1. Team Manager Behavioural Philosophies
Swim England Talent
January 2018

2. Behavioural Philosophy
‘A behavioural philosophy is a personal statement that is based on the values and beliefs that direct ones behaviours.’
Kidman and Hanrahan (1997)
Define what a behavioural philosophy is …
Why create a behavioural philosophy? We do you need one? What are the benefits? (A couple of minutes to reflect on this within your groups)
Ultimately it guides your practice and behaviours and will certainly evolve over time as you build upon your experiences and face many different situations.
Your philosophy should be aligned to the programme/ club philosophy (vision and mission statement) and that of the Head Coach – avoid conflicting messages being sent to the swimmers/ support team/ parents (use example of fostering independence and how a TM doing too much for the athlete may thwart this, however not supporting the athlete enough may have a negative impact on performance)
Your philosophy is inevitably shaped by these experiences and will ultimately impact upon the way that you think, feel and act …

3. Self Awareness Iceberg
Your Behaviour
Feelings
Thoughts
Beliefs
Values
What people see
What people don’t see
- Skills and experience
- Emotional Intelligence
Self-Awareness
Reflection
Motivation
Understanding feelings in others
Judgement
Belief in own ability
Probably the best way to frame this discussion would be to consider the ‘self – awareness iceberg’
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this model, it basically highlights that whilst your behaviour (the way you act) is seen by the outside world, what people often don’t see/ consider are your feelings, thoughts, beliefs and values and how these ultimately impact upon your behaviour

4. Self – Awareness Activity (10 mins)
Behaviour
Beeping horn at car blocking the road when I am late to work
Feelings
Agitated, stressed, frustrated
Thoughts
I will be judged as being disorganised if I am late for work
Beliefs
Being late is disrespectful
Values
You should never be late
We are now going to map through a real life example to clarify our understanding of this process … talk through the example above
Then (10 mins):
Create your own example of a recent behaviour and map this back through how you felt when exhibiting that behaviour, what you were thinking, and how the behaviour, feelings and thoughts are ultimately linked to your values and belief system

5. Developing a Behavioural Philosophy
Pose question to the group:
Do you feel that you know how you currently ‘think’, ‘feel’ and ‘act’ as a person and in the team manager role?
How might this impact on your relationship with others?

6. Developing a Behavioural Philosophy
The critical ingredients of your philosophy:
Identifying your core values and beliefs
Recognise significant past experiences - life script
Acknowledge the impact of role models
So how would you develop your own philosophy?
It is also worth acknowledging that your philosophy will no doubt change over the years, as you have new life experiences …

7. Trademarks (Activity 1: 10 mins)
List 6 – 8 words or ‘Trademarks’ that are important to you (values and beliefs)
Explain to the person next to you why they are important and why they stand for YOU as a person

8. How we see the world depends on the lenses we look through..
We do however need to be conscious about not only how we see things, but also how other people may see and hear things differently to us …

9. Trademarks (Activity 2: 10 mins)
Consider the last time that you experienced a situation involving some kind of conflict
Map back through the self – awareness iceberg to reflect upon how you behaved in that situation and how your values, beliefs, thoughts and feelings resulted in this subsequent behaviour
Next consider the behaviour of the other person, how did they behave? Reflect on what you think they were feeling and thinking at the time. What values or beliefs may they hold that are different to yours in regards to this situation?
In pairs …

10. Any Questions?