The Only Two Ways to Improve Your Performance!

In the corporate world, performance is everything. In the corporate world, performance is talked about constantly whether it is the financial performance, the performance of the leadership team,  the sales team or operations. Most companies have regular performance reviews with their staff to help improve the performance of the team. 

So if performance is so crucial, how do we improve our performance and that of our team? First, it is helpful to understand what makes up performance as first put forth by Tim Gallwey in The Inner Game of Tennis. He stated the makeup of performance in this formula:

Performance = potential - interference

So stated another way:

Performance = your current tapped abilities - things that get in your way.

I don't like the word potential since we all have unlimited potential. For example, I have the potential to be an amazing golfer, but my current abilities are not quite there yet. What Gallwey is talking about is our current skillset, knowledge, abilities and experience that we have tapped. 

So in order to increase our performance we can either increase our abilities or reduce the number of things that get in our way. Or more preferably do both. 

So how do we improve our current tapped abilities? There are many ways to improve this. One is to seek learning. Most of us are solely focused on this end of the equation because it is the easiest thing to do. A simple click on a website could have a book on our doorstep in a day. We can take a course, read a book (or many books), go to a seminar, get a mentor or instructor. In doing this we are increasing our knowledge and expertise in that area. And this improves our ability in that area.

Another is by experience or practice. Doing something over and over can increase our competence and our confidence in getting it done well. One word on experience and practice is that it will only help us if we have a feedback loop setup for getting better. Just doing something over and over again without an understanding what went right and what can be improved is of limited benefit. So do the thing, get feedback on what can be improved and work to improve it. 

Our first task in improving our abilities is awareness. In corporate speak we call this gap analysis. Where are we now on the spectrum of our abilities, and where do we need to be or could be. Then we determine the gap in that ability, make a plan to close the gap, and execute that plan.  

Most people and companies do a pretty good job at this part of the equation. They understand what is needed and work to get there. The real opportunity of substantial growth is looking at the interference side of the equation. What is getting in the way. 

Interference
Let's start with external. First we need to identify those external factors that reduce our performance or effectiveness. In a sports context, it could be the opponent, the field, the arena or the course itself. In a business sense it could be policies, competing priorities, poor communication, trouble with a co-worker that stifle our progress and/or effectiveness. Next we need to think about options to overcome these. We might be able to overcome some of these obstacles and we might not. But we should go through this process of identifying them first and then coming up with options to either get around them, over them, under them, or through them, or maybe eliminate them all- together. If it is a procedure or a policy, find out why it is in place. What benefit is that policy trying to create? You might just get an answer like, that is the way we have always done it. There was a reason that policy was put into place, however, that condition might not even exist anymore.

Now let's move to internal. This is where the real battlefield is. What is getting in your way internally? This can be things like inner conflict, lack of clarity, fear, self-doubt, or a lack of energy. 

If you have ever played golf then you know that having too many swings thoughts in your head doesn't help you perform better. Or my personal favorite when your so-called friends tell you to not hit it in the water. Should I hit in the woods instead? By telling you not to hit it in the water, if you allow it, your mind is focused on the water instead of the fairway. And then we hit it right in to the water.

Certainly, we have all heard of being in the zone, being in a state of flow. Those states are when interference is minimal or non-existent. If we are not in the zone, then there is interference. Just the act of consciously thinking about our performance while we are performing is interference. While playing a pickup game of basketball I was in the zone. My teammates were a pair of 6'4" guys and I am 5'9". But I was in the zone. I was hitting every shot I looked at. I wasn't thinking about anything. I was just moving freely, scoring with ease. Then a member of the opposing team said to me that I had scored every point that my team had to that point. After that comment I didn't score another point. They had made me think about my performance which created interference took me out of the zone. So thinking about how well or terrible we are doing in the moment can limit our ability to perform well.

Interference could be as simple as being tired, because we were up all night preparing our presentation and didn't get a full night of rest. It could be a lack of clarity as to what outcome we are trying to achieve. So anything that interferes with our performance may be big like a debilitating fear or as small and easy to fix as a good night's rest. It could be what beliefs we have about the task, a project or about ourselves. It could be assumptions we have about others. It could be labeled as fear, self-doubt, lack of confidence, or just an inability to control our focus. It could be as simple as trying too hard and forcing something, when if we just used our natural abilities it would turn out better.

Awareness is the first step in reducing your interference. By identifying what may be getting in the way, we can think about options to alleviate them. So what is getting in your way? Where do you see pattern of behavior that is less than optimal? What is keeping you from getting in to the zone on a daily basis? Where do you feel stuck and unable to move beyond? 

By doing this introspection, you may be able to identify some of the things getting in our way or interference we are experience. Sometimes we are able to get pass these ourselves. Sometime we may need some outside help by working with a coach or therapist.

Now that we know what components make up performance we can pull the level on both sides of the equation to improve our performance not only at the office, but at home, and at the golf course or tennis court.