Practice is never about hours worked

Knowing that everyone has the opportunity to become great yet few actually do, made me wonder, “Why are some leaders that much better than others?”. They work at it!

Contrary to what we want to believe — that it’s because they are smarter and more talented — when scientists began measuring the “experts’” supposedly superior powers of speed, memory and intelligence they did not find the correlation. Because the demonstrated superiority was domain-specific it means that it is acquired.

When experts exhibit their superior performance in public, their behaviour looks so effortless and natural that we are tempted to attribute it to special talents. But it is not natural, so don’t be tricked into believing that some people are naturals.

Expertise only comes through practice. As I’ve learnt from my CEO coaching business, “being better”, even the desire for it, can be taught.

“Deliberate Practice” — a term coined by psychologist Anders Ericsson — argues to get better you have to practice at it. Expert-level performance is primarily the result of expert-level practice. This isn’t to be mistaken with hours accumulated while working ... rather it’s time specifically set aside to practice.

For example a professional golfer gets better by practicing on the range, in the bunker and on the greens, not just by playing a tournament.

Does that mean everyone can be the best in the world? No! But if coached properly you can get significantly better.

For example, most leaders limit their ability by accepting good enough as good enough. On the other hand there are those who get significantly better because they keep practicing.

For example, Ahmad (an illustrative name given the confidentiality involved in CEO coaching), was a good leader. But what he knew is all that he knew. He didn’t know what he didn’t know. Yet, he assumed he knew all that he needed.

No one had ever taught him to be CEO, or even what CEOs do. So, he just guessed and copied what he thought others did. Sadly he thought he knew everything about being a CEO, when in reality he knew much less about what he was doing than he ever thought.

Through coaching, though, he was able to expand his field of vision, his view of what a CEO does. He began to see his role from a different perspective, and made small adjustments in his leadership style that yielded big results. His business became the most profitable in its sector.

His limitations had less to do with his innate limits than simply with what he considered to be an acceptable level of performance. It’s disheartening when I repeatedly hear leaders proclaim they are good at something when in reality they could be much better, like Ahmad could.

Through our work together he no longer accepted “good enough” as a substitute for the best he could become, and he willingly practised to get better. Now, he focuses on improving his CEO technique even after he’s getting good at it.

Your career most likely started in a particular domain — engineering, finance, HR, sales, etc — and unfortunately, you are probably like those whose behaviour and performance improved until you reach what you consider to be an acceptable level. Too many people rely on the number of years worked as the basis for expertise, but this is a poor predictor of attained performance.

Practice at getting better is what correlates with success, not the hours or years worked. Every great leader I work with invests hours and practices intensively to improve. The amount and quality of your practice is the key factor in the level of expertise you will achieve.

I want to reiterate, practice is different from hours worked. For example, accomplished musicians’ performance is dependent on the time spent in the studio in solitary practice during their music development. The same is true for leaders.

You need to practice leading, not just spend time being a leader. Practice isn’t accumulated experience — it’s the hours you spend focusing on getting better at something, which in turn yields your accumulated advantage.

When you want to be good, shall we say great, how you spend your time practicing becomes far more important than your raw abilities. The secret to improvement is to retain some conscious degree over the process of practicing, not just doing what you do now.

In leadership-speak, this is “Deliberate Practice.”

— The writer is a CEO Coach and author, including of the ‘10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East’ and other writings. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com