Applying performance science

Keywords

Resilience – Performance Science – Purposeful Thinking – Goals – Decision Making – Brutal Focus

In this episode of Resilience Unravelled Carla Fowler an executive coach and founder of Thaxa shares her unique journey transitioning from a background in medicine and science to performance coaching. Carla emphasises intentional thinking as a skill to develop through practice and stresses the need for structured thinking processes and engaging with dialogue partners to clarify priorities for progress.

In discussing performance science, Carla outlined strategy or focus, execution efficiency, and mindset resilience as key areas. She highlighted strategic thinking's role in decision-making amidst uncertainty, focusing on good processes over specific outcomes. She also described obstacles to decision-making, including rushing decisions or over-analysis, advocating for brutal focus and simplicity over complexity to achieve success with greater intentionality.

Carla's methodology centres on using performance science to help leaders achieve ambitious goals. She urges deliberate thinking development, akin to building a muscle, emphasizing time for structured thinking and clear priority setting. Embracing brutal focus, Carla champions doing less with greater intentionality rather than seeking more, challenging the need for complexity when simplicity can lead to success.

Main topics

• Building transferable capabilities.

• Practicing purposeful thinking

• Setting goals and priorities to drive progress.

• Being comfortable with uncertainty in decision-making processes.

• The need for a structured approach to decision-making.

• Considering time constraints and opportunity windows.

• Focusing on simplification and removing unnecessary tasks to enhance decision-making effectiveness.

• The "brutal focus" approach to problem-solving by eliminating distractions and excess initiatives.

 Timestamps

1: Introduction to Coaching Methodology. Introduction to a coaching style using performance science to approach ambitious goals. Building transferable capabilities based on science and medical background. 00:59 - 03:25

2: Importance of Purposeful Thinking. Challenges of making time for thinking in a fast-paced environment. Practicing purposeful thinking through dialogue and asking important questions. Strategies for sticking with the thinking process and building endurance. 04:14 - 09:00

3: Applying Performance Science. Multidisciplinary nature of performance science, focusing on thought performance. Breakdown of performance science into strategy, execution, and decision-making elements. Importance of mindset in facing uncertainty and making decisions. 11:58 - 15:17

4: Clarity and Focus in Decision-Making. Process for making decisions in uncertain situations and having a clear plan. Common obstacles in decision-making processes and the need for sufficient time.  Importance of focus and brutal prioritization in problem-solving. 16:23 - 21:20

5: Coaching Process and Cognitive Reengineering. Explanation of the term "Greek" in relation to tasks and achievements. Cognitive reengineering in coaching to break down goals for clarity. Sharing resources for learning more about coaching and performance science. 22:46 - 24:53

 Action items

To find out more about Carla please visit www.thaxa.com or the welcome page https://www.thaxa.com/p/resilience-unravelled for a free download of The 8 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Choosing a Coach (and how to avoid them!)

You can connect with Carla at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-fowler/ or https://twitter.com/DrCarlaFowler

 You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
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Leveraging personal connections. It’s an age thing?

Nepotism can take many forms but, however it appears, it’s seen as unethical, leading to a lack of fairness and objectivity in decision-making processes and of creating a negative perception of an organisation that results in reduced trust and respect among employees and stakeholders. Now, a recent survey of 2,000 working age UK adults carried out by ethical hiring experts Applied has looked at the role ‘nepotism’ plays in hiring and how the workforce feels about leveraging personal connections to get ahead. 

The research found that 42% of those surveyed had gained a job or job offer after a referral from a personal connection, that men were 33% more likely to have benefitted and that  younger workers, 68% of Gen Z and 60% of Millennials benefitted compared to 25% of over-55s. 24% of the Gen Z workers were unemployed beforehand with 49% entering into entry or junior roles, 27% into middle-management positions and 14% into a senior management role. This would suggest that personal connections play a critical role in helping younger workers with little to no work experience get a foothold on the employment ladder.

