Time for the basics

Reading this article from Harvard Business Review reminded us how important it is to ensure that you don't assume everyone is on the same page. Would an army go into battle without every member of the force having been given a clear understanding of the purpose and approach for the mission? In most cases, forces members will need to reflect back what they have heard to ensure understanding has been achieved also (see here).

So, why is the same level of understanding not achieved for missions within our world?

How much improvement can you get going forward simply from improving shared understanding? Give it a go and tell us about the results!

Spirited conversation

I was out running today - well I say running, it's more a form of shuffling along where at certain points both feet are off the ground so it qualifies as running from a technical perspective...anyway, it was feeling tough and then i met someone I know who was cycling along the same road and she stayed and chatted to me for ten minutes while I shuffled along. My pace picked up and I felt good. Then off she sped and I was on my own again. One hour later and a man i've never met came up beside me as he was running with his dog - it looked as though the dog might be running with him if you know what I mean, but that's not the point. He chatted with me for a while and again i felt stronger and happier - and perhaps a bit faster.

In difficult times, it's too easy to forget the power of the human spirit to lift - connecting with energy giving people is so important when times are tough - my lesson is to make sure I'm an energy giver for someone tomorrow

Microsoft Office...

... is apparently a very good place to work indeed (if you use some criteria we like!).

In their recent advert about ideas, or keeping it weird, the Microsoft advert states how they work on keeping it human and keeping it real, in the workplace. The advert goes on to say how, "you have to have an environment where people are comfortable sharing ideas. Anything we're working on has to be out in the open, where anybody can see it and feel they can build on it... so we do everything possible to keep people as connected as possible and put about as much work into the culture as you would in the products that you've created".

It's interesting to not attention being paid to the value add of culture and connectedness. This is very much "process" AND "outcome" thinking working together - get the human inputs right and focussed on allowing the talent to be free of unnecessary noise and the results that you're after are more likely to be delivered more consistently and more effectively. Within highly competitive markets AND in an environment that is making it tough to perform, it becomes even more important to focus on the human variables that it's clear make a difference to performance. Make sure that people have a real sense of control over their performance - how they do things and when they do them. Make sure people recognise how their role is valued by the organisation and absolutely essential to the success of everybody. Keep people focused on building on each other's work and knowing how the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Control, Confidence and Connectedness are things we talk about ad infinitum and now, more than ever, the businesses that optimise these three elements of motivation will really differentiate themselves from the competition.

Short feedback loops

I've re-learned something really important this week - that giving and receiving quality performance focused feedback and then taking responsibility for doing something about it is vital for my performance. And to enable that to happen a few things are required: I have to be open to feedback - to want to know anything that might make me better. Sure, having received it, I'm going to think about where it came from and does it add to evidence already received? I'm also going to ask myself if it makes me feel uncomfortable? To be able to answer any of those questions, I have to be open.

Secondly, short feedback loops are the best. Like a boat setting out for a destination, if I only get information that might enable me to correct my settings when I'm off course once every six months, the corrections are going to feel violent and they might be too late to prevent me from hitting the rocks. Getting rapid feedback enables me to correct my course a few times each day - so that it feels to me as though I'm pretty much always on course and gives confidence to those around me that I know where I'm going. Without those short feedback loops and without being open, I could go off course and I'd be creating unhelpful noise in the heads of those around me.

We're currently getting lots of short feedback loops about the state of the economy, so without matching short feedback loops focused on our performance, then ever shifting desination and current course might be ever more out of sync.

Valuing the difference you make to People?

I love the piece on Mental Toughness but mostly the thought about choosing to see your confidence as valuing the difference you can make to people. I have never chosen to think about my confidence in this way, I think I've always chosen to shy away from the view of being seen as confident and resilient and preferring to just think of having a 'Positive' 'Can do' attitude. But it is so much more than that when I reflect on when I feel most motivated and performing at my best it's when I am adding value for my team. It's when I know my performance has made a real difference for a particular individual or team. Recognising and appreciating your own attributes in this way, I think I've always worried could be seen by some as over confidence or even arrogance. Now I just think I've been letting myself and others down by not choosing to see my value in this way. I may have been adding value quite unconsciously but now how much better am I going to be!

High Performance Leadership

You might be interested to read Lawrence Dallaglio's recent words in a great article in the Times.

This paragraph jumped out for me as being majorly relevant to the current challenges...

"We had great players in specialist areas and leadership was clearly an integral part of our success in 2003. We had Johnson, Vickery, Hill, Back, Greenwood and Dawson — leaders and personalities all over the pitch. This is an area in which I think England have had, and continue to have, concerns.”

In pressurised times, to have a number of key personnel who see themselves as leaders from their position within a team, you have a far greater chance of success. Every one of them leading by making sure their performance sets standards. Every one of them urging more from someone around them. Everyone of them being focused on delivering, for the team. Great leaders don't lead for themselves, they lead for the greater good of the collective effort. What a great set of attributes to have at this point in time - how many leaders are stepping up for your team, from their position of influence?

Mental Toughness...

In some research we were involved in a few years ago, we found a couple of interesting things out about people who were voted as very mentally tough by folks who understood their world.

First thing was that mentally tough people had confidence that didn't break down easily - it wasn't necessarily very, very high confidence, but was more characterised as robust. Any thoughts about how robust your confidence is (confidence in your own abilities!)?

The other interesting thing about the mentally tough folks was that they always thought the team would perform better if they were around, because they knew what qualities they bought to any team they were on. If they weren't there, these obvious qualities would be missing, so the team wouldn't have their undoubted strengths to draw upon. So, why is your team better off because you're part of it and are you maximising the benefits of you being around right now?

If you're going to be mentally tough, you have to invest some time working out how to make your confidence robust and how to ensure you're valuing the difference you make to people. There's more to it than that, but those were two highlight points that seem pertinent right now!

Keeping your head...

...while all others around you are doing a good impression of something without a head, requires a lot of mental toughness.

Like anything that's difficult, the more you prepare for the challenge, the more of a fighting chance of success you have when the key moments actually arrive. So, given that the playing field has changed somewhat at the moment, the need for top quality preparation becomes ever more important. We've learned a lot from helping people prepare for key sporting moments... and we think what we've learned translates pretty well.

We could write a lot on mental toughness and mental preparation, but that's probably for another day. So, instead of that, have a look at our thoughts on how to use 3 cornerstones of performance (control, confidence and connectedness) to help you have the best chance of delivering a great performance, even when the world around you is making it very tough to do so. It works for people at the Olympic Games... so can it work for you?

Once you've read it, tell us what you think! Go on, we'd love to know that you think.