Business executive • MAY 11


goals for the first time. We hear phrases like “winning is a habit” – and successful people and teams do make that appear to be true. But how did they learn to win the first time, before they successfully turned winning into a habit? It is closer to the truth to say that they first developed a winning process, which through repetition and refinement became a high performance habit. Then, subsequently, winning became a consistent, or habitual, outcome for them. If we want to develop a team of “winners” we cannot wait for everyone to experience winning and then ask them to make a habit of it! We must devise winning processes and instil winning habits, which will ensure that successful outcomes are achieved on a regular basis. Whilst doing some research for a presentation I delivered


recently, I was drawn to the true life story of Philippe Petit, a French high wire artist who is most famous for his tightrope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York on 7 August 1974. When he walked between the towers, a quarter mile above the sidewalks of Manhattan without any safety equipment to rely on, he was aiming for an outcome that had never been previously achieved by him or by anybody else. So whilst he had a very clear outcome goal – he couldn’t use this as his primary focus. This was a life or death situation. He would either, complete the walk and live, or he would fall to his death. Who in their right mind would make that walk with 50/50 odds? Petit created a much better likelihood of success by relying on the process habits he had already developed, which had a proven 100% success rate, and focused on these to deliver the desired outcome. Whilst speaking about Petit’s feat, I suggested that he would


need clarity, confidence, and concentration to achieve his goal. Interestingly, whilst it is easy to attribute these qualities to the outcome – clarity of the goal to walk between the Towers, confidence on the wire whilst walking across, and concentration to avoid slipping and falling – I was actually making a different point. What I was driving at was that his real focus needed to be on the advance planning, the techniques, and the sound habits that he had already formed and practiced until they were second nature. It was clarity of, confidence in, and concentration on the process that was required. He knew that this process could be completely relied upon to allow him to cross safely to a successful outcome. How can we learn from this as we develop our own high


performance habits and work with others to create, or enhance, theirs?


clarity Of course, initial clarity around our goal is crucial – after all if we don’t know what we are ultimately aiming for we cannot create a plan. Once the outcome goal turns into a plan though, we need to have absolute clarity around each component part of the process, knowing precisely what needs to be done when, why it needs to be done, and how we will execute it correctly. By breaking down each stage of the process and scheduling key tasks into manageable, sustainable actions that can be monitored and measured for effectiveness, we will create a reliable model that can be replicated. Once these habitual processes become second-nature, they will not let us down when we face difficult circumstances or high pressure situations.


converting winning processes into dependable habits is an absolutely critical ingredient of success


confidence Confidence is critical to success – but where does it come from? As has already been mentioned, if someone is attempting to achieve a goal in an area they have no previous experience of, then drawing confidence from previous success is not possible. Having too much focus on the end goal and then finding ourselves in unfamiliar territory can cause our confidence to evaporate rapidly! Staying focused on the proven success of the component parts of our process creates a more reassuring form of confidence that will not desert us when the pressure is on. It is important that we reinforce our confidence in the process by reviewing, celebrating, discussing, and learning from the smaller successes and mistakes we observe along the way. This is another way we form reliable habits, and once we know what to expect at each stage our confidence in the process increases and we learn how to stick to it even when things get tough, or when results are slower than we anticipated.


concentration This positive reinforcement creates the belief that repeating the action will achieve the same success. In turn this makes it much easier to concentrate – especially when pressure increases. Pressure plays tricks on us – so concentrating on the process becomes even more crucial. In reality nothing has changed other than maybe the stakes have got a little bigger, any mistakes we make may prove to be more costly, or there could be more people watching or relying on the outcome. Our powers of concentration, developed through having reliable high performance habits, will enable us to block out any distractions. By sticking to our plan and following the process through towards the end goal we will achieve the ultimate high performance outcome we are striving for. Clarity, confidence and concentration are three words we


should remember when setting goals and building the processes that will make them a reality. Converting winning processes into dependable habits is an absolutely critical ingredient of success. Understanding what our own high performance habits need to be and practicing them until they become completely reliable, even under pressure, will ensure we can always achieve high performance outcomes, and help others to do the same.


Book offer


We reviewed Jason Wright’s book Making Sense of Performance Management in our August 2010 issue. The publishers, Management Books 2000, are kindly making an offer to Business Executive readers who would like to purchase the book at £11.00 (plus £1 p&p in the UK( (RRP £14.99). To purchase simply phone (+44) (0)1285 771441/2 and quote Business Executive offer (see their website) .


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