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How to achieve peak performance

Guest post by: Douglas Long

Article Overview: 5 critical steps in obtaining peak performance: 1. Don’t expect respect. 2. Don’t think you’ve got the answer 3. Don’t pretend 4. Get out of the way 5. Say “thank you”

How to achieve peak performance

More years ago than I like to remember I was a trainee officer in the military. The single most important thing I learned in those years was that, if you want to get the very best from your people – to achieve peak performance – you need to have the trust, respect, and commitment of your followers. When it comes to the crunch – to getting that extra effort that is sometimes needed in order to achieve a goal – that which is most important is not the behaviour of the leader or manager; it is the behaviour of the followers. Accordingly, it is essential that the leader seeks to develop this trust, respect, and commitment right from the start.

The question is, however, “How do I do this?”

My military training concentrated on technical excellence. These were the days back before even Vietnam and the dominant leadership model was First Generation Leadership – it was expected that you would be respected and obeyed simply because of your position or rank. When I moved to my first command I was certainly technically capable – as good if not better than any of the 30+ soldiers and NCO’s in my platoon. But I was very “wet behind the ears” when it came to being a soldier and ‘bluff and bullshit’ can only get you so far …..

It was my platoon Sergeant who saved me!

He was a grizzled veteran of Korea. He had been on the two-way rifle range and knew what the military was all about. He also knew what distinguished a good leader – one who inspired peak performance – from the mediocre or bad leader. He decided that I had potential and so worked with me to make me a ‘good boss’ – one who the troops could respect and follow because they didn’t want to let him down.

From my Sergeant I learned 5 critical steps in obtaining peak performance:

1. Don’t expect respect.

2. Don’t think you’ve got the answer

3. Don’t pretend

4. Get out of the way

5. Say “thank you”

Don’t expect respect

I was young. Almost all the men under my command were older than me and some, like my Sergeant, were combat veterans. They had seen it all before! There was nothing I could teach them about being soldiers – most had forgotten more than I had ever learned. They could say “Yes, Sir”, “No, Sir” and mean “up yours, sir” with the best of them. They expected a brash young officer who would try to teach them to ‘suck eggs’ and they were prepared to give me a hard time – instrumental compliance that could easily get me into strife unless I was careful. They had all the networks and knew exactly how things really worked. They were linked into the unofficial structure that really determined what got done properly and who got supported. They had the real power base – all I had was authority.

My first morning after graduation leave I marched into my new Colonel’s office and found a man in his 50’s with service ribbons going back to WWII. He looked me up and down before making it very clear that only high performing officers remained in his unit and the criteria for a high performing officer all revolved around a high performing platoon. After some 30 minutes I marched out to my new platoon with absolutely no illusions that I knew anything about anything. But I had been given the gem that I needed for success. My Colonel said to me, “work with your men: don’t expect them to work for you.”

When, moments later, I met my Sergeant, I had enough of my wits still about me to repeat that comment to him. “Sergeant,” I said, “how do I do this?” With a scarcely disguised air of absolute relief, he replied “Sir, if you’d like, I can help you.”

And he did.

Don’t think you’ve got the answer

“You don’t have to be liked to be respected,” my Sergeant said bluntly, “and, Sir, there’s a hell of a difference between “liking” and “respecting”. You need to be respected.”

The first step in obtaining respect was to understand the difference between things that were negotiable and things that were not. When it came to behaviour on the Parade Ground things were non-negotiable: orders were to be obeyed instantly and in a specifically prescribed manner. The same was true when it came to safety issues involving things like use of weapons and equipment. The rules and regulations pertaining to these were designed to minimise the probability of injury or accident to fellow soldiers. No room for discussion or error.

But other matters were open to discussion. The objectives and strategy might be given from the top and the tactics might come from my Battalion or Company Commander, but the implementation of these in the most effective way had reasonable degrees of freedom at Platoon level. “Draw on the knowledge and experience of the platoon,” my Sergeant suggested. And he was right. Once my men realised that I was genuinely asking for their input, they freely gave it. We quickly became one of the top platoons in the unit: their work – not mine!

Don’t pretend

The need for integrity and authenticity quickly became apparent. I was warned that the men in my platoon had very well developed “bullshit detection meters”. They could quickly distinguish between an academic or theoretical solution to a problem and a solution that was based on experience. I quickly learned to make it clear that this was what I had been taught in my training and it was what I had practised in various exercises, then to open the issue up for input from them as to what was the optimal way forward. The result was a blend of my knowledge and their experience that resulted in all of us leaning from each other and a deepening of trust and respect that would ensure that, when required, things would be done without question and with absolute commitment to our goals, our unit, and ourselves. I might have been “the boss” but without their commitment I would achieve almost nothing.

Get out of the way

Central to this concept of trust was learning not to micro manage. My role was to ensure everyone had all of the necessary knowledge and skill to do what was required and to develop the level of commitment that would ensure we achieved what was necessary no matter what the personal cost. We needed to be a close-knit unit where if someone saw something needing urgent attention he had the power and authority to take action without waiting for me to approve it. This meant that, at times, I could be a follower who respected and responded to the knowledge and experience of someone technically junior to me. I couldn’t do the work of 30+ men. I could only do my work and my Platoon needed to trust that I would do it. I had to trust them to do their work and together we had to achieve results.

In my years of service, I was never deliberately let down.

Say thank you

Always acknowledge the contribution of others. It is vital that those who make the contributions get the acknowledgement and reward. I learned to never take credit for the input of others and to ensure that the team’s effort was always recognised.

An epilogue It is now more than 30 years since I left the military. One thing I know for sure: these 5 things apply everywhere. They are critical to good leadership.

It is these things that have formed the basis on my new understanding as to what Third Generation Leadership is all about.

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Article Tags: authenticity, employee commitment, how to get peak performance, integrity, Peak performance, respect, Third Generation Leadership, trust



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