Common challenges to maximum athlete performance: 

• Performance difficulties (e.g., choking, under performing)
• Concentration difficulties (e.g., lapses, miscues, making mistakes)
• Conflicts with coaches or professors
• Conflicts with teammates or fellow performers
• Decrease in self-esteem
• Pressure to perform
• Number of hours required for practice, competition, and other requirements
• Pressure or evaluation from fans or the media
• Burnout or loss of desire towards sport
• Loss of confidence in abilities
• Difficulties in self-identification when the self is defined by achievement or performance

Every organization employs its own form of elite athletes, whether on the ball field, the board room, or on the battlefield. The following is a list of common OSS consultant approaches to performance enhancement. Each approach is individually tailored to your specific performance requirement:

• Goal setting – Assisting individuals in learning how to set specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic goals.
• Mental imagery training – Teaching individuals to use imagery effectively by focusing on their physiological reactions through the use of vivid imagery and mental pictures of their performance.
• Building confidence – Helping the individual to become aware of his/her cognitive processing, their use of cognitive reframing, targeting any negative cognitions that may be interfering with optimal performance, and facilitating their use of constructive coaching techniques.
• Pre-performance routines – Assisting individuals in creating a pre-performance routine, including physical cues and mental messaging, that is uniquely tailored to their specific performance event.
• Motivation – Assisting individuals in learning what activates their motivational system as it relates to optimal and sustained performance. Developing strategies that tap into these resources as performance preparation is building.
• Relaxation training – Training the individual to effectively relax and manage anxiety by focusing on activating their parasympathetic nervous system. The use of such techniques can help athletes and performing artists regulate their physical responses in a way that maximizes energy management and allows them to achieve their optimal activation level at critical points in their performance.
• Group cohesion – This focuses on helping teams or groups build trust and respect for each other, work toward common goals, and learn how to communicate effectively.

Contact OSS Associates for a Confidential Consultation
We look forward to tailoring differentiated solutions to your unique organizational challenges. Contact a senior associate at: mark@ossconsultation.com