The Elite Mindset: Leading High-Performing Technical Teams workshop equips scientists, engineers, technical professionals, and team leaders with practical strategies for building stronger, more resilient teams. Drawing on lessons from elite sport, coaching, entrepreneurship, and interdisciplinary research leadership, the course explores how trust, communication, role clarity, accountability, and adaptability contribute to sustained team performance.
Through interactive exercises, guided reflection, and practical discussion, participants will examine their own team environments and identify behaviors they can use to improve collaboration, decision-making, and performance.
Date: Offered on Sunday, February 7th or Tuesday, February 9th
Location: Shelby Thames Polymer Science Research Center
Course Overview
This is an interactive workshop led by Tristan Clemons, PhD. It translates principles from elite sporting environments, entrepreneurial ventures, and high-performing research teams into practical approaches for leading people in scientific and technical settings.
The course combines short instructional segments, real-world examples, individual reflection, and small-group activities. Participants will explore how high-performing teams establish shared expectations, communicate under pressure, respond to setbacks, and create environments in which individuals can contribute effectively.
Course Purpose
Designed for scientists, engineers, faculty, technical professionals, project leaders, and emerging managers, this course provides a practical framework for transforming individual expertise into coordinated team performance.
Participants will consider what “elite” performance means within their own professional environment and learn how deliberate leadership behaviors can strengthen trust, communication, resilience, shared accountability, and team culture. The course emphasizes approaches that can be applied immediately to research groups, laboratories, project teams, start-ups, and multi-disciplinary technical collaborations.
Course Description
Scientific and technical organizations often bring together highly capable individuals and expect them to operate as an effective team. Technical expertise is essential, but expertise alone does not create trust, alignment, adaptability, or shared accountability.
This interactive course explores how the principles of high-performing teams can be applied within laboratories, research groups, start-ups, project teams, and other technical environments. The course is grounded in Tristan Clemons’ far-reaching experience leading research teams, mentoring emerging professionals, building entrepreneurial ventures, representing both Australia and the United States in international sport, and coaching within elite athlete-development pathways.
Participants will engage in hands-on activities that model team behaviors, communication strategies, reflection practices, and decision-making approaches drawn from sport, coaching, entrepreneurship, and scientific-team leadership. Through guided discussion and small-group exercises, participants will analyze their own team dynamics, identify barriers to excellence, and practice approaches for building high-trust, high-performing teams.
Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of their influence on team culture and a practical set of strategies for strengthening communication, resilience, role clarity, trust, and accountability.
Who Should Attend
This workshop is intended for people who work in or lead scientific, engineering, and technical teams, including:
Scientists and engineers
Research faculty and principal investigators
Laboratory and technical-team leaders
Research and development professionals
Emerging leaders and first-time managers
Start-up founders and entrepreneurial technical teams
The course is appropriate for both formal leaders and team members who want to positively influence how their groups communicate, collaborate, learn, and perform. No previous leadership training is required.
Instructor
Tristan Clemons, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at The University of Southern Mississippi and the creator of Elite Teams to Elite Science, a leadership platform connecting high-performing team principles with scientific and technical work. His approach is informed by a career that spans research leadership, start-ups and entrepreneurship, international sport representing both Australia and the United States, and coaching within elite athlete-development pathways. As a scientist, entrepreneur, coach, mentor, husband, and father, Tristan brings a far-reaching perspective on how people communicate, adapt, build trust, and perform together. He helps technical professionals translate individual expertise into stronger relationships, greater resilience, shared accountability, and more effective team performance through practical leadership behaviors they can apply immediately.
