Every month the Tekara Community gets together in our Vancouver office (our Toronto office joins us via Google+ Hangout) to connect and share the learnings we are experiencing with clients, on projects and in our lives. Within this meeting of the minds there is always some incredibly fruitfull learning for all and we wanted to share the highlights with you here!

1) The Power of Storytelling

How do we as leaders of teams and organizations influence those around us?

One of the most effective and under-utilized tools is storytelling.

Exercise: As an introduction to our community meeting, Peter guided us through a storytelling check-in exercise. The purpose of this exercise was to check into the meeting in a way that gets everyone engaged and present in the room – sharing at a meaningful emotional level. At the same time this was positioned as a great way for all of us to practice our storytelling skills.

As leaders, there is a lot of room to improve and practice our storytelling skills by consciously structuring stories in archetypal patterns.

The greenlight story pattern is a great example: A relatable hero encounters roadblocks, experiences a catalyst and emerges transformed.

Telling stories from an archetypal structure is the most powerful way to emotionally engage your audience. This is how your team and organization will emotionally connect and engage with your organizations mission, vision, and values.

Takeaway: Before you share your next story, identify the key pieces highlighted in the greenlight pattern and structure your story accordingly.

2) Striving for Greater Impact

A common theme in the stories that were told around the table was “having greater impact beyond ourselves”. Magic happens when we are able to align our core values and passions with the impact we are having in the world. When this has a positive influence on others we are filled with intrinsic motivation and a major release of dopamine which increases happiness. Here are some of the highlights:

• Having the opportunity to save a life by being a national guard lifeboat member.
• Building self esteem in our youth through positive encouragement and support.
• Greening our office to becoming more environmentally conscious and sustainable.
• Speaking and presenting at conferences to add value to the business communities we work in.

Takeaway: We challenge you to continue to define what this looks like in your life, and pursue it with vigor!

3) Engaging Employees in Strategic Planning

When supporting our clients through the strategic planning process, there are always opportunities to engage employees in the process. This can be a key component in developing a shared vision and creating a strong organizational culture.

So how can you engage your employees in the strategic planning process?

Exercise: With a recent client we structured a “world cafe” exercise where we split employees into small breakout groups and sent them to separate tables in a large conference room. Each table had a different word or phrase that represented one of the organizations core values. Employees were asked to give their input, tell stories that highlighted these values, and also talk to how these values could be inspired in the future. These small groups would work from table to table, with one key moderator at each table to capture all of the themes and inspiring stories.

The leaders of the organizations were then able to see how these values showed up in the workplace with employees. This becomes powerful informing data in the strategic planning process.

Takeaway: engage employees authentically, and make sure you communicate how the input is being used. Email us if you want to learn more!

4) Immunity to Change

Our colleague Donna Howes is one of two Immunity to Change certified facilitators in Western Canada and she was kind enough to give us a peek into what this program was all about.

As you may know, we as human beings really struggle with change. Whether it is personal (taking vitamins) or professional (becoming a better listener), the challenge is the same. The developers of Immunity to Change have dug deep into the research of why we do this and have developed a professional framework that allows us to uncover what is going on below the surface.

Donna highlighted that while the intention to change actions may be there, there is often times a competing intention underneath the surface that inhibits us from moving forward. Immunity to Change is all about checking in at this deeper level and then working through a process to remove these barriers from our lives through small tests that lead the way for big change!

Takeaway: Email our wonderful associate Donna Howes to dive deeper into Immunity to Change and learn more!

5) The Digital Revolution

Remember the days where you would ask the audience (whether in a presentation or a board meeting) to silence and put away their phones?

Those days are changing.

Have you heard of the second screen revolution?

We had a lengthy discussion regarding how technology is changing the way we engage and communicate with others. This presents an interesting paradox for us at Tekara. We profoundly value being fully present in conversations with clients and colleagues. However, we acknowledge that the world is changing, and especially in the generation entering the workforce, asking for 100% undivided physical attention is a foreign concept.

