪ stakeholder management, ▪ commercial relationships, ▪ consultative selling and ▪ creative problem-solving. The CornerStone Programme was designed to give confidence in applying new approaches to daily work. A fully branded online portal in the JCB Learning Management System houses all preparation work and exercises and specially recorded videos including bite sized tutorials and interviews with 14 high profile external subject matter experts. The interviewees explain the role mental toughness and sensitivity has had in success and learning through their diverse career paths in a wide range of commercial settings - in situations the CornerStone participants can relate to. All are designed to help participants prepare and reflect on their personal development. Delivery Maintaining a connection between the theme of an elite athlete and the CornerStone training was essential to avoid it becoming purely a cliché or just another training programme. To 75

ensure the parallels with sport resonated with participants, two elite athletics facilities were selected as training venues. CornerStone begins at Derby Velodrome, where well-known riders go through their paces. Loughborough Elite Athletes Centre hosts a 2-day residential module where participants rub shoulders with famous Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth athletes from multiple disciplines. Amongst the most valuable components were conversations with well-known athletes about how they prepare, train, measure results, learn from training, deal with setbacks and keep their composure under the world's spotlight. It is uncanny how these conversations inspire and demonstrate mentally tough approaches that reinforce the CornerStone Programme's ethos. The outcome: Participant feedback & Stakeholder feedback The MTQPlus measures traits that participants can develop with training and coaching interventions. The profile will remain static without intervention, which helps answer the 'wouldn't this have happened anyway?' question that often follows training outcomes. At the start of each cohort, Line Managers also complete a MTQPlus profile which is then debriefed by one of the CornerStone coaches. The Line Manager’s role is vital in reinforcing the learning between modules and recognising and sustaining the changes in their participants. The details around the impact the CornerStone Programme has had are, of course, commercially confidential. 76

Nevertheless, the programme has been evaluated carefully to confirm that commercial objectives were achieved. This was evidenced by metrics which showed that: ▪ Key sales projects were delivered more quickly, ▪ Reduced cost though optimised delivery, contributing to sales growth, ▪ Quality improvements to which value could be attributed. Another dimension of the programme's impact was demonstrated in many participants' personal and professional development. Many took on more senior roles or additional responsibilities and were thriving with new challenges within 12 months of completing the programme. The application to the Princess Royal Training Award provided an essential and independent endorsement of the programme's success. The application came under close scrutiny to evidence and demonstrate a financial impact on the business. The final assessment stage involved time-controlled interviews by the City and Guilds Assessors with 25 stakeholders, including the training team, participants from each cohort, Line Manager and Senior Management. The assessment identified many practical examples that evidenced an ROI from CornerStone of over 8:1, among the highest of applications to the award. That is £8 for each £1 invested in the programme. Ultimately leaders in the business are keen for their team members to attend CornerStone because they have identified a meaningful performance difference commercially and personally in participants. It became clear to the training team that the benefit extended beyond the commercial impact. The programme emerged as an important contributor to developing and maintaining a winning 77

culture at JCB. It brought about the elements of resilience and positivity and demonstrated the brand ethos of ‘always looking for a better way’ and acting founders renown expression for acting with ‘a sense of urgency’. From the participants perspective, a carefully designed training programme backed up with coaching to provide individual attention and applying the valid and reliable profile of MTQPlus likely impact participants personally for many years to come. Many personal stories have emerged that relay how developing mental toughness has improved coping mechanisms for the most pressurised life events. In addition, many Line Managers have identified performance and well-being changes in individuals following the completion of the programme that are attributable to the use and understanding of the mental toughness concept. Through Covid, we unintentionally learned the impact that developing mental toughness can have on wellbeing, with many participants sighting specific examples of how CornerStone Programme had given them tools which enabled them to better cope with the pandemic. A word about some of the Metrics Through the CornerStone Programme, we have seen a significant increase in mental toughness levels of participants. In general, sten scores increased by an average of over 25%. We have learned that we can support, through coaching and training, those who might initially be more mentally sensitive to be able to work towards the normal range. Many participants have moved from the average to the mentally tough range. Our first cohort was interrupted by Covid, yet the mental toughness of the cohort moved forward by 1.1 stens at a time 78

