Dec 09
12
Achieving Peak Performance
How do your performances measure up to your expectations or those of others? Are they as expected or do they fall some way short? How do you feel both emotionally and physically when you have finished a performance? Whatever your answers are please read on and add your comments.
Your performances are under constant scrutiny from different quarters almost every day of your life. As an accepted condition of this critical analysis; you are also prepared to face up to a hurl of abuse, if your assessor is none too happy with your performance or on the other hand you readily reject any compliments that come your way if your performance has reached their standard.
It doesn’t really matter where your performances are taking place; they can be at home, socially or at work. Given that with any performance you have to apply effort, they can all be classified as being work related, whether at home, socially or in the workplace.
Your performance is assessed in terms of your ability to completed certain tasks and the efficiency and effectiveness with which you perform those tasks. There is also the added element of what your assessor (who could be your manager) thinks you are capable of. This all becomes very restrictive in terms of your personal development, if you are only assessed in terms of what your manager knows (thinks) you can achieve, which is only based, unfairly in my opinion, on your previous performance, rather than what you could possibly achieve, your potential. The difference between your performance and potential is the crux of the matter, finding it and eliminating where possible is key to high level performances and reaching your potential.
The unusual concept here is your past performances will be used to measure your need for further training or personal development training, whereas a little forward thinking with the application of coaching will be most beneficial in helping you reach your potential. If you believe that no two human minds are alike; think alike or respond the same, then how can one person tell another how to do something and expect optimum results and peak performance from them. Their potential will remain a mere dream.
Your potential is a measure of your true capability; however due to your assessor’s (manager) lack of self confidence, in both their own and your abilities, your potential in never likely to be ‘tapped’. Ultimately you will remain in the same role, continuing to perform the same dull mundane tasks, that are well within your comfort zone. Is it any wonder you find yourself totally unmotivated in your job, family life or social life and you begin to dislike your job, yourself and the friends you keep.
We all have greatness within us; the potential to be something special, the missing component is a contribution from you in, the form of patience, healthy nourishment and regular encouragement in the form of positive self talk. You may well hear people, including managers, refer to a person’s ‘hidden potential’ or ‘getting the best out of someone’. All these positive signs become lost in the rhetoric; when the ‘rubber hits the road’ and they are left with the choice of using an alternative management style, allowing you to make your own decisions and flourish in your self development and personal growth or adopting their usual dictatorial style .
Achieving a great performance is more than just pleasing somebody else. In any performance there is an element of learning, whether it is through initial failure or ‘learning by doing’ complimented by a healthy dose of fun.
So what is real performance all about and how is it achieved? First of all; if it’s your performance it must be down to you to decide whether it’s appropriate (good or bad) and up to the acceptable standard. Therefore, it follows that to achieve optimum performance you must have full responsibility and ownership of any decision making and the standard of the output, from beginning to end. If you are relying on demands from a manager, commanding instruction, or persuasion you have immediately lost your potential to achieve the performance being sought. A radical change of management style is required; courage and bravery are required by the manager, who may be tempted to contribute in times of struggle. However, perseverance with such a cultural change will undoubtedly produce results far beyond those of a more traditional management style.
If you are a manager try adopting a more coaching style role; be careful it’s not easy, you need to be patient with yourself. Alternatively, if you’re not a manager and you feel your boss would benefit from a change in management style, try adopting these principles as a learning tool for him/her to follow. In both cases, it’s worth enlisting the support of a life coach or consider adding this to your personal development and training to be a life coach yourself.
Thank you for reading this post, please let me know what you think and share your experiences. While you’re here please take the time to sign up for the newsletter or alternatively you may prefer to subscribe for regular updates in your favourite reader or by email.
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View Comments "Achieving Peak Performance"
thanks for sharing. Pengembangan kepribadian sangat penting mengingat dari kondisi sekarang ini yang sangat riskan dengan banyaknya masalah.