Feature: Geoff Greenwood Business Executive | February 2012 | PAGE 7


Olympian. This they do by using mental performance skills, by developing self confi dence, focus and motivation. This culminates in mental toughness and strength. But this is not a soft “touchy-feely” approach; quite the opposite. It is forward thinking, achievement-based and results driven. In business the need for excellent performance, achievement of objectives and excellent people management is paramount in the modern effi cient organisation. In the current economic climate it is more diffi cult to achieve the full extent of organisational objectives through less than perfect performance. Confl icts within the people management area happen. These arise in redundancies, pay freezes, training budget reductions and the mental state of staff worried about their own economics and job security. There is a need to develop a mental game plan for executives,


There is a need to develop a mental game plan for executives, leaders, managers and reporting staff


increased if the inner excellence of the manager displays mental strength in their approach to their role, the challenge or the team around them. In sports science the individual is developed from the “inside out”. The skills and attributes to be improved centre around physical, psychological, technical and tactical areas of the performer. This is in contrast to management development that focuses on the “outside to in” approach around products, markets, leadership, politics, economic, sociological, technological, environmental and legal. Adding development of mindset and inner


excellence to these skills can help the individual become more rounded in a performance setting. This allows a consistent, creative, determined and inspiring approach. Motivation in the workplace is an example. The notable feature


leaders, managers and reporting staff. Different sector organisations, both large and small will be encouraged by the results achieved, just as within the sporting world. Many of the diffi culties that companies are experiencing have a similar theme:


■ Performance, in terms of fi nancial results and outcomes, is disappointing;


■ Objectives in all functional areas are not being achieved, affecting effi ciency and effectiveness; and


■ People management identifi es poor motivation levels and falling self confi dence.


There are many benefi ts for organisations:


■ Improved performance in varied and different criteria; ■ Increased profi ts and sales revenues by both individual business units and the full organisation;


■ Enhanced customer service and experience; ■ Improved staff morale, stress reduction, less absenteeism and confl ict;


■ Clearer communications with internal and external customers; ■ Enhanced creativity in product range, systems and marketing; ■ Better executive and leadership skills, both in self management and management of others;


■ Greatly improved confi dence, focus and motivation at all levels; ■ Better attitude and mindset towards cultural realities; and ■ Clearer strategic planning and more decisive and calculated decision-making.


These benefi ts all arise from the mindset and inner excellence


development of the individual leader, management team and/or workforce. All embrace the concept of identifying the competitive advantage within all of us. The next stage of organisational performance will most probably be the engagement and human potential development of all employed. This will start with a top-down approach to managing themselves and inspiring others as leading examples. Executives and managers can often produce exceptional performance in themselves but, without the ability to inspire those around them, the results are never what they could be. Achievements and successes can be greatly


of the modern workplace is its lack of engagement and ignorance of how to apply mastery to its work. Extensive research in this area shows that, in the US alone, 50%+ of all employees are not engaged at work, 20%+ are actively disengaged! The cost of this disengagement is huge in lost productivity. The results of enhanced employee engagement in your organisation could be massive. One needs to stress that organisations produce exceptional results from changes made within the executive themselves. Sports science helps inspire motivation in teams. This


is achieved by developing team cohesion and dynamics in all participants through the acceptance of their role by: communication; understanding of personality differences and expected behaviours; setting of team goals to increase drive and desire and the building of team spirit. This approach can be applied to business to ensure the necessary smooth functioning of modern business by removing the phased out motivations of survival and external rewards and punishments. We can now introduce a third phase. This is concerned with the autonomy and self direction of the team member through control over task, time, team and technique. Autonomy leads to mastery through engagement, by the improvement of abilities that continue to match increasing challenges. Finally, purpose maximisation is taking its place alongside profi t maximisation as an inspiring and guiding principle.


Contact: info@geoffgreenwood.com Reader Offer


Geoff Greenwood has kindly offered a FREE copy of his valuable book “The 12 Biggest Business Problems You Cannot Solve” to Business Executive readers. To get your FREE copy go to http:// www.businesstrainingonline.co.uk/ performance-at-work.html where a web form is waiting to collect your postal information for the


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