Instead of fearing this transition, we are framing this change as an opportunity to enhance and augment our audiences experience by finding valuable ways to join them in that second space.

Exercise: I recently had an opportunity to deliver a keynote at Social Media Camp Victoria. Mari Smith was the opening keynote who did a brilliant job of joining the audience in the digital space by scheduling tweets using the hashtag to enhance her presentation. At one point an audience member stood up and screamed “I LOVE SOCIAL MEDIA” only to have the room fall quiet and 700 confused faces look towards the enthused fan. Mari had joined the audience on that second screen and had actually built in a fun exercise.

Takeaway: Whether it is in the board room or on the stage, find ways to meaningfully leverage technology and engage your audience to enhance the experience. Embrace the opportunity to augment and deepen the experience through technology!

6) Your Turn

What is the biggest learning or insight you have had this month in your business or personal life? Please share a story or experience in the comments below, or find us on Twitter!

You can view the full BIV article originally published here. 

When organizations impose change on employees, they are taken out of their comfort zones and experience a gamut of emotions ranging from curiosity and suspicion to fear. People struggle with change when they feel controlled and have no say in changes that affect them. What they need is information to sort through their thoughts and emotions.

Organizations that manage change successfully recognize that they need their employees to help get them from the current state to the future, envisioned state. And they know that employees won’t jump aboard the change train until they have answers to these critical questions: what does all of this mean to me, how is the change going to affect my life and will I have any opportunity to influence decisions?

A change communication strategy spells out the approach and methods that will be used to ensure employees are aware of and understand the change. The plan defines such elements as key messages, who has responsibility for delivering what messages, and what communication channels should be used.

Communicating change is a leadership responsibility (tweet this quote): it cannot be delegated. Senior management must use their power to convey a sense of purpose, energy and direction. They must motivate and inspire employees to trust them as they ask them to step into the unknown.

Supervisors have a vital role in communicating change, too. All research shows that employees prefer to hear about changes from their immediate supervisor. The line manager is the person to whom the employee will turn to “shorten the line of sight” between the change initiative and what it means to the team and them personally.

A change communication plan isn’t the only ingredient needed to guarantee successful change, but the lack of one will almost certainly guarantee failure.

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by: Shoshana Allice

'Why' vs. 'What'

Simon Sinek suggests that “People don’t buy WHAT you do; they buy WHY you do it.” People don’t buy products, they buy experiences, they don’t buy –in to goals, they buy-in to identities. When people buy a product or service they do it because of how they think it will make them feel; which is based in what they believe. So the most successful marketing and communication strategies speak to the heart of what people believe, or to lean on a SWITCH concept, what people WANT to believe about who they are. “I’m the kind of person that is …..” (practical, innovative, a change-leader, a tradition-protector)

When it comes to leadership, these concepts are vitally important. People won’t follow you because of the measurable goals in your annual plan, or because of productivity requirements, or even because of the values written on the wall. They will choose to follow you because they believe that you represent, indeed that you believe, what they believe, about what’s really important.

In times of significant change, organizations working hard to ‘do it right’, often get clear on the big “Why” of the change, and communicate it well across the organization. They are then surprised when people don’t care, or don’t ‘buy it’. How does that fit with Sinek’s wisdom? Well, it runs up against even older wisdom…

Actions speak louder than words

Often, once we’ve determined the “big why” and it’s on the wall, we say it a lot when talking about “the change”… But do we think it, FEEL it, and make each decision, with that “why” in mind?

Often we don’t.

The ‘big why’ may be guiding the overall project, but it is the everyday “whys” like costs, benefits, market pressures, political pressures, etc, etc, that guide many of the decisions along the way. And people can feel that. They too can see the wisdom in the big “why” and are smart and perceptive enough to know when their reality is being threatened by politics, ego, budget pressures, and all the other things they’ve seen around them throughout their work lives.

