As Wimbledon gets underway in the UK, and eyes turn from the soccer Euros to the forthcoming Olympic games, executive coach Nicola Ellwood believes that much can be learnt from the mindsets and behaviours of high-performing athletes. The exciting thing is that each of us, whether a business leader, executive, or individual, already possesses the potential to unlock our own excellence.

Nicola’s unique coaching approach, honed through her work with leading athletes in various disciplines, sets her apart. She has worked with over 40 professional, nation-representing golfers, the number four in the world for snowboarding, the number two in the world for Irish Dancing, Iron Man triathletes, tennis players, and national championship cyclists. Her understanding of the mind’s role in performance and the critical strategies to unlock it keeps her in demand. Having also worked extensively with leaders and executives, she understands how this applies in the business world. .

Nicola ventured into sport as a ‘happy accident’. She’d been working with a Managing Director to help him with his confidence and assertiveness while leading his leadership team. In session four, he reported that his golf handicap was falling – at speed. Unconsciously, he was taking his strategies for the boardroom out onto the golf course. He introduced Nicola to a professional player at his club who was underperforming. After three sessions with Nicola, he went from not making the cut to placing third – and within the  next few tournaments. Soon after, he qualified for the European Tour. The rest is history…

The Art of Possibility

In sports, Nicola is called a ‘mindset coach’ by her clients, and in that word lies the key. In what direction is our mind ‘set’? Is it on all the things that are wrong, the problems, the things we don’t want to experience anymore? That is not ‘excellence’ (albeit entirely natural for us to do).

Excellence is the art of possibility. What do we want (instead of what we don’t). What does it look like? Excellence comes when we Imagine living and breathing what we want. When we are being excellent, what are we doing? How are we feeling?

Nicola helped a client achieve her first board role by shifting her internal GPS from what she didn’t want to what she wanted. She arrived timid and self-doubting, but she left the first session a roaring lioness, clear on what she wanted and who she needed to be—and she went and did it. Amazing!

Being ‘At Cause’

When we experience challenges, opposition or roadblocks, our mind jumps into a metaphorical time machine. Our mind leaps into the future, imagining all the possible consequences of that thing that might happen. We feel it as if we are there – nerves, anxiety, resistance, worry – all because we don’t want that thing to happen – and all about something that hasn’t happened yet. Or we jump into the past, remembering something similar that did happen and feeling the feelings associated with that last time – Frustration, anger, embarrassment. We don’t want that to happen again. And that thing is in the past – gone.

Whether in the past or the future, we feel physical sensations and our physiology changes. We tense up and respond from that state—caught up in ‘the effect’ of what our mind has created within us.

Excellence is achieved by staying in the present, being self-aware, and recognising the effect our mind is having on our state—and then challenging that by asking what we want instead of what we are experiencing. What do we want, and what do we need to do to ’cause’ it? Who do we need to be? What version of us achieves what we want? How might we think, feel, and behave (or play)?

High-performing executives and athletes have strong strategies for being’ at cause’—causing the outcomes they dearly want through their internal resources.

Having the Right Intention

Clients who are clear on their intentions achieve the outcomes. Our Intention informs our attention – our attention being what we pay attention to, what we do and give our energy and time to (and perhaps what we don’t give energy and time to).

Athletes know that if they set their intention of showing up  and know how to deploy that, they give themselves the chance of achieving it.

Execs who are clear on who they need to be to lead and have solid integrated strategies to be that person are the leaders people want to join on their journey. They are also the leaders they aspire to be congruent, aware, flexible, and thriving. High-performing execs know the mindset they need to have.

It’s All in the Toolkit

Nicola has been a coach for over two decades. Vastly experienced and working globally, she has the tools to help her clients achieve their goals. Nicola’s business is known for its transformative impact. Her mission is to help people move away from who they don’t want to be and tune them in fully to the version of themselves.. 

Her coaching programmes combine Master-level coaching, Master Practitioner level Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) strategies, and a psychologically informed approach. In the UK, Nicola is one of a select group of independent Executive Coaches to be licensed in a tool called PRINT®, which provides the keys to unlocking potential.

She adds, “As we watch the Olympics and celebrate our finest athletes and sportspeople, we can all learn from their approach. With the right mindset, intention, beliefs, and strong trained and integrated strategies, we can all show up as ourselves and unlock and inspire our teams to do the same.”

Published by: Khy Talara