Practice Makes Perfect

Many of us heard that aphorism growing up.  Many of us still hear it in our minds.  But the great coach, Vince Lombardi said, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” The legendary Michael Jordan amplified the idea, “You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”

Dr. Harry Hertz, Director Emeritus of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, and I often exchange frustrating (but sometimes amusing) tales of abysmal customer service.  There are times during these experiences when one or more of the supplier’s employees goes that extra mile to try to make up for the inconvenience; however, that never restores our confidence and our loyalty to that supplier because the experience was not perfect from the outset.  And the memory of that bad experience will linger and taint all future encounters.

I’m going to take a contrary position on something related to this topic.  I believe that our reward and recognition systems need to reflect the perfect accomplishment of a task, not just a darned good effort.  That effort should certainly be acknowledged and appreciated.  But reward and recognition ought to signal to the organization that this accomplishment is a best practice to be admired and emulated.  Just like Most Valuable Player awards are given to the elite athletes who perform at the top of the game, especially when it matters most.

I began to reflect on this after reading a recent article by McKinsey & Company, “The CEO as elite athlete:  What business leaders can learn from modern sports.”

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-ceo-as-elite-athlete-what-business-leaders-can-learn-from-modern-sports  Based on their October 2024 research, they identified five leadership practices that business leaders can adapt to their own work.

Do you schedule your calendars to focus on the most important objectives that shouldn’t be delegated, or are you controlled by the urgencies of the day?  Many of the successful CEOS cited from the study set aside a certain amount of time each day that is not committed to other tasks, meetings, or firefighting. They set aside this time when they know they are physically and mentally most productive, and they guard this time zealously.

Elite athletes have their own regimens to allow themselves to repair physically and mentally.  They view this commitment as every bit as important as their training sessions. Are you a hard-driving leader who prides him/herself of being able to outwork anyone else?  Do you view burnout in your employees as a sign of weakness? If we learn from elite athletes in this area, we learn to prioritize our recovery – and that of our employees – after periods of intense effort. What does recovery look like for you?  It may depend on your underlying temperament.  If you’re an introvert, it may mean quiet times away from others to recharge your batteries.  If you’re an extrovert, it may mean just the opposite – engaging with others in a non-business-related activity, such as participating in a sport or going to a party. It’s not what you do that matters so much as that it refreshes you – in mind and body.

Something that we’ve observed over the years in our work with high-performing leaders is that most, if not all, are lifelong learners.  They value that in themselves and promote it among their peers and employees. For some, this is evidenced by being a voracious reader.  In others, it is continuing to seek formal education or developmental opportunities.  One of the core values and concepts of the Baldrige Excellence Framework is “Organizational Learning,” that includes continuous improvement of existing approaches and the adoption of best practices and innovations.  The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, summed it up nicely, “The learn-it-all does better than the know-it-all.”

This is in line with another Baldrige core value and concept, “Management By Fact.”  Elite athletes have become more successful over time in part due to advances in science and technology, but also because of the access they and their trainers and coaches have to performance indicators and the use of predictive analytics.  They also focus on speed to getting the data and information, seeking to get them as close to real-time as possible.  They look for patterns that point to emerging trends that they can exploit to gain an advantage over their competitors.

“Agility and Resilience” are also a Baldrige core value and concept. They first came into prominence at the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have remained as a key organizational and personal characteristic.  Mohammed Ali referred to it as ‘grit,’ “You don’t lose if you get knocked down. You lose if you stay down.” Some organizations suffer a setback and never recover, while others come out even stronger. What accounts for the difference?  We believe it’s the tenacity, the grit, of the senior leaders who regroup quickly and inspire their employees to do the same.  It requires a certain amount of humility as well as a strength of character to admit the misstep, analyze it, learn from it, and bounce forward.

Is there an elite athlete who you admire? Perhaps several.  What can you learn from them to build a stronger, higher-performing team in your own organization?

Larry Bird, the basketball great said, “First master the fundamentals.” How well has your organization mastered the fundamentals of Performance Excellence? How do you know?