My TEDx talk the Positive Ps of Peak Performance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lT7nEByCoM&feature=youtu.be

Many readers will be familiar with the 5 Ps (or the 6 P version) – that is commonly used in the business environment ‘planning and preparation prevent poor performance’.  I challenge this because from my years of experience as an executive coach and sport psychologist and my own sporting achievements I know you get what you focus on, and if you focus on avoiding poor performance you may get OK or maybe good performance, however you are unlikely to get peak performance.  I believe the key to success and peak performance in any walk of life (business, sport, performing arts, life, etc)  is focusing on the what and why (purpose) and the how (planning and preparation). So I propose the new version should be Purpose, Passion, Planning and Preparation Produce Peak Performance. 

PURPOSE and PASSION is about clearly defining your vision and goals and being passionate about achieving them.  For me making my purpose public created a big shift in motivation and self-belief and created a real connection to my passion.  It was also an invitation for others to engage with my purpose leading to offers of support, information, ideas and resources.

PLANNING defining my strategy and deciding on tactics;  what, where, when, how, who, etc.  This involved a few months of research on best locations, environmental influences, time lines, resources and support required, risk analysis, back up plans, etc.  Once location had been decided more in-depth research into all factors that could potentially influence the outcome (positively or negatively), more risk analysis, working through the what ifs and options, before being satisfied that I’d not left a stone unturned and felt confident to declare a World Record attempt. Paragliding is a sport that if you get it wrong your life is potentially on the line, so planning and preparation are critical to both success and survival.

PREPARATION Knowing I had done everything I could in terms of my skills, experience, knowledge, equipment and technology so that I launched with the confidence of knowing I was 100% prepared.  This included being prepared to get the most out of the high times whilst mindful of  the future and the potential low times. Confident I would make well thought through decisions, including the temptation of some short term losses for longer term gains.   PREPARATION also meant training for when things might get out of control and the potential for being out of my comfort zone and being prepared to make tough decisions that are critical to success and survival.   PREPARATION  also involved thinking out of the box and developing potentially uncomfortable solutions, and being mentally PREPARED  to patiently tough it out in the low times…to ensure I made the distance and achieved the goal.

And all those Ps (and one or two more in the TEDx video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lT7nEByCoM&feature=youtu.be  you’ll have to watch to find out!) helped me to achieve 3 Paragliding World Records – absolute proof of PEAK PERFORMANCE!! 

Do you put enough emphasis on Purpose, Passion, Planning and Preparation?  Because get these right and you’ll  be on the journey to your own peak performance and records of success!

FREE passes to WBECS pre-summit coaching series

Click here https://modernmethods.infusionsoft.com/go/wbecs/zaza/WBECS1 for your complimentary pass to the pre-summit series starting 1st May 2012 and to benefit from early bird registration for the World Business and Executive Coaching Summit 14-29 June 2012.

Behavioural Change – turning Intention into Action

Think back to 1^st January 2012 and the New Year resolutions you made.  How many have you achieved or kept up?

Like many you probably started the New year with the best of intentions, to achieve some goals, kick some old habits, action new habits…..   Now nearly 4 months on, how are you doing……..have you achieved your goals?  Are you successfully enjoying new habits?   Or, have you found yourself making excuses for not turning intention into action.  Typical excuses I hear when coaching clients are ‘I don’t have the time’, ‘I’ve other things on my mind’, ‘I feel awkward/uncomfortable’, ‘it’s too hard’, ‘I’m too busy….’, etc.    You are not alone, behavioural change takes time and commitment -  research suggests it can take anything from 3 weeks to 3 months, depending on different factors which might include how ingrained old habits are, complexity of the new habit/behavioural change, how committed you are and how frequently you practice.

Prochaska and DiClimente’s Transtheorectical model of behavioural change describes behavioural change as a five stage process that to turn intention into action and sustainable change.