Applying the 'Why' through leadership

To be successful in managing change, and in getting people ‘onboard’ with it, leaders have to ensure that not only is their communication consistent with their ‘big why’, but so are their decisions – each one they make, along the way. These are the leaders that can engage people in supporting the ‘big why’ of a change, continually asking for (and listening to) feedback from their people as they chart the course. Successful leaders, the ones people willingly follow, are those who can ask themselves the deeper ‘why’ of their decisions, and adjust course accordingly when they are off-track.

Because in leadership, as in life, if we don’t know WHY we do the things we do, we are wandering blind.

Join the Conversations!

What is your “big why” as a leader? Why do you lead? What do you believe about leadership? About being ‘followed’? What do you believe that might inspire others?

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Originally posted on tyrellmara.com

Whether your meeting with potential new clients, a project team you are currently working with, or debriefing a work project or experience – how you show up to these conversations will consciously and subconsciously shape how people view you and the value you bring to the table. This is true when we meet with people in a one on one or group setting, as well as face to face or remotely via a conference call or Skype.

How you “Show up in the room” (in person AND virtually) will play a big role in getting the contract, building great working relationships, and generating the trust that leads to referrals and follow up business.

“…while no single conversation is guaranteed to change a relationship, a life, or a business, any single conversation can…”

~ Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations

We all have the opportunity to be great conversation facilitators. Here is a list of 7 key principles I have seen, experienced, and practiced in my daily interactions!

If there are strategies or tips that you use that aren’t on this list, please share for us in the comments section below the post!

Be Prepared!

I think this is one of the most important and possibly most overlooked keys to having successful meetings and conversations.

How much time do you take to prepare for the conversation you are about to have? Do you mentally create the space and time before a call to shift gears and focus specifically on the meeting at hand? Or do you leave that until you are picking up the phone to dial?

Whether you know it or not, there is a connection between how you prepare for a meeting and how you “show up” to those in the room or on the call. We all have different approaches to get us in the zone, or “at the top of our game”. It is important to understand what this process looks like for you.

I will block off up to an hour before an important call to make sure I am mentally, emotionally, and intellectually prepared for the conversation. Believe it or not, this process for me resembles very closely how I would get ready for a big basketball game. The reason I do this is because those same processes and techniques that put me at my mental and emotional peak on the court can be applied to anything… Who said all athletes are just big dumb jocks!

Have an Agenda

This goes hand in hand with being prepared.

If you are leading the meeting, have a standard process in place for creating a meeting agenda. This process may include (but certainly is not limited to):

• Capturing all topics that need to be covered
• Sending a draft agenda to meeting participants and requesting additional input
• Structuring the agenda based on how you want the conversation to flow

This proactive step shows other participants that your time is valuable. It also shows that you are invested in making sure the meeting is productive. As you prepare for the meeting, the agenda will also act as a great guide to help you facilitate and move the conversation along.

On the other hand, if you are not leading the meeting, I encourage you to request an agenda be sent out before hand. This will not only allow you to better prepare for the conversation, but it shows the other stakeholders how important the meeting (and your time) is!

Create Space to “Check in”

Checking in can be as quick as saying hi and asking how the week is going at the beginning of a call. Other times it can take up the whole meeting as you may discover issues lurking underneath the surface that need to be addressed before more meaningful work can be done.

It is up to you as the facilitator to gauge these check-ins and determine whether to go deeper or move forward.

The point here is simple, create the space at the beginning of a meeting for attendees to check in and share how they are doing. You can choose to structure the check in with a specific exercise, or simply allow participants to share what they need to be “fully present”. Make sure you are listening deeply to the language, tone, energy, and non-verbal communication if you are in the room together. Don’t be afraid to inquire if you feel someone is having a hard time or needs to get something off their chest before continuing.

Leaning into these conversations can be hard and uncomfortable, but the consequence of ignoring these issues that are underneath the surface will be significantly more detrimental not only to the meeting but the bigger picture of the pro

ject and working relatio

nships as well.

