I recently reread Daniel F. Chambliss’s article titled “The Mundanity of Excellence” from Sociological Theory (7:1 Spring 1989) – it’s another good read. The article deals with Olympic swimmers and how they are different than club or college swimmers. Dr. Chamliss notes that the “Olympic don’t just do much more of the same things…Instead they do things differently”. Their strokes are different, their discipline is different and their attitude is different. For many people this is a revelation. Olympic class swimmers do put a lot of time in, but some club and high school swimmers put in as much time. It is not quantity but quality that matters.
I started to play a lot of tennis three years ago for exercise. I was an ok player when I started out – but as I’ve continued to take lessons, I’ve continued to improve (still just ok, however). At the local courts there are players practicing the same poor form repeatedly. They will never get much better, and will all the more be frustrated when they fail to improve. There is one guy that hits at least a hundred serves a practice (all with poor form) which is about three sets of serves. One thing he’s grooved is his ability to hit the net.
Anders Ericcson is famous for his work on deliberate practice (see here) which outlined the qualities it took to improve through practice – which later became the 10,000 hour rule as written by Malcom Gladwell, in “Outliers”. The rule was that quality deliberate practice of 10,000 hours would turn the novice to an expert, complete with examples from music and computer programming. Recently (see here) there are some cracks in the foundation of the theory (it turns out just practice isn’t enough) but it remains a provocative idea.
When I was coaching my son’s soccer team we had a game when our opponents did a good job passing the ball between themselves, and we focused on our dribbling and chasing. At halftime the players commented that it seemed like the other side had more players. That is the way it seems when one team is following a better process – the ball moves more and the players don’t have to chase. They weren’t bigger, faster or stronger. They just followed a better system.
Businesses around the world are the same. We hire, train, buy, sell, process and ship something to someone, somewhere for which we get paid. Most business people don’t think of themselves working at the level of Olympic swimmers or concert musicians. Practice isn’t really required and performance doesn’t really get better with time. I don’t think this has to be true.
Great companies follow great processes that improve over time. They work together internally differently than poor companies, they look at metrics differently, they solve problems differently, and they make excellence – mundane. I think ok firms can get better. Here is how.
How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb?
Only one, but the lightbulb really has to want to change. You can’t get better unless you want to change. Getting better has to include the three factors that Chambliss mentioned, the task, discipline and attitude.
What we do
I’ve been to numerous training sessions where over a one or two day period you are bombarded with great ideas. After the session there is a rosy-glow amongst the staff which fades quickly when they get back to work and return to doing things the same way as before. Training is worthless unless it is put into practice. Nothing is as important as trying the ideas you’ve learned.
One tactic is a mandatory debrief after every training, conference or education session, where the team met and decided what we were going to do differently. Some ideas will be rejected, some will be tried and abandoned. But a few will stick from every session and as a group, you will get smarter.
Our Discipline
Chambliss quotes Peter Drucker about how in business it is actually a small number of practices that make an executive effective. Discipline in business is often about not taking the easy shortcut (and there are always shortcuts). Discipline, Chambliss notes, came to many swimmers by coming to practice on time and to being exact with their strokes, turns and dives.
Accounting has continued to become more refined due to regulatory pressures (SOX). However this accuracy has come with increased costs. Training for many firms is now considered a luxury and having the time to get systems working right seems impossible. The discipline is in doing it right the first time and in making sure the staff gets the training they need.
Achieving exceptional results with exceptional people is a challenge. Achieving exceptional results with ordinary people is what a good process does.
Our Attitude
The attitude of Olympic champion swimmers is that their excellent performance is mundane. They have trained for the tournament, they are prepared, they succeed. They make the unusual event normal “it’s just another swim meet” and they follow their preparatory routine so that they are ready to swim fast.
I once joined a company with a weak accounting group. I first asked my staff if we were the best finance department they’d ever worked for. The comparison was unfavorable. We then compared ourselves to the other accounting departments in the area and we decided we were likely the third best group on street we were on. Within two years we were able to become one of the best accounting groups in our sector. Timely hires and desire to get better made it happen.
Great companies also perform in a way that can seem boring too. They deliver on their customer promises every day. The Fedex truck shows up on time, the take-out at Whole Foods looks and smells delicious, the equipment you ordered works right out of the box. All of this is because performance is designed into the processes and the staff follows the process in a consistent way. Yes it does sound a little boring – but it’s worth it.