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How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall?
A few weeks ago I attended a concert given by two young opera singers – a husband and wife who have recently completed their Masters in Performance. I have known the husband since birth and this was certainly not the first concert of his that I have attended. Over the past 25 years I’ve seen him tap dance and break dance; sing in musicals, recitals and school concerts; play the piano, perform magic tricks and I even think I’ve seen him do stand-up comedy. His skill at each of these has varied; attending some of these performances has been out of a sense of devotion and affection. But the concert several weeks ago was discernibly different. Their extraordinary musical abilities shone through; confident in their mastery I was able to settle back and listen to them sing. I let go of any concern that the next note might not be reached or that a pitch might waver. It was all wonderful and I felt a sense of exhilaration knowing they are now extremely skilled and accomplished musicians. In his recent best-seller, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell looks at the concept of innate talent vs. the role of preparation. What is behind the mastery associated with being a world-class expert? If you’ve read the book, you know the answer – about 10,000 hours. This theory has been tested across a variety of situations – from criminals to The Beatles and includes business luminaries such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. If you examine the practice routines of young violinists and pianists at the age of 20, those that are considered elite have amassed (you’ve guessed it) 10,000 hours as compared to those who are competent amateurs with 2,000 - 4,000 hours of practice. Once you have the ability, the thing that seems to distinguish the merely good from the truly great includes the drive to work harder and the chance to practice, practice, practice. It’s no different in the workplace. Excellence at performing complex tasks requires a critical minimum amount of practice. While this seems to be self-evident – we don’t expect someone to perform well the first few times they try a new skill, what are we doing as leaders to support our teams to gain this important component of success? How do we ensure that learning is supported and practice is encouraged during the acquisition of skills? How do we help others develop expertise in complex behaviours such as leadership in a way that encourages continuous learning and improvement? Watching someone learn can be frustrating just as it can be challenging to listen to young musicians early in their careers. You can’t always be sure that the talent exists. But it’s the job of leaders to develop those they lead and build capacity at all levels. We must help others to acquire knowledge and skills as well as provide the opportunity to practice and gain consistency. And equally important, leaders must encourage reflection to support the development of the insights needed to translate the learning into growth and improvement. What are you doing to help your team get the practice needed to gain proficiency and expert-level skill? What could you do to promote a learning environment in your workplace? IDEAS YOU CAN USE Promote opportunities for practice. On the path to acquiring expert-level skills, we need the chance to get our 10,000 hours. Practice helps us build consistency, creating neural pathways which frees up energy in our brain for innovation and improvement. Think about learning to drive. At first all of our focus was on the techniques and mechanics of driving. Once we became proficient in the basics we were able to drive in more complex situations and demanding conditions. Allowing people to practice and develop precision lays the foundation for continuous learning and improvement. Leaders encourage and value practice; they support others to make the commitment that leads to excellence and mastery. Learning through reflection and insight Just as you can’t learn to swim by reading a book, there is a limit to the value of knowledge learned in the classroom as compared to that learned in the workplace. Skills learned in context are more likely to result in mastery because of the chance to improve through doing. Deep learning requires the opportunity to reflect on the actions we are taking; reflection in the moment provides the most benefit. Timely feedback, the chance to correct mistakes and add improvements on a daily basis leads to true learning that really sticks. The best leaders use questions that promote reflection and insight: “What did you learn?” “What’s the opportunity for improvement?” “What would you do differently next time?” Leader as mentor, teacher and coach. Leaders embed continuous learning in organizations by constantly looking for ways to move people to greater self-reliance and increased responsibility through encouragement and feedback. Great leaders take ownership for ensuring that others always have a chance to learn, improve and develop mastery. Ram Charan in his recent book, “Leaders at All Levels”, believes that the apprenticeship model is how we will develop the leaders we need: “leaders can only be developed through practice”. An apprenticeship model requires not only carefully selected experiences but also the support of a mentor who provides the coaching that results in significant improvement. Leaders have the opportunity and responsibility to help other grow through learning and practice. What are you doing to help your team get to Carnegie Hall?
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