Advisors who approach the current financial crisis as a challenge rather than a threat are more likely to weather the storm successfully, says Garry Watanabe, a coach with Ottawa-based Performance Coaching Inc.

Watanabe, who spoke at the Top Advisor Summit in Toronto in April, says there are techniques you can use to ensure you perform well while under pressure from falling markets and demanding clients. Many of these strategies are similar to those used by elite athletes.

“There are huge parallels between sports psychology and business,” he says, “when you’re working at the highest levels of performance.”

Why do some athletes fail to execute their sport’s most basic moves when the game is on the line — and why do some executives make disastrous decisions when their company is undergoing a difficult transition? It’s not lack of skill, Watanabe says, but an inability to access the skills they have when under pressure. They choke.

“Because of pressure and distractions, the athlete or executive got focused on the wrong things,” Watanabe says, “and couldn’t access his or her abilities to the full extent when he or she really had to. In high-performance situations, it doesn’t take much for you to be off your game enough to make a significant difference.”

Top athletic coaches take this into account when preparing athletes for events such as the Olympic Games. Four years before the next Olympics, coaches focus on their athletes’ fitness and skills. As the games draw nearer, the focus shifts to athletes’ level of confidence and ways of maintaining or increasing that confidence. “In the Olympic environment,” Watanabe says, “the game changes completely.”

Similarly, the game has changed for advisors. And the key to thriving is to approach today’s challenges with confidence. Watanabe recommends a number of techniques used by top business people and athletes to maintain their confidence and optimism in challenging situations.

> See A Challenge. When you’re going through a difficult situation, you can view it as a threat or a challenge. “Viewing it as a threat is paralyzing,” Watanabe says. “It erodes your energy, it is not good for your health and it inhibits your ability to make good decisions. Seeing the same situation as a challenge may provide you with the energy to tackle it.”

> Focus On Controllables. In any situation, there are some things you can control and some you can’t. Dwelling on the things you can’t control leads to a sense of helplessness. “Focusing on the controllables means focusing your energy where it can have some effect,” Watanabe says. “The key, of course, is identifying those areas that you can significantly influence.”

For example, you can’t control the stock market. But you can control how you communicate with your clients to reassure them; how you position your clients to benefit from the eventual recovery; how well you care for your health, so you are in a position to make the best decisions; how you prevent work pressures from interfering with your family life.

> Remain Committed. It may seem easiest to walk away from the problem, but research has shown that those executives who remain fully engaged in solving difficult challenges have a significantly higher likelihood of emerging successful.

Watanabe points to a well-known U.S. study, the Hardiness Survey (www.hardinessinstitute.com), the most thorough study available that examines the mental states that influence how people manage change. That study found that people who approached a crisis situation with an attitude of full involvement and commitment performed extremely well.

“Those who looked upon it as a threat felt helpless, because they were disengaged and alienated,” Watanabe says. “They not only performed poorly, but they also got sick.”

That study found that having social support and getting regular physical exercise helped people not only get through difficult situations but thrive in them. The factors that made the most difference, Watanabe says, were looking upon the crisis as a challenge, focusing on controllables and remaining committed.

Watanabe has firsthand knowledge of coaching in both the sports and business worlds. He practised law for five years before embarking on a career as an athletic coach. On the advice of Jack Donohue, former coach of the Canadian national basketball team, Watanabe studied sports psychology and holds a master’s degree in the subject.

“Donohue told me that, ultimately, when it comes to the highest levels of performance, it’s not about the skills,” he says. “It’s about being able to access those skills in the moment.” IE