A study of twenty-one ultra endurance triathletes revealed that experts and non-experts think differently during performance. These triathletes were classified according to finishing times: experts, middle of the pack, and back of the packers. After competing, these athletes viewed videoed segments of their performance and asked to recall their thoughts during periods of high decision making.
An initial analysis found the athletes’ thoughts to be a) passive, b) active, or c) proactive. Expert triathletes reported a greater emphasis on thoughts related to their performance, while middle of the pack and back of the pack triathletes reported a greater number of passive thoughts.
Furthermore, experts were more proactive in their approach to performance situations than mid- and back-pack triathletes. Proactive thinking refers to the ability to identify opportunities and act on them to bring about significant change.
Compared with non-experts, it appears that experts are not only more focused on factors affecting their performance, but also are more proactive in making decisions to achieve greater results from their efforts.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
REVIEW: The Way We're Working Isn't Working
Tony Schwartz, Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy have written a provocative book that takes a serious look at the one area in business that seems immune to change -- the human costs of doing business in the digital age.
Schwartz is also the co-author of The Power of Full Engagement. In this new work, he, Gomes and McCarthy provide a proven prescription for making positive changes in the way we work. The book is an extension of ideas that Schwartz and McCarthy introduced in a Harvard Business Review article Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time in 2007.
The premise is simple: “The furious activity to accomplish more with less exacts a series of silent costs: less capacity for focused attention, less time for any given task, and less opportunity to think reflectively and long term.” In other words, less energy. More importantly, less sustainable energy.
Like Dan Pink’s book, Drive (highly recommended), this book challenges the notion of what truly works in today’s business environment. While Pink focuses on motivation, Schwartz, Gomes and McCarthy challenge the idea of how to enhance the performance of employees -- and much of it is counter-intuitive to how we do business. “A growing body of research suggests that we’re most productive when we move between periods of high focus and intermittent rest. Instead, we live in a gray zone, constantly juggling activities but rarely fully engaging in any of them -- or fully disengaging from any of them.”
Within the first 10 pages, they make a persuasive case. “Most organizations enable our dysfunctional behaviors and even encourage them through policies, practices, reward systems and cultural messages that serve to drain our energy and run down our value over time.
They make a make a case that we’re at our best not when act like computers running at high speed for long hours, but when we pulse rhythmically between expending and regularly renewing energy across each of our four needs.
If you want to make positive change in your organization and want to move beyond the status quo, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working -- is a working blueprint for any company’s future.
Schwartz is also the co-author of The Power of Full Engagement. In this new work, he, Gomes and McCarthy provide a proven prescription for making positive changes in the way we work. The book is an extension of ideas that Schwartz and McCarthy introduced in a Harvard Business Review article Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time in 2007.
The premise is simple: “The furious activity to accomplish more with less exacts a series of silent costs: less capacity for focused attention, less time for any given task, and less opportunity to think reflectively and long term.” In other words, less energy. More importantly, less sustainable energy.
Like Dan Pink’s book, Drive (highly recommended), this book challenges the notion of what truly works in today’s business environment. While Pink focuses on motivation, Schwartz, Gomes and McCarthy challenge the idea of how to enhance the performance of employees -- and much of it is counter-intuitive to how we do business. “A growing body of research suggests that we’re most productive when we move between periods of high focus and intermittent rest. Instead, we live in a gray zone, constantly juggling activities but rarely fully engaging in any of them -- or fully disengaging from any of them.”
Within the first 10 pages, they make a persuasive case. “Most organizations enable our dysfunctional behaviors and even encourage them through policies, practices, reward systems and cultural messages that serve to drain our energy and run down our value over time.
They make a make a case that we’re at our best not when act like computers running at high speed for long hours, but when we pulse rhythmically between expending and regularly renewing energy across each of our four needs.
If you want to make positive change in your organization and want to move beyond the status quo, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working -- is a working blueprint for any company’s future.
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