We often get performance and results confused. They are however very different. Performance dictates the actions you take and how well you execute them. Results are what you get following a series of actions.
Tennis players, golfers and many others in their post-game interviews just talk about how they performed. Their careers are determined by their results yet they seldom talk about them. They talk about how they swung the racquet or how relaxed they were. Recently the BBC sports website lead their news of the Lions match with:
“Brian O’Driscoll admitted the British and Irish Lions failed to deliver a complete performance despite a 10-try thumping of a Combined Country XV.”
The result was clearly decisive but that isn’t what the players or staff focused on. They know that they need to take certain actions and execute them in a certain way and that is what they strive for. If they perform well the results will come. How often do you hear someone coming out of a client meeting and bemoaning their performance having had a successful result? Or bemoaning their performance having had an unsuccessful meeting for that matter?
In many business people spend huge amount of time in meetings but whether we are running or attending them how effective are we performing in those meetings? Are we really good at bringing others in? At garnering support for an idea? At pushing for or making decisions? Are we as skilful as we can be at persuasion? Are we as articulate as we can be? Can we be better at describing our product or service? Do we behave in the same way in each meeting giving us satisfactory results? If we were to improve some of these skills would be the meeting be shorter, more effective or more profitable? This is what performance is all about. The actions you take and how well you execute them.
In a world that seems to be getting more and more competitive, where results are more and more important, where we get measured on more and more it is so important to be more critical about our performance. Sports people take time to reflect on performance. Yes they do very often have time to do so. They don’t move from training session to training session all day long but they build it into their timetables. They make time to review their performance because it really matters. Can you find a few minutes here or there? What would be the benefit to you of raising your performance by a couple of percentage points in a few areas? Next week try asking these questions once a day and see what happens.
- Where have I performed best?
- What were my most disappointing performances?
- What was I doing in the good performances that I was not doing in the poor performances?
Remember this is not about your results, it’s about the actions you take and how well you execute them.