Stage 1 Precontemplation: This is when you are not aware of the need to change, or you may have unsuccessfully tried to change.  You might not know what you could change, or you’ve become comfortable with how you are, or you might be scared of change.  At this stage you are likely to resist offers of help or even ignore/be blind to information that suggests you would benefit from changing!

Stage 2 Contemplation: You’ve become aware of the need to change and are intending to change in next six months, but haven’t yet thought about how to do it or committed to action.  You are open to information, however might procrastinate or  become stuck as you weigh up the pros and cons of changing.

Stage 3 Preparation: You are actively open to change and consciously thinking about your options and planning action within the next month, including how to overcome barriers to action.  This is a good time to enlist help and support.

Stage 4 Action: At this stage you are going for it, change is happening and old habits are dying or have died!  At this stage it is critical you have planned for overcoming any barriers to change and to be watchful for relapsing back into the old behaviours and habits.  This is a time when you will benefit from help and support.

Stage 5 Maintenance: The new habits and behaviours are automatic, you’ve been confidently and successfully doing things differently for a while – you are now in the maintenance stage. You still need to be aware of situations that might trigger a relapse, and if you do relapse it’s important to re-visit what has worked for you and how you achieved change.  Again this is a time when you can benefit from support to maintain progress.

So thinking back to those New Year resolutions for 2012, what stage are you at?  The very action of setting New Year resolutions suggests you’ve at least reached contemplation.  What about the preparation to move you to action?  Congratulations if you are at the Action stage and are moving to maintenance?  Or, are you struggling to move through the stages, finding yourself procrastinating, feeling stuck, coming up against barriers (real or perceived).  If so you might find some of the following questions useful: ‘How would I like to be?’ ‘What needs to happen for me to move forward?’‘What is happening already?’, ‘what resources do I have’  ‘what are the different ways I can achieve [insert your resolution or goal]?

All the best in moving to the next stage.

When the going gets tough – making sure your ‘dark side’ is on your side!

Reading the recent BBC article on how endurance sports are becoming more and more extreme http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16548236?postId=111448477#comment_111448477.  Nowadays a marathon or iron-man event is often just the starting point for the real ‘ultra’ endurance events as participants love discovering just how much further they can push themselves.  Equally in the continually challenging economic climate I’m hearing managers and leaders likening their work to endurance events e.g. ‘it feels like we are scaling Everest’, ‘I’m running through treacle 6 days a week’. 

And for all the physical fitness that is required, the mind also has to last the distance, as the saying goes ‘what the mind believes the body achieves’ .  This requires both good mental toughness (see my earlier blog http://sarahfenwick.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/mental-toughness-and-resilience-on-ice/) and good self-management (i.e. knowing and managing our own personality).

We will each have our own interpretation of ‘endurance’ events in our lives and we each have our own personality make up that can help or hinder us in seeing them through – whether that be to take part and complete or be a winner.  Typically the stronger (more extreme) aspects of our personality provide us with strengths to draw on especially when things are going well.  However some of these personality strengths also have a ‘dark’ or flip side.  And in the moments when things aren’t going so well and we are under pressure, feeling stressed, maybe tired, cold and hungry, what were strengths if we overuse or over-rely on them, can become our ‘dark sides’, potentially leading to dysfunctional behaviours (e.g. confidence turning to arrogance) and a negative impact on our and/or our team’s performance or even derailment.

When working with individuals and/or teams in business, sport and extreme sport/expeditions I have found using the Hogan Development Survey questionnaire invaluable in helping people to identify their potential ‘dark sides’ (Rivers of Ice Expedition Hogan Personality case study).  Once you’ve got to know your own ‘dark sides’ (some even name them and play with them – especially good in teams!) you can learn how to manage them so that when the going gets tough you learn to keep them as strengths and help you to be one of those who makes it to finish and achieves your goals.

