DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALS & THE ORGANISATION

MENTAL TOUGHNESS AND MTQ48

AN UPDATE

1

Dr Peter Clough

Hull University

The Road Travelled (so far)

2

SportTeams

Organisations&

Individuals

Education - Students &

Staff

Performance

Health & Wellbeing

Social - Students &

Staff

Mental Toughness

What is Mental Toughness

Assessing Mental Toughness – MTQ48

Developing Mental Toughness

Applications

Questions

3

What is Mental Toughness?

“The quality which determines in large part how people deal with challenge, stressors and pressure ....

irrespective of prevailing circumstances”

It’s universal – it’s applicable in many walks of life.

Is Mental Toughness Important?

Mental Toughness is directly related to

Performance – explains up to 25% of the variation in individual performance

Behaviour – more engaged, more positive, more “can do”

Wellbeing – more contentment, better stress management , less bullying

Aspirations - more ambitious, prepared to manage more risk

Origins

Resilience - Commitment, control – a passive concept

Hardiness - Commitment, control, challenge – becoming proactive

Dienstbier - Physiological toughening = psychological toughening

Sports Psychology - Often mentioned but poorly defined

Dr Peter Clough @ The University of Hull

Added sub scales & fourth dimension – Confidence

The Four C’sMental Toughness has 4 components:

Challenge

Control

Commitment

Confidence

Which can be combined to provide an overall measure of Mental Toughness

Mental toughness vs Mentale Stärke

8

CommitmentIdentifies the extent to which someone commits to delivering what has been promised – “stick-ability”. Describes an individual’s orientation to “making promises” which are clearly assessable and to keeping those promises.

Those promises can be made to others or to themselves.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Low scores

High scores

Don’t like goals & targets Understands what success looks like

Goals & measures are intimidating Motivated by measures

Give up more easily & ignore goals Like clear goals & measures

Try to distract attention from the goal Work hard/stay focused

ControlIdentifies the extent to which an individual feels in control of their life and their emotions.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Low scores

High scores

Don’t feel in control Feel in control

Prefer to handle one thing at a time Can handle lots of things at one time

Poor Time Management “Lose it” when pressed

Good Time Management

Don’t show emotions even when provoked

Control - Sub ScalesControl (emotion)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

High scorers control emotions better, keep anxieties in check and don’t reveal their emotional states to others. Note that this doesn’t mean that they don’t experience emotions.

Control (life)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

High scorers believe they can control many aspects of their lives, that they can make a difference and won’t be thwarted. Often described as self efficacy. This describes the inner belief that lies at the heart of the “can do” approach.

Resilience

Resilience is often defined as a function of Control & Commitment.

Resilience represents the ability to deal with an adverse situation and still complete some or all of what you had set out to do.

Mental Toughness broadens this concept by adding two more components – Challenge and Confidence. This introduces a more pro-active element.

ChallengeIdentifies the extent to which people see challenges, variety, problems & changes as opportunities - or see these as threats.

Those who score highly here may enjoy or like dealing with difficult or challenging situations – for them it’s an opportunity. They will respond positively to change.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Low Scores

High Scores Don’t like sudden changes

Seek challenge

Don’t like shocks

Like problem solving

Overwhelmed by challenges

Create change

Fear Failure Avoid effort

Work hard & smart

Dislike routine

ConfidenceIdentifies the extent to which people have self belief in their abilities and the confidence to deal with setbacks and challenge.

Research shows that this has two significant components.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Low scores

High scores Give up when setbacks occur

Keep going

Won’t do something if it looks hard

Setbacks make them more determined

Under achieve

Make most of abilities

Get talked out of things Don’t do it even if they know how

Get own way even when they are wrong

Have ago even if they have a doubt

Confidence - Sub ScalesConfidence (in abilities)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 High scorers believe they are worthwhile and don’t need much external validation. Tend to be optimistic. This doesn’t mean that they are especially able but they do believe they have enough ability to do what is required.

Confidence (interpersonal)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 High scorers tend to be more confident about representing their position on something – more assertive. This also describes the quality which allows them to deal effectively with oral challenge - they are less likely to be intimidated and will push forward in social settings.

THE MODEL

Independent factor analysis confirms that these 4 components are valid – University of Western Ontario

2008

ANY QUESTIONS?

The Four C’s – a summary Control - I really believe I can do it - I can keep my emotions in check when doing it

Commitment - I promise to do it

Challenge - I am motivated to do it – I can see the benefit

Confidence - I have the ability to do it - I can do it even if things get difficult

Together these give rise to Mental Toughness

ANY QUESTIONS?

Applications of Mental Toughness Leadership & Management

Coaching and counselling

Staff Development

Organisation Development

Stress Management

Resilient Leadership – reflecting today's reality

Leadership is about motivating others to give up their discretionary effort – the contribution they can make but won’t necessarily make unless that “button is pressed”.