when there was evidence that the general population declined by a similar level. Although all age groups and experience levels have benefited from the programme, the age group who grew their mental toughness the most were the 20 – 30-year-olds in their first management position. Mental toughness scores increased by up to 2 stens between pre and post-programme MTQPlus results. The programme going international The first UK cohort began in September 2019; following positive feedback, the business recognised the value and requested a tailored CornerStone programme for international teams. Further cohorts in the UK and elsewhere are in planning at the time of writing following the success of 4 UK cohorts and recognition from the Princess Royal Training Award. As with the initial programme, this will be carefully monitored and evaluated. The participants' success in that first cohort has identified the CornerStone Programme as highly effective in embedding mental toughness into a sales culture resulting in high commercial impact. Observations and conclusions Sales is commonly recognised as a pressurised role, and the MTQPlus has matched the initial need backed by training and coaching to work toward the ideal balance of mental toughness. The only certainty in life is change! In common with many businesses, JCB has seen significant change since CornerStone Programme began in 2019. JCB's application to the Princess 79

Royal Training Award led Jason Wyatt, After Sales and Technical Training Manager, to invest more time in measuring impact, as this is one of the award's three main hallmarks for judging, and he continues to refine and develop the programme to maximise its impact. Ultimately, leaders in the business are keen that their team members are on the CornerStone programme because they know it makes a difference to commercial performance and the person as a whole and reflects JCB's commitment to investing in personal development. 80

6 USING THE 4Cs MENTAL TOUGHNESS FRAMEWORK AND MTQ MEASURES IN SALES AND CULTURAL SITUATIONS Paul Lyons In the previous chapters we have seen how mental toughness measures and models had worked to help improve the culture and functionality in a number of sectors in the UK. The 4Cs Mental Toughness model is now utilised on the world stage, and it is interesting to examine the similarities and differences across the continents. The following two chapters give a flavour of this international activity. This chapter will firstly continue to explore the use of mental toughness in a sales environment before focussing on a wide range of short case studies. In Australasia, we are a long way from the northern hemisphere and sometimes that is useful in that we independently generate new ideas and ways of thinking. However, sometimes it is not, as it takes time for us to adopt the tried and trusted from another time zone. In the case of the mental toughness framework, it was more the latter for many years, with few accredited practitioners operating here in Australia. We established our business, Mental Toughness Partners, in 2016 to try and address that by supporting coaches, mental toughness practitioners and their clients, using AQR International’s innovative range of MTQ measures and 81

development resources. This book is intended to be another of those resources. More recently, in both Australia and New Zealand, there has been an increased focus in society and business on resilience, wellbeing and mental health following several years of pandemic induced lockdowns. One positive of this very negative situation is that the mental toughness concept has become increasingly prominent, valued and highly sought after. As elsewhere in the world the MTQ framework is experiencing a rapid growth in popularity with individuals, coaches, and leaders and their organisations, because it is a deceptively simple, versatile and contemporary psychometric framework that is validated by an increasingly voluminous body of current scientific evidence. It is deceptively simple, because it makes accessible a psychological concept that is significantly complex … and so important to understand. In this chapter we focus on the effective use of the framework in two popular areas of OD - sales and cultural change. Firstly, I will discuss some of our experiences using the MTQ mental toughness framework and measures when working with prominent Sales Directors in their hiring, induction and broader development of a high-performance sales culture. We then profile the recent work of one of our key partners, Phuel, the most creative and effective learning and development consulting firm in the southern hemisphere and explore how 82

they have used the MTQ mental toughness framework both internally and with their clients. Why the 4Cs Mental Toughness framework works so well with high performing sales teams? Before establishing Mental Toughness Partners I was a leader within two global recruitment companies and so have an interest and relevant experience in sourcing, selecting and coaching high performing sales executives. I wish I had known about MTQ and the mental toughness framework back then because it would have significantly improved my efficiency in hiring topflight sales executives, internally for Michael Page and Ambition, and externally for our clients and then developing a broader mental toughness lexicon. If you consider the character of a high performing sales executives and teams it generally includes individual and collective attributes such as; ▪ Ability to develop authentic relationships by allowing individuals to speak openly and honestly and without fear of animosity or recrimination. This requires a balance of confidence and compassion. ▪ Self-awareness and a desire for continuous self- improvement ▪ Possessing the motivation towards attaining sales and personal targets and the focus and consistency to achieve those targets. ▪ Managing emotions to stay calm and make decisions objectively rather than emotionally. 83

