High Performing

An Aha Moment on Winning

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Over the last month or so I have been listening to and discussing what the hidden depth of high performance is and what part winning plays in that. A part of me rejects the desire to grade performance and yet another part recognizes the true value in measuring something to give it meaning. This is the ‘aha’ moment for me – that to feel I have performed well, to get that ‘winning well’ kind of feeling, I need to experience a light bulb moment of clarity about why or how I performed well.

It is a topic that intrigues me – I am curious, in a scientific kind of way, about what other elements and machanitions are there that move us into high performance and create that ‘winning’ feeling, especially in this ‘brave new world’ of post-pandemic business-life.

If performance is a measured thing to make it high or low, then it should be simply a matter of putting all the skills and competencies in the right place and letting them distill into high performance. However, we know it is not as simple as this.There is another side to the high performance coin that comes from the energy and commitment. So one side of high performance could be skills and competencies (tools of the trade) and the other side could be the energy and commitment (inner purpose) we are feeling. What I have noticed when working with teams and high performing indiviudals is that they balance these elements around their closely held values. I am still left wondering what else there is in the formula that turns a performance into a feeling of ‘winning well’.

When I reflect on this, what stands out to me is that it is our feelings that inspires us and our feelings that we use to measure how well we have performed. Whether it is a ‘ho-hum’ performance or quite fulfilling, our feelings are the guide! Hence, my curiosiness has lead me to conclude that as high performers we are searching for an immeasurable measure to confirm our high performance, to give us that ‘winning well’ feeling.

As a leadership coach, I have discovered that a feeling of ‘winning well’ is a very individual thing because the ‘well’ part of the phrase comes from the measure of the individual or the team I am working with. It’s not something that can be arbitrarily applied or externally measured to claim the ‘winning well’ title.

On a personal level, I need to experience an ‘aha moment’ to give me the ‘winnng well’ feeling. My ‘aha moment’ is when there is a sudden understanding of what is behind a knarly issue or the different perspective I can take to unlock the next steps for me or my client. So this is my measure of ‘winning well’. No matter what anyone else tells me or explains to me, unless I experience an ‘aha moment’ I feel like an underperformer.

In William B Irvine’s book Aha!: The Moments of Insight that Shape Our World, he explores the many varieties of ‘aha moments’ that have resulted in significant wins for humankind and the world we live in. The ‘aha moment’ could be a moral revelation or a scientific revelation or simply a small trigger that changes the way we approach something. They don’t all have to change the entire world, but they do have to result in new insight and will make an impact on us. Something we easily remember and recall over and over.

My insight or ‘aha moment’ when pondering on ‘winning well’ and high performance, is that a key element of the formula is to discover something and share it. It can be to reveal a truth that hasn’t seemed relevant, or it can be a new perspective on an old issue, or it can be an awareness of why everything worked well and knowing how we can repeat it.

So the fundamental nature of ‘winning well’ for me is in the sharing of the win to make high performance sustainable – it’s in my response to the experience. What is it for you?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

~ Margaret Armitage

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A Reason to Win

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Recently a conversation came about with a few colleagues regarding winning. I used the word winning as a metaphor to achieve something, gaining something we aspired to and for a deeper meaning to one’s purpose. Without explaining this first I felt a little push back when I kept using the word. At first, I couldn’t understand why. It became apparent that winning was my metaphor or an easy way to explain what brings me purpose or fulfillment, but not everyone aligned with this. The word ‘winning’ has a different meaning for each of us, created by our different experiences and associations with the word. 

 This then took me on a journey over the past couple of weeks and brought me to asking the question, “can you win without competing?” Depends on how you define winning right? After asking this question to people from sport, business, friends, and colleagues, one gem of a comment that took me deeper was “winning is a data point, no less or no more important than other data points.” This makes sense, picking up data or information based on the processes we are undertaking. 

