October 2024

• tonydorigo
• Blog
• October 30, 2024

Celebrating Diversity

Celebrating Diversity

Having experienced Italian football with Torino, I learnt to appreciate diverse cultures and different game approaches, whether tactical, physical or mental. I had the Aussie, English, and now Italian angles.

Each different viewpoint brought another perspective that added to your knowledge and understanding. Some of these viewpoints could be very different, not always embraced, but valuable, nonetheless.

I’ve often not understood enough, but I have learned that you can never have too much knowledge!

Warming up for a Torino training session, we’d get in two lines and jog around the pitch. The coach would shout out numbers that corresponded to an exercise. We then let a player shout out the numbers, the twist being that they delivered the number counting in their own language, and we all then repeated it.

We had 20+ Italian players, a Hungarian and an English/Aussie, so I thought this wouldn’t last long. Until I realised that even among the Italian players, their local dialects were utterly different and incomprehensible to other Italians!!

I could then count to 10 in the Sardinian dialect, amongst others… useless but valuable at the same time. As a team, we celebrated and enjoyed the diversity of our language. By embracing diversity, everyone was being heard, which embraced an inclusive environment. It was a great icebreaker, a fun warm-up, and another moment where the bond with colleagues became stronger.

How has your team’s diversity inspired creativity and innovation in your projects? Have you an exercise that celebrates diversity? Share your experiences in the comments below! 👇

#Diversity #TeamBuilding

• tonydorigo
• Blog
• October 28, 2024

Oprah – Shift your Mindset

How to shift your mindset

I’ve previously posted examples of a fixed and growth mindset, but HOW do we shift from a fixed mindset to a growth one?

Well, it’s the same as when I played football many years ago. You don’t become an England International overnight, it takes a lot of consistent effort, practice, learning and time!

Some things never change! We spent hours and hours on the training ground or in the gym but very little time on the mental side of the game. It was sink or swim back then, but whether in sport or business, we now understand working on one’s mindset can yield considerable gains.

Oprah Winfrey – from an impoverished background to a billionaire media mogul, her hard work and resilience aligned with her learned business acumen is a remarkable example of a growth mindset.

It’s a gradual process that starts with self-awareness and recognition. It’s essential to identify and recognise fixed mindset thoughts and behaviours. This is one area I’m working on and will always continue to work on.

Do you notice you’re avoiding challenges or feel defensive about feedback? Then challenge that fixed mindset thought, pause, and ask: Is this thought helping or hindering my growth?

Consciously reframe challenges as opportunities for learning. Especially during my football career, I focused on the process rather than only the outcome, win, lose or draw. Celebrating effort, strategies, and progress is essential – even if the ‘result’ or ‘outcome’ didn’t go your way. Don’t see this as a failure but another opportunity to learn.

Set learning goals, not just performance goals. Regularly seek out new experiences and challenges. Seek and Value Feedback. Surround yourself with growth-minded individuals. Take on challenges incrementally – a marathon is achieved one step at a time.

I discuss and work on these points and more with businesses, but one item is vital—be kind to yourself! We’re human and make mistakes, but we must keep making consistent efforts.

Lastly, a misconception—shifting to a growth mindset is not always about being positive or pretending everything is easy. It’s about believing in your capacity to learn and grow, even when things are difficult. Choose a “Growth Mindset” and be constructive, not destructive.

#growthmindset #PersonalGrowth 

• tonydorigo
• Blog
• October 23, 2024

Sir Chris Hoy’s devastating news

Sir Chris Hoy’s devastating news

The recent news of Sir Chris Hoy’s cancer diagnosis, along with his wife’s aggressive MS disease revelation, would be enough to put anyone into bitterness and depression.

However, Sir Chris Hoy isn’t anyone, and I’m in awe of how he deals with life-shattering news. I often talk about a growth mindset; Chris displays a turbo-charged version in the most challenging circumstances.

Sir Chris Hoy’s approach to his diagnosis has been remarkably positive, which aligns with his championship mentality from his cycling career. He’s talked about focusing on what he can control rather than what he can’t, a vital aspect of a growth mindset and elite sport.

Some key ways he’s demonstrated looking at the positives:

• Being open about his diagnosis to help raise awareness and potentially help others
• Expressing gratitude for the early detection of his condition
• Focusing on his treatment as a challenge to tackle, similar to how he approached cycling goals
• Appreciating the support from his family, friends, and the public
• Using his platform to encourage others to get checked if they have concerning symptoms
• Rather than think I’ve only got 2-4 years left, be grateful for the medicines that will allow you those precious 2-4 years

It’s a powerful example of how a growth mindset can help people face serious health challenges with resilience.

The whole nation is behind Sir Chris Hoy, and I’m sure of one thing: he will make the most of the time he has left, and those around him will be the better for it: some man, some mindset.

#growthmindset #PersonalGrowth 

• tonydorigo
• Blog
• October 18, 2024

What’s your go-to strategy for team building?

What’s your go-to strategy for team building?

Intentional team building is crucial for developing strong, cohesive, high-performing teams.

The first time I experienced intentional team building was in the build-up to Euro 92 in Sweden. The whole England squad prepared for the tournament in a training camp in the middle of nowhere in Finland. A pre-eminent sports psychologist was with us, and we spent a week or so training and engaging in various indoor and outdoor group exercises.

To start, we all underwent a psychometric test and, based on the results, were put into four different groups. As you can imagine, back in 92, with a bunch of footballers, albeit internationals, there was plenty of hilarity and larking about rather than pondering the tasks and, more importantly, the outcomes. The psychologist, prior to any of the tasks being undertaken, wrote inside a sealed envelope the results of where the four teams would finish at the end of all the tasks.

You guessed it, he got the four teams in precisely the correct order – which blew my mind! At one point, we nearly played the tournament without our centre half, Des Walker, who managed to get lost on his own during an orienteering task in the middle of a remote Finnish forest!!

However, the activities and the reasons behind the outcome were powerful.

Here are a few limited examples of some effective strategies for intentional team building:

• Team Building Activities like escape rooms, sports/fitness classes, volunteering together for a good cause
• Establish Team Norms and Values by collaboratively creating a Team Charter
• Implement a mentoring program
• Regular 360-degree feedback sessions
• Invest in shared learning experiences, group training sessions and workshops

Remember, the key to successful intentional team building is consistency and follow-through. It’s not about one-off activities but rather creating a culture of continuous improvement and connection.

So, what’s your go-to strategy for team building?

#Mindset #Teambuilding #PersonalGrowth #TeamExcellence #LeadershipDevelopment #HighPerformanceTeams