How Mathematics of Performance Optimization can Help your Practice

Performance optimization in your practice is created by removing interferences that mask potential.

Rarely has anyone written a book with more impact than Timothy Gallwey in his book, “The Inner Game of Tennis”. Written in 1974, over two million copies have been sold to date.

Gallwey’s concept of performance optimization not only revolutionized athletic coaching but has profoundly impacted the fields of business, health, and education.

Gallwey was a tennis coach that developed a unique teaching methodology. He believed that, like any game, performance is based on two elements: an outer game and inner game.

The former is played against opponents and is replete with interferences in the form of advice about what a student should do or not do if they wish to succeed in the game.

The latter inner game is played internally with its primary obstacles being self-doubt and anxiety.

By removing interferences and calming the inner self-doubt and anxiety, Gallwey has shown that students will learn naturally by observing and adopting what works and feels right for them. He states that this concept of learning is not foreign. In fact, it is how we learn as infants to crawl, walk, and run.

Gallwey’s methodology is often described as a tutorial on how we must get out of our own way to have performance optimization.

Modern coaching techniques also embrace similar concepts that negative self-limiting thoughts must be eliminated for personal growth to occur. Much of our coaching is designed to help clients recognize and remove these interferences.

Gallwey, in his book, was able to condense his performance theories into this simple equation:

P (performance) = p (potential) – i (interference)

*Performance is equal to potential minus interference, or stated differently, peak performance is only possible when one removes interferences that mask potential.

As simple as this formula may seem, it has very significant implications. For example, we must ask ourselves to what degree does our current leadership and practice culture present obstacles in the form of interferences for our current staff?

Furthermore, are we unable to see the real potential in those we lead, or is their potential obscured by a multitude of interferences that we unknowingly create?

And finally, what are the interferences that our team encounters?

These are serious questions that require serious answers if we are going to lead our team to a higher level of performance.

Unfortunately, these vital questions are seldom asked and answered.

A worthwhile exercise would be to conduct a staff meeting aimed at identifying the potential interferences that are diminishing the staff and/or the doctor’s ability to perform at a higher level.

It is not uncommon to find that there are more interferences at play than one can imagine. Often these interferences are in the form of antiquated systems or policies that have never been questioned as to their effectiveness in promoting peak performance.

Sometimes, as difficult as it may be to accept, we, the doctor, may be our team’s greatest interference, in which case we must take actions to correct our behaviors that negatively impact our team.

Another book worthy of mention, which is more contemporary yet equally impactful, was written by Liz Weismann and Greg McKeown. Published in 2010, “Multipliers” reports on research conducted by the authors.

Their research was an investigation of a leader’s ability to multiply organizational intelligence and capacity. Their premise is that leaders who adopt a growth-oriented mindset extract more of their team’s discretionary energy while simultaneously increasing individual and collective intelligence and capability by multiples rather than linearly.

They were able to prove that by constructively challenging our staff while being more collaborative and creating an environment that promotes creative thinking, we can potentially double the collective intelligence and capacity of our organization. This is significant information given the current shortage of staff and the necessity of having to do more with less staff.

Our team of coaches at Line of Sight Coaching are advocates of these theories and coach our clients accordingly. Our coaching philosophy can best be described by a formula representing these two theories in combination:

P (performance) = [p (potential) – i (interferences)] X lm (Leadership multipliers)

*Performance is equal to potential minus interferences multiplied by leadership multipliers.

It is our belief that we create organizational performance optimization by removing interferences that mask potential and then applying leadership skills that multiply this newly unleashed potential. This is the way we lead our team to peak performance and double our organizational intelligence and capacity.

Scaling our team’s collective intelligence and capacity to handle increased complexity and volume is an organizational imperative in a world that is more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.

Those practices that commit to developing their people will reap the benefits of organizational performance optimization.

Additionally, staff appreciate the opportunity for growth and practices that provide these opportunities have less staff turnover while attracting the best people to their team.

We suggest spending time collaborating with our teams while reflecting on the interferences that mask potential and reduce our organizational performance. This will prove to be a worthwhile endeavor that pays significant dividends.

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At Line of Sight Coaching, we have brought in a new coach, Pina Johnson who is running our Leadership Team Coaching program.

The Leadership Team coaching is a 6-month program for Office Managers, Practice Administrators, Hygiene Department Leads, Administrative Leads, Lead RDA’s, Doctors Spouse/Business Managers, or any people who are a vital part of the Leadership Team in your organization.

The program is a way for the leadership team to get coaching, mentoring and leadership development with a combination of 1-1 coaching and group mastermind sessions. This program focuses on developing a team of Peak Performers by creating a practice culture that is empowering and enjoyable.

You can learn more here or book a call with one of our coaches to determine how this program will benefit your practice and team.