Grip

Grip - a grip on yourself and your environment - is fundamental to impact, without this it becomes difficult to build anything meaningful.

My local gym runs boxing classes which are the ideal forum for studying the art of impact. The concept is simple - hang a bunch of heavy bags and guide the participants through a series of punching combinations while playing Ne-Yo. Taking a look round during the session it's clear that impact is not proportional to size or gender; some of the smallest women punch harder than the bigger guys. So why is this? One root cause is the lack of grip. Very few have a grip on the floor at any point during their punch; their mind is in their arms, those weak appendages attached to our shoulders. To improve requires getting a grip, establishing a solid foundation, finding balance, developing awareness and control of our body. By gripping the floor with our feet and legs, combining a downward push from the head and shoulders with upwards pressure from our feet and knees, we start to feel a dynamic tension that can power a whiplash strike from the upper body.

Impact will progressively improve by being aware of the power of grip and investing time to achieve it. Energy can be saved if foundations are in place, balance is maintained and awareness is enhanced. We can move out of the "sweat" zone (see prior entry "Swimming, Splashing or Sweating") by reducing the amount of resource invested fixing problems that arise due lack of grip. Similarly on the heavy bag, a solid grip gives a base to launch punches that accelerate and penetrate, generating effortless power instead of powerless effort.

Surf's Up!

Following on from my last post, once we get proficient at swimming in calm waters, the real challenge lies in finding flow under more turbulent conditions. Viewing our professional (and personal) lives as an ocean where we are confronted by waves—opportunities and problems, challenges that we must overcome—presents us with choices. We can choose to splash around in the shallow water, hoping that no waves come our way; we can struggle with the swell, fighting against the waves; or we can learn how to surf, using the energy of the wave to propel us on a more exhilarating ride. Even in the current economic downturn there are plenty of opportunities—by definition, a trough always comes with an accompanying crest—waiting to be sought out and surfed, provided we have the requisite discipline, balance and strong foundation to endure the ride. 

To experience the rush of surfing we have to actively look for the waves and enlist others to help us find the bigger ones. Unfortunately most of us do not get to experience the thrill of this ride because of one of the following factors:

·      Fear

·      Lack of awareness of possibilities

·      Getting trapped in the shallows by desires, emotions, possessions, or petty problems

·      Distraction, continually aiming for the little waves

·      Not prepared to invest the effort required (prefer comfort)

As Laird Hamilton demonstrates, to really surf requires:

·      Waves, the bigger the better (an big, ambitious, bold goal or project)

·      Balance -  from a good foundation

·      Going with (not against)

·      Developing strength, especially a strong foundation and core

·      Beating fear

·      Being bold

·      The support of a good team

There will never be a point when we feel we are ready to take on the biggest waves, it will always be a process of searching them out and trying our best to stay on, getting back on the board when we are knocked off, and having the determination to continue developing our skills. We have to meet our fears and weaknesses head-on, then curtail and transcend them so that we can find the calmness of mind to retain our balance under all circumstances and feel the thrill of flow.

In these changing times there are many opportunities to find a bigger wave. As companies cut resource  and require employees to take on more, this can send some good surf our way if only we recognize it as such. This type of surfing is a transferable skill—finding such flow in one area allows us to develop it in others and consistently create the effortless power associated with true impact.

Swimming, Splashing or Sinking?

We can learn much from studying high caliber athletes like Michael Phelps and comparing their technique to that of weaker swimmers. The novice swimmer uses a lot of energy, generating a lot of splash but not moving very quickly, whereas experts seem to move through the water effortlessly, finding a smooth, splash-free, alignment and flow. 

With this in mind, a plot of effort versus results produces the following 4-quadrant diagram:

EFFORT	2. Splash	3. Sweat
	1. Sink	4. Swim
	RESULTS

 These quadrants can be summarized as:

Quadrant 1 ‘sinking’: no effort put in and no results obtained.

Quadrant 2 ‘splashing’: energy is used to push water into the air (splash) instead of directing it into propulsion, giving the impression of plenty of action without producing results.

Quadrant 3 ‘sweating’: much effort is used to make progress, giving short-term results that are difficult to sustain.

Quadrant 4 ‘swimming’: energy is focused into obtaining the desired outcome; there is little wasted effort and a sustainable flow is developed.

There is abundant ‘splashing’ in today’s workplace, examples abound of large amounts of energy directed at activities that do not contribute to attaining goals. A continual focus on the urgent (including activities that are not important) is one root cause; the accompanying neglect of communication and training, with reduced time to build relationships and trust [1] causes splash through re-work, poor quality, unclear priorities and discontentment. Not to mention email, a large proportion of which is ‘falsely urgent’, driving many executives to spend hours splashing at work and wherever they can access their ‘splash-machine’, the ubiquitous Blackberry.

