Performance has captivated my attention seriously in one guise or another for over thirty
years. All humans have some form of a competitive instinct. It is one of the main reasons
that video games are so successful and even addictive; whatever we do, there is a deeply
seated drive to do it better.
One of John’s personal motivations, if that’s the correct description, was a profound
discomfort with the constant self-proclamation that “we are the best”. It seems that if you
have a deep commitment to your organisation or team, it gives you the permission to tell
one and all you’re the best.
So you’re good, how do you know?
It didn’t sit comfortably with John when he was in the fire service. Two questions constantly
jumped to his mind.
1. How do we know?
2. Who are we compared with?
Regarding the latter, frankly no one!
We have a monopoly and should be honest about that fact.
This unease prompted John to write articles, about many areas of performance, most in fire
service journals. It led to him obtaining a higher research degree with Bradford University
(not bad for someone expelled from school!) and the development of a performance model
that is being taught, used and refined up to the present day.
Apply the model consistently – your performance will improve...
Here is John’s model, with a simple promise.
If you apply the model consistently, your performance will improve. It has been used in
many areas, some with great success from business to sport.
From the onset, it must be stated that many such models exist out there, some excellent.
My academic research certainly confirms a multitude of suitable offerings, it’s mostly down
to how well you can understand and then apply them.
One of the best I have encountered for business is Tony Wilson’s of Lifestyle Architecture.
It’s really simple to understand and easy to action.
So, let’s get down to the model.
Doyley’s Performance Improvement Model
Most models out there, in their basic form, have two main components. Mine are Talent
and Effort.
Talent
The dictionary definition of talent is “ a special natural ability or aptitude “.
Before we proceed, a spoiler alert - there is no such thing as natural talent! To take the
Atheist analogy, if there is such a thing, there’s absolutely no evidence it exists. In simple
terms, nature doesn’t play chance.
An incredible amount of research has been conducted, and many authorities come up to the
same conclusion. Perhaps the most noted is K. Anders Ericsson’s work. It formed the basis of Malcolm Gladwell’s “10.000-hour rule” rule, that anyone can be world class; or at least an
expert, with that amount of practice.
A great recent book ‘Superhuman’ by Roman Hooper, challenges that assertion,
unsuccessfully in my opinion; but certainly does posit that a predisposition whether physical
or mental will greatly assist that ambition. Still a book well worth reading, as is Matthew
Syed’s Bounce and Outliers by Galdwell that explains the 10.000 hour rule.
Talent has three main progressive aspects.
3. Knowledge. The acquisition through learning, either applied or experiential, and
understanding of the appropriate knowledge from which one can develop the
appropriate......
4. Skills. These must be relevant to the role, function or task required. Furthermore, they
are best developed and tested in a safe environment to attain.....
5. Competence. All about doing whatever it is where it matters; that could be in the
workplace, or sports field, even concert hall or stadium.
By way of explanation, appropriate is the absolute key. One of the main imperatives is to
ensure the required skills, must be supported by the right learning, knowledge and
understanding.
In many ways, it’s where the relationship between education and industry fails dismally.
There is no serious dialogue or even notice taken of either position. Check out Sir Ken
Robinson’s YouTube presentation “Changing Education Paradigms”, the best 12 minutes
you’ll see on how wrong we’ve got education!!!
Effort
Talent has to be acquired, effort needs to be applied.
Again, other models will have similar aspects. The five included here are underpinned by
academic research and also tested against the desired success factors of the individual or
organisation.
6. Passion. No need to go any further if you don’t have passion, forget it!! It is so
fundamental to the pursuit of your goals, without it you’ll will lose the drive and desire to
carry on. There is a fundamental difference between a passion for success, or its benefits,
and the passion for what you want to succeed in.
7. Persistence. The Americans call it Grit. Regardless, it is all about getting up and carrying
on when others quit or it really hurts. Think of ice skating- is it possible to learn a triple
Salchow without your pert derrière hitting the hard cold stuff, more times than you would
like?
8. Commitment. Training, practice and the development of your skills and competence is
the easy bit. You have to do the ‘10.000 hours’ to be world class or expert and still manage
your way through life’s magic and sometime’s challenging journey. You can’t do it from the
couch!
9. Motivation. The essence of this is Why? If your why isn’t strong enough, the three above
are not enough. Furthermore, it’s primarily about you, even more than others you may want
the success for. Brutal honesty with yourself is indispensable.
