The Business of B
Creating Success With A Better Mindset
The Sporting Mind provides
mental performance coaching
to sports performers as well as
business clients and individuals
who are looking to have a
point of difference, either in
‘performance’ or wellbeing.
Working with major sporting
teams, founder Andy Barton
has over 16 yea rs’ experience
and is regularly called on to
speak at high profile events
and conferences. Andy coaches
leading actors, sports and
TV personalities as well as
musicians and dancers which led
by reputation and referral onto
working with business leaders
and politicians. Andy is naturally
quiet about who he has worked
with. Discretion is important
when he is ‘in the mind’ of not
only some of the most elite
teams and names in sports, but
business leaders in charge of
multi million pound empires.
We caught up with Andy to
see how his unique brand of
development has helped many
clients, and how it can help your
business too.
How did you get into
coaching and development?
I had studied sports psychology but
ended up in marketing. At the end
of the millennium I went to see a
business coach who asked me what
I wanted to do in a dream world
and I said ‘performance coaching
with top sports people.’ It seemed
ludicrous, but I realised no one else
was doing it. I did more studying,
and then I started coaching. It
started with golfers and suddenly,
things just went really well. 16 years
later I’m still doing it and I’m asked
to speak at some amazing events
and conferences.
Can you summarise what you do?
Really it’s about engaging the
imagination so people can
communicate effectively with not
only others – but themselves.
That’s the core. We are all driven
and motivated purely by our
imaginations, the carrot in front of
you – the holiday, car or the gold
medal, winning – I help to create
imagery in the mind that helps
them achieve those goals. There
are many ways of doing this. We all
know that the voice in the head is
the main motivator, also the main
de-motivator! I tackle things like
procrastination, and the myth of
‘realism’ – most self- proclaimed
realists are true pessimists! I try
and make sure that people don’t
see reality as fixed, but changeable.
Do goals help or
harm in a workplace?
People tend to achieve goals when
they make them vivid – so I say,
really define it and define each
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step! I see a lot of ‘I want to be a
CEO of a top FTSE company’, but if
all you see is that and not each step
that gets to there – the self- belief
soon drops off. Small steps to get
to basecamp are key, as is being
flexible with a goal. Being doggedly
determined at any cost can be a
failure as much as a success. Goals
are great, but I always say, ‘don’t be
a status led culture’. This is a place
where you value people for being
talented or gifted. It is better to be
proud of being a learning culture
where you have a passion for
development. I worked with a client
who changed the whole culture of
his business to one with a learning
culture, so instead of employing top
university candidates they began
taking on people with a propensity
for learning. This made it a much
more pleasant place to work and
the company is thriving – the egos
are gone!
worked a lot in Japan and they
have a really strong fear of failure
as part of the culture. They have
the highest fear of failure ratio
in the developed world and this
affects the economy as there aren’t
enough entrepreneurs. I go and
do workshops on embracing the
making of mistakes because that’s
how you learn. I literally ask people
to make objectives for people
to fail!
How important is
the purpose behind a goal?
wealthiest men in the country and
when I started working with him,
he didn’t FEEL successful. All he
thought about was making money
which became empty after a while.
You need a purpose, what does the
money give you? What is the culture
of your organisation? You see this
with charity … if you feel you need
to do something that is close to you
that has a big purpose then nothing
else matters. The person who fears
public speaking will go speak on
a huge stage and ask for support,
because the purpose is bigger than
the fear.
Andy is available for
consultations and is
based out of Stamford
and London.
He is currently taking on
clients, as either individuals or
businesses. Take a look at:
www.thesportingmind.com
or call 0845 652 2651
Very. I worked with a guy who owns
a hedge fund and is one of the
What about competition
in the workplace?
I think there is a problem with
competitiveness where we become
too competitive and lose sight of
the bigger picture. I have worked
with people high up in business
who won’t share in case the
younger people learn more than
they do! –so it isn’t always a good
thing. You get a lot of problems
with bonus culture, where you look
for how people didn’t make the
grade. I think it’s much healthier
to look for when people are doing
well and let them know as quickly
as possible. Companies that thrive
give around six times more positive
feedback to each negative. I have
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