Mental health in rugby league

Tony Adams MBE & Lee Jewitt discuss the changing culture and awareness of mental health within sport.

Bob Dylan sang ‘Times are a changing’ and in the context of team success times really have changed: many of the archaic HR practices that were appropriate in my playing days 20 years ago just will not fly nowadays.

We have reached an era where a mentally fit team isn’t a ‘would like’ but is now a ‘must have.’Modern successful teams and businesses understand the power and productivity of a mentally fit squad, and understand that happy, healthy players and workers consistently out-performs competitors. Strong EI is a key factor in both individual and collective success in the workplace.

With a goal to create a synergistic environment, strong leaders need to display, and encourage EI if they want to inspire and motivate others to increase their own Emotional Intelligence.

In this blog we will sharing with you our understanding and approach to Emotional Intelligence. The areas covered in this blog are:

• EI Explained
• Benefits of EI in action
• Understanding your own EI
• Understanding and influencing others EI
• The Offload Approach
• Emotional Intelligence explained

1. Emotional awareness, where they can name or identify their own emotional state;
2. They can harness that emotional state and apply it to problem solving and task fulfilment;
3. They can manage and control their emotional state and control the emotions of those around them (ie making people feel better, laugh etc).
   

Further signs associated with those showing signs of EI include having the ability to recognise when you are getting upset, understanding why, and being able to defuse the emotions before they become uncontrollable.

Another is having understanding of other people’s situations, empathy and an appreciation of seeing things from the point of view of others.

You can focus on the subject manner when people are discussing issues with you and you do not get distracted easily.

Benefits of EI in action
There are many benefits for having an emotionally intelligent workforce/team. As discussed earlier, EI people often have a great deal of empathy so are very aware of the feelings of those around them, and can support and positively manipulate team-mates’ emotions for the benefit of all.

EI people have a greater propensity for compartmentalising and dealing with emotions and emotional issues, allowing them to focus on their work tasks, which in turn makes them better positioned to solve problems and increase productivity.

Having the ability to communicate clearly is also another bi-product of an EI person, which is key to team success. Clear and concise communication is crucial to creating synergy within a working environment.

Emotionally intelligent team members are often admired for several reasons. They are seen as caring, humble, flexible and strong members of the team, and often considered for leadership roles.

Understanding your emotional intelligence
When you are looking to understand your own emotional intelligence there are a few areas to focus on.

First, you need to be able to review and recognise your emotions and their triggers, and the impact the emotions have on your actions and thoughts.

Once they understand how their emotions operate, people with high EI will be aware of the need to manage every step of the process in a controlled and directed manner.

Understanding and influencing others EI
Often if you have the skills to understand your own emotions, you can transfer a level of empathy to those around you, picking up on their emotional signals and prompts.

In the working environment that same awareness allows you to assess the structures of group dynamics, helping to develop and sustain strong working relationships.

Having empathy, great relationship building and clear communication skills also helps people with strong EI influence others emotional state earmarking them leadership

Final Words
Learning to increase your workforce’s emotional intelligence will help your team collectively and players individually. This will improve productivity and output whilst at the same time increase mental fitness and ability to deal with stressors both their own and those around them.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can find more information on the number of services available on our support page [HERE]