At the University of Hull Online, we believe everyone has it in them to achieve extraordinary things. It just takes the right leadership, teamwork and guidance. Not many know this better than Hollie Pearne-Webb, leader of the Olympic gold-medal-winning Team GB hockey team.
This is the second part of our exclusive interview with her, in which she shares inspiring insights on how she successfully brings out the very best in all the teammates she manages.
We’re proud to the Official University Partner of Team GB. Our connection with them means that if you join us as an online Global MBA student, you’ll get the unique opportunity to attend a talk lead by Hollie herself.
If you missed the first part of this interview, you can read it here.
In terms of creating a culture of psychological safety within the team, what have you found most helpful?
We do a number of different things to build psychological safety. It's not just a workshop and then we're sorted. It’s a continuous thing that we must do daily. But one of the things we introduced several years ago was player meetings. In the hockey squad, for example, you’ve got 32 athletes, but then we've got our Head Coach, our assistant coaches, our S&C coaches, our physios, and our selector – so the big bosses.
As a working group of players, we have regular meetings amongst ourselves. We'll get the big, high powers of selectors out the room, and we'll have conversations where we’ll ask each other, “how are we tracking?” How are we doing against the behaviours? How are people feeling?”.
And if there's any feedback there, whether it’s for the coaches, the programme itself or what we're doing, that's when I, as captain, will take that to coaches anonymously. We won't say “X said this,” but rather, “as a group, we feel like this and would like to give this feedback”.
So we introduced player meetings as a way for everyone to feel safe, to speak their minds and have their voices heard. And in those meetings, it's important that we hear from everyone, regardless of experience, age and how long they've been in the programme. So that's one way we build psychological safety: by creating regular environments where we can have those conversations.
Another important thing we do is make people feel valued and celebrate successes. If there’s someone new joining the team in the four-year Olympic cycle, we do what we call a welcome ceremony.
That’s when we introduce them to our vision, our values, our behaviours, the way we do things around here. We present them with their number on their shirt, welcome them in, and make sure that they know that they're very much part of this group like anyone else. We show them that they have a voice, and that what they can bring from outside this environment will be valuable in terms of new experiences.
We also celebrate milestones. Again, as athletes, we'll have a cap for an international test match, so celebrating those big milestones – whether it's a first cap for someone just entering the squad, or a 100th or 200th cap, if they're lucky. For the international teams, celebrating that in front of the squad and the group is important to make that person feel valued.
Thirdly, I think a ‘no blame’ culture is especially important. We’re a team sport. Yes, we've got goal-scorers and goalkeepers – and they're the vital ends in terms of goals going in and being blocked – but it's important for us as a group to know that we're there as a whole squad representing. One person's individual mistake is not the reason we've won or lost a game. It's what everybody does to contribute to that moment, so there's a strict ‘no blame’ culture.
Yes, we’ll debrief, yes, we'll take feedback on board as a group, but there's definitely no one pointing out individuals in terms of “it's your fault for X or Y.” I think it’s vital to build in that psychological safety, and make people feel that they can express themselves without being scared and making mistakes on the pitch.
How do you approach building team resilience and motivation?
Team resilience is always tested for us. There's never been a four-year cycle where we've performed well and done well in everything. It's always been a roller coaster with ups and downs – extreme highs and extreme lows. So, our team resilience is always tested, and we're always having to work on it.
I think one important thing for us in terms of resilience and motivation is creating that sense of belonging. When you feel like you belong to a team, you're more motivated in terms of what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it. You’re also willing to get back up again, so I think creating that belonging is vital.
From having identical kits to celebrating one another’s successes, it’s all important. And having everyone's voices heard, making sure they are part of what we’re trying to do.
I mentioned this before, but I think the other thing that's really key in our environment is our visions, values and behaviours – particularly our vision, i.e., what we want to achieve and what we're striving towards. We have a clear vision as a squad, and that's important. So again, on good days or bad days, that's our North Star, and that's what we remind each other: “This is why we're here,” “This is what we're trying to achieve”. I think having that vision is hugely motivating right at the top.
