The Plateau of Latent Potential

Feb 2

Reframing for performance

I - Insights

We know that when trying to accomplish anything of significance, we should focus more on the process (behaviors) than the results (outcomes).

And yet, in almost all cases we spend inordinate time and energy concerning ourselves with the outcome - often to the detriment of pouring energy into executing and refining the behavior.

Weight Loss: You want to lose weight and you obsess over the number on the scale.

Starting a Business: You start a business and fixate on the dwindling number in the bank account.

Team Engagement: You’re a leader whose team reports low engagement scores and you hold your breath for 90 days hoping next quarter will be better.

It makes sense why this happens. The outcome is ultimately what we are after, and the pain between where we are and where we want to be is often overwhelming. And, achieving those results is often difficult and slow, with less obvious results than desired.

It isn’t that results don’t matter or that we should not assess them. In a sense, outcomes are the only thing that matters. A plan is only as effective as the results it delivers.

Weight Loss: If the scale (outcome) never moves, then the diet and exercise plan (behavior) needs to be adjusted.

Starting a Business: If the P&L Sheet (outcome) doesn’t improve, then the client acquisition strategy (behavior) needs refinement.

Team Engagement: If engagement scores (outcome) continue to dip, the leader needs to change his/her approach (behavior).

The issue is not being interested in outcomes. The issue, rather, is expending too much time and energy fixated on outcomes to the neglect of pouring time and energy into behaviors.

In our work, we’ve seen this play out with individuals and teams.

Teams are unique organisms that have their own set of norms, behaviors, goals, and aspirations.

Recently we met with a team leader who had over a decade of experience leading her team.

And yet, even with that experience, she was stumped by the poor performance her team was experiencing at present.

She kept framing the issue through outcomes - low trust, poor communication, and low engagement in meetings.

Our job was to help her think through what behaviors were contributing to these outcomes. As we stayed curious, one big pattern emerged. Since COVID her team had adopted a hybrid work arrangement where members would split their time between in-office and remote work.

On the surface, this is entirely fine and can be done successfully. But, in this instance, it came out that since adopting this arrangement the only time the entire team got together was infrequently, virtually, and in a formal capacity.

As the leader recognized this, she reflected that when the team was operating at peak performance they would eat lunch together, hang out in the break room, and stop by each other’s desks to ask about weekends, kids, and what they were watching on TV.

Through just that conversation the leader realized what she needed to do, whereas an hour earlier she had felt stuck, overwhelmed, and helpless.

She was an experienced leader with a lot of wisdom, expertise, and a track record of success. The issue wasn’t that she lacked the knowledge necessary to solve the problem, the issue was that she had been so fixed on the issue as it was presenting through undesirable outcomes that she had lost sight of the behaviors that were contributing to the problem.

The Plateau of Latent Potential - From “Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones” by James Clear (2018).

T - Tactics

Outcomes are only and ever a byproduct of behaviors. Outcomes do not occur naturally, spontaneously, or accidentally.

Nor does focusing on outcomes do anything to change them - if anything, focusing energy here only magnifies the present state and creates stuckness where movement is needed.

Self-Coach

When you think through the current outcomes in your life or leadership that are causing you pain, what behaviors can you think of that would likely shift things for the better?
Where are you falling victim to the valley of disappointment?