Process versus Outcome: Forward Motion Plus Resistance Equals Desired Results. By Bob Davies

Process versus Outcome: Forward Motion Plus Resistance Equals Desired Results.

By Bob Davies

I am coaching a client in a leadership. His team is experiencing five consecutive weeks of declining growth. They are in the staffing industry.

There are two ways to observe and react to this. One is from a victim mindset. A couple of large companies have either closed down or are reducing their manpower and temporary hiring. The economy in this area is slow and uncertain. That’s one perspective.

The alternative perspective is that there is always business and the focus needs to remain on Process not Outcome.

There are rich scientific principles in play here. The first is quantum physics[1] which states that there are multiple “realities” all super imposed on top of each other, the “many worlds theory”, and they all exist in a wave of possibilities until you observe. You select your reality. It is your observation, what you decide to pay attention to, which then collapses the wave function resulting in your experience of reality. Noted biologist Benjamin Libet[2] states, “reality is in the mind of the observer”.

The underlying principle here is that it is up to you to take responsibility to how you perceive the marketplace and your own behavior rather than going victim and blaming circumstances to justify the ongoing decline.

The key for this leader is to understand what business he is in. He is not in the staffing business. He is in the business of growing and developing people and the tool that he uses are his companies’ product and services. This is a “people development” issue.

So here are the lessons. First, it’s about Process not Outcome. How is your org chart thinking? What are the individuals paying attention to? Are they focused on the reasons why business is in decline or on the opportunities that are still available regardless of the marketplace?

This leader needs to coach intentions. Most people think that this is the prevailing formula:

Intentions + Mechanisms = Results

I want to increase growth, (intentions), and when the market is right and presents opportunities (mechanisms) then the results will occur.

This is the victim approach. Let’s correct this.

Intentions = Results

If you want to know what someone is committed to look at what they have. Someone who is in an abusive relationship is committed to being in an abusive relationship. Someone who is in poverty is committed to being in poverty and then complaining and blaming others and circumstances. Tough love I know!

Visualize an automatic thermostat in your home. It’s a feedback mechanism. When the temperature changes a metal coil either expands (hot) or contracts (cold) and this turns the furnace on or off. In other words, this is a feedback mechanism that creates an action so that a consistent result can be maintained.

So it is with human behavior. This leader has a behavioral issue, not a marketplace issue. What is the focus on? How bad the market is, outcome, or how do I need to be to create results in this market, behavior, process.

The key is to focus on process. When I was a college football coach we never focused on beating the other team. Instead our focus was always on being the best versions of ourselves, giving best effort on every play. If our athletes did that then the outcome would take care of itself and there is a high correlation between best effort and positive outcome.

So it’s about each individuals’ intention, or the setting of the thermostat. When you have an intention and then the behavior, you are controlling the only two things you can control, your attitude and your actions.

A coaching commandment[3], or way of thinking is L.O.L.O., Lock On, Lock Out. It is vital to lock on to your desired intention, ongoing growth of yourself and your business, and lock out competing and distracting thoughts.

Another coaching commandment is O.M.M.S., Obstacles Make Me Stronger. The mindset for this leader to coach is that obstacles are the way. Obstacles make you stronger. To complete the coaching commandment mindset; O.M.M.S., forward motion plus resistance equals desired results.

This is how airplanes take flight. There has got to be momentum into the face of resistance for an aircraft to create low pressure above the wing creating lift. Without enough forward momentum there can be no lift!

Consider the Serenity Prayer, God[4], grand me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.[5]

The leaders coaching is about staying in action and locking into a mindset that there are people to serve regardless of the marketplace. The key to focus on is what adjustments do I need to make in my behavior to create the opportunities to serve more people? That may mean making more calls, setting more appointments and keeping my focus on creating opportunities versus focusing on reasons why it can’t be done.

This is a rich lesson with wide application. However, it’s one thing to agree and say that the focus needs to be on process not outcome and then another thing to understand what that really means and execute it.

The key here is to “act as if”. Take on the mindset right now, be precisely planned and make specific commitments for activities this week. Next add accountability. Communicate to someone else what you commit to do this week and have a reporting system in place to verify.

If you keep the right mindset then you are tapping into the infinite energy and intelligence of the universe which cannot fail you. You will produce results that are in alignment with your thinking regardless of the marketplace. It’s not about the market, it’s about you. Showing up every day well prepared, passionate, and executing in reference to your plan.

Don’t take my word for it or the proof offered by science. Apply this yourself and watch what results you are able to create. Remember my principle;

You have far more capacity to create the circumstances and results in your life then you are aware of !

Now go create, not react.

Coach Bob[6]

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[1] Quantum physics is a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles.

[2] Benjamin Libet was a pioneering scientist in the field of human consciousness. Libet was a researcher in the physiology department of the University of California, San Francisco.

[3] Coaching commandments are ways of thinking that become a part of a pattern of one’s personality. These become one’s “truths”. These become neurological pathways that generate behavior.

[4] For a non-religious application substitute Good Orderly Design for God.

[5] The Serenity Prayer is the common name for a prayer written by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.

[6] Bob Davies, best-selling author of the 1.2% Factor. For more information www.bobdavies.com For a 6 min speaker demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLtjWRHzxm8&feature=youtu.be