Are you settling for sub-optimal performance

In my last blog I suggested it’s our unconscious routines - when we're on automatic pilot - that can stop us achieving our goals and succeeding.

In this blog, first published on supply management's blog, I'd like to explore the motivation we might have for examining our behaviour, because otherwise why would we bother? This is true for any change. If you’re happy with the current outcome, why would you want to change what you’re doing? The premise behind any change is a desire for a different outcome. But I wonder how often we settle for the current outcome, not realising we’re settling for something sub-optimal.

First I'd like to start with an assumption that to achieve your goals at work you, or those who work for you, need the following skills:

• Motivation and enthusiasm

• Mental clarity

• Analytical ability

• Problem solving

• Interpersonal awareness

• Team working

• Concentration

• Access to long and short-term memory

• Comprehension

• Effective listening

• Confidence when speaking

• Organisational skills

• Ability to handle stressful situations and conflict

• Critical judgement and decision-making

• Effective communication and expression

• Creative writing

• Speed-reading

• Stamina and energy

Feel free to add any others you can think of.

Without these skills things can start to go wrong – for example negotiating sub-optimal pricing, choosing the wrong suppliers, failing to satisfy stakeholders, making mistakes, escalating risks, compromising production, fractious teams, deteriorating customer quality, missing out on innovation and much more.

Do you have access to these skills every day? Or does your ability in them wax and wane? Do you have access to each of these skills when you need them? Are you aware of times when you couldn't access them when that might have had a negative impact on your performance?

If you're like most people then yes - your abilities will wax and wane, and no - these skills are not always available when you need them. That's normal. What I've found is we're not always aware of what we're doing that could be negatively impacting our ability to access these skills.

My upcoming blogs will explore the unconscious routines that can prohibit optimal performance of these skills. Please think about what positive difference having access to these skills would have in your life.

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out in procurement 

Are you on auto pilot?

Yesterday I shared the learning ladder and the pitfalls of staying unconscious about the habits that get in the way of progress towards our goals every day. It reminded me of a blog I wrote for supply management at the start of the year about being on auto pilot..... 

...Will this be a year of change for you, or the same old, same old? What transpires may not be obvious unless you understand the routines that stand between you and your goals and success.

New years (as well as new jobs, new homes, or new anything) are a great time to reassess the routines we use every day, and to determine if they're helping us move in the right direction or holding us back. 

Routines are simply a set of learned behaviours that over time become unconscious. We stop assessing whether these routines support our success or not, and simply hand over to our autopilot to process the routine successfully.

 

For example:

● We make the first coffee of the day without thought of whether we want a coffee today, or if it really does make us feel better, just because we do it every morning.

● We take a specific route to work because at some point we learned it was quicker. And now we go into automatic pilot, and without any thought of the route we've taken or considering the quicker, cheaper or less stressful alternatives.

● We walk to the canteen at lunch, grab a sandwich and then return to our desk to eat it as we continue working, without thinking whether an alternative lunch break might be better for us and the work we're doing.

A routine emerges after we've followed the same set of procedures for a period of time (anywhere from three to 28 days according to the many books that address facilitating personal change). But there are numerous challenges when trying to set establish new routines that can have us falling back into the same old ways.

● How new is the situation? If it feels too much like the old situation you'll find it very easy to run the old routine within it.

● How hard is the new routine? If it's too difficult, again, it will be easy to fall back into old, known and easy to follow routines.

● How many others around you follow the old or new pattern? Going with, and not against, the routines of others around you will always be easier.

Your motivation to make the change is often the only thing that will make the difference to the outcome. It's the motivation to change that will allow you to stay conscious long enough for the new behaviour to become routines that you can do on automatic pilot, and not fall back on the old unresourceful methods. In other words, the bigger the motivation, the better.

What changes do you want to make for 2014? More importantly what patterns do you need to stop running? And what action do you need to take to ensure the new routines stand a chance of becoming available to your automatic pilot?

 

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out in procurement

You don't know what you don't know

Earlier in the week I was passenger in a car using my mobile phone as a sat nav. As a result we were both introduced to a new, more direct, route to our destination. 

Isn't that what we often do in life - do what we know and what works well for us, whilst remaining oblivious to the options to do things better, quicker or easier.

I was reminded of this again when having a joint "sharing" session on Microsoft with a friend. I was sharing how I use PowerPoint and she was sharing how she uses Excel. I don't think either of us considered ourselves to be novices in the programmes and yet we both learnt so much. Yes we had specific questions we wanted to be answered but the greatest learning came from the shortcuts we saw the other taking "hang on a minute how did you do that?" was a common utterance during our session. 

The learning ladder explains what is going on. 

When we're at the bottom of the ladder and unconsciously incompetent we don't know what we don't know, and are unaware of the potential and possibilities. Then we realise what we don't know and move to conscious incompetence. This awareness often acts as a motivator to take action. As we learn the new skill we then become consciously competent, and slowly as the new skill moves into our unconscious we become unconsciously competent.

For those who have learnt to drive its easy to see the stages you went through along the way. Moving from not knowing what you didn't know, to suddenly realising there was soooo much to learn, to then being very aware of every little thing you were doing (steering, accelerator, brake, mirrors (yes all of them). At the same time as noticing the road conditions and what the other road, and pavement, users were up to. Finally you get to the point where you get to your destination and wonder how you got there. 

 

The stages that are the most "dangerous" are when we're unconscious. 

Unconscious incompetence means we have no understanding that there may be something we don't know. Which means we don't look for the options, nor take action to explore new ways of doing things. Which is what we had been doing when using Excel and PowerPoint, and when driving that route. 

Unconscious competence means we find it difficult to teach others and take for granted what we know. We assume that the patterns we've developed are the most effective means of doing what we're doing. We forget why we do it this way and just do it. 

Whilst staying conscious of our level of awareness for a task can be tiring (because it's using up conscious brain power) its certainly a useful means of being in an optimum position to remain open to new information and new ways of doing things.

Where are you unconsciously incompetent and how might you raise your awareness to ensure you're more effective* in an area in your life? 

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out in purchasing

Alison@thepurchasingcoach.co.uk 07770 538159

* When reviewing the need for change its always useful to consider your current situation. If you're achieving what you want in life and you're doing it in a way that positively supports your mental, emotional and physical well being then its simple and no change is needed. The key is noticing dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness, frustration, anger, tiredness, stress or difficulty in achieving what you want. These are all clues that a change in behaviour could provide some benefit, and therefore it might just be worth the effort to take action and try something different.