In your opinion, should strengths be enhanced and weaknesses reduced?

I believe that it's also a weakness if you don't know your team member's weaknesses. In my view, this is just as important.

What you have just said has a lot to do with authenticity, with self-knowledge and ultimately, with trust in connection with vulnerability – in other words, to openly show who you are, how you are and where your own limits are.

I think it is very important to let go of the protective shield within your team. I believe it is absolutely essential to reveal weaknesses, help each other deal with them, and drive the team forward in this way.

So you need self-competence as a basis for excellent team performance.

You have to live by it. I believe this sums it up nicely.

I find yet another question interesting: We are talking about competitive sports, there is a lot of pressure – how do you personally or your team handle the pressure to perform, which is also very high in a business environment?

I think the pressure is so high because not enough attention is paid to the sports sector yet. The way I see it, people who have the best self-management are moving ahead at the moment. You may also have a little more time in business because you can be successful at the age of 40 or 50. In sports, it is the other way around, because you have to make so many decisions at the highest level when you are very young. From my point of view, there is still not enough assistance, because at the end of the day, the ones who get their proverbial ducks in a row are moving ahead. Which is really a pity since a high number of talents will surely be lost this way, due to the fact that they may be technically, tactically, and physically very strong, but they are not strong enough mentally. That is why I think it would make a lot of sense to already work more in the mental area with athletes or prospective professionals when they are at a young age, so that they can learn the techniques – just like they do in their sports – to better deal with pressure.

This also supports the theory that professional life is not only about professional competence but above all about self-competence with a special focus on self-management: dealing with one's own resources and emotions. Is there anything else you can tell me about this? Are there any special approaches to dealing with one's own emotions, with frustration, anger, rage and so forth that you can recommend?

An athlete in individual sports may not agree with me but I believe it is easier to be part of a team. Whether positive or negative emotions, you always have people around you who have experienced the same thing. This fact makes it a little easier to talk to each other. For me, it is important not to suppress emotions, but to approach the whole thing again and again and to talk about it. Also focusing on the positive. A good environment is therefore certainly important, and rituals also help to avoid having negative experiences and thoughts follow you home all the time.

What is very important to me is the exchange within the team. When I look at how teams are working in the business world, there is often great potential – again with regard to openness and trust, and also to openly admit and acknowledge that you are having difficulties, that you are under great emotional pressure and so on: this kind of communication and exchange is not necessarily obvious.

From my point of view, this is lacking in many companies, but I get the feeling that there may also be a connection: top athletes know exactly who they are, how they are performing, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. While I have met a lot of people in business that have no idea what their strengths are and how to deal with their weaknesses. They may even have a false perception of themselves. I find it much more difficult to deal openly with each other in business and to tackle these things. A lot is simply swept under the carpet and remains hidden.

Yes, this is another core element when it comes to self-knowledge absolutely having to be promoted within the framework of self-awareness – the fact that I first of all have to deal with myself and become aware of who I really am, what my core competences are and my core qualities, and where I am much better than others. Everyone should obtain this perception from others.

I agree with that. Certainly it is still difficult for some people to have to ask their proverbial mirror. This may even trigger escape or defense mechanisms, lack of awareness, or self-protection.

How do you deal with feedback, mistakes and so on in sports?

Very directly. This has turned out to be an absolute advantage. Over the years, you learn quite directly what is working and what isn't, where and what the limits are. Unlike in the business world, you also receive a lot of positive feedback. This allows you to stress that it may not always be appropriate to point out only the negative things. Rather, it should also be highlighted what is good, where the potentials are, how to use them and so on. On the soccer field, for example, people talk to each other directly, anyway, and there is no justification necessary. You should definitely accept feedback and extract those parts that give you the feeling: This is helpful. I find feedback very important, because it is the only way to develop and to know where you stand.

As you mentioned earlier, unlike in the business world, feedback in sports is very conscious and very positive. That is also what I often hear from employees in businesses, and that the supervisor, for example, only addresses you when something goes wrong or it is not the way it is supposed to be. And if you do something right, you don't get any feedback at all.

Sports thrive on positive emotions in order to achieve maximum performance. The fact that I have also been working all my life, made me realize that as well. That is a pity because many people fall by the wayside as a result. You can take so much from praise and recognition – the feeling of not only working for a company, but of being a living part of it. Many people only go to work to get their salary and not because they enjoy working there.

If you could give business leaders tips from your experience, what would you tell them? 

First of all, I think it is great to have a feeling of belonging. From my point of view, this is sometimes also somewhat forgotten by management or leaders in business. Little things help to make you feel part of the team and not to just act in the "I'm just doing my job" mode. Interaction is certainly better if you look for it directly instead of waiting until the bubble is already threatening to burst. In this case, it is frequently to late to salvage the situation.

I also think it is important to give positive feedback and to be an example. This does not mean, however, that we should forget the negative. I further believe that if you get a lot of positive feedback, you can tolerate the negative much better. And what I find particularly good about a team is when you reveal your strengths and weaknesses, when you trust each other and realize that you are supported. 

Unfortunately, I have already learned from personal experience that people are stabbing each other in the back, which obviously doesn't help at all. From my point of view, it is very important to receive active input by a supervisor that it is okay to have weaknesses. And also to have tasks you might not particularly enjoy doing. There are so many different characters in a team that have different strengths and can help each other if everyone in the team pulls together. Finally, what's important: How can we help each other to be the best team in the end? This does not mean withdrawing from your activities, but taking the time to learn things that you are not so good at and still being supported by others!

For me, that sums up the key points very nicely that we have just discussed. Thank you so much for your honest opinion, dear Sandra.