The Competitive Edge How Mental Performance Consultants Can Elevate Your Company
Each day that passes, we see modern businesses finding themselves under more and more pressure. Even legacy brands see new challengers rise, and the strategies that once dominated the marketplace are constantly challenged. Now, companies not only need complete command of the business strategies to survive, but other elements often overlooked, such as the mental game. Whether it is average workers who are looking to reduce stress and spark motivation or executives who are striving to handle the constant pressure they find themselves under, the mental game can be an element that allows a business to thrive or falter. This is why finding experts in mental performance can give you and your company a competitive edge.
What is Mental Performance Consulting?
A mental performance consultant (MPC) is an individual who has had professional training in the psychological skills that lead to optimized performance. These individuals are often seen working with athletes of all levels, but their training is frequently based on research first done in the business world, or they have refined skills that can be essential to businesses. These skills range from goal setting to increasing resilience and managing stress.
The highest level of MPC is to be a certified mental performance consultant (CMPC). To achieve this, the MPC will undergo rigorous academic and applied practice standards, spending hours with clients and mentors as they refine their skills to test themselves through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). While the MPC you work with may still need to be certified, ensuring they are pursuing the certification is essential. This is an actual demonstration of extensive knowledge and practical experience. A demonstration that helps filter out charlatans who may try to pass themselves off as consultants despite no actual qualifications.
In addition to the CMPC, a mental performance consultant will often pursue other learning opportunities, whether this is a certification in coaching psychology or a specific technique such as mindfulness. By understanding these other certifications and specialties, you can find the best MPC for your business.
How MPC Enhances Business Performance?
At the core of an MPC's training are underlying competencies and skills that are critical to all performers. The evidence-based strategies these professionals use focus on mental preparation, resilience, and focus to help individuals and teams thrive.
Stress Management and Resilience Building
Just as athletes face extreme pressure with, at times, millions of eyes staring at them, business professionals have to navigate their pressure. As an employee or executive, this could mean closing a deal that ensures you and others have a job and can put food on the table each night. This leads to an environment of high turnover and failure. The MPC, in response, works with individuals or the team to develop strategies to deal with the pressure put upon this. At times, this may look like group mindfulness practices to create space and assist with emotional regulations, or it could be individual talk therapies to help employees deal with negativity that plagues their minds so they can learn to turn it around and be more resilient.
Focus and Productivity
In business, we rarely have only one thing on our plate. Whether balancing several clients or handling daily operations, a million things may be pulling at one's attention. Thus, the MPC may assist with different goal-setting strategies or attentional focus drills to help everyone stay in the moment. That way, they can be effective with those in front of them instead of worrying about a million other concerns that can not be handled at the moment.
Leadership and Communication
One of the most significant issues that employees complain about is when a worker is promoted to a leadership position due to performance but has yet to learn what it means to lead. They are used to working hard and doing their job. Seldom are they taught how to help others raise you, or they choose not to help because they fear the competition. Thus, an MPC assists the leaders of an organization in developing the skills to be leaders. Whether this is how to communicate or handle team conflicts, the MPC assists them in helping others reach for the stars while remaining satisfied with the job.
Performance Consistency and Burnout
Even the best employees may experience slumps or borders on burnout if they do not care for themselves. To reduce this occurrence, the MPC uses visualization and self-talk to build mental strength to combat slumps while developing coping skills to combat burnout that may arise.
Confidence Building
Often in the business world, we find first-time employees thrown into situations that may feel foreign and impossible for them. Businesses hope that through practice their employees will grow confident just by doing something, however, if they are constantly faced with failure after failure, this may not be the case. MPCs would employ confidence-building strategies such as imagery to help prepare the employees for situations and help them grow in confidence by visualizing successes.
Who Benefits the Most?
The easy answer is everyone, but those who respond best and often seem to benefit most are those industries or groups that are under higher mental loads compared to physically demanding jobs.
Corporate Leadership and Executive Teams: As the main decision-makers, business executives are often stressed. They are constantly faced with critical decisions that may determine the fate of hundreds or even thousands of workers. The MPC can help these positions build a toolbox of techniques to handle the pressure and remain effective as leaders.
Sales and Marketing: While mindfulness is the practice of a thousand beginnings, sales and marketing are often the business of a thousand rejections. This, coupled with a high priority on performance metrics, can take a toll on many professionals and burn them out. Thus, the MPC works with them to manage stress and motivation while learning to build confidence to stay with their career.
Healthcare, High-Stakes Environments, and First Responders: In these fields, it is typical for the mental toll of having a life in your hands to drag a person down. This field suffers mental damage as they try to save others. An MPC may be unable to handle the worst circumstances in which a clinical psychologist is needed. However, the MPC may work with them to maintain focus and control emotions so that they can deliver in moments of intense demands.
Creative Industries: Mental blocks and anxieties can hinder performance for those who design and market. The MPC offers assistance in breaking through barriers to find consistent outputs.
Conclusion
Incorporating an MPC into your business strategy can be a powerful way to unlock your team's potential, enhance leadership effectiveness, and improve performance across the board. In today’s competitive business landscape, the mental game is just as important as any business strategy. By investing in your employees' mental performance, you not only improve their well-being but also drive long-term success for your organization.
If you want your business to rise above the rest, it's time to invest in an MPC—unlocking the mental edge that can set you apart from the competition.