Helen Wood, MD has been coaching and supporting Team Dingo who are about to head off to Prievidza in Slovakia for the Pre World Compeition.  Helen has been coaching the Australian Club Class pilots from the Darling Downs Soaring Club, Mike Codling and Allan Barnes and also Brendan English in the World Class and their crews in their preparation for the Pre-World (2009) and World Championships (2010) in Prievidza, Slovakia. Helen has been working with the team to cover the non-flying aspects of their preparation including team dynamics, crew and pilot relationships and interactions, managing stress on the ground and in the air, communication and general mental preparation with a particular focus on pair flying in a major competition.  The program is designed to take the team through to the 2010 competition but obviously had a short term focus on the Pre Worlds this year.   TMS Consulting, has also sponsored different aspects of the team’s preparation and the team shirts.

One of the key elements of the coaching program was the conduct of a scenario weekend at DDSC on 13 and 14 June.  The weekend was advertised as a mini-comp to club members to come out and fly against the Australian pilots.  The weekend attempted to create a competition environment with Ralph Henderson (Chief Flying Instructor) and Helen throwing in some unexpected scenarios that the Australian pilots had to deal with.  The weekend was designed to create some stress in the pilots similar to what they might be experience in Prievidza.  

The weekend highlighted many issues that could use further work and was declared a success by all those involved.  The debrief session held on the Monday night after the weekend was one of the best sessions of the coaching program which has been going for approximately 3 months.

The application of tools and approaches that are typically used with workplace teams was a great opportunity to test both the skills of the coach (Helen) and the suitability of the tools in different settings.  Helen used a variety of models – MBTI, Johari Window, Feedback, Emergence Theory to work with the team and position them to be as effective as possible at the Pre World Championships.  When the team returns the coaching program will continue through to the World Championships in 2010 and will be largely based on the learings from the 2009 visit to Prievidza.

TMS is finding it very rewarding to be involved with the team and wish them all the best in Prievidza.  We will be following their progress with interest.