Kate Richardson-Walsh, is the most capped female hockey player in her country’s history, and was captain of the GB and England women’s hockey teams for 13 years. An inspirational and charismatic leader she has been widely credited for helping build the incredible team ethos and commitment that drove the GB team to a nail biting victory at the Rio Olympic Games.
In winning gold Kate also made history in other ways, becoming one half of the first same-sex married couple to win an Olympic medal playing in the same team. Having retired from international hockey after Rio, Kate turned her experience towards coaching, encouraging the grassroots development of the game and applying the leadership, team and performance lessons of a career in elite sport.
Kate is also an experienced motivational speaker. During the 17 years of playing elite level of hockey she experienced soaring highs and crushing lows, and playing in teams that were operating at their very best, and those that had deep structural issues and struggled to function.
Taking these experiences into the corporate space, Kate shares the key processes and behaviours that have underpinned the successful teams she has been a part of. The collaborative process to establish a shared team vision, values and behaviours that everyone feels ownership of, and the self-knowledge that each individual within the team developed, empowering them to give their very best to the collective cause.
She touches on the roles, awareness, leadership responsibilities and resilience of individuals within the team structure and shares some of the psychological tools they equipped themselves with and how this affected team cohesion. She also addresses the differences in the team and how they leveraged on this as a strength.