A contributor to the Financial Times Guide to Business Coaching

I felt very proud when Anne Scoular of Meyler Campbell (www.meylercampbell.com ), one of the  ‘thought leaders’ in business and executive coaching asked me to contribute too and sense check a couple of chapters in her recently published Financial Times Guide to Business Coaching (available on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/FT-Guide-Business-Coaching-Guides/dp/027373444X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1302778862&sr=8-1 )

Anne refers to my work on the application of techniques to develop mental toughness and resilience in the chapter on ‘Building Coaching Skills, the different approaches’.  Additionally she sought my advice and input on approaches and tools to include in the chapter, ‘Advanced Coaching: Motivation and Change’.

 I feel very honoured to have been asked and very proud to be listed as a contributor.

Business Strategy vs Sport Strategy – similar or different?

So….are there more similarities or more differences? 

Win-win is an often used phase in business, which rarely applies in sport, which is typically win-lose.  Sport is the ultimate environment for competitive strategy.  

However even with this significant difference, winning in sport can be compared to winning in business, both are very results focused, whether it’s about points scored or profit, seconds on the clock or the right product.   So let’s explore the definition of business strategy within a sporting environment and the process of sporting strategy within the business context. 

From a business perspective strategy Porter (1996) suggests ‘competitive strategy is about being different.  It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value’.  Prahald and Hamel (1990) propose ‘core competencies should be difficult to imitate’ which is congruent with Porter’s idea of strategic differentiation. Does strategic differentiation apply in the sporting context?  

Business examples of performing activities differently from rivals might include that of the low cost, no frills, airlines, who have successfully differentiated themselves from scheduled carriers, or Waitrose who combine the convenience of a supermarket with the quality, expertise and service of a specialist shop.  From a sporting perspective strategic examples of using differences in order to outperform rivals might include; creating a very difficult new movement in an ice dance routine, the unique mix of skills selection that will give a rugby team best advantage, or the rower with outstanding lung capacity

From a sport psychology perspective Butler (2000) suggests ‘strategy is a blueprint of desired action which takes account of exceptional factors (cf. differences) and anticipated possibilities.’    Butler adds that ‘A strategy should therefore facilitate and guide performance to meet the demands of each specific performance’.  Could these statements be applied in a business context?    

The desired actions Butler refers to break down into three stages, and I propose that these stages can be transferred into the business environment.

Strategy Stage 1 – pre-competition planning – determining what needs to be achieved prior to performance to facilitate optimum performance.  The following might be applicable at this stage to both business and sporting strategy; making best use of available resources (e.g. facilities, support team, equipment  cf. competencies, technology, finances, etc), physical (fitness, strength, stamina cf. environment, health, safety), mental (confidence, performing under pressure, communication cf. working under pressure, confidence, interpersonal skills), deadlines, logistics (e.g. transport, location, etc) and weighing up the pros and cons of the various options, and ‘what if’ scenarios.  

Strategy stage 2 – the competition plan – how you are going to win the day?  In order to make best decisions with regards to opportunities, risks and tactics (cf. managing opportunities and risks (Drucker, 1989)) will require analysis of team and opponents strengths and weaknesses (cf. SWOT analysis), what are your differentiators (e.g. speed, strength, skill), what are the core competencies (e.g. defence, mental toughness, communication); what are the conditions and current parameters of play (cf. market conditions, legislation, codes of conduct).

Strategy stage 3 – post competition analysis – exploration of what went well, not so well and what to do differently.  The strategic review enabling informed decisions around what activities, competencies, skills, behaviours, etc. need to be addressed so as to raise the performance level.  What should be continued?  Which ones are not so effective? How to be more effective?  What needs to change?

