No leadership, no high performance.

 High performance management has five important characteristics: 

1. Very high quality of the management; combining integrity and leadership by coaching with fast decision making; 

2. The culture is open and focussed at action, with the emphasis on commitment and dialogue. 

3. Focussed at the long term, both, the sportsman/sportswoman and all the cooperating partners; 

4. The cooperating team is of a various composition, very high quality and is able and willing to take responsibility for the continues to improve the results; 

5. A high performance leader or coach, as well as a high performance organization, is improving and innovating oneself continuously. 

And if the whole team of professionals wants to improve continuously, wants to win all the time, than gives this attitude a huge boost of energy. The energy gives the impulse to move, faster than others in order to gain the best result. This kind energy is coming from inner strength and inspiration. 

Performance management

 “If you want to be a champion, you have to look like a champion”. 

 This is an inspiring slogan of Mr. Anton Geesink, Olympic and World Champion and as well a long-time member of the IOC. 

 This slogan is giving the right content to concept performance, namely: result and radiation. In other words: if you are a champion you have to present yourself as a champion. “This is a world performance” means, that one is delivering quite a piece of wonderful work. It is also a public presentation of capability. 

Performance is also to do a certain task and to keep the promise or expectation. 

For a world performance all the potential resources have to be used. One have to give full commitment and one have to take full responsibility. 

In business performances it is possible to achieve great performances for many employees, managers, leaders and professionals. In top level sport it will be difficult to achieve great performances regional, national or international. But, both in business or in sport, to perform, to learn and to take pleasure are bound by indissoluble ties. 

Coaching is one of the best instruments to use for the developing of qualities and performances of others. So to coach in a right way to learn and to perform have to play a great role in world class coaching. 

 In performance management is coaching, management and leadership coming together and some aspects are important: organizing, coordinating, development, high performance standards, coaching, leading and leading by coaching. 

In business coaching it is not strictly needed to be a leader if one is coaching. Experience as a leader is of course an advantage. 

In top level sport coaching leadership is a must if one is coaching sportsmen/women, individual or in a team. 

Vision, inspiration and driving force are basic aspects if a coach wants to perform in top level sport. 

Willem Visser

Executive coach, Strategic Adviser, International Lecturer 8th Dan Judo IJF 

With gratitude to all my teachers, specialists, colleagues and especially all the judoka that I was allowed to guide and to coach.

Sources and inspiring professionals:

Van der Horst, Cobben, Abe, Saitoh, Yamashita, Uemura, Sugawara, Murata, Hosokawa, Komata, Takahashi, Nakamura, Kasuga, Kawashima, Kariya, Brousse, Besson, Rougé, Ruska, Geesink, de Cree, Barta, Vachun, Viser, Lascau, McConnell, Snijders, Sins, Hoogendijk, Boersma, Odinot, van Dijk, Klok and many others.