Conversations on Behaviour, Influence, and System Design.

Episode 6: Simon Thomas

In this episode, Carmen and Simon dig into the real ingredients behind sustained team success; why culture lives in people, not on walls, and what the Crusaders actually got right. They explore the difference between hardworking organisations and effective ones, how to walk into a broken system and change it without losing the room, and why role architecture matters more than most leaders want to admit.

Episode 5: Simon Rice

This conversation goes beyond rehab protocols and load management. We explore how decisions are really made when there is no clear answer, only trade-offs between performance, risk, trust, and context. Simon shares insights from his journey across multiple elite environments and explains how his role has evolved from being hands-on to leading a complex, multidisciplinary system. We discuss how communication, relationships, and context shape outcomes just as much, if not more, than data.

Episode 4: Scott McClean

Scott introduces systems thinking in plain English, explaining why sport isn’t a machine to optimise, but a complex adaptive system to understand. From leverage points and system archetypes to communication breakdowns and distributed situation awareness, this conversation explores why intervening at the athlete level rarely solves system-level problems.

Episode 3: Ben Serpell

The conversation covers the creation of a training environment, cultural and leadership development, influencing athlete behaviour, leadership profiling, adapting to a new environment, buy-in and the value of behavioural work, and changing assumptions about performance. Key takeaways include the occupational performance model, leadership development, invisible monitoring, and team coordination and performance.

Episode 2: Shane Lehane

Shane explains why high-performance sport is less like a lab experiment and more like a living, shifting ecosystem: players, coaches, staff, schedules, pressure, relationships, and uncertainty all interacting at once. Together, Carmen and Shane explore how great performance leaders don’t just “maximise fitness”, they design environments, build trust-based relationships, and make decisions using both objective data and the hard-to-measure context that often matters most.

Episode 1: Conor Daly

  • NBA Strength Coach Role

  • Building Trust and Relationships

  • Influencing Player Behaviour Individualised recovery processes are crucial for athletes

  • Balancing work rate and recovery is essential for athlete performance