Open Minded Podcast Is Back! Unlocking Sustained Peak Performance
Sir John Kirwan returns with a brand new season of guests!
“You can have temporary blips of high performance without caring for people - the problem is it just won’t last very long because we start talking about people burning out and people unable to continue.”
Sir John Kirwan Returns with Expert Tips for "Performance Care"
Rugby icon Sir John Kirwan has brought back his popular leadership podcast Open Minded after a two-year break, kicking off season two with a focus on “performance care” in the workplace. He’s joined by an all-star panel of experts - neuroscientist Dr. Carolyn Pritchett, organizational psychologist Dr. Laura Hamill, and behavioral scientist Dr. Fiona Crichton.
What is "Performance Care"? Kirwan believes most workplaces focus heavily on performance at the expense of caring for their people. Performance Care aims to bring those two elements together. As the experts explain, caring company cultures are vital for enabling sustained high achievement from teams. Initiatives narrowly targeting employee wellness often provide short-lived boosts, while neglecting deeper human needs.
The Science of Workplace Breaks
Dr. Fiona highlights fascinating research into the science of workplace breaks using brain monitoring technology. The discovery? Our brains become foggy if we concentrate for more than 90 minutes without short breaks. In fact, just a 5-minute break every half hour can maintain energy and performance levels.
Dr. Carolyn adds that brief moments of “boredom" allow our less-logical right brain to kick in, spurring creative flashes. Yet in our distraction-filled lives, people have forgotten what it's like to be bored!
Becoming a Caring Leader
The team explores practical ways leaders can role model healthy work-life integration and ditch the unhelpful “hero” mentality. As Dr. Laura shares, moderate your engagement - be intensely committed to meaningful work, but psychologically detach during downtime.
Kirwan confesses his own struggles switching off, constantly striving to do more. However, the doctors advise we can’t sustain performance without caring for our fundamental physical and emotional needs first.
Building a Peak-Performance Culture
From an organizational standpoint, Dr. Laura explains that performance care must permeate company culture to impact the bottom line. Initiatives flounder if employees don’t trust leaders genuinely “walk the talk”.
Shared values around balancing human needs with achievement help teams collectively carry the load. Psychologically safe cultures allow people to voice limitations before reaching breaking point.
Overcoming Fear as a Leader
Implementing performance care can seem scary for time-pressured managers. As Dr. Carolyn advises, change brings uncertainty that our brains instinctively avoid. However, focusing on the rewarding outcome often overrides present fears.
Dr. Fiona notes that with practice, vulnerability grows easier. Leaders modelling authenticity around work-life struggles build trust and psychological safety. We are all works in progress.
Ultimately, the leap towards balance pays dividends for both business and people. Performance care leads to more innovation, revenue growth, and stakeholder satisfaction. Meanwhile, cascading care through an organization allows everyone to sustain passion and avoid burnout.
Enabling Seamless Performance Care with Groov
As a pioneer in the performance care space, Kirwan's company Groov weaves science-backed support directly into employees' workflow. Via integration with commonly used work tools like MS Teams and Slack, Groov serves up quick prompts for self-care rituals, concentration breaks and mood check-ins.
As the doctors discuss, we often don't realize when our brains are becoming overloaded or emotions clouded. In the flow of meetings and messages, it's easy to keep pushing through stress. Groov's unobtrusive reminders ensure the basics of care don't slip, empowering peak professional and personal functioning. This seamless support system holds exciting potential for leaders striving to build cultures of sustainable high performance.
If you lead people or simply want evidence-based ways to thrive at work, Open Minded delivers. Tune in to the FULL podcast to hear more performance care science, leadership journeys, and Sir John's trademark wit. JK coaxes out practical takeaways for those struggling to implement self and organizational care.