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specialists in enhancement and management of human performance |
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Once every four years the elite of the sporting world gather together to seek gold, silver and bronze. And every Olympics spawns a number of business and general media articles about hard work, dedication, focus and sacrifice. The lesson hinted seems to be that executives and their staffs should emulate the Olympian work ethic, if they expect to reach the pinnacle in their industries. I suggest you ignore that lesson. The last thing I'm interested in is you working longer hours and making more sacrifices. However, if you look a little deeper into Olympian training routines, there is an aspect of their methodology worth adopting in your professional development. While the media will focus on these athletes' sweat and daily toil, I suggest you study their precision and mental game. Granted, the superb human specimens gathered in Australia this week have worked years in tuning their muscles and stamina, but no one wins a medal on muscle strength and endurance alone (not even in weightlifting). What all these world class athletes have in common is getting the very most out of their bodies with the least amount of energy. They are literally masters at working smarter not harder. Since almost all summer events (sans diving) are based on speed or distance, we tend to overlook the precision and grace the competitors have achieved. I was made aware of this four years ago when I watched many of the events with a newfound friend who was a former medallist and is now a coach. What she told me could be an edge for you and your staff. The insight is not earth-shattering, nor is it all that uncommon. You could call it Curly's law (from the movie City Slickers). "Do one thing." Here's how it applies to Olympic training. And how you should apply it similarly to your staff's and your own development. Once athletes achieve proficiency in a sport, their training switches from general conditioning and practice to focusing on one specific aspect of their game. They begin to work on developing or (if need be) changing just one thing at a time. Much of the key work of coaching involves assisting competitors with discovering the one little change in mental attention or body position that will make the most difference in their level of play. Once the "one thing" has been identified, the rigors of repetitive practice take over. That practice usually involves experimenting with, playing around with, "messing with" one behavior over and over again, when nothing is at stake. And the goal of that practice is to eliminate inefficiencies and superfluous effort. It is the crucial aspect of practicing or paying attention to just one thing that I suggest you adopt at your work. Too often in our business endeavors, we try to change everything, especially in the new digital era where all the shouting is about shifting paradigms and "ready, shoot, aim." But if you are swimming with the sharks, notice how sharks swim--very elegantly with no wasted movement. Also, I suggest you begin to look for opportunities to create practice sessions for you and your staff. Following are some specific, yet often ignored applications: First, as executives, we seldom realize that almost all our "work" shows up in our speaking and listening. Most managers pay little attention to how they use language when making assignments, changing priorities or delivering criticism and correction to their direct reports. Practically no one pays attention to making sure they listen and specifically understand communications delivered to them. One thing to practice until it becomes automatic is to always deliver instructions in the positive. Tell people what to do, not what to avoid. Human minds cannot effectively process negative commands. Notice what happens within 3 minutes of telling a child, "Don't drop that cup!" ...crash! Also, merely repeating any instruction that has not been understood is rarely effective. Put the instructions in different words. It is more effective to ask someone what their interpretation of your instruction is then to simply ask, "Do you understand?" The reverse applies as well. Tell people what you think they mean, especially when receiving complex communications. Avoid simply replying, "I got it." Second, realize that sales account managers and customer service reps do not 'practice' on the job. Practice implies the freedom to experiment and repeat a behavior any number of time without any consequence. When was the last time a salesperson or customer service agent could run experiments with one of your key customers or prospects? If you are trying to instill new skills in these kinds of workers, specific time must be set aside to role play--preferably with other executives in your organization, rather than simply with each other. Third, if you are truly trying to develop the professionalism in your staff, give them only one request for change at a time. All too often, employees leave a yearly performance review with a grocery list of things to work on or pay attention to 'over the next few months'. Far better to give them one specific request along with a specific description on how they will know when they have achieved the improvement. Follow up with them monthly to see how they are doing. While Olympic training may last for years, any given training session is far, far shorter. Last, and this is a tough one. Any major assignment you give (or request for professional development you make) should be accompanied by an exact description of how you will measure results. And never, never alter the nature of the measurement. Imagine what would happen to our Olympic track athletes if winning the 1000 meter run was suddenly changed to style points rather than who breaks the finish line tape first. What if the high jump were suddenly changed to a timed event? So, please at the end of the 2000 Games, avoid the cliché staff or department meeting about more sacrifice and harder work. Avoid showing those moving human moments that depict a competitor 'pushing through the pain'. Remember, the vast majority of events you'll see and hear about this week last less than ten minutes. Your staff members toil for you, day in and day out. And podiums, flags, roaring crowds and national anthems are few and far between. Giving staffers just one thing to practice without excessive demand for longer hours and more sacrifice might be your executive edge. (NOTE: Allies Consulting offers a menu of programs that can help you become masterful at your performance skills, or your staff to do so. They will meet or exceed your expectations: they are designed to deliver real results. They also leverage our other programs, magnifying your ROI!)
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