After James Kerr helped us unpack the deep cultural foundations behind high performance in Part 1 — identity, belonging, behavioural clarity, and peer-driven standards — Part 2 moves from who we are to how we perform when the environment shifts.
This webinar with Dr Ian Mitchell (Newcastle United), Dr Mike Rotheram, and Dr Philippa McGregor explored the applied side of Patterns of Play: how elite teams execute, adapt, and stay aligned when things get messy.
One theme ran through every story: High-performing teams don’t wait for stability. They perform through instability.
Here’s how they do it.
Part 1 showed that strong cultures create belonging. Part 2 reveals the natural next step: belonging fuels trust, and trust fuels performance under pressure.
Elite teams intentionally build two forms of trust:
Task Trust — I can rely on your work.
Relationship Trust — I can rely on your intentions.
Our Patterns of Play research reinforces this. Teams that combine both forms of trust show higher resilience, faster decision-making, and stronger alignment during change . Trust behaves like a currency:
Earned through delivery and connection beyond role/task.
Protected through clarity, early check in's and proactive communication.
Spent through challenge, honesty, and making tough decisions that matter.
Teams that build trust proactively waste less energy navigating doubt — and more energy performing.
In Part 1, identity became the anchor. In Part 2, adaptability becomes the movement around that anchor.
Most teams want to wait for things to settle before working on performance. Elite teams do the opposite:
They practise scenario-based decision-making
They use principles, not rigid rules
They constantly ask, “What does the situation require?”
They normalise new rhythms rather than cling to old ones
Our Patterns of Play data backs this up: nearly 70% of high-performing teams report that change is a permanent condition, not a temporary disruption — and their performance systems reflect that.
Adaptability becomes an advantage when change is constant — not an interruption.
Part 1 introduced challenge as a cultural norm. Part 2 shows how teams apply it under pressure.
Challenge is not conflict. Its contribution.
But for challenge to work, it must be 1) invited, 2) protect and 3) normalised.
High-performing teams understand that challenge: sharpens thinking, reduces blind spots, accelerates alignment and strengthens decisions in uncertain conditions.
This aligns with our report findings: teams with strong behavioural norms — the conditions that make challenge safe — show 30% higher performance and 71% higher satisfaction.
Resilience isn’t a heroic trait. It’s a system. Teams sustain performance when leaders create environments where people can:
Pause and reflect
Reinforce identity under stress
Access meaningful recovery habits
Reset quickly rather than spiral
Navigate pressure with support, not isolation
As Ian Mitchell shared, high-stakes teams must “resource the environment” — so people have something to lean on when it matters. Resilience becomes collective, not individual.
Part 1 introduced drift. Part 2 offers the response. Drift begins quietly:
A moment of lateness
A softened standard
A missed conversation
A behaviour unchallenged
The teams that win through change:
Notice micro-behaviours early
Use peer groups to self-correct
Treat drift as data, not drama
Refuse to outsource standards to hierarchy
This isn’t policing behaviour. It’s protecting the identity built in Part 1.
When Part 1 and Part 2 come together, a simple pattern emerges:
Teams win because they know who they are. Teams keep winning because they know how to adapt.
Part 1: identity, belonging, behavioural clarity, and peer ownership.
Part 2: trust, adaptability, challenge, resilience, and change-readiness.
Together, they form a complete blueprint for teams navigating speed, pressure, and constant change. Part 3 in the series explores how teams turn these insights into daily habit and rhythm — the systems that turn culture into action and pressure into performance.