Embrace the Silence

Yes, silence in any meeting, whether on the phone or in person can be awkward, uncomfortable, and sometimes almost unbearable – and yet many times silence can be the most powerful conversation catalyst.

A simple but important way to embrace silence is at the beginning of a conference call or webinar. I can’t tell you how many times I have been on the other end of a call where instead of pausing and requesting a few minutes to wait for attendees or co-facilitators, the person leading the call will attempt to fill the space with 5-10 minutes of small talk. Many times this is not necessarily appropriate for the given audience, and I’ve found that after 2 minutes of small talk, the silence that follows becomes much more awkward.

Instead, if you have a colleague that is running late, or you want to give attendees a few more minutes, say so! Inform the room that you will be going on mute for 5 minutes while you wait, and then you will get started. When you are ready to start (with or without your colleague or attendees), jump right in and get started. Don’t stall, start apologizing, or make excuses.

many times leaning into silence can be the most powerful conversation catalyst.

Hold the Space

Many times the most powerful and productive meetings are when you as the facilitator are not the one doing all of the talking. Remember, you have designed the agenda, and with that you understand the desired outcomes and objectives of the meeting. If you feel that the conversation among attendees is positive and moving towards those desired outcomes, hold the space. Don’t feel like you have to jump in and “control” the flow or direction. Instead, continue to be engaged and listen deeply, pose questions that will continue to guide and drive the conversation in the right direction.

When you have done all of the little things to show this conversation is important, the attendees participation matters, and a safe environment has been created, the skill of 'holding the space' becomes very valuable. Many times holding the space means having the courage to allow silence to be present when someone is gathering a thought, struggling with an idea or topic, or even dealing with an issue much more systemic than the topic of conversation.

Allowing these conversations to surface and be worked through in a safe space will not only help you move in the right direction in the meeting, but will also have broader positive effect on working relationships and long term success.

Closing topics and conversations

Especially when you are leading a meeting that has had some charged or intense conversations (positive OR negative), there is value in formally closing the topic before you segue to the next agenda item.

Sometimes it will make sense to move right into the next topic, but a good skill to practice is asking attendees if there are any final points, flags, or feelings that have come up during the conversation around a specific topic that they would like to voice before moving on.

Just like allowing attendees to check in by way of sharing what they need to “be fully present in the room”, formally segueing allows participants to share any final thoughts that may still be bubbling. As the leader you may identify important follow up conversations or action items from these final statements. However, know that you do not have to address them in the moment, instead make a note of anything important, and segue to the next item when you feel the group is ready.

giving your audience the opportunity to be fully at peace with the present topic will empower them to be fully engaged in the next one.

Capturing notes and following up

Just like the habit of creating an agenda as pre-work to a meeting, capturing important notes, themes, responsibilities, and action items is also very important. I am not a huge fan of taking “minutes”, or the idea of capturing every single little detail took place throughout the meeting.

Rather, I like to look for themes that emerge over the course of conversations, action items that arise from those themes, and any new topics that came up or conversations that were not concluded. In the preparation of my notes it then becomes much easier to create flow by using “themed headings” with a description of what came out of that conversation from key points, to action items, and any flags that were raised.

Again, in the spirit of being fully engaged in the process, this is another small step that shows the level at which you are invested. It will serve you as a way to make sure you have captured the important themes of the meeting, and will be appreciated by attendees as a way to keep everyone on the same page and fully accountable to their responsibilities.

My personal preference is to quickly draft these themes and notes as soon as possible after the call (10-15). At which point I’ll walk about from it and re-visit the notes later in the day, clean them up, and send them out!

Answering the, “So What?”

Think about how many key business relationships we create and develop (or have the opportunity to) through face to face, conference call, one to one, and group meetings. Many of us are going through these experiences on a daily basis, typically with key stakeholders to our projects or business. I have always been of the opinion of quality over quantity. Quality in this case means two things: First, when you do all of the little things to facilitate a truly meaningful meeting with productive conversations, you begin to realize that you need to meet significantly less often. Second, your quality of relationship with the client, team, or stakeholder will become stronger, which will ultimately lead to higher quality working relationships and opportunities.