10. Discipline. There has to be structure, plus you must take full responsibility for all your
actions. Without discipline, it all can be wasted or misapplied. At the foundation is hard
work. All the greatest in the world at whatever they do are the hardest workers.....bar
none!!
View Talent and Effort as two sides, the next three aspects relate and join them all together.
All are independent, but also interdependent; there is cause and effect, but more
importantly any one weakness will compromise the whole model.
Mindset
Mindset is the first all rounder. Simply, it’s the choices you make, particularly in relation to
your attitude and actions. You always have a choice.
Many performance models include mindset in some form. This one relies heavily on the
fantastic work by Stanford Professor Carol Dweck, who’s seminal book Mindset is highly
recommended.
Essentially, one has either a growth or fixed mindset.
Main characteristics of fixed, is a reluctance to learn with a precious need to protect status
and ego. Feedback is unwelcome and mistakes are to be avoided at all costs. Greater
cognisance is taken of peer opinion and approval.
Interestingly, this answered a question that I couldn’t shake from a very early age-why did
some talented sportspeople succeed, when others faded away or wasted their incredible
opportunities? All down to a fixed mindset!
The other is growth.
Those who have made that choice take every chance to learn. They thrive on mistakes, to
use as invaluable information to grow and develop. Equally, they will rise up to the
challenge, welcome the experience and embrace adversity. They probably have Nietzsche’s
motto “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.
Deliberate Practice
Deliberate or perfect practice is the main fundamental of the 10.000 hour rule. It explains
the misnomer of child prodigies such as Mozart or Tiger Woods; they did their 10.000 hours
at a very young age.
Surprisingly, it is not any old practice-you can’t just do the practice and expect
improvement. It must be targeted at those key areas, which form the basis of the necessary
skills and competence. Every single action, drill technique must be applied with the utmost
diligence against exacting standards.
Golf gives a good example of how process can seduce one into the illusion of improvement.
An amateur dedicates themselves to some diligent practice and resists the temptation to
just play. Allocates an hour and then basks in the virtuous afterglow of having ‘practised’.
But what has really happened? Hits a few balls, some good but many bad. The bad ones are
forgotten, as one searches for the good one, by quickly hitting another shot. Most probably,
all that’s happened is the bad habits have been inculcated.
No account has been taken of real conditions, weaknesses, development needs or even
what they need the most to be effective and successful... but they’ve practiced!!!
Feedback/Coaching
Deliberate or perfect practice is the main fundamental of the 10.000 hour rule. It explains
the misnomer of child prodigies such as Mozart or Tiger Woods; they did their 10.000 hours
at a very young age.
As a coach, I can hear the often misquoted words of Mandy Rice Davies “well he would say
that, wouldn’t he?”
Regardless of how strong your conviction or confidence, without independent feedback,
whether it be video or coaching, all you have is what’s going on in your head-good or bad.
Whatever you receive about your performance must be understood internally; otherwise
the value is limited.
Rapport and trust is essential to accept that external opinion, but it has to stick and
resonate with what you want to achieve. Unless you can make sense of what is presented, it
will be very difficult to apply those lessons and benefit from that valuable information.
Simple question - can you think of anyone world class, in any discipline that doesn’t have a
coach?
A fantastic quote from Charles Darwin says it all:
“I have maintained that excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal and hard work”.
Talent, is not natural, it has to be acquired with diligence. Should results not meet your
expectations, there will probably be gaps in your Knowledge. Do you have sufficient
learning, to develop the right Skills for your role or function? If you haven’t, there is little
chance you will gain Competence and be successful.
Not rocket science, but many like the term-
Talent has to be acquired... Effort has to be applied.
Without Effort, whatever Talent you possess will be wasted.
We’ve all seen those who have frustratingly not taken the opportunities for success, their
talent suggests may be possible.
Passion is the foundation of Effort. If you don’t love what you do with a deep passion, you
really are wasting your time.
Persistence is everything. You can only get better at anything by doing the hard stuff...again
and again, which requires Commitment. Drive comes from Motivation, but it must be
accompanied by Discipline.
Every single aspect is interrelated. You won’t acquire the right skill, without discipline and
persistence. It will be your passion that keeps you wanting to learn. Competence can only be
retained with persistence and motivation.
Well that’s the easy bit... as promised, apply the model and you will improve your
performance.
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