How do you get more out of yourself and your team?

Get More Out Of Yourself and Team from Jamie Edwards on Vimeo.

There are three areas (W) WORK (R) RELATIONSHIPS (S) SELF that are important to focus on to create some type of BALANCE…..unlike me on my crutches.

At certain times of our life they have a different emphasis. Our behaviour can be very predictable at certain these times. If you think of these areas as CIRCLES that will and can change in size and importance if left unattended and with conscious application can affect BALANCE in any direction.

For example we know that from the age of 23 to 28 the W of work will be very large because it's the start of your career. We can predict that (R) will go from testing to serious consideration of longer term partnerships. And as we move from emerging careers to settling (28 -30) to planting foundations in the next decade 30s to 40s our thinking will shift again in areas that matter the most.

The circles start to have different meanings when in transition 40 to 45 where these circles are questioned.....even beyond this period. So whilst obvious there are many factors that distract us from attending to a circle at a particular time. The need to review the size of the areas and focus has an impact on performance in and out of the workplace and business and even sports.

A recent presentation to two separate audiences in very different industries prompted me to ask the question. Both groups wanted to look at how they could squeeze more from performance in business. Both peak performing teams at the top of their business game.

Watch the video and ask your self the question at the front end of the video. See if you can see the mistake too.

Talk soon,

Jamie

Does Performance Begin Between The Ears Or Is it Triggered?

Training the Anaesthetist's Brain from Jamie Edwards on Vimeo.

It’s interesting question? Depending on your current conditions, work, sports, life you can have different perspectives on how does the space between your ears have an impact on your own performance.

Over the past few months we have seen many sporting events from Wimbledon, and the World Cup where players fulfill expectations or collapse under the weight of them due to an inability to control that flood of expectation that washes over the purest of technicians.

This was one of the topics I discussed on the operating theatre table with Dr Webster at Royal Oldham Hospital. She kept me awake for a reason. I believe we meet people for certain reasons or messages at times in our life. It was great because I got to help her with some questions she had that had bothered her when she was training. "Why are we not given any help on dealing with these situations?"

She helped me stay present and shift my attention from the operation. Curiosity did get the better of me......"Is he cutting me at the minute?" She nodded with a slight grimace. She looked at me as though I'd gone white and said....."Don't worry..."
LANGUAGE
She was the second person in the team who had said that phrase...which I explained that all I will focus on is the word worry.
"Don't think of the colour BLUE." I paused to let them process it and they smiled. "What do you want me to be?" Now I'm on a roll, I think I'm in A theatre not THE theatre. It doesn't take much to trigger those performance states. It's the domino is knocked over first. It leads to a number of other questions. moves, actions or even states of mind.

The suicide rate amongst Anaesthetist's is one of the highest in the medical professions and yet she said they receive no training on how to deal with the many situations they face daily in intensive care. She added that to cope with the end of the day scenarios many will hit the bottle or change keep playing and replaying like a DVD the movies of the day.

Which is why we got into crossing over these skills from sports into life. I personally get lots more pleasure form seeing someone use these skills in their work place or life but they have made the connection through the sport they enjoy.
The primary question today would be “How does this apply to me?” and then ask “How can I use this…NOW!”

SPACE:
July 5th I spent two days in Windermere. A long time since I had been up there. A very peaceful place to be. There were two reasons for the trip. Create space and to discuss space. Creating space mentally is something that we often have challenges with. Flooding the mind with information, allowing disempowering emotions to overwhelm us in daily life and then occupy the last bit of space you may have to enjoy in the gap.

185 DAYS GONE
Every year the first two days in July I take time out to review where I am in the year. I was also there preparing for the corporate training team from Virgin Media. A peak performing and very well respected team of trainers in their industry.
They have had a very busy 6 months and wanted to create space both professionally and personally. I wanted to share a couple of themes from the session that really had these 7 people look at where they are.

ARE YOU GROWING YOUR TEAM?
Where ever you are in the structure of your business, the Owner, CEO, Senior Exec, or Key employee there is a question that is very important for you at this time of the year.

Am I growing or stretching myself and more importantly am I growing my team?
HONEST CONVERSATIONS
Last February I had invited a friend of the family to the Business Building Summit in Manchester. His company does about £2m a year. I invited him to the event with his team. His response was “If I bring them to that event they will all want to leave.” His response was a sign of not being comfortable with developing individuals. Quite a contrast to the Virgin boss who said “What type of leader am I if I cannot develop my staff for the next stage of their careers.”
You can only have a look at the possibility of the next level by daring to ask yourself the honest questions. Those questions that sometimes the answers are very hard to hear in the echo at the back of your head......Read more click LIVE EVERY LITRE on the top right........

LIVE EVERY LITRE......