What is the single most important thing that you do when having meaningful conversation?

Please take 30 seconds and share in the comments below!

Talking about Employee Engagement

The risk of latching on to the term employee engagement – even with the best of intentions – is that it is a complex concept requiring leaders to really open the organizational kimono and reveal what’s on the inside. And once the obi falls to the tatami, what’s underneath isn’t often pretty.

I have an interest – sometimes I’d characterize it as a passion – for anything relating to employee engagement.

Apparently, I am not alone!

Of late, I have been following the virtual trail to wonderful posts and published articles on this rich yet sometimes confusing topic. A recent find – someone who calls herself a change coach – spoke to me when she lamented the overuse of the term “employee engagement”, even suggesting we ban it all together.

A Closer Look at Employee Engagement

As I understand her position, she sees employee engagement as a reciprocal process, that reflects on an honest exchange of communication, actions and accountability. Somehow over the past few years, it’s become the “holy grail” of all organizational effort; armed with indicators taken from the annual employee engagement survey, leaders latch onto the “shiny penny syndrome”, believing that a mix of programs will fix the problem(s). Then usually, leaders leave the development and implementation of said programs to the HR division – enlisting Corporate Communications to spread word of the leaders’ commitment to the process and declarations of regular progress updates – and go about the real business of generating revenues and cutting costs.

And then the leaders are surprised when the results of the next year’s survey reveal little change in engagement.

Employee engagement is an outcome of good leadership.

Programs that improve managers’ skills as people lead

ers and relationship builders is money and effort well spent. Of course, this involves getting the management team right in the first place, and too many organizations promote poorly from within or continue the outdated practice of hiring specialists rather than people leaders.

I know from personal experience the amazing positive effect a great manager can have on performance, productivity and that elusive “discretionary effort”. Sadly, I also know the opposite. All I’m saying is, organizations should start by placing extreme priority on getting the team right in the first place.

Getting the Team Right

When having great managers is the organization’s default position, magic happens. They know how to performance-manage the individuals on their teams. They know how to tap into their strengths and give them the support and tools they need to be successful and productive. Great managers know how to motivate and incent their employees and tailor the recognition accordingly. Daniel Pink, in his insightful book, “Drive: The truth about what really motivates us”, makes a compelling case for the three things workers crave: autonomy, purpose and mastery.

A great manager gets that and moves mountains to make that holy trifecta a reality.

The result? Yep – engaged employees.

Overcomplicating Employee Engagement

I don’t think the idea of trying to understand the symptoms, causes and fixes of employee engagement was ever intended to become so muddied or evolve into such a cringe-inducing term. I do think many organizations have lost their way by overcomplicating it, and making it an unattainable outcome.

In Charles Dickensian times, employers didn’t care what their employees thought about their working conditions or their bosses; thankfully, that’s no longer the case. Employers understandably want high performing employees who (in survey vernacular) “say, stay and strive”. The way to get there is through old-fashioned relationship building – among all levels of an organization – where people feel respected and valued.

I didn’t say any of this was easy or quick.

Dispelling the Talent Myth

by: Russell Hunter

A couple of weeks ago I sat watching the US Olympic Gymnastic Trials on NBC. Some Olympic athletes make it look effortless. Their performance flows with a grace and rhythm that seems almost magical.

It’s tempting to watch people perform extraordinary feats and chalk it up to talent or giftedness. But what is talent? I think it’s overused. It’s become a catch all to explain what we often have a hard time describing in tangible terms. Belief in the talent myth holds many of us back both as leaders and in terms of our own potential for high performance.

