World Class Performance

What do Glen Mills, Bob Bowman, Nate Jones, Andrew Getson, Aimee Boorman, and Patrick Mouratoglou have in common?  That is a question to which most people do not know the answer. Here is a hint, they have the same thing in common as Terry Francona, Bill Belichick, and Mike Krzyzewski. Answer: they all coach world-class athletes.  See below to find out who they coach.

In athletics, even the best of the best need someone who can take an objective look at their performance and identify areas for improvement. Sometimes this is a mechanical adjustment and other times it is taking care of some mental block. Everyone can benefit from good coaching.

I do not understand why in the business world there is a resistance to coaching from those working on a project. Where I work we have a standard process of building a modeled solution in our software based on the approved business requirements. This model is demonstrated to the customer to confirm it meets the intent documented requirements (i.e. conference room pilot). This demonstration is the opportunity to generate some excitement with the users and often sets the tone for the remainder of the project. Failure to adequately prepare for such a demonstration can be disastrous.

Given the importance of the demonstration, I instituted a process for an internal review in advance of client demonstrations.  This review is a coaching opportunity to have a fresh set of eyes on the solution and to provide guidance on how to improve the presentation. Initially we had some resistance to this review; I do not think some of the team members liked having their work critiqued. I believe we are now past that defensiveness.

Here are some of the common challenges we experience when the internal reviews were first implemented and feedback for the colleagues:

• "This part of the system is not ready, but I should be able to take care of it before the demo." In other words, you are not prepared. Once you get it fixed we will have another internal review.
• "I need to talk to the users to find out exactly how this should work." Actually the time for this discussion was when you participated in the requirements definition. If you missed something, you need to get the answer before you demonstrate the solution.
• "When I get to this part of the demonstration, I will tell them about X." If you are unable to articulate X during our internal review, what makes you think you will figure it out when you are in front of the client? Tell us about X now the same way you would with the client.
• "I can clean up that screen later." Clean it up now; a screen cluttered with unnecessary fields is not interesting for the client. Furthermore, users are not interested in a discussion about fields their company may or may not want to use in the future.
• "I am sure that will work fine." Finding out in front of the client is not appropriate. You should have a representative set of orders for each business scenario processed through the entire life cycle in the system.

Bottom line is that performance in front of the client will be determined by practice. No matter how good you are, you can always benefit from some objective advice.

In case you were wondering, here is the pairing between the coached above and their better know athletes:

• Patrick Mouratoglou - Serena Williams
• Glen Mills - Usain Bolt
• Bob Bowman - Michael Phelps
• Nate Jones - Floyd Mayweather
• Andrew Getson - Phil Mickelson
• Aimee Boorman - Simone Biles

See more articles at my site: https://blog.implx.com/