I propose that this sporting strategy process is equally applicable in a business context and is consistent with Porters (1996) suggestion that strategy involves creating best fit for company activities (e.g. having the right players in the right position for their skills and competencies), trade-offs (e.g. physical advantage of younger vs. skills expertise) and informed choices which are as much about what not to do as about what to do (e.g. whether or not to play a wild card at a world championship such as a young inexperienced player)

Whether they are gold medal winners or world record breakers, top sports performers and teams like highly successful businesses discover and maximise the potential of their differentiators.  Therefore whether developing strategy in sport or business the questions are likely to be similar, for example ‘what would you do differently if you were a new entrant to the market? Or, What would you do differently as a new entrant to the football premiership or America’s Cup? 

Butler, R. J. (2000) Sport Psychology in Action, Arnold, London

Drucker P.F. (1989) Managing for Results, Heinemann Professional

Porter, M.E.  (1996) What is Strategy, Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec

Prahald C.K.& Hamel G. (1990) The Core Competence of the Corporation, Harvard Business Review, May-June

Purpose, Planning and Preparation Produce Peak Performance – a revised 5 Ps

Last week we went to see Cirque du Soleil’s Totem which was absolutely amazing, literally high performance at it’s very peak, leaving me open mouthed, thinking ‘how do they do that?’.  Businesses might learn a great deal from Cirque du Soleil’s approach to successfully delivering such a fantastic performance, one that exceeded expectations on all levels, especially given the high risk element of many of the performances.   And  Cirque to Soleil produce more than fantastic performances – the whole organisation is a very successful business in its own right.

The 5 Ps (planning and preparation prevent poor performance), is an often cited mantra with regards to delivering a vision, initiative or project; achieving goals, targets or objectives.  So if that’s how to prevent poor performance, you might only end up achieving mediocre performance (remember you get what you focus on i.e, ‘preventing poor performance’).  So I think the emphasis should be shifted to ‘how to achieve great performance’ such as Cirque du Soleil’s which was polished, professional and beyond expectation.   So my suggested revision is to positively focused 6 Ps ‘Purpose, Planning and Preparation Produce Peak Performance.’  If anyone reading this has a different/more interesting positively focused revision I’d love to hear from you. (Thanks to Liz Gooster  for  suggesting ’Produce’)

Medals or money, what motivates you?

An recent article raised some interesting points in both sport and business about whether people are motivated by the ‘will to win’ or performance bonus  (The Road to 2012, Owen Slot, Saturday Times, 15 Jan 2011).  In Beijing there were some very large Olympic Medal reward purses.   All the Russian athletes and coaches got €100,000 and medallists the added bonus of a BMW, for the Americans and Germans  it was about £15,000/gold medal,  for the Chinese a massive $1 million/medal and the  Greeks and Thais about £200,000.  And yet motivated by their ‘will to win’ and underpinned by the team GBR values the fantastic athletes that made up team GBR exceeded expectations coming 4^th in the medal table.

This got me reflecting on my own sporting motivation.  I competed at World Class level in paragliding from 1992 – 1997, a minority sport, with little media interest and the stars of the sport aren’t known outside the sport.  I was sponsored (with equipment  and travel expenses) and there was a small bonus for good results (pocket money compared to the sponsorship deals of mainstream sports stars).  I won World and European Championship Medals and set 3 World Records.  Like the majority of performers I wasn’t doing it for the money……I was addicted to and loved my sport and I loved it even more when I did well.   This is intrinsic motivation at it’s best and it is a very powerful form of motivation.  If we enjoy what we are doing, we want to do more of it, and the more we do, the better we are likely to be whether in sport, business, performing arts,  hobbies, etc – the best form of motivation is doing what you love to do.   

For me the financial performance bonus was a ‘nice to have’ whereas paragliding became an addictive ‘must have’ and I suspect this is the same for the majority of competitors, not least because you need to experience that enjoyment to put in the years of dedication to get to the point where financial rewards might become motivational competition.

Want support to achieve your 2011 goals? Tips to find the best….

