The 3 Questions of Application
The Real Gap in Leadership and Team Performance
It struck me in a workshop I was a participant in late last year.
As a presenter, I was going deeper into the importance of message, clarity of message, and finding ways to articulate this better in my speaking work. I filled notebooks with thinking, discussed my ideas one to one with colleagues, talked it out with instructors and practiced in front of the group. It was difficult, awkward, embarrassing and draining. But, then it popped.
My key observation from my last few years of work is that businesses are full of intelligent people. Our Executive and Teams are full of strong resumes and self-help fiends. They attend training programs, talks, and online events. They know a lot of stuff. On top of this, many have rich experience in their chosen field and specific subject matter.
So, I wonder... do our people need to learn more stuff?
For someone in the professional development and education industry that may sound a little insane. But, here's the heart starter:
If there is so much knowledge in our people, then what is at the heart of why these people (and businesses) are struggling to grow, hit targets, and achieve whatever it is that they want to achieve?
My conclusion: there is not a knowledge gap in our organisations, instead there is an application gap!
Why is it we have talented, qualified, and often lovely people leading and working in our teams but they are not practicing the stuff they have been taught?
In the past few weeks I have had in-depth discussions with GM's, HR Leads, and L&D Managers and have been nothing but shocked and stunned with what I have been hearing. Executive Leaders are not practicing the most basic leadership skills we all know are non-negotiables. In fact, even at board level this is common. The sorts of things we teach emerging leaders or Subject Matter Experts (SME) that move into their first leadership roles are not being practiced by many of us in highly responsible roles.
In a way, I this frightens me. But, then I need to check myself. There are legitimate reasons, traps, and challenges to executing these perceived basics. In fact, the further up the chain we climb the sweatier our palms get. So, I have taken my judgemental hat off (a constructive step for all of us - especially when reflecting on 'self'). Instead, I have put on my detective hat and started to dig into this:
If we truly have a strong knowledge base but the knowledge is not being applied, then how do we figure out what support our people need?
The more we understand and isolate the key areas of the 'application gap', the more effective our support of performance can be
I've been doing some thinking in this area and landed on the following killer questions to help diagnose what is going on:
What Don't We Know?
OK, I just went on rant about people knowing stuff. But, that doesn't mean a cohort of leaders or professionals will know everything. A good starting point is to work through the Core Technical Skills of Leadership and Professional Performance. This tells us where people have lacked exposure.
What Do We Know, But Do Not Practice?
This is a relatively simple exercise. What have our people been exposed to in their education, inductions, previous training programs, and industry events. What would make the difference if certain practices were being used deliberately - the right thing, by the right people, at the right time. Often, people don't see the importance of doing these things and how their actions fit into the bigger picture. This tells us where people have a lack of contextual thinking.
What Do We Know, But Do Not Want To Practice?
This is where is gets juicy. What do our people know, but do not practice even when they know it is the best thing to do. A resistance baked in emotions, detachment, misalignment and often confusion. Dissecting the underlying blockages to find ways towards critical performance traits is at the heart of this discussion. It tells us where people lack a 'real performance mindset'.
I love the people I am working with and hatching plans with as we are digging into the gritty rough stuff to truly find the activities that will shift the dial. We are shaping company performance, but more so, we are developing people, people's career trajectories, and the environments these people work within. These three questions are yielding big leaps. Try them on and see where you land.
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