I just returned from the Masters Skiing World Championships in Austria where 2000 athletes age 30 and over competed in four races over eight days. The masters competition is a wonderful mix of world class athletes, avid competitive athletes and average fitness athletes. It is open to all and thus a mix of skiers of all abilities and ages… the oldest being an 89 year old Russian who looked 65!
Immersed in this competitive environment for 10 days was challenging, stimulating, stressful and fun and it made me think about the many organizations I work for with similar environments. Working without pressure would be unproductive, working without fun would be a drag, working without stimuli and challenge would be boring.
My newest presentation “Game On! World Class Performance” is build around this theme of using pressure to enhance performance, creating an environment that is fun and rewarding, and always looking for new ways to be efficient, productive and competitive. It is a blend of my previous keynotes with a twist emphasizing “never be comfortable with good; never settle for “doing well”: always seek exceptional performance.
While many employees would like to have consistency, comfort and status quo, we know world class means getting out of the comfort zone, being imaginative and innovative in how we do our work and pushing ourselves beyond what we would ordinarily choose to do. After 30 years of competition, and racing at world championships in two sports, I changed my training techniques and racing tactics to ratchet up my level of performance. I learned new skills and had to let go of old training concepts… it was exciting and challenging. Three of the races came down to a sprint for gold and were painful and exhilarating at the same time! World Class Performance comes at a price… but the reward far exceeds the discomfort.