Balancing Performance
Balancing Performance
It’s no secret that I’m a recovering high-performance junkie.
I’ve come to learn that how I used to approach almost every activity in my life was once driven by a single and dominant strategy. Intensive focus.
And yet the intensive focus is just one of the three core elements of the performance cycle.
“To be able to sustain yourself, your leadership and your performance in the long term it’s critical to balance periods of intensive focus with cycles of deep learning and rituals of intentional renewal.”
However, it seems to me that intensive focus remains the dominant strategy for the majority of ‘high-performing’ individuals and organisations. Deep learning and intentional renewal come in a distant second and third.
Yet most people agree at an individual level that rest, recovery and regeneration are critically important to their physical, mental and emotional health (energy), and wholeheartedly accept that their performance would improve if they were to be more intentional about renewal.
What becomes interesting is, when the conversation shifts from an individual level to an organisational level the concept of intentional renewal remains the most challenging, underutilised and least acknowledged part of the performance cycle.
By stepping back and being able to see clearly how your personal approach to performance directly impacts your life and your leadership, you’ll be better able to understand the importance of re-balancing and re-prioritising intensive focus, deep learning and intentional renewal across your organisation.
Where individuals place the focus of their time, attention and energy really matter.
How individuals feel about the approach to performance in the organisations they work for drives culture, as well as determines the level of effort and energy they are willing to invest over the long term.
The sustainability of organisational performance (and the results that are created) will be determined by the example we set in the way we approach performance, as leaders.
“There’s a fine line between breakthrough performance and burnout. Mastering that line is vital.” ~ Jeremy Watkins
Over time I’ve become very intentional about how I approach renewal and now consider this a ‘core skill’ within the performance cycle.
Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, we’re all playing a long game.
How we set ourselves up to sustain our performance in the present will determine the longevity of our individual and collective success in the future.
With that in mind and the Easter holiday period has come and gone
How are you feeling about getting back to work and into intensive focus?
How did you use your time effectively to intentionally renew and refresh your system?
What did you learn deeply so that you can put these ideas into action?