Made your New Year resolutions, now looking for great support to help you achieve your 2011 goals, and you might be feeling confused by too much choice.   As the coaching and lifestyle industries expand, providers are entering the market at an unprecedented rate and the standards of service range from excellent to very poor.  Here are some tips for choosing a professional service provider:

1. Check out the provider (e.g. web search, professional associations, Trading Standards), and ask questions.  Be confident you know whether they:

• have the relevant experience, training, qualifications and/or accreditation for your needs
• keep their skills and knowledge up to date
• have membership of professional body, with Code of Conduct, Ethics and complaints procedure 
• use an appropriate title (NB providers using protected titles must be registered with Health Professions Council www.hpc-uk.org/aboutregistration/professions or other regulator www.hpc-uk.org/aboutregistration/regulators/)
• are insured to practice

2.  Before you commit

Discuss:

• your expectations, challenges, issues and what you want to achieve
• fees, payment terms, frequency and estimated duration of the service provision
• how progress will be monitored and evaluated

And ask yourself: Is this beneficial for me right now?  Don’t be coerced into committing unless you are satisfied that the service is of use to you.

3.  Be aware:

• if you have any doubts about the service, discuss these with your provider, and if still uncertain, seek advice from their professional body. 
• many of coaching and lifestyle professions are unregulated however good providers are likely to belong to and be accredited by a professional body which requires evidence of a minimum standard of fitness to practice.
• be wary of providers
  • with memberships which only require payment of a fee (i.e. do not set a minimum standard)
  • who hold ‘certificates of attendance’ rather than ‘certificates of competence’ or other appropriate qualifications.

And finally I’d like to wish you all the best in achieving your 2011 goals.

 

Goals and motivation ‘Will I?’ vs ‘I will’

As coaches we help clients to clearly articulate their goals.  The well established GROW model starts with Goal and ends with Will.  A recent article in Scientific American Mind  by Wray Herbert reports on Ibrahim Senay’s  fascinating research into ‘willingness’ (see full article).  Senay found people in the open mind-set condition asking ‘Will I…..?’  were more goal directed, motivated and open to new possibilities, compared with those in the  ‘I will….’ condition.   Moreover those in the ‘Will I?’ condition were more intrinsically motivated (e.g. I want to) than those in the ‘I will’ condition who were more introjected (e.g. doing through self imposed guilt) in their motivation. 

From a coaching perspective I like the idea of the more open mind set of ‘Will I……?’ for both the potential increase in intrinsic motivation and also the power it might bring to exploring options, as Senay hypothesizes that  ‘it is because questions by their nature speak to possibility and freedom of choice’.

I tested this out on myself a few days ago – when given the opportunity to be a last minute participant in a swim across the Solent (between England and the Isle of Wight) with 8 days notice – and 2 days to decide and no time to train!   This would be the furthest I have swam non-stop for over 20 years, though in summer  I sea swim regularly for up to 15 – 20 mins.   When saying to myself ‘I will do it’ –  I noticed some nerves and anxiety holding me back from saying ‘yes’  – all those little ‘what ifs’ and also ‘this is a great opportunity, I really ought to do it’ (the introjected motivation).  However when I asked myself ‘Will I swim the Solent next weekend?’  I found myself wanting to say ‘yes’ and immediately moving into possibilities and solutions, for example, doing a test swim (50 minutes non-stop), contacting the organiser to find out about the logistics, risk assessment, safety cover, etc.   However was this because I’d already raised my awareness of the ‘what ifs’ before asking myself  ‘Will I?’ ?  I’m now interested to know how I would have responded if I’d asked myself ‘Will I?’ first and whether then asking ‘I will’, I would be more at ease saying ‘yes’.

So whilst Senay’s research suggests ‘Will I?’ to be more powerful in terms of goal direction and motivation it may be the order is key – starting with ‘Will I?’ to tap into the motivation and options and ending with ‘I will……..’  for commitment.    I will be testing this out and following this line of research with great interest, and welcome your thoughts and experiences.