Achieving Peak Performance
Achieving Peak Performance
In the 1980s, Charles Garfield in Peak Performers (1986) spelt out six capacities or aptitudes of high achievers:
missions that motivate,
results in real time,
self-management through self-mastery,
team building and team playing,
course correction, and
change management.
In Garfield's second book, Second to None (1992), he moved the focus to organizational redesign, and the defined a peak performer (previously an enterprising individualist) as a fully participating partner. Peak performers are those who have the ability to collaborate in cross-functional and self-directed teams. They have an understanding of interdependent systems, of networks of people connected by shared values.
We now understand organisations large or small - as being organic systems with each component part of an interdependent whole. World-class quality, superior service, high-performance sales, and high-achieving management strategies all depend on the deployment of superior collaborative skills.
In true interdependent organisations, each individual and team has others with whom they can share, brainstorm, develop and innovate. Although innovation, like invention, is often thought of as being 'the one great idea' dreamt up by the boffin in the backroom, in reality, it is much more likely to be the result of team-thinking and team effort.
However, as we take our original idea through to (hopefully) success and as our organisation grows . all too often we forget about all this soft stuff we are too busy building the controls and the bureaucracy. Of course we need some of that but not at the expense of ideas, collaborations and creative partnerships.
So take a look at your organisation. Can your processes be redesigned to promote and take advantage of such collaborative activity, with the aim of a quantum leap in performance? Flexibility is necessary, anyway, to cope with the increasing rate of change of the external environment - aiming for peak performance simple puts the initiative back with the organisation to drive, rather than respond to, change.
The individual focus of peak performance transformation remains important. The individuals - in peak performing groups - need to be aware of their own attributes and makeup, and how they are likely to respond and react to other with differing makeup. They need to be confident of their own abilities and of their place in the team and in the organisation. As with athletes, they need to know when and how to 'raise their game'.
You should set about training your key staff to help prepare them for peak performance by helping them with:
Understanding the nature of presence and charisma
Techniques for developing and maintaining presence
Basic meditation and relaxation exercises
Transforming self-consciousness into self-awareness
Projection: from playing a role to filling a role
Adapting to the nature of those around you
Motivation through effective communication
Finding and overcoming the blocks to confident performance
Aligning personal and organisational mission
Focussing on the 'big picture'
This requires more than training courses it involves more one-to-one sessions based on mutual respect and trust as between athlete and coach. So start with those you see as having the greatest potential work with them. Employ professional business coaches by all means but you have to be involved. After all, it is your company your future.
After all, arent these the things above the things you do as an entrepreneur? Surely you are not afraid of working with others who can deliver as well as you can?
Peak Performers : The New Heroes of American Business
Charles Garfield
Avon Books
ISBN: 0380703041
Peak Performance: Aligning the Hearts and Minds of Your Employees
Jon R. Katzenbach
Harvard Business School Press
ISBN: 0875849369
Achieving Peak Performance - To learn more about this author, visit John Heap's Website.
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Athletes have to achieve peak performance and maintain it - if they are to succeed. The rewards are fantastic for the small number of elite athletes but tail off very quickly as performance lessens. So, how can we use the techniques of sports coaching and apply them to business? It can work and is most often used with sales staff (which like athletes are usually individuals but the concept has been extended to team-based working, and even to organisational development.
In the 1980s, Charles Garfield in Peak Performers (1986) spelt out six capacities or aptitudes of high achievers:
missions that motivate,
results in real time,
self-management through self-mastery,
team building and team playing,
course correction, and
change management.
In Garfield's second book, Second to None (1992), he moved the focus to organizational redesign, and the defined a peak performer (previously an enterprising individualist) as a fully participating partner. Peak performers are those who have the ability to collaborate in cross-functional and self-directed teams. They have an understanding of interdependent systems, of networks of people connected by shared values.
We now understand organisations large or small - as being organic systems with each component part of an interdependent whole. World-class quality, superior service, high-performance sales, and high-achieving management strategies all depend on the deployment of superior collaborative skills.
In true interdependent organisations, each individual and team has others with whom they can share, brainstorm, develop and innovate. Although innovation, like invention, is often thought of as being 'the one great idea' dreamt up by the boffin in the backroom, in reality, it is much more likely to be the result of team-thinking and team effort.
However, as we take our original idea through to (hopefully) success and as our organisation grows . all too often we forget about all this soft stuff we are too busy building the controls and the bureaucracy. Of course we need some of that but not at the expense of ideas, collaborations and creative partnerships.
So take a look at your organisation. Can your processes be redesigned to promote and take advantage of such collaborative activity, with the aim of a quantum leap in performance? Flexibility is necessary, anyway, to cope with the increasing rate of change of the external environment - aiming for peak performance simple puts the initiative back with the organisation to drive, rather than respond to, change.
The individual focus of peak performance transformation remains important. The individuals - in peak performing groups - need to be aware of their own attributes and makeup, and how they are likely to respond and react to other with differing makeup. They need to be confident of their own abilities and of their place in the team and in the organisation. As with athletes, they need to know when and how to 'raise their game'.
You should set about training your key staff to help prepare them for peak performance by helping them with:
Understanding the nature of presence and charisma
Techniques for developing and maintaining presence
Basic meditation and relaxation exercises
Transforming self-consciousness into self-awareness
Projection: from playing a role to filling a role
Adapting to the nature of those around you
Motivation through effective communication
Finding and overcoming the blocks to confident performance
Aligning personal and organisational mission
Focussing on the 'big picture'
This requires more than training courses it involves more one-to-one sessions based on mutual respect and trust as between athlete and coach. So start with those you see as having the greatest potential work with them. Employ professional business coaches by all means but you have to be involved. After all, it is your company your future.
After all, arent these the things above the things you do as an entrepreneur? Surely you are not afraid of working with others who can deliver as well as you can?
Peak Performers : The New Heroes of American Business
Charles Garfield
Avon Books
ISBN: 0380703041
Peak Performance: Aligning the Hearts and Minds of Your Employees
Jon R. Katzenbach
Harvard Business School Press
ISBN: 0875849369
Achieving Peak Performance - To learn more about this author, visit John Heap's Website.
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals. Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nations Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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