What business teams can learn from elite sports

Expert interview with NXT coach Kris Perquy on high-performance teams, mental resilience, and leadership

At NXT Coaching & Training, we support organizations, teams, and professionals every day in turning challenges into growth opportunities. Leadership and team dynamics are often high on the agenda. What enables some teams to continue performing under extreme pressure, while others get stuck in stress, conflict, or doubt? How do teams ensure they can consistently perform at the highest level — in other words, what makes a high-performance team? NXT coach Kris Perquy has been active in two worlds for nearly twenty years: elite sports and business. As a mental coach, he supports athletes, teams, and federations in preparing for major competitions. In addition, he coaches leadership teams and managers across various sectors. While the contexts differ, the psychological processes are, according to him, identical.

Kris is currently the mental coach of Ghana’s national football team in preparation for the World Cup.

To what extent do you experience the benefits of being active in both the business and sports world? And can they learn from one another?

Absolutely. Whether you are an athlete preparing for a competition or a business leader managing and motivating a team, it always comes down to the same psychological mechanisms. In both contexts, it is about dealing with stress, maintaining focus, collaborating effectively, strengthening motivation, and delivering performances at crucial moments. My background as an organizational psychologist helps me translate strategies and techniques from one context to another. That cross-pollination is incredibly valuable. Every week, I see how insights from sports can be perfectly applied in organizations, and vice versa.

What characterizes a high-performance team?

Teams that consistently perform at the highest level share three clear characteristics. First: a strong team identity. People feel proud to be part of the team and experience that they make a valuable contribution. Second: a clear and motivating objective. The goal must be ambitious and unite the team. Not too easy, and certainly not optional. Third: mutual accountability. In high-performance teams, it is not only the leader who holds people accountable. Every team member feels responsible for bringing out the best in one another. That requires psychological safety. High performance is not an endpoint — teams are never truly “finished”. They are constantly evolving. People come and go, contexts change, ambitions shift. Every change influences the dynamics. For example, when a new manager joins a team, it automatically triggers certain reactions: uncertainty, competition, defensive behaviour. That is a normal brain response to what is perceived as a potential threat. What we do is make those processes explicit. We explain what happens in the brain and open up the conversation around it. Through awareness, people can choose a constructive strategy instead of an automatic defensive reflex. For leaders, this means team development is not a one-time exercise. It is work that continues every single day.

What do you train specifically to perform consistently under pressure?

Stress is unavoidable in important situations. The difference lies in how you deal with it. Two techniques we frequently use are self-talk and visualization. Self-talk is about consciously formulating positive, realistic statements beforehand. For example: ‘I am prepared. I know what is expected of me. I have done this before.’ Repeating those statements out loud creates calm and control. A brain that experiences control becomes calmer. And a calm brain performs better. Visualization works in a similar way. A skier who mentally rehearses a slope dozens of times activates the same motor processes as during the actual descent. The brain barely distinguishes between imagination and reality. As a result, the body reacts faster and with greater confidence. In companies, this can be applied perfectly as well. A difficult conversation, presentation, or strategic meeting can be mentally prepared in advance. This reduces tension and increases effectiveness.

Which methods from elite sports can leaders use to guide their teams?

Everything we do in team sports around communication, collaboration, stress management, and resilience is perfectly applicable in the business world. Motivation also plays a major role. Business leaders can learn from athletes and sports coaches who redefine goals and look ahead after setbacks. When employees are involved in formulating objectives, they feel greater ownership. When they experience impact, motivation increases. A management team that imposes a profit target without participation creates little engagement. People become motivated when they have direct influence and feel connected to the bigger picture. Inspiration is also part of it, just as a motivational speech before a match can have a major impact in sports. For example, I work with a company in London that uses AI to develop treatments for osteoporosis. Their tagline ‘The patient is waiting’, combined with examples of breakthroughs, motivates and inspires employees. Just like a sports story about an underdog becoming world champion, such stories help employees understand why their work matters and how they create impact. There is a reason why companies invite elite athletes for keynotes or storytelling sessions.

Another message I want to give leaders and CEOs is the importance of focus. Elite athletes are experts at shutting out distractions. In business, leaders are constantly triggered by emails, messages, and meetings. The real strategic work — thinking about the future of the company, its competitive position, or complex management issues — often gets postponed to the weekend. By consciously blocking time for deep thinking and clearly defining priorities, you can work more efficiently and resiliently. It is about creating uninterrupted moments in your schedule where you can fully concentrate on one issue, even if it is only for an hour, two or three times a week. With techniques to shield yourself from distractions, you can make more conscious choices as a leader and guide your team more effectively. Focus is not a luxury; it is a necessary condition for achieving sustainable results.

How do you deal with setbacks as a leader?

Normalize them. Setbacks are part of growth. Every team will face them. Often, when results are disappointing, many emotions immediately surface. Some team members feel guilty because they made a wrong decision, others feel disappointed or frustrated. That is completely normal, but it can paralyse a team if nothing is done about it. One technique we often use is the pre-mortem. This involves discussing possible failures or obstacles in advance. In this way, the team can analyse scenarios before emotions take over afterwards. It creates room to think about solutions together and prepare a plan B or C. It is also important that mistakes can be openly discussed. People must dare to take responsibility without fear of blame. This allows a team to learn from its mistakes and grow in resilience, both individually and collectively.

Daily choices make the difference

What I want leaders to understand is that performance — whether in sports or business — rarely happens automatically. It is about daily choices: investing in collaboration, daring to have difficult conversations, motivating employees, creating space for concentration, and continuously learning. Teams evolve constantly, so the work is never finished. Those who realize this, who continue challenging themselves and their team, can unlock the full potential of their people, regardless of pressure, complexity, or change. It is not about perfection, but about consistently working on growth and resilience, day after day.

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Contact Thomas Tielemans via t.tielemans@nxtcoaching.com or Tel. +32 (0)490 44 93 85.