Hi there
In the quest for sustained high performance, it's natural to accumulate a list of successful strategies. However, there's a subtle enemy from success that the best know how to recognise: Winners' Bloat. It's the complexity that grows from success. It is cluttering our path with too many options, too many "tried and true" methods, the ‘way we do things here’: the accepted, untested aspects of historical success that may no longer serve us.
Game-capable practices replay the past, and Championship-capable practices create a new future.
Imagine a trophy room so packed with past glories that there's no space to move, let alone add new achievements. That's what happens when we let Winners' Bloat take over. An army of good intent! Critical thinking is parked in favour of fast acceptance of past practice. The best in the game review their first thought (past practice) and test that it is still fit for purpose (future event). It is a habit they have learned.
I have worked with many organisations that reached out wondering why the once-celebrated system finds themselves stumbling, not because they've lost their edge, but because they're lost in the ideas from their previous wins.
The Championship-capable know the strategic game of ‘Jenga’, strategically removing redundant practices to strengthen the structure's core.
Look at the systems and practices you have inherited with a critical, (yet appreciative eye). This is what ‘walking on the shoulders of giants’ is in the world of high performance. We know what our predecessors have done and what strategies they have used and we know why (and can describe why) those practices are still around and why some have been parked. Jenga.
Performance leaders can describe the ‘old ways’ and why some merit a place in their current playbook.
Here are a few prompts:
Identify the Core: distil past successes into their principles that still hold true (best principles beat best practice!).
Facing forward: every principle matters, but it must speak to today's challenges, not yesterday's victories.
Strategic Jenga: strategically reduce down to the most effective strategies for the next event (not unquestioned- legacy from past events).
Lead by Example: show what this looks like in your own habits…(we cannot give away what we do not have ourselves).
Winners' Bloat is a hamstring challenge from past success! Do you recognise practices and language that may no longer be fit for purpose?
Make 2024 lighter and better.
Go well,