BE YOURSELF
We live in a world of playing the WWTTOM game (What Will They Think Of Me), which is a form of performance paralysis. Worrying about what people will think. Will people judge? Yes. Do you go out of your way to impress? No. I believe (only my opinion) but when you are yourself in sports, business and life you are communicating from your core. The REAL you, not the mask or shell identity. Everyone has these two identities. Which one do you take to your arena? The classroom, the boardroom, the course or the training pitch?
It’s hard to be yourself if you don’t know the difference between the shell and the core identity. I am running a course in London in the next month that will explore these identities. It will be a small group. What will free you from the shackles of your performances. I the context of business when you are communicating from your REAL self, you feel an empathy with the person on the other side of the table. A connection that isn't forced or trying.

LIVING EVERY LITRE (the new goal getting with a difference)
I just watched a great online documentary called produced in association with HONDA called LIVE EVERY LITRE. 13 people who went on a road trip that involved them ticking something off on their 100 things to do before they die.
It brings up the question of……”The road or the destination. Which to you is more important?” Have a look anyway. It may inspire you to do something. www.liveeverylitre.com
ROLLING BACK THE YEARS
One of the reasons why I have stepped back on a basketball court (temporary hiccup) at least…I have a LEL moment for next year 2011 that I will share in a future post. It involves playing with a true legend of the game. In order to do that I have to be in great shape and actually start playing again. In May on a trip to Atlanta I thought nothing of turning up at a local gym to play some ball. For the past few months my invitation to play has come from former teammate Jason Swaine who conveniently plays at Rishworth School through the summer. I haven’t had chance to get there on a Wednesday or Thursday night with travelling. This was going to be the “break me in session” after 10 years. But instead I walk through the doors of LA Fitness in Covington, Atlanta and look at what looked like the basketball version of the 100m finals. I swore I saw Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay, in fact they were all a blur. And to top it off I was looking along the sidelines and what looked like spectators was another 25 athletes waiting impatiently for the losers to come off.
SO THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
And for 30 seconds I had that feeling that my clients describe when they are going to an event and not being certain about their skills or themselves.
“Why did I choose Atlanta as the reintroduction to the game?” Actually a very good question. Why not Rishworth, Yorkshire because that was definitely the easy option. Yet I thought of Don Bradman making practice more difficult than the real game. Play out here with these gazelles and the Memorial game will be so much easier.
PERFORMANCE IS NOTHING BUT REMEMBERING
I have said it before and I will say it again. For many in sports, business and life the resources are there in talent, knowledge, ability and so on. The challenge for most is getting out of their own way and get help with certain triggers.
Playing in the Pete Jacques Memorial Game was always going to be a mixed emotional experience for me personally. Those who have trained with me over the years have heard the story of the negative ones that were associated with being injured in Doncaster. No surprise there as I am lay here with my leg in plaster.
My over excitement and rolling back the years was helped on by the combination of the reunion and domino effects.
1. REUNIONS: Just like if you see an old friend, or play at a stadium you enjoyed good performances at or played against people who you had in your pocket so to speak. The people I saw at the Dome in Doncaster were all giving me the reunion effect. In fact I wanted to cry when I saw some of the club staff who 18 years before had every Saturday followed the team up and down the country. Those good feelings started to come back.
Well, until a young fan said “Jamie, you looked so much taller when I was 9 years old!” and laughed with commentator Mike Shaft. (www.mikeshaft.com for pictures)

2. THE DOMINO EFFECT: For me this is the main trigger because if you start the first trigger it will lead to the next and like a complex pattern of dominoes it will then just take on it’s own momentum. Which is why we have routines or rituals. So you can perform on autopilot. When you know what the sequence is or was to your best performances in sports or in the business world then you can recreate them and or get very close to how you felt before.

3. FEEL GOOD FIRST…There was no chance I was going to hope to perform after 10 years and then feel good. Flip it. Feel good, find or remember what you were like before. GREAT QUESTION TO ASK: Have you ever played well? As I type this I have answered it already in my mind. By this time the domino will be on its way.
At this point I hadn’t even got out of the car and my domino had already started. The walk to the entrance, a certain pace and though I had Kobe with me I had raced off in game mode. The walk into the main arena and greeting the same people after 18 years had triggered the same feelings…it was game day. The changing rooms, my warm up jogging across the halfway line.

HOW DID I END UP IN HOSPITAL?
I had to remember to lighten up a little, it wasn’t the cup final but the sequences or patterns were all the same. That’s how I ended up in hospital. I was back in the zone or in the groove, it was all coming back.
UTILIZATION: It is one thing getting into the zone in business or life it’s another being able to use the state in the appropriate places. Fear is an appropriate emotion, in the right place, at the right time. Likewise so is anger. In the right context and the right time and with the right people.

What can you do to set up triggers in your environment that can start the domino effect consciously at first and then with some training, unconsciously?
What are those environmental triggers that you can notice that inspire you at the start of the day? What are the conscious triggers that you use? Do you use them daily?
Talk Soon,
Jamie
p.s. I am now in doing a limited number of sessions in London also for those who have thought about " individual coaching". To book or discuss call 0207 125 0027.