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In my work as a mental performance coach, I routinely run a programme called the Higher Performance Culture programme, this has been delivered in a broad range of organizations from the military to boutique financial entities up to large-scale enterprises.
This has given me a large amount of time debating [sometimes things get rowdy!] the ins and outs of performance and what makes something or someone high performance. I want to share some of these insights and conversations here…
Firstly, in my blog about definitions I touch on the need to define key terms, individually or as a team.
Most of us haven’t defined what performance means to us, in my programme, we use the metaphor of you performing in your local Christmas pantomime [ you are the fluffy elf ]. Would you just turn up on the day and step on stage and deliver a performance? This is unlikely, you are more likely to put in a degree of intentional planning and practice, applying effort, then step on stage and try to deliver a performance as per the script and the required standard, standing in front of the crowd and the pressure of the moment, before then leaving, high-fiving and reflecting on the performance.
For me this is a good example of what it is to perform, it highlights the need for intentionality and effort, yes if we take the dictionary definition we can just turn up and perform but I think we should look to a higher standard when defining what performance is…
Performance for me is the intentional application of effort and action to achieve a conscious goal / standard as an individual or a collective.
- Effort and Action – performance requires action or activity. I’m lying on my bed thinking about an activity this may constitute part of the performance but isn’t all of the performance.
- Conscious goals – mindlessly doing an activity may be performance of some kind but in our analogy of the performer on the stage, there needs to be some level of intentional direction for something to move from random noise/energy to a performance.
- Individual or collective – I take action as an individual or as part of a collective, therefore performance can be a team or solo activity, or both at the same time.
The most controversial element of that is the conscious goals bit, I think it’s important as this builds the distinction or the line between mindless low-effort activity and movement into performance.
So all activity could be described as sitting in one of three/four spaces,
Non-performance or Low effort activity, average performance, or higher performance.
When we then ask the question, when does performance become high performance? We move into a really interesting space.
To dig into this further, on the programme we ask the following question, have a go…
Define high performance, and consider the following, is it…
Objective or Subjective?
An Arena or a Mindset?
Accidental or Intentional?
Enduring or Fleeting?
These elements really create some debate,
- Is it objective? Black and white or subjective we could all have a different view of who is a high performer or when we are performing highly.
- Arena or mindset – Is a footballer who plays in the World cup final, by default a high performer, or does he need something else, what’s the role of your arena in your performance? Or is it nothing to do with the arena but rather the mindset of the person, in which case any Sunday league footballer could be a high performance footballer.
- Accidental or intentional – if Im playing darts and throw 3 consecutive 180 scores, but had intended to hit the bullseye each time…am I a high performer?
- Is it enduring or fleeting, once I run the 100m in sub 10seconds am I therefore a high performer for the rest of my life? Or am I only a high performer for the fleeting moments as I run the race and cross the finish line…
Hopefully, your brain is getting full by now or at least starting to itch a bit…
Asking these questions as a group and with your team can create some really important and impactful conversations.
As a model to graphically show some of the dynamics of the 3 areas or spaces of performance, I use something I called the Performance Spaces Model. Offered as a catalyst for conversation / thought and not necessarily as a scientifically backed model, your thoughts around these topics are valuable.
The model identifies 3 spaces, at any given moment we are operating in one of these spaces, we are constantly moving between them and deciding which space to be in when is the art of HOW to be a higher performer.
Let’s discuss this model, it consists of :
- Y axis = Performance
- X axis = Time
- Lowest Permissible standard. This is the point where you say, That’ll do, or That’s good enough… its highly subjective to you, and has a role in helping you know when to stop.
- High-Performance Threshold. An Objective point but also a subjective mindset. This is the point where you keep going “a little bit more despite the pain” You are applying discretionary effort, an effort that is beyond where you think you should have stopped. This threshold is similar to the crux move I noted in my blog on faith as an antidote to fear. The threshold is a point of significant skills/effort that moves you into the High-performance space. It is the result of the consistent application of discretionary effort.
- The 3/4 spaces:
- High-Performance Space – an objective space but one that takes a subjective mindset to reach
- Average Performance Space – a space of intentional effort that hits the standard, but not much more.
- Non Performance space, we need to allow ourselves to non perform, this is another name for the bottom level of the model.
- Low Effort and Intention Space – yes a space of lower performance, we don’t want to be in the space but if we are honest this space is a requirement. Imagine trying to operate in high performance all the time in all areas of life… what would happen?
- The grey line represents an example of a performance journey over time, it could be a week, a day a lifetime.
Some really interesting questions for you to consider:
- Where do you spend the majority of your time? To be honest, remember the bar for average performance is actually quite a bit higher than we might normally place it.
- Map your last week, and draw your performance journey over the last week. Where did you apply discretionary effort vs operating to your lowest permissible standard or just not trying…
- Why isn’t the journey line a straight line going up persistently? Can you persistently maintain High performance…
I’m deliberately staying away from HOW to hit high performance, but some core ingredients are the ability to be vulnerable and ruthlessly dedicated to reality. Without a dedication to reality, we are going to find it hard to persistently move into the higher performance space.
Another key point that we focus on with groups is the need to identify when as a group you need to be peaking, moving into high performance should be planned otherwise we try to operate there all the time and burnout and crash. Making it through the high-performance threshold also requires some kind of pain, which is another reason we need to be intentional.
For me, having been an instigator for dozens and dozens of these conversations and workshops, High performance could be defined like this…
High performance as a concept is defined by objective metrics, it is often aligned with an arena. For the individual however high performance is subjective and a mindset, it is an intentional direction that is achieved fleetingly before moving forward in time as a higher performer.
Whatever arena we may be in, we need to seek higher performance not high performance, our teams need to be deliberately identifying the next threshold rather than trying to maintain high performance persistently. Our discretionary effort is the fuel to push us through the high-performance threshold, the mindset of higher performance is the fuel to persistent progress.
High Performance is a fairly useless concept, it exists hypothetically in our future, whereas higher performance is a vital mindset to enable us to punch through into great spaces and achievements.
Can I always be in a high-performance space? I can try but very quickly I’ll burn out, therefore we need to intentionally move into a space of higher performance to achieve the goal we need before then moving back into a space of average performance.
This threshold is similar to the crux move I noted in my blog on faith as an antidote to fear. The threshold is a point of significant skills/effort that moves you into the High-performance space. It is the result of the consistent application of discretionary effort.
An important thing to acknowledge and that may not be apparent in the graphic is that higher performance if unchecked can become a toxic mindset, you need to stop, accept your level of performance in a specific space and allow the holistic nature of life to take over. The higher our performance the more focused and concentrated [ Salty ] we become. This focused concentrated space isn’t a particularly joyful space, think no booze, little/no social life, and complete dedication to a narrow set of goals….
So we need to allow ourselves to pause and enjoy life, please, be kind to yourself!
The art here is understanding when to peak and how to get through the threshold.
I tested these concepts and thoughts out when I ran the London marathon with a 42kg sandbag, for me the threshold was the weekly long sandbag runs which got up to 5 hours. This was the differentiator that moved me from runner to sandbag-carrying caveman.
So What?
- Where is the threshold in your life between avg performance and higher performance?
- What is the area in your life where you want to pursue higher performance?
In the comments I’d love to know, what do you think are the most common factors that prevent someone breaking through a HP threshold in front of them?
Watch Dave explain this blog on youtube here – https://www.youtube.com/@DeltaPod