But sometimes you might feel that's unachievable in that moment, on that day, because that's two years away, three years away, whatever it is that we're aiming for in terms of Olympic game success. So what actually builds that team resilience is the stuff that we can do on an everyday basis.
Underneath our vision and our high-level goal, we'll have our process goals right at the bottom. Our process goals are the things we can do every single day that will eventually, hopefully add up to achieving our vision right at the top. So those process goals can be things as small as turning up for training on time or giving 100%. Even what we eat for breakfast is important as athletes, because we need to make sure we're fuelling well to be able to train well. Again, that all adds up. There are 32 of us in the squad, and training increases hugely.
Those small one percenters and those process goals – things that we can focus on every single day that we have control of – help build that team resilience. So whether we're having a good day or a bad day or we've had a poor result, we go back to “okay, what are our process goals?”. We believe in our process. This is going to take us to where we want to go, and really break things down.
I feel that having that vision helps with motivation. Having those small process goals and identifying what we can do daily that will add up, really helps with team resilience. It means we can get back up and go again in terms of what we want to achieve.
What aspects of team coaching have you found useful in developing team relationships?
We've done a few different things. I think what's important for us as athletes is that we feel like we own the programme. We're the ones essentially doing the work, which means we need a large say in how we want to achieve that. I think the best coaching that we've had has been where the coaches ask us the questions, for us to find out the answers or the way of doing things ourselves.
For example, setting our own behaviours and our own values, and how we want to do those things. I think we've also used psychometric profiling tools quite a bit to have some of those conversations, and then form the basis of those conversations. Firstly, that’s helped us in terms of individual self-reflection, how we might go under pressure, under stress, how we naturally sit and what we might need to dial up in certain situations. Secondly, it has helped us get to know the rest of our teammates and where they naturally sit.
So I think that has been of a huge benefit to us. The coaching that covered the psychological side of things has been particularly useful.
I think mentoring from older, senior players has also been useful. It's been valuable for us to hear from players that have been there, done that, and know how you're feeling in a certain situation.
I think those conversations are incredibly valuable, especially for those youngsters coming into the programme with not much international experience. Just those small “how are you doing,” “How are you feeling?” conversations rather than anything technical or tactical helps build those individuals' confidence.
It’s also good to give reassurance and probe with the right questions, i.e., “you're on the right path,” “you're doing the right things,” “Have you thought about it this way?” or “How might you approach this?”. It gets those individuals to think a little bit for themselves.
When it comes to coaching and mentoring in more formal settings, it’s good to have these dialogues and help facilitate the conversation with models or tools. But I think it’s hugely beneficial to have those off-the-cuff mentoring conversations from those that have been in your situation and have that experience from years before.
What key piece of advice would you give to MBA students about leading high-performance teams?
I'm going to give two pieces of advice to future leaders. One is be yourself. When I came into leadership, there was an incredible leader before me, and I was nothing like her at all. And I knew that I would fail if I tried to be like her. Remember, the reason you're in that position is because you've got the qualities to do that role. So don't try and be someone that you're not. That's my first piece of advice.
And the second one would be to remember that you're not going to develop a high-performing team in a day. The foundation of any team is trust, and that takes time to build. It's not something you're going to do in one workshop or one moment, and it's there and it's done. It's something that needs small steps every single day, not just to build the trust, but retain it as well.
For our group, having those set behaviours almost written down is very helpful in building some of that trust. But trust is that foundation, and then you build it up to the point where people can have those healthy, challenging conversations. Dialogues where everyone speaks their mind and is willing to challenge the status quo or what's being said. When you reach that point, you're having a healthy debate as a group.
I think that's the next stage before working up into everyone individually and taking accountability. In short, I think the foundation of a high-performing team is that trust. And my piece of advice would be not to rush it and not expect it to happen in a day.
And keep in mind that, once you've got a great high-performing team and environment, it’s not going to stay like that. It needs constant work every day – especially as new people come in and leave. So, don't rush it. Be yourself, and don't expect to build it in a day.
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