It Comes Down to 3 Factors

It seems plausible that we need a certain level of natural ability for success in sports, or any other high performance arena. But the amount of natural ability needed for athletic success is strikingly low, and constitutes only one of three factors that build athletes into the elite ranks:

1. Nature:

The physical genetics we inherit from our parents is one factor – arm or leg length, hand size, shoulder width, muscle fiber types, oxygen utilization rates, etc. Our own unique mix of physical characteristics increases our potential for excellence in

some sports vs others.

2. Nurture:

Having parents who value sport, having financial resources to train, travel and purchase equipment, time to train, access to knowledgeable and experienced coaches and facilities, etc. Bottom line: the right environment and resources are required to build an athlete’s capacity and competence.

3. Will:

An almost reckless devotion to developing their ability. An athlete’s commitment to learning, adapting, and persevering is what sets champions apart from good athletes. This factor can’t be taught, but it can be inspired with the right environment. For these athletes there is joy in the training itself, they are intrinsically motivated. While training to become elite at sport requires saying no to other opportunities, most elite athletes don’t frame these sacrifices as hardships, they actually enjoy the training and focus they have. While winning their event may be part of their motivation, it’s the joy of learning new skills, engaging with teammates, and pushing oneself to another level that keeps them engaged.

Overcoming Adversity

Much of the mythology of sport is built around people who lack natural ability, who went on to successes. Wilma Rudolph had polio as a child, but later went on to win the 100m dash at the Olympics. Glenn Cunnigham had his legs badly burned in a fire, and then broke the world record in the mile run. Such stories inspire us.

Although seemingly extreme examples, these stories point to a common element in athletes who rise to the top of their sport. When their history is studied, many overcome sharp or extreme adversity in their pursuit of success. Automobile accidents, difficult family situations, financial hardships, or any other manner of challenge have created the opportunity for the athlete to choose how they will respond to what they do not control. They grow or shrink from how they choose to frame it and act on it.

Perhaps the crucial factor in their success is not natural ability or talent at all, but the willingness to overcome natural or unnatural disadvantages, many of which we all face at times. Whether it’s a minor inconvenience of getting up early to go to the gym, or something more serious such as being diagnosed with a chronic illness. It’s our response to it that makes all the difference.

But still, we want to believe in talent. As Jean-Paul Sartre said, “what people would like is that a coward or hero is born that way.” Concluding that talent is something we are born with protects us by degrading the very achievements that it pretends to elevate. It somehow separates us from great athletes, making us incomparable to them. Perhaps even relieving those of us who are not excellent, in whatever domain matter to us, of responsibility for developing our own potential.

We don’t all need to become Olympians. That’s not the point. But we do need to believe in more than talent. In future posts I’ll discuss what some of those elements that seem like sheer talent are, and how anyone can begin to leverage them.

Whether we function in the role of employer or employee, we’ve all been involved with work relationships that deteriorate, or at least we’ve witnessed them.  At its worst, that deterioration is like a slow, painful death by a thousand cuts for the both parties involved.  Other times…phew!

A story of Zero to Full Disengagement

Your turn:

by: Russell Hunter

It was time.

As Brent Hayden walked from the ready room to the platform there he reflected on all the work he had done to get to this moment. Back in 2008 he failed to qualify for the men’s 100m freestyle final, but here in London his preparation paid off. In a few moments he would swim with the best in the world for Canada’s first medal ever in this event.

Confidence is critical here. From lane seven he looked across at the competitors beside him and a few doubts entered his mind. They looked strong. Their semi-final times were faster than his.

But before these thoughts could take root he remembered something important: All eight of the finalists had an equal opportunity. Anything could happen. He remembered the pain he had endured to prepare his body for excellence in this moment. He looked up at his fiancée in the stands and connected with all the strength she had provided him. This was his moment. He resolved to give this moment his everything, regardless of outcome. He would finish assured that whatever the result, he would have no regrets. A medal would not define him, his character would. He would still be the same person tomorrow.

As he stepped onto the platform, a calm intense focus settled in. He absorbed the sounds around him, visualized his start, grounded his feet on the platform, and awaited the tone. There were no more thoughts. “ready”….

