Episode Details

In this episode, we meet Neil Craig, AFL Coach and England Rugby High Performance Manager on high performance environments, your North Star and decision-making under pressure.

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Neil is best known as being a former Australian rules footballer and as the Head Coach of the Adelaide Crows Football Club.

His other stints in the AFL have included being the fitness adviser at the Crows, and having various coaching roles at the Melbourne Demons, Essendon Bombers and Carlton Blues.

Since 2017, he has been England Rugby's High Performance Manager under the head coach Eddie Jones.

In this episode we talk about:

• What a high performance environment is and how to create one;
• Why knowing your North Star - your purpose and values - is critical to success;
• How to make complex decisions under pressure; and
• Why leadership is not about you, but all about you.

You can reach Neil on LinkedIn.

Thanks to Peter Knight for recommending Neil.

• I think, firstly it's a passion for me. It's something I really get a lot of enjoyment out of. I don't see it as a job.
• Secondly, athletes don't get to that level without being highly motivated, and they have a very clear picture of what they want to do. So as their coach, you have this capacity to enable people, or you help them to be the best they can possibly be. I get great satisfaction out of that and also when someone comes and asks me for help. "Help" is a pretty powerful word…"Can you help me?"
• I also appreciate that there is this higher purpose of what sport does for people or can give to people. It is unbelievable.

• A functional high performance environment is really uncomfortable because of the daily feedback that you get as an athlete, coach or staff member. This is because of the high standards set on a daily basis that you have to meet.
• A high performance environment is not for everyone. I often say that to athletes that this may not be for them and that's okay. The best high performance environments I've been in are not for everyone and they're very clear in their mind that they don't want to make it for everyone.
• Once an athlete knows his or her why, that's really important because once the why's embedded it gives them the energy and the resilience they need to handle the environment. There's a lot of tough times, 'cos you don't win all the time, and you do get injured, and you do miss out on selection and you do get criticised in the public arena, and you do have contractual negotiations and you are away from your family for long periods of time, and it can be lonely, you don't get along with everyone in the environment. If I just painted the picture for you what it looks like, you might say that's not for me. But there are so many good things as well. That's why your why gives you the energy, perseverance and resilience and is so important to know it.

• First and foremost it's to be what I call a critical friend to the head coach, a guy called Eddie Jones, who coached the Wallabies back in the early 2000s. It's a lonely position and because of the nature of the chair