There is also a age difference in how people felt about taking advantage of a personal connection to advance their career, 77% of workers across all age groups said that they would but Gen Z respondents were most likely to feel morally conflicted about it with 60% of 18-24 year olds saying they disagreed with leveraging personal connections to land jobs “on principle” or as a matter of ‘fairness’ compared to 41% of over-55s. However, older workers who disagreed with “nepotism” were more likely to stick to their principles. Of the 60% of Gen Z respondents who disagreed with nepotism on principle, 75% said they would take advantage of it anyway. By comparison, 41% of over-55s who thought nepotism was unfair, just 33% said they’d go ahead.

The findings also suggested that some people are worried that nepotism might change how they are perceived by friends and colleagues. This seems to be a bigger issue for older workers with 51% of over-55’s surveyed saying they’d feel comfortable telling friends or colleagues they’d landed a job through a personal connection, compared to 68% of 18-24 year olds, suggesting that younger workers are more prepared to embrace who they know rather than what they know.

In today’s workplace nepotism is a concern for people of all ages and, as the workforce becomes increasingly diverse and globalised, it's important for organisations to prioritise fairness and inclusivity in order to attract and retain top talent from all backgrounds. One-way organisations can address the issue of nepotism is by implementing clear policies and guidelines around hiring, promotion, and other personnel issues so decisions are made based on merit and qualifications, rather than personal connections or biases.

Another approach is to focus on creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace culture, which can help reduce the influence of personal connections and create opportunities for people from all backgrounds to succeed based on their skills and abilities. This may involve initiatives such as unconscious bias training, mentorship and sponsorship programs, and diversity and inclusion task forces or committees.

Ultimately, it's important for organisations and individuals to recognise the negative consequences of nepotism and strive to create a culture of fairness and equal opportunity, based on merit and qualifications, rather than personal connections.

Changing lane. Making impactful change.

Jennifer or Jen Crowley is based in Chicago and is an author, certified life coach and leadership consultant.

In her 30’s Jen thought she had life she was meant to have. Married with a son, she also had a high profile job as Vice President and General Manager of a wine distribution company. Suffering from all the stress and anxiety that goes with juggling a high pressure role and family life she then went through what she refers to as a six year character building period. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, then a while later her father was badly injured in a motorcycle accident. Both are now happily retired in Florida but as the only child, Jen had to provide considerable support. Then, the president of the company was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and died very suddenly. Jen was emotionally and physically exhausted and wasn’t taking great care of herself.  Her job defined her so when the company was then sold to a large international group she decided to stick with it. There was an interesting and demanding integration period and as she went into her 40’s her life was very demanding – she was fighting for resources at work, fighting for time with her son and struggling in a marriage that was no longer working.

Finally, Jen and her husband divorced and at this point she started taking much better care of herself. She was eating well, meditating and communicating much better with the people around her. She became a coaching mentor at work and came to realise that people were comfortable around her. They would talk to her about their work, their anxieties and what was happening with their family and Jen found that trying to help people was the part of her job that she enjoyed most.

Six years after the company had been sold Jen realised that life wasn’t supposed to be so hard and took the decision to leave her twenty year wine career.  At 45 she decided that she needed to figure out what was going to happen next. She didn’t have any plans apart from taking three months off to get her head as clear as possible. Over the next three months she realised that although many people thought she should be happy because she seemed to have everything she needed, she wasn’t. She needed a different path where she could help other people. Initially she worked as a consultant to entrepreneurs but after a few months he made the decision to move into coaching.

Jen now works primarily with women looking to make impactful changes in themselves and in their lives. With a background in science, Jen’s approach to change is process driven and built around the importance of getting ready for change and then implementing it. In her coaching she deals with widespread issues, but many of her clients are in similar situations to the one she found herself in. Woman in their 40 ‘s who are realising that they are not happy, not doing things that they think are important or meaningful to them.

Jen feels the key to change is having open conversations and asking questions that dig down into what people really want. Sometimes people are so busy taking care of everyone else they simply need the time and opportunity to think and talk about themselves.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Jennifer here. Our previous podcasts, upcoming guest list and previous blogs are also available.

You can find out more about Jennifer at  changeablecoaching.com