▪ Having the persistence and resilience to overcome setbacks and challenges. ▪ Adaptability and resourcefulness when faced with new and changing situations. ▪ Possessing the confidence to make effective decisions. These are for the most part, mindset attributes that can be measured and then developed if we understand what “mindset” is. The 8-factor mental toughness concept enables that understanding. The MTQPlus is a “more than” useful psychometric tool to use in selection and ongoing coaching because of its simplicity and evidence-based validity. I have regular dealings with clients in leading organisations in medical sales, pharma, technology, recruitment, and hospitality who use the test between first and second selection interviews to create a potentially deeper more insightful conversation second time around. They often look to match required attributes with the test results and identify an overall level of mental toughness, assess consistency, or not, between the eight subscales which together then indicate how the individual thinks when subjected to the inevitable stress and pressure of a high-performance sales role. One of the three MTQPlus reports, the Assessor Report, provides a tailored suite of relevant questions that help ensure a deeper and more insightful conversation and enable the hiring manager to probe more deeply and better understand the candidates level of self-awareness and their appetite for learning. If hired, the two other reports become important -the Development Report for the individual to better understand their 84

own profile and any potential areas for improvement and the Coaching Report, for their manager on how best to support them. Over time my clients develop trust for the mental toughness framework and the insights it provides; they almost always elect to embed the framework within the broader sales team to create a common lexicon. With everyone within the team or the organisation having completed the test, one can better understand the relative factors of mental toughness and mental sensitivity and how they relate at an individual and group level. This then drives additional personal and team development and any adjustments that need to be made in terms of hiring different mindsets to achieve cognitive diversity or exploring challenges or opportunities arising from individual or team results. One of the benefits of the framework is the continuing wealth of contemporary development resources for internal programs, coaching, and Q and A sessions that are simple to organise, access and digest. Another way of describing mental toughness is that it is a significant aspect of attitude. We all know that a resilient and positive attitude is important for almost everything we do. About Phuel and the use of mental toughness in their leadership and organisational development programs Several years ago, I met Dean Gale, the Managing Director of Phuel, then an Australian subsidiary of WPP, the world's largest Creative Transformation company. Phuel, a highly creative and innovative learning and development business works with a broad cross section of Australia’s leading business and government organisations. 85

As described on their web site https://www.phuel.com “We are committed to connecting people and bringing them together to enable them to learn, grow and solve those gnarly business challenges. We are passionate about creating unique, experiential, fun and engaging learning experiences”. Phuel had for many years used a resilience tool as part of their offering. Dean, however was looking for a new, more scientifically rigorous approach to measuring and embedding resilience and was quickly “sold” on the benefits of the 4Cs Mental Toughness framework and measures (both MTQPlus and 4Cs) namely they are: ▪ SIMPLE to use and understand. ▪ CONTEMPORARY -first developed in 2002 and continuously updated. ▪ SCIENTIFICALLY STRONG -hugely evidence based, creating a high level of credibility within Phuel’s internal team and their clients. Phuel, from the start quickly adopted the MTQ framework and measures within their performance, leadership and cultural change programs and have continued to use (in their words): “the world's most contemporary and scientifically grounded assessment tools to inform how we empower and embed both a resilient and positive mindset in individuals and organisations”. The onset of the pandemic created instant challenges with the movement to a predominately physical face to face facilitation business but by honing the mindset skills adopted and developed within their own mental toughness programs Phuel quickly and effectively transformed itself into a viable and virtual business. 86