Brent went on to win the Bronze medal that night. It was an emotional moment for many Canadians watching that night in the Olympics Aquatic Center. The three minutes leading up to Brent’s race reinforced several important performance principles. In today’s post I just want to focus on just one – appropriate goal orientation.

There are three different types of goals useful for high performance:

1. Outcome goals

These are the overall results you want to achieve. For example,

• To medal in the 100m freestyle at London 2012.

2. Performance goalsget my ex back

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Specific milestones that will make it possible for you to achieve your outcome goals. For example,

• Swim the 100m freestyle in under 43 seconds by June 2012
• Start reaction time of .02 seconds by January 2012
• Stroke length of 3m per side by Dec 2011

3. Process goals

What needs to occur in the moment of executing a performance in order to achieve performance goals. For example,

• Relaxed exhaling entire time head is under water (don’t hold breath)
• Keeping head aligned with spine during body roll
• Keeping elbow high during catch phase of stroke

A key distinction between these three types of goals is the degree of control you have in being able to achieve them.

Outcomes goals can be powerful motivators for training and creating a compelling vision for the future. But you can’t control your competitor’s capability or performance. Great performers and coaches know how to use outcome goals to prepare them for competition, but shift focus to performance and process goals in competition.

Performance goals build confidence in competitors and help them shift from hoping they can achieve an outcome goal to believing they can. Athletes have more control over their performance goals than outcomes, but many external factors could influence it. The more prepared an athletes is, the more easily they are able to adapt in the moment to meet the demands of an event. But poor officiating, action of other competitors can still influence your performance.

Process goals enable performers to have the most control moment by moment. These goals enable them to focus on the factors or variables that will influence their performance, and ultimately the outcome of an event or practice. They help develop confidence and a sense of progress when training. These goals are often used to focus an athlete after they lose their focus or composure. It creates a powerful focus in the present.

All three types of goals are critical to the development of a high performance.

Brent Hayden had all three in place, but ultimately his success required him to let go of expectations of a medal in the moment he needed to execute. He remembered what he was capable of in terms of performance, and focused on the process of executing it. Although doubts crept into his head he effectively chose the goal orientation he needed to keep him anchored into the present moment, not future outcomes.

What can we learn from this?

Most of us are familiar with the SMART goals acronym for effective goal setting. While this is a helpful framework, it has its limitations when it comes to creating the appropriate focus moment by moment. What big hairy outrageous goal have you set for yourself or your team? What does the ideal outcome look like? What elements of performance will be required to achieve it? What do you have control over right now to move closer and closer towards that goal?

Although it may seem like a lot of work to break an outcome goal down into the elements that support it, over time it creates a different orientation towards how we manage our focus, time and resources in the present moment. It also can free us from attaching our sense of self-worth with achieving a specific outcome – usually something we do not control.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how this may be applicable to:

• a personal goal you are currently working towards
• how you managing the expectations of your team
• how you support coaching clients

In my next post I’ll share a little more about how athletes use four focus styles to ensure they get their mind and body primed for performance. Something we all could use a little more of

Read the Introduction to Russell's journey to the London 2012 Olympics

It’s 6:30am on August 13, 2008…

Michael Phelp’s alarm clock went off, he rolled out of bed in the Olympic Village in Beijing, and he began his routine. He’d already raced and won three gold medals earlier that week and had two more that day. He pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt and walked to breakfast in the cafeteria. By 7am he was eating his regular race day menu of eggs, oatmeal and four energy shakes, and enjoying the company of his team mates. Just an ordinary day.

His first race that day was his strongest – the 200metre butterfly. It was scheduled to begin at 10am.

At 8am he began his usual stretching routine, starting with his arms, then his back. Eventually he worked his way down to his ankles, which were so flexible they could extend more than most ballerina’s ankles can.

At 8:30am he slipped into the pool and began his first warm up consisting of 800 metres of mixed strokes followed by 600 metres of kicking, 400 metres with a pull buoy between his thighs, 200 metres of stroke technique drills, and a few 25 metre sprints to elevate his heart rate and get him into performance mode.

