David Lasini - How to Lead in Performance Institutes

Episode 173: In this episode of the Sports Performance Leadership Podcast powered by Inform Performance, Pete McKnight speaks with David Lasini, a highly respected leader in strength & conditioning with 30 years of experience across Olympic, Paralympic, Commonwealth, and professional sports. Currently Head of S&C at Sport Northern Ireland Sports Institute, David leads a team of coaches supporting over 20 elite sports. His career spans the Victorian, Australian, UK, and Northern Ireland Institutes of Sport, with expertise in field hockey, athletics, rowing, netball, Australian Rules Football, Gaelic football, judo, soccer, bobskeleton, and more. He was also Senior S&C Coach for Australia’s National Hockey Teams (2009-2013) and played a key role in Team GB’s Performance Science for Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024.

✏️Topics Discussed

• Key leadership experiences—from early mentorship to leading national programs
• How his leadership style evolved—balancing collaboration with decisiveness
• Why self-awareness and emotional intelligence are crucial in high performance
• The importance of authenticity—staying true to your values as a leader
• Future trends in sports leadership—tech, business acumen & well-being

Key Points

• Leadership often begins unexpectedly, with individuals thrust into roles of accountability for programs or projects. This hands-on experience is invaluable for developing crucial leadership skills. It provides opportunities to lead teams, collaborate with diverse stakeholders, identify complex issues, and devise innovative solutions. These early experiences shape a leader's approach to problem-solving and decision-making, forming the foundation for their future leadership style. 
• Effective leaders prioritize the human element in their leadership approach. They invest time and effort in understanding the intricacies of their environment and the individuals within it. This involves a deep dive into what motivates team members, their unique strengths, and potential areas for growth. By recognizing that each person has different drivers and capabilities, leaders can tailor their approach to maximize individual and team performance. 
• Collaboration and decision-making processes are significantly enhanced when leaders take a comprehensive approach to understanding different perspectives. This method, akin to working with elite athletes, involves a thorough analysis of each team member's personality, motivations, and working style. By identifying these factors, leaders can create an environment that fosters open communication, encourages diverse viewpoints, and ultimately leads to more informed and effective decisions. 
• Transitioning into new leadership roles, particularly in unfamiliar environments, demands a high degree of adaptability and networking skills. Successful leaders actively seek out opportunities to build relationships across all levels of the organization. This includes connecting with both familiar faces and new acquaintances throughout the system. By establishing a broad network, leaders gain valuable insights, support, and resources that are crucial for navigating complex organizational landscapes. 
• Mentorship plays a pivotal role in leadership development. Exceptional mentors go beyond simply providing answers; they guide leaders through a process of self-discovery and critical thinking. By encouraging mentees to analyze situations, consider multiple perspectives, and arrive at their own conclusions, mentors foster independence and decision-making skills. This approach helps emerging leaders develop confidence in their abilities and prepares them for future challenges. 
• When leading a group of high-caliber leaders, the focus shifts from direct management to effective facilitation. This involves creating an environment where diverse leadership styles and expertise can coexist and complement each other. Clear communication of overarching goals and objectives becomes paramount, as it provides a common direction for these strong personalities to align their efforts and leverage their individual strengths towards collective success. 
• Developing a new organization or initiative requires a multifaceted approach. Leaders must articulate a clear strategy that outlines the path forward, a compelling vision that inspires and motivates, and a well-defined mission that provides purpose. Importantly, leaders must also consider how these elements might evolve over time and identify key stakeholders who need to be involved at various stages of the journey. This forward-thinking approach ensures the organization remains adaptable and relevant. 
• Recognizing and leveraging the unique contributions of team members is a hallmark of effective leadership. This involves a deep understanding of each individual's skills, experiences, and potential. By accurately assessing what each person brings to the table, leaders can create synergies within the team, assign roles that maximize strengths, and provide opportunities for growth that align with both individual aspirations and organizational needs. 
• Observing and learning from various leadership styles provides a rich source of knowledge for developing one's own approach. By analyzing different leaders in action, one can identify specific qualities and techniques that are particularly effective in certain situations. This observational learning allows for the creation of a diverse leadership toolkit, from which appropriate strategies can be selected and adapted based on the specific context and challenges at hand. 
• Self-awareness is a cornerstone of effective leadership. It involves ongoing reflection on one's experiences, challenges faced, and observations made. This continuous self-assessment helps leaders identify their strengths, acknowledge areas for improvement, and understand how their actions impact others. By developing this keen self-awareness, leaders can cultivate an authentic leadership style that resonates with their personal values while also meeting the needs of their team and organization.

Where you can find David:

•⁠  LinkedIn

Sponsors
VALD: makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training.

Hytro: The world’s leading Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) wearable, designed to accelerate recovery and maximise athletic potential using Hytro BFR for Professional Sport.

Teambuildr: A platform for any coach in any setting. Every day, thousands of coaches log into TeamBuildr to write training programs, build questionnaires and access athlete and client performance data. Teambuildr is a complete platform. Whether you're building your own programming, looking to create custom reports or give athletes a tool for accountability, they've built it out.

Remaker: The Portable Strength Tracking Ecosystem. Remaker provides real-time insights to optimise your performance, making even the smallest improvements in your strength training visible in an engaging and powerful format. Remakers integrate seamlessly with the exercise equipment you already use, and the app provides meaningful metrics for every rep, of every set, of every exercise.