How Exploration and Exploitation fit with your comfort zone.

One of my mental balancing acts is maintaining the right balance between being focused on just doing what I do well (okay, I know -it's a short list !) and being open and giving time to , exploring new opportunities , extending my comfort zone in the process . 

It's a  trade-off between the making the most from the present and investing some energy on a potential future success.

I thought of it as a kind of risk vs return model until I found that distinguished Stanford Professor , James G March had developed the exploration and exploitation model in 1991 as it applied to organisational learning . I feel it aptly describes my search for achieving the right balance between being structured and resolute and adopting a resourceful ,adaptable and positive approach . 

The approach suggests that we should balance the exploitation of our current array of talents - knowledge, skills  and experience , with the exploration and development of new talents. The exact balance is our own personal choice, obviously, and depends on our own mindset and risk profile (handily identified through the Challenge scale in the Clough and Strycharczyk MTQ 4C’s mental toughness framework ) , our career stage , as well as external markets and opportunities . 

I think that in normal circumstances I’m probably 70%-30%  in favour of exploitation but that for a few months this year -probably March , April and  May 2020- whilst Australia was in lock down , that I was 100% focused on Exploitation with 0% on Exploration of new opportunities.

However in the past few weeks of June this balance has reverted to 85%-15% or 80%-20% as I have become more confident in potential opportunities.

This 80-20 exploitation /exploration guide is entirely consistent with another psychological framework ,called the zone of proximal development, (see this useful article by Saul Mcleod on Simply Psychology https://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html   )

The term proximal refers to those skills that the learner is “close” to mastering and shows that the best way to make solid progress isn't to push yourself as much as possible ,but instead aim to learn within "the zone of proximal development” which sits just outside your comfort zone . This allows you, for the most part, to exploit your skills proficiently and then stretch to explore new ground whilst not being too far afield from what you already know. This allows for healthy and steady growth.

A similar and more modern concept of the zone of proximal development is the “Goldilocks Rule" developed by author James Clear , which finds that one of the best ways to stay motivated is to work on tasks and projects  of "just manageable difficulty." According to the Goldilocks Rule, as humans we experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of our current abilities.

In contrast if your 80-20 balance was reversed, so the majority of your time was spent in ‘exploration mode ‘ beyond your comfort zone ,then you would very quickly feel uncomfortable and out of your depth. To use a popular phrase you would “sink or swim” and hope that you were able to learn from your mistakes or lack of knowledge quickly and without making too many poor decisions or experiencing too great a loss.

So, in summary , to maximise your rate of personal growth in your skills and experience, be mindful of your preferred balance between Exploitation and Exploration and also between the boundaries of your existing comfort zone and the zone of proximal development. 

To learn more on mental toughness contact Mental Toughness Partners

Paul Lyons is an experienced CEO who coaches leaders to improve their performance and wellbeing by developing their mental toughness. 

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Thanks to Craig Lovelidge for sharing their work on Unsplash.