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43 I M P L E M E N TAT I O N teachwire.net prompts them to excessively focus on their competitors, rather than on their own performance. Developments in sports psychology have shown that focusing on the desire to win actually reduces the chances of winning, while focusing on the performance process itself will maximise them. The three Cs Despite most work in organisations being undertaken in teams, the school experience mostly involves pupils working alone. Teamwork is essential in any organisation, yet many employees often have to adjust to working in teams, having had comparatively little experience of this throughout their formal education. In the course of my leadership development work, I’ve seen business leaders crying out for employees who can think creatively and challenge the status quo – traits rarely nurtured in UK schools. One UK company I worked with had ‘Challenging the status quo’ as one of its corporate values, but couldn’t understand why hardly anyone would do so. To its employees, this felt dangerous – something they’d been taught to avoid at all costs throughout their schooling and early work experiences. In my book The Long Win , I propose recalibrating what success looks like, and redefining winning via the ‘three Cs’: ‘Clarity’, ‘Constant learning’ and ‘Connection’. The allure of short-term results has to be set against the longer- term prize of a broad education that forms part of a lifelong learning process. A ‘Constant Learning’ mindset sets students up for an ongoing process of personal growth, rather than one considered finished once exams are ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cath Bishop is an Olympic medallist, international diplomat and Cambridge University Business Coach; her book, The Long Win: The search for a better way to succeed is published by Practical Inspiration Publishing; for more information, follow @thecathbishop education system will help create citizens who are ready to contribute to society, build and join communities, and seek opportunities for cooperation and collaboration. The future challenges that younger generations will face aren’t ones that can be ‘won’. From climate change to global inequality, from international security to global health, these are all areas that will require collective, long-term responses. How we define success at school will shape students’ mindsets and behaviours for the rest of their lives. Reevaluating what ‘winning’ means in schools isn’t about limiting young BETTER TOGETHER There are significant mental health benefits to be had from working more collaboratively at school. Extensive research into this area by the psychologist Terry Orlick (zoneofexcellence.ca) concludes that ‘Experiences in human cooperation are the most essential ingredient for the development of psychological health.’ Ranking students and pitting them against each other further works against the process of learning how to collaborate and cooperate with peers, right at the point when young people will be developing important social skills and awareness. over. Constant Learning’s emphasis on mastery over outcomes helps create resilience and hone students’ abilities at adapting when things don’t go to plan. Prioritising human connections across the people’s ambitions; it’s about creating an environment that broadens the possibilities for all children, through which we can develop a generation of more cognitively diverse students, and expand the scope of what they can potentially contribute to society as adults.