I think the majority of us are prone to spend much of our time in Quadrant 3, sweating, working hard to get the results we desire, while not having time or resource to invest in higher-value activities. Again, this can be a symptom of pressure to attend to short-term priorities at the expense of longer-term benefit. To ‘swim’, moving into the fourth Quadrant, requires focusing energy into activities that will produce the greatest benefit, a concept that has been expressed many times in varying ways, famously in the ‘Pareto Principle’ [2]. As Michael Phelps demonstrates so gracefully, sometimes we have to use less effort to get more results, to go faster we first have to slow down to review where our time and energy will be most valuable.

References

1. Covey SR, The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything, 2006, Simon & Schuster.
2. Pareto Principle, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

The Eye of the Tiger

Learning the art of impact requires studying the masters, and Tiger Woods will be the first for this blog. While Tiger's eye has been temporarily off the ball, there's no doubt that his swing is phenomenal. He is among the ranks of those who truly have impact, proving his abilities again and again.

So how does he do it?

Tiger is a great illustration of the model proposed in an earlier post (Just like an Arrow), clearly showing the three phases of impact:

GRIP: establishing a grip on the ground, on the club; maintaining perfect balance; being aware of conditions and his performance; aiming
BUILD: building a healthy tension between shoulders and hips by pulling the club back in the opposite direction to the intended target; holding this tension until the moment of release
ENGAGE: explosive release of tension, using the big muscles to drive, aligning the whole body to hit with impact; following through to a complete finish

Development of superb technique creates results that are simple, graceful and powerful.

I'll spare us the Survivor video.

Just Like An Arrow

One simple model for producing maximum impact with minimum effort is provided by the act of firing a bow and arrow. To fire the arrow and hit the target requires good grip on the bow and the ground, allowing good balance and posture. The archer has to build tension, pulling back on the cord and pushing forward on the bow while aiming, before finally engaging by releasing the arrow. Success or failure depends on how well each stage has been performed, with maximum effectiveness achieved through focus on the “gripping” and “building” activities; engagement—finally releasing the arrow—should be effortless and assured. 

Applying this model more generally, the three phases can be thought of as follows:

1. Grip: continually reinforcing a strong grip through establishing good foundations (story, standards, structure); developing awareness, monitoring and control; attaining balance.

2. Build: building healthy tension through “pulling back” (actions that are not clearly aimed in the direction of a particular goal, they may be counter-intuitive and opposite) and “pushing forward” (bold steps).

3. Engage: employing timing to achieve maximum impact; relentlessly eliminating waste. Engaging should be as effortless as possible if sufficient investment has been made in the other two phases.


The more impact we wish to generate in a particular area, the more we have to focus on the stages listed under "grip" and "build" above. Foundational elements, awareness, balance and building activities hold the key to engagement with impact. Future posts will illustrate the practical application of these ideas.


Last word this time goes to Magnum performing the title of this post, complete with hair and ripped jeans:

Models

Time and energy are really the only factors we have at our disposition; how do we use these to make a powerful impact? One core skill to develop is that of model-building, as Lord Kelvin said:
"If ye canna mak’ a model, ye dinna understan’ it"
Translating from his strong Welsh :) dialect, this means that unless we have a mental model we have little chance of really comprehending what's going on. Models provide a way to:

• Have fun! They can be played with and adapted
• Predict outcomes from actions, simulating and playing "what if" games
• Organize the plethora of information that we receive
• Explore and understand patterns and trends
• Improve our grasp of reality
• Encourage systems thinking
• Simplify!

The use of mental models allows us to retain and use information at an intuitive level, improving speed and quality of decision making, guiding all our interactions with the external world. They are a key tool in improving impact and many of the forthcoming posts will describe simple models that can be used. Of course, many have written about the power of models, including Confucius who noted that it is better to have a common theme, a mental thread that we can always follow:

The master said “Ssu, do you take me for one who studies much and remembers it all?”

“Yes” was the reply. 

“Is it not so?”

“No.  I link all upon a single thread.”  [1]

More contemporary references are found in Peter Senge's book The Fifth Discipline [2] and, musically, the last word has to go to Kraftwerk and "Das Model", four unlikely looking Germans who made a huge impact on music [3].

References

1.  Confucius. Analects (15.3)
2. Senge, Peter. The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization.
3. Kraftwerk "Das Model" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQIYEPe6DWY

Less Effort/Better Results

We can usually get better (or more) results by trying harder, working longer, putting more time and energy into a task. The simple equation is:

Impact = ([Energy & Time * Efficiency] * Effectiveness) - Resistance

To improve our impact we can attempt to increase the amount of energy or time invested. Trouble is, while we're doing that other areas are not getting attention which then lead to problems that sap resources. And, hey, we're not getting any younger - as we progress through life energy levels will naturally decrease and time becomes increasingly at a premium.

True, sustainable, impact is achieved by trying less - improving effectiveness by concentrating our effort on those activities that will produce the results we desire; focusing on generating more energy/time; improving efficiency and minimizing resistance. The components of true impact - simplicity, space, power and grace - are illustrated perfectly by Bob Marley and the Wailers in their performance of Stir It Up on the Old Grey Whistle Test [1]:

Enjoy! Future chapters will explore these themes further to illustrate how we can create such seemingly effortless power.

References:

1. Bob Marley - Stir It Up, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XY0PXaxu3Y