HIGH PERFORMANCE
TIME TO CATCH THE NEXT WAVE
.........................................................................
THE PEOPLE MANAGER HAS NEVER FACED A MORE
CHALLENGING TIME. IT’S TIME FOR A NEW APPROACH
By Kate Lowry
In this current economic
climate, the role of a people
manager is more demanding
than ever before. The
pressure to increase business
performance with scarcer
resources is the current reality.
The people manager has to
find a new way of managing
– a way of raising their own
performance and that of their
direct reports that is both
consistent and value driven.
The manager’s role is
increasingly complex in
terms of managing multiple
interfaces and the incessant
demands of technology. It’s
time for a new approach, to
look differently at the dilemmas
faced by the people manager,
and to offer different solutions.
Time to catch the next wave.
What is Performance?
Performance can be likened to
a surfer ‘catching the right wave
at the right time, with the right
amount of energy’. You have
reached your goal, maybe even
out performed; it’s exhilarating!
You have needed knowledge
and skill to be able to do it, but
in the moment you have chosen
the right time, and everything
has come together.
On our People and
Performance Programme we
use the Performance Wave
“Participants learn about their performance
by experientially ‘surfing’ the wave”
to explain how the people
manager can grow their own
performance and that of their
people even in these difficult
times when the economy is flat
and future growth uncertain.
“Performance can be
likened to a surfer
catching the wave at
the right time”
This approach can make an
invaluable contribution in
understanding to how to
perform in today’s business
environment.
Why is Gestalt theory so
relevant right now?
Gestalt theory tells us that the
individual sees every situation
as being part of a ‘whole field’
of experience. We can never
Kate Lowry,
separate ourselves from the
Programme Director
context in which we are in, and
are in constant interaction with
On the programme participants it. The surfer cannot perform
learn about their own
separately from the ocean.
performance and that of their
When conditions are turbulent
teams by experientially ‘surfing’ they have to find a way to catch
the wave.
a wave and if there is no surf,
they have to look at different
How Does It Work?
options.
The Performance Wave is
based upon Gestalt Psychology.
Constant change is the norm
and the people manager is both
in their organisational system
and a part of it. The world is
relational and what managers
do and how they do it affects
everyone else.
The surfer is usually part of
a group, and has to be aware
enough to take account of other
surfers, their actions and intent.
The weather is unpredictable.
The surfers needs to be able
to respond quickly and adapt
their style to suit emergent
conditions.
“The People and Performance Programme will
move between the beach and the sea”
For people managers a
meaningful ‘gestalt’ is how they
make sense out of all that is
going on moment by moment
How Managers perceive the
world, and what they choose to in a busy day.
focus on matters much more
than it used too. Time is short
“The world is more
and expectation high. Selfchaotic than linear, so
awareness is the key to decision
we need to think
making. Conscious awareness
differently. ‘No problem
facilitates choice by enabling
can be solved from
the people manager to decide
the same level of
between competing options, to
consciousness that
know when to move with their
created it’ - Einstein
energy and when to conserve it.
The surfer knows when to
paddle out for a while and wait
for the next wave.
Surfing The Performance
Wave
The Performance Wave
explains how we go about
using our energy to achieve
performance. Also how we can
interrupt our flow and lose
focus-Missing the wave. It
can also be used to understand
the performance of others,
and help the people manager
know when to intervene, and
what action might prove most
effective.
When things are going well,
they behave spontaneously
and creatively to the on-going
demands, attending to the
most compelling and urgent
aspect. Taking action on the
most urgent priority is part of
the job.
Attending to what happens
inwardly, noticing and
attending to emotions arising
from a decision taps into a new
resource. This is ‘mindfulness’
– being fully engaged in a
situation and at the same time
feeling present and centred.
Athletes describe this place
well. Matthew Pinsent said
when reflecting on his 2004
Olympic Gold in rowing.
‘There was a very calm quiet
place in my head that knew
exactly where we were, knew
exactly how far there was to
go and knew exactly what we
had to do’.
This is a new and important
practice for today’s people
manager and we will focus on
it.
From this place of mindfulness
come new ways of approaching
things, for example learning
to use presence to influence
key stakeholders and
experimenting with the
different conversations that
need to be had and engage in a
mature, honest and challenging
dialogue.
Being able to tune into what
is happening means tapping
into the creative possibilities of
the moment with confidence
and intentionality. The people
manager can then step back
from repeating the same
patterns of behaviour in
response to a situation, and
sense more of a call in response
to the business. This is vital for
businesses to maintain their
competitive advantage.
Because the business world
is so hectic, and it can seem
that everything is a prioritywe need to ensure that we
create the space to learn and
gain satisfaction from our
on-going experience. Regular
pauses with time to reflect are
essential.
The business world offers
many opportunities, and we
need to be well rested and
energetic enough to take them.
Building in time to manage
pressure, develop resilience
and recuperate are all of key
importance.
• The ability to give focus to
immediate task priorities
and still be aware of
emergent business needs.
• The ability to access
creativity to solve problems.
• The ability to engage
in mature, honest and
challenging dialogue.
• The ability to create time
and space to learn and
develop resilience.
• The ability to revitalise and
inspire.
We look at the challenges faced The People and Performance
by the people manager in a
Programme will move between
different way.
the ‘beach and the sea’- raising
awareness which is at the heart
To become a high performing
of finding new ways to raise
surfer it takes many years and
performance.
lots of practice. You learn firstly
the skills of surfing on the
beach. You get on and off the
References:
board numerous times, and
The Liminal Space and The Twelve
learn the technique of how to
Action Practices for Gracious Living.
move from lying flat on the
Sally Denham-Vaughan 2010.
board to standing up. All before
you get into the water! You have The Gestalt Brand: Ty Francis 2001.
all the right equipment, great
board, top of the range wetsuit, © Kate Lowry 2012
and as soon as you get into
the sea everything changes.
You are now in touch with
the movement and energy of
something very vast, powerful
and unpredictable.
So people managers have to be
more than just skilled. They
have to be able to perform
in a constantly pressurised
environment.
This demands:
• The ability to stay present
and centred whilst engaged
in a situation.
Why Cranfield
School of Management?
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Kate Lowry is a Visiting
Fellow at Cranfield School
of Management. She has
a background in business
and Psychology and whilst
working in business she
studied for 3 years at the
Gestalt Centre in London,
gaining a Diploma in Gestalt
Psychotherapy. She uses the
practical and creative nature
of this approach in her work
as a facilitator and coach.
On the People and
Performance programme we
will ask delegates to take stock
of their current skills and
knowledge and identify what
needs to change for them to
perform better. We will help
expand their horizons by
bringing in the latest thinking
and research backed by
Cranfield’s academic rigour.
The Praxis Centre at
Cranfield has been offering
highly innovative and
groundbreaking management
and leadership programmes
for over two decades.
Cranfield School of Management is ranked amongst the top three Business Schools
in the 2012 Financial Times Executive Education Rankings