High Performance: Lessons from the Best on Becoming Your Best

by Jake Humphrey

Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have got.’

People who view their problems as pervasive, permanent and personal tend to end up with worse life outcomes than those who view them as specific, temporary and external.

Think about what you can change: your mindset, your language, your behaviour.

While material rewards and social status can drive motivation in the short term, they’re rarely enough in the long run. True motivation comes from within. Internal motivation comes from three sources. First, ‘autonomy’. When your behaviour aligns with your values, it’s easier to get excited about it. Second, ‘competence’. We are most motivated when we have control over what we’re doing. Third, ‘belonging’. When we feel part of something bigger than ourselves – like a team – we can sustain our motivation for longer. The value of internal drive goes far beyond motivation, however. It’s good for your whole worldview – like Zack George, motivated people are happy people, too.

Everyone has strengths and everyone has weaknesses. Yet all too often we obsess over the things we can’t do, and ignore the things we can. Remember the theory of multiple intelligence: there are myriad ways to be talented. The trick is to find yours. That involves three steps. First, recognition – think about those instances, perhaps in your youth, when you were told you had a talent. Was it a ‘golden seed moment’? Second, reflection – think about what you’re good at in the here and now. Success leaves clues. It’s your job to spot them. Third, rhythm – seek out those tasks that induce a sense of ‘flow’. These moments are all too rare, but might just reveal your true calling. Finding these skills is the quickest route to high performance. Each of us can play to our ‘comparative advantage’ – provided we know how to find it.

The most dangerous phrase in the language of a high performer is “We’ve always done it this way.”’

When we encounter problems, we often use tried-and-tested shortcuts to solve them. These ‘heuristics’ can be useful, but also stop us being creative. Effective problem-solving is all about smashing through your heuristics – and gaining a flexible perspective. How can we learn to think flexibly? First, convince yourself that the puzzles you encounter can be solved. It’s not that you can’t do it – it’s that you can’t do it yet. Second, learn to look at things afresh. Try thinking like a mad scientist. If you were encountering this problem without any preconceptions, what would you do? Third, get outside yourself. Ask the opinion of someone completely unlike you – do they have a different take? Above all, remember that seeing things in an unusual way isn’t the problem – it’s the solution. High performers do things differently.

Find Your BHAG

She asked him how he would change his behaviour if he received two life-changing phone calls. In the first, he’d learn that he had inherited $20 million, no strings attached. In the second, he’d learn that, due to a rare and incurable disease, he had only ten years left to live. In that situation, she asked him, ‘What would you stop doing?’

‘You need to set your ego aside and ensure the business is always put first, and the people strongest for each role are in those roles,’

In time, Neville would come to have this effect on his own team. When he left Manchester United to join Everton, he explained how the habits he had adopted at his previous club – such as arriving early and warming up in the gym – were a culture shock to his new teammates. ‘I was the only one doing it,’ he said. But in this instance, he became a cultural architect himself – causing ‘ripples’ of behaviour change to pass through a team: ‘Within my first two weeks at Everton, a small but committed group of senior players began to come in the gym with me and the ripples eventually meant everyone was doing it.’

always treated my team with respect. I didn’t ever ask them to do something if I wasn’t willing to do it myself.’

Remember that leadership is high-pressure, but it need never be solitary. Leaders are part of the team, not above it – and that makes leadership less scary than you might think.

It was a powerful insight into the importance of emotional intelligence. Today, I know that building a high-performing team is all about understanding your peers as individuals. Think about their emotions, ask about their families, reflect on what they’re thinking. They are people first, potential high performers second.

Imagine a workplace where you hold back from asking questions or sharing ideas, because of the fear of seeming incompetent. You can never really be yourself, and you can never really relax. This is a workplace with a sense of psychological danger – you are constantly on edge. Now, imagine a workplace in which everyone is safe to take risks, offer their views, ask daft questions and admit their failures. You can let your guard down, knowing you won’t be laughed at or sacked. This workplace offers psychological safety.

Since Edmondson began her research, psychological safety has become one of the most influential ideas in global management.30 Most famously, Google once ran an enormous study of 180 teams, analysing over 250 different team attributes – and found that psychological safety correlates strongly with the best-performing teams.

If I make a mistake on my team, do I feel it’s held against me? Are my colleagues able to bring up problems and tough issues? Is it safe to take a risk? Is it difficult to ask other members of this team for help? When I am working with colleagues, do I feel my unique skills and talents are valued and used?

‘People have to be led. But everybody is responsible for creating the environment.’

Leaders can’t create a culture alone. After all, culture is people. But leaders can set an example. They can show their teams what a positive atmosphere would look like. If culture is in anyone’s hands, it’s theirs.

Good leaders, though, aren’t dictators. They don’t micro-manage, and they don’t have to. In many respects, true leadership is hands-off.

Success comes not just from the top down, but from the bottom up.