Through several days of intensive team sessions, they switched thinking about the 2019 Covid pandemic from being a potentially terminal problem into an opportunity with immense potential. They left behind the shackles and constraints Covid presented to their traditional F2F delivery method to enter a larger global market assisting clients now dealing with the challenges of keeping their remote workforces engaged, productive and focused and where their clients were almost unanimously having to deal with a challenging workforce culture problem that needed solving. I will leave the final comment here to Dean Gale; “Using the MTQ mental toughness framework and psychometric measures with our clients in a variety of situations has helped us all to thoroughly understand the framework and reflect on how we can each better manage the challenges we face. I think we have almost by osmosis developed stronger individual and collective mindsets and this certainly helped us when faced with the pandemic which in other circumstances could have easily been terminal for our business. After the initial shock of literally seeing all of our future work “disappear” in the first 48 hours of the pandemic, very quickly our collective mindset turned to one of ‘we can do this’ and ‘what’s the opportunity here and how can we make it happen? ’. Our positive outlook grew as our team worked hard under extreme time and resource pressure to explore, robustly discuss and shape potential options for keeping the business viable. I have no doubt being mentally tough was a key factor in us surviving and thriving throughout the pandemic. I would, and do, recommend that individuals, leaders and their organisations explore using the 87

MTQ mental toughness framework not just in OD situations but when dealing with major business challenges.” In the case studies that follow, we discuss how Phuel used the mental toughness framework with their clients and to what effect. Introduction to our case studies In this chapter we highlight the challenges faced by three of Phuel’s clients and their experiences in using the MTQ framework to provide evidence-based measurement of their workforce leading to valuable internal dialogues. The three clients work within different business sectors and have chosen to remain anonymous. Client A - Higher Education Client B - State Government Client C - Financial Services CLIENT ‘A’ IN HIGHER EDUCATION In 2019 the Australian higher education sector had been buoyant for many years. This was on the back of a booming local economy creating demand for short vocational courses, and a five-year growth curve in fee paying international students, especially those from India and China, who were bringing c. $1billion annually to the sector. The Covid -19 outbreak and to a lesser extent the worsening trade and political climate between Australia and China quickly changed that scenario. State and national lockdowns in Australia followed and created a humanitarian and economic crisis for the higher 88

education sector. Students became quickly disillusioned through being unable to learn from in person tutorials or lectures and the life benefits gained from being on campus and became dissatisfied with their experience. Remote learning was less rewarding for all students but especially those overseas and interstate students who were a long way from family networks and familiar surroundings. As with other sectors the impact was immediate, with revenue falling dramatically with little likelihood of a swift recovery. The likely scenario of fewer students creating less demand would in turn mean a potential round of harsh restructures and redundancies for the institutions to balance the books and remain viable. It was not only their students that were disenchanted and disillusioned as Contract and Permanent University staff quickly became unsettled by the spectre of headcount losses creating falling motivation and an increasing flight risk. Phuel were engaged by one prominent Australian University to help support their staff through the uncertainty created both by the crisis itself and the resulting strategic and structural reviews which were necessarily taking months to complete, communicate and implement. The University wanted to understand what their staff were thinking and feeling individually and collectively and Phuel chose the MTQ framework and measures to create both an objective and subjective evaluation. They found that staff morale was universally low as the teaching and administrative staff felt they had little or no control over the decisions being made about their future adding to their 89

extreme levels of emotional sensitivity, uncertainty and feeling of overwhelm. They were uncertain as to whether they should stay and wait or leave to try and find a new role amongst the rapidly dwindling number of sector opportunities available elsewhere. In addition, with the broader higher education sector being so competitive they needed to reframe their thinking to staying employed and/or remaining employable. Phuel ran a series of mental toughness programs for various groups and cohorts to provide some guidance on how to use a practical framework to deal with the uncertain situation. Whilst this assignment was difficult to measure quantitatively in terms of mindset change (as the measure was only used on the way into the program and not on the way out) the anecdotal feedback was hugely positive because it indicated understanding and support from above in what was a hugely challenging situation. It also gave people some understanding of their own mindset as well as useful practical strategies to use in difficult and uncertain situations. CLIENT ‘B’ IN STATE GOVERNMENT In this assignment Phuel were engaged to assist a government owned community-based service, to reward their front-line staff who were engaged in assisting disadvantaged members of society. With the department relatively siloed in different regions, staff rarely met each other in person to swap ideas, share experiences and just enjoy being with other people that understood and cared about the challenges they faced every day. 90