You're on!: Consulting for peak performance.

Abstract

You're On! provides guidance and advice for consulting with performers in the pursuit of excellence. Whether these clients are performing artists, businesspeople, physicians, lawyers or in high-risk occupations, they must learn to focus, cope, and excel in highly stressful situations. Based on extensive interviews with notable performers and experienced performance consultants in diverse fields, as well as the vast literature on peak performance among athletes, this book is packed with hard information on performance consulting. You're On! is a must-read for performance consultants, executive coaches, or any therapist or counselor who seeks to enter this burgeoning field. 2004. ABOUT 391 PAGES. HARDCOVER.

Being fit: The ethics of practice diversification in performance psychology.

“…Proficiency, particularly in developing fields, is also gained through informal means (Belar et al, 2001;Brown, Gould, & Foster, 2005;Glueckauf et al, 2003;Hays & Brown, 2004). One often learns through relevant reading, observation, or direct experience in the domain.…”

“…This lack of experience and expertise can be both troubling and troublesome. We might characterize "psychologists' hubris" as the tendency to think that by virtue of our graduate degree we are entitled to place an adjective in front of the regulated title of "psychologist" (Hays & Brown, 2004;Petrie & Diehl, 1995;Sachs, 1993). In working with athletes, for example, Gould and Damarjian (1998) identified six major barriers that psychologists might encounter: (a) the stereotypical "shrink" image; (b) lack of sport-specific knowledge; (c) inadequate knowledge of organizational politics and power structures; (d) failure to pay the necessary dues to earn the athletes' and coaches' respect; (e) sport "hero worship"; and (f) failure to be practical in an athletic environment (p. 114).…”

“…Similarly, a practitioner working within organizational consulting will need familiarity with organizational development, whether at the individual, group, or organizational level (Lowman, 2002); education and training principles have been developed (Education & Training Committee, 2000); and the ethical practice of consulting psychology has been discussed extensively (Lowman, 1998;Newman et al, 2002). Since the field of performing arts consulting is the most recent entrant to the field, much of the preparation for a performing arts consultant will involve extrapolation from other areas of expertise (Hamilton, 1997;Hays, 2000Hays, , 2002Hays & Brown, 2004).…”

“…While there are no guarantees, certain ethical activities increase one's good practice. Among those important safeguards, particularly when diversifying professionally, would be affiliation with a professional organization or organizations that have ethics codes; some documentation of the development of one's specific competence; maintenance of resources for both consultation and peer review; and a particular understanding of and sensitivity to the application of ethics guidelines in relation to emerging practice areas (Hays & Brown, 2004).…”

“…Formal elements include those derived from one's academic degree preparation and subsequent structured training. Relevant informal preparation may involve performance experience, informal training opportunities, and relevant formative life experiences (Hays & Brown, 2004).…”