The most effective leaders (at all levels) need to show 3 qualities

Leadership – Determination to achieve, engagement with individuals and engagement with teams/organisation.

Mental Toughness – the ability to shrug off challenges, problems & setbacks & maintain a positive attitude.

Emotional Intelligence – a sensitivity to how others are responding to you and to other factors.

A Model Of Stress 1

STRESSORS

Individual Level

Group Level

Organisational Level

Extra-organisational

STRESS

THE INDIVIDUAL

Personality; Mental Toughness; Age, Self Belief, Gender, Social Support, Physical Fitness

CONSEQUENCES

Psychological

Behavioural

Cognitive

Physiological

ChallengesSpecial effort

Peak Performance

Stress is the result of the impact of stressors and the way the individual responds to that stressor

Peak Performance Flip side of the same coin…

Can’t achieve peak performance without effective stress management!!

Characteristics of peak performance include:

Seeing challenge as an opportunity for personal/ professional growth

Feeling in control of environment and self

Being assertive & having confidence in abilities

Working hard & committing to goals

Awareness of self and your impact on others

The next level of validation of the MTQ48 Behavioural genetic studies (e.g. University of Western Ontario)

have indicated individual differences in MT may be, at least in part, genetically determined

To date, no study has investigated neuro-psychological links to MT

This has now been done

Method

T1-weighted 3D MRI images were obtained from 80 participants (36 male, 44 female)

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to regress MTQ48 total scores against the grey matter density values extracted from our participants’ 3D MRI brain images

Results Higher MTQ48 scores were positively correlated with larger grey

matter volumes in the right frontal lobe, particularly the precentral & middle frontal regions

Bilateral associations were also found in the parietal lobes where higher MTQ48 scores were associated with greater grey matter volumes in the precuneus and bilateral inferior parietal lobules

Additional positive associations were also evident in the ventral occipital regions bilaterally

Side view

Rear view

How do you measure Mental Toughness and what can you do about it?

MTQ48 Questionnaire Normative, valid and reliable measure

On-line format (can print off questionnaires)

Extremely easy to administer

Only takes about 7 – 8 minutes to complete

Results and reports are immediately available

On-line facility also helps to manage data

Short licensed user training (1 day and 2 day options)

Mental Toughness Development

Mental toughness capability can be developed in many individuals (but maybe not all)

The process:

Diagnosis

What are my issues?

What are their implications?

What will I seek to develop/improve?

Interventions

Evaluation

Mental Toughness DevelopmentInterventions fall into 7 broad areas:

1 Positive thinking – affirmations, think three positives, turning negatives into positives, etc

2 Visualisation – guided imaging, using your head to practice, etc

3 Anxiety Control – relaxation techniques, breathing, etc

4 Attentional Control – focus, dealing with interruptions

5 Goal setting – SMART, balancing goals, how to deal with big goals, etc

6 The test itself + feedback – people respond to the feedback

Plus Biofeedback – monitoring self, guiding selection and adoption of tools and techniques

These all help to develop the capability to deal with stress, pressure and challenge and, where

appropriate, to cope with these.

Mental Toughness DevelopmentThe tools and techniques described are known to many coaches & trainers (CBT,NLP, Psychology, Sports)

There are new ideas - but most are very easily accessible

The MTQ48 report is emerging as an intervention in its own right. Those who score high respond by performing better with little or no further intervention! The opposite can be true too

The feedback discussion is also an effective intervention. Careful feedback also produces very good results

Mental Toughness DevelopmentFeb 2012 Kogan Page

How does Mental Toughness fit with current thinking? Surprisingly well!The last 15 years or so have seen a number of ideas and concepts emerge which have their

champions and have gained ground.All focus on performance and since the global economic crisis they have received far more

attention. Amongst these are:

Carol Dweck – Fixed & Growth Mindset

Martin Seligman – Learned optimism & learned helplessness

Matthew Syed – Mindset and choking

They all say the same thing! - and in leadership:

Jim Collins & Warren Bennis – still going strong

Jim CollinsBusiness Consultant and author of “Good to Great”Past lecturer at Stanford and expert on business sustainability and growth

Continuous improvement

Leaders who reflect

Leaders who deal positively with failure

Leaders are “geniuses” with a thousand helpers

Warren Bennis“Great leaders don't set out to be leaders – they are just doing what they love doing”

Mental Toughness Training- the evidence

Training on overall Mental Toughness and on specific scales does work – there are now formal studies

Footstool or Growing Taller?

Studies show that coaching and/or training can develop Mental Toughness & through this can improve performance, wellbeing and aspiration

Benefits of MTQ48 & the Mental Toughness Concept Creates understanding of an important concept User friendly model - easy to use Learning for everyone (low & high scores) Practical, no nonsense approach Can be used at every stage of a person and an organisation’s

development

……and produces real, measurable, sustainable results

Any Questions?