By 9:15am he exits the pool and starts the arduous process of putting on his LZR bodysuit. After 20 minutes of tugging and adjusting it fits like a glove. He then put on his headphones, cranked up his pre-race hip-hop mix, and waited.

The Value of Rituals to High Performance

Phelps, like Ryan Cochrane and many of Canada’s athletes understand the importance of routine and rituals for high performance. Each element of their pre-race routine is crafted to help them get into the right performance state physically and mentally on race day. Beyond helping them manage anxiety, the routine is critical to helping athletes manage their most precious resource on race day – attention.

Months before arriving in London athletes create performance routines that will set them up for success at the Games. Some of them are physical, but perhaps the most important ones are the mental routines. When done well, rituals and routines help athletes conserve one of their most powerful, but quickly depleted resources – willpower. Done well, it creates a considerable advantage come race day.

One thing is clear from over 30 years of research conducted on habit formation and willpower at Stanford University – our capacity to self-regulate our thoughts, emotions, decisions, and ultimately our behaviour is smaller than we realize. Only about 5% of our bahviour is consciously self regulated. Yep… 5%.

On top of this, it’s a resource that is slowly depleted over the course of a day each time we use it. Even small decisions such as deciding what to eat for breakfast, or what route to take to get to work, use up our willpower reserves. The more things we need to focus on, or self-regulate ourselves on, such as saying no to a fifth pancake at breakfast, the faster that willpower reserve is depleted and we begin to make decisions, or behave in a way that is not in alignment with our intentions.

What does this have to do with high performance? The less an athlete has to think about before a race, the more he relies on routine, the more willpower he has to apply to the race itself. It may seem like

a small factor. But if an athlete is dealing with a new environment, media pressure, expectations of coaches and family, comments from other competitors, they need a lot of willpower in their tanks to focus their attention on performance relevant cues. If not, the race will be over for them, before it even begins.

So what are some of the ways we do this?

Pre-Olympic Visit to London

As part of the preparations for the 2012 Games last month, I accompanied several Olympic athletes to London. The main purpose of the trip was to orient the athletes to the athlete’s village, their training facilities, the competition venues, the Olympic arena, broadcast centre, and various protocols they needed to become familiar with before returning to London again for the Opening Ceremonies. The ultimate benefit of this was to help the athletes use this information to begin fine tuning their pre-race performance routines, and strategies to deal with potential distractions during the games.

This could be as simple as knowing the path they will take from the village to their venue, or what the room will look like where they stage before entering the arena. Each of these then becomes one less thing to manage in the moment. One less unknown for race day.

Valuable Take-aways

How is this relevant to you?

Whether you look to science or your own life for evidence, it is clear that we all have a tendency to run out of willpower when we need it most. Like a muscle, willpower, whether conscious decision making, managing our attention, or regulating our behaviour, is depleted slowly every time we use it over the course of a day. Routines and rituals can help you conserve this resource, and use it strategically to ensure you are able to think and act clearly when you need to most.

One week Challenge

Keep track of your self-control strength this week. When do you seem to have the most willpower, and when are you most likely to give up to impulses or emotions?

How could a routine for those moments make it easier for you to stay focused and make sound decisions?

What are the activities you need the most mental focus to be successful at? How can you ensure that you minimize potential stressors leading to up to that activity, and ensure your capacity for self-regulation is high?

Like any muscle, willpower can be strengthened, and used strategically to ensure you have power when you need it. In future blog posts we’ll discuss how to create a performance ritual to eliminate the need for willpower when under stress.

Feedback

I will be heading to London with the Canadian Olympic Team in under a week. I would love to know what topics around achieving high performance would you like to learn about from these athletes? What translations from the athletic world to the business world would you like me to look for? Please leave me a comment below this post, or connect with me on Twitter @RussHunter. I would love to hear from you!

-Russ