Darren Sutton is a Performance Psychologist. He’s passionate about helping people and their organisations to become the very best that they can be – and who want to go beyond compliance, towards excellence in safety performance.
He’s developed several innovative IOSH Certificated programmes which focus on performance, leadership and behaviour. One of these is Performance Psychology for Safety and Health Professionals.
Here are some insights into the programme, taken from a recent question and answer session with Darren.
What’s the 'one thing' that you most want to share about Performance Psychology?
Performance has always fascinated me – even as a young child. I’ve looked at people and asked myself what makes them so good. Back in those days it was people like Muhammad Ali, Brian Clough, Daley Thompson and Bruce Springsteen. As I’ve got older, I’ve asked myself the same question about outstanding performers, teams and organisations today, across several different performance areas.
Performance Psychology unlocks that question – 'Why are these people and their organisations continually successful, and what can we all learn from them'.
It identifies very specifically and deliberately why people and organisations go on to become world champions, the world’s greatest in their field – it unlocks their secrets. Better than that, it identifies areas where ordinary people and organisations can start to replicate these same characteristics of excellence.
We like the sound of that – can you give us an example?
Well, we all have a voice in our head, an inner dialogue and in performance psychology we call this Self Talk. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a sports pitch, in the workplace or at home – this internal dialogue is constantly in our heads, and it has a huge effect on our performance. It’s important to understand this as a tennis player, a dancer or a sports coach – and it’s just as important for a business leader and for us as safety professionals too. What that voice says to us determines our decision-making and ultimately our actions and performance.
How do we turn this inner dialogue to our advantage?
We can become better at listening to it. We can retrain it to say different things to us, to enhance our performance – rather than deflate it. It doesn’t matter whether you’re on a sports field, a stage or in the workplace, our Self Talk will have an impact on our outcomes. So, next time you tell yourself that you might not be able to do something, ask yourself if you would say that to a friend or someone that you admire. If you wouldn’t say these things to them then why would you say them to yourself?
What’s great about this, is we can start to take control of our internal dialogue to improve our decision-making process and to enhance our performance, not just for ourselves, but our teams around us.
How do we apply this to safety?
It’s exactly the same if you’re a business leader, safety professional, HR manager or somebody driving a bus. Your internal dialogue is going to affect the way you feel, think and then behave. It will also have an effect on the attitudes of those around you. Attitudes are the pre-cursors of performance and also impact on our culture and working environment.
So, you either just get on and do it regardless of the consequences or say, hold on, let’s do this right. And this is what is so fascinating for safety – understanding the internal dialogue of our leaders and colleagues to help them make better decisions. It’s about doing the right thing and taking better care of themselves and others. That’s what safety is to me – it’s the things that we do and say each day that creates a culture that goes way beyond compliance and is driven by caring for ourselves and our colleagues.
The programme modules include:
- The Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence
- Preparation for Performance
- Think like a Champion
- Coping with Pressure and Challenging Situations
- How Elite Performance Coaches Inspire Excellence
- Goal Setting for Sustainable Excellence
Start the course programme here
Read about the course programme here
This unique programme is priced at £235 – but we’re offering a 20% discount to anyone who books before 30 October 2021. Use the coupon code INSPIRE at online checkout, at the time of booking.
To find out more, please get in touch with the team at Behavioural Safety Services and Training by:
Emailing [email protected]
Calling +44(0)1665 714837