 To me, seeing it as a data point takes emotion out of it. It gives me the result of a process without the attachment and gives information to plan my next move. So why can we get so attached to certain results if it is “simply a data point, no more no less”? Are we attached to the work that goes into the process to get to a desired outcome (the blood, sweat and tears)? Maybe even loved ones or others are involved. Is the attachment to another, deeper meaning we value? If we get the desired outcome to a certain process, is that a win? If so, did we have to compete in some way, shape or form to put ourselves in the best possible position to get the desired result? 

 I don’t know. However, I feel knowing when to win and knowing when to fall back and not become overly attached allows for clearer thinking, better decision making and to put energy where needed to allow me to be in the best possible position to win. It may also allow us to make better decisions by not becoming overly attached to those data points and allowing emotion to take over. 

 Taking it a step further, does this mean there are personalized data points and depersonalized data points? Data points, no more no less (depersonalized) and data points attached with a desired want of a result or preconceived outcome (personalized). If that preconceived result is along the lines of gain, obtain, achieve something by effort can you get it without competing? And if it doesn’t mean enough, is it winning? Sure, you can gain something by not competing. For instance, if someone knocks on your door and gifts you $1000 you could say that’s a win. But if we are talking in the context of preconceived gain, obtain or achieve something by effort, is it winning? Not in that context (being gifted $1000) as you applied no effort and had no preconceived expectation. But yes, in the context of a depersonalized, non-emotional data point you could say it is a win. 

 At the end of the day, I have put more questions on the table than answers. For me the most important question is what is your reason to win? Does it align with your purpose? Your values? And if so to what extent before it becomes toxic, is winning unhealthy? And if winning becomes unhealthy, is it really winning? I believe the question “what is your reason to win?”, holds the answer for each of us. If winning becomes unhealthy to your values and purpose and driven by ego, is it really winning? We all define winning differently, taking small losses in the grand scheme of your purpose and vision could be winning, it’s the awareness around these data points and the decisions we make from them which allow us to move forward. 

 So, what’s your reason to win? Do you have a reason to win? 

~ Tom Wickham

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Stepping aside can be a Winning Move

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In my world as a Business Coach I work with some amazing colleagues in my team at Beckon Business.  Tom Wickham is a 2021 Olympic medalist and is seriously GOOD at his game on and off the hockey field. He helps organisations tighten their game-plan and hone their team performance skills. And the founder of Beckon Business, Ak Sabbagh, would hold an Olympic medal in Business Coaching if it was an Olympic sport. Ak has been coaching for over 20 years and what he doesn’t know about ‘sharpening-the-axe’ in businesses hasn’t been discovered yet.

However, where I see the real medal-winning performers is in our clients.

Like the medical specialist practice owner who began her business coaching journey looking to improve overall performance in an already high-functioning  team of professional practitioners.

Instead of starting with the broader team, we focused on coaching the practice leaders to refine the vision and purpose of the practice and build depth in leadership competence in the executive team.

Building up the leadership team’s bench-strength gave the business owner the freedom to step-aside from her hands-on role of leading the team and sharpen her own vision, do some blue-sky thinking about growing the business and reflect on her personal aspirations. The winning result of this two-year coaching journey culminated in the successful sale of the elite business. Not only did this free the owner to share her specialist knowledge with other professionals outside her practice, but it also expanded the capability of the specialist practice to deliver excellence to a wider community. A big win for the profession and a big win for the specialist practice. More than this, all of this took place while the world oscillated around COVID lockdowns!

Getting clear on the vision, taking regular coaching to sharpen-the-axe and having the courage and strength to look for a new owner in the midst of a pandemic, resulted in bringing cut-thru and delivering a medal winning performance. It was the shift to sharpen-the-axe in the executive team that released this business leader/owner to focus on the opportunity to succeed out of the business – a genuine win-win for everyone.

Improved overall team performance, deeper leadership capability, and time for business owners to get clear on their bigger picture – all in a day’s work at Beckon Business where we love helping our clients to sharpen-the-axe and  uncover the aspiration that brings about winning shifts for our business clients.

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