Coaching Model: The Perform High Performance

A Coaching Model Created by Matthew Francis
(High-Performance Coach – Business Executives and Athletes, SOUTH AFRICA)

Regarding high performing individuals – be they high performing athletes, sports teams, or business executives – world-class Performance Coach, Timothy Gallwey, explains:

Performance = Potential – Interference (W.T. Gallwey 2001)

Personal performance is directly related to the potential where potential is the trained ability and experience to reach a goal. Potential, however, cannot ignore challenges. Even the very best of intentions can lose momentum and still be derailed. These challenges are understood as ‘interference.

For high performers, these interferences manifest as external and internal expectations, negative self-talk, unexpected setbacks, and barriers.

The PERFORM High-Performance Coaching Model empowers high-performing individuals (HPI) to clarify desired performance goals, intentionally explore developing potential, and minimizing interferences.

Performance=Potential – Interference. Timothy Gallwey

The 5 stages of PERFORM

The PERFORM Model comprises 5 stages, beginning with your ‘now’ performance and ending with your ‘there’ performance.

Performance

This is where we start with what matters to you. For the athlete or team, it is game day, for the business executive it could be a big sales pitch, and for the entrepreneur it may be a tough conversation with a low-performing team member.

This is the first step to iMproved performance.

Evaluation

This is where you, as an HPI, evaluate your performance. Asking yourself questions to help develop clarity and focus including:

1. How do I feel about my performance?
2. How well do I feel I performed?
3. Where can I improve?
4. What interferences did I notice?
5. How has my self-talk influenced my performance?

Review

The Review step is where you, the HPI, and the Coach begin to analyze and unpack your self-evaluation. Your self-evaluation sets the starting point.

Firm up goals

After self-evaluation by the HPI and assistance from the Coach, the Coach helps the HPI to identify what they would like to accomplish. Here is where you choose:

1. What you would like to work on.
2. What you would like to achieve.
3. What makes the outcomes important.
4. In what ways can success be measured.

Ownership

Without ownership, performance cannot improve. Only you can change yourself. HPI’s understand that Performance = Potential – Interference, and are committed to the growth of potential.

Ownership is where the coach supports you, the HPI, to explore your goals, potential, and interferences through, thought-provoking questions.

During this step, the Coach helps the HPI develop their self-awareness, skill/strength-awareness, and game/performance awareness.

Here, techniques such as visualization, mindfulness are practiced and assessments are used to help you, the HPI, develop your Emotional Intelligence, such as Gallup®StrengthFinder and Enneagram.

For High Performing Athletes & Teams, this is the junction where the Sport’s Coach joins the journey. Athletes use the outcomes of the PERFORM Coaching session to be more productive during their on-field practice sessions.

For other HPI’s, like business executives, this is where they may engage with other interested parties (i.e. the board or those reporting to them).

This step is designed to help you clarify changes that must be made and actions to be taken.

Taking complete ownership of your outcomes by holding no one but yourself responsible for them is the most powerful thing you can do to drive your success. Gary W. Keller  (The ONE Thing 2013)

Refine interference

In keeping with the Performance equation developed by Performance Coach Timothy Gallwey, “Performance = Potential – Interference”.

As an HPI, this is where you refine the impact that interference has on your performance.

Such interferences can take many shapes, including:

1. Internal interferences – feelings of fear, self-doubt, obsession, significance, control, etc.
2. External interferences – the opinion of others, social media, the state of the markets, etc.
3. Negative self-talk – how you speak to yourself about mistakes, potential, etc.
4. Destructive team talk – gossip, critical comments, toxic team cultures

Here you as the HPI identify which particular interference has the most volume in your life and come up with constructive ways of turning that volume down.

iMproved performance

This is the step where we clearly establish the next steps and an action plan in keeping with your goals firmed up at the “Firm up goals” step.

Thinking about the saying, “Without a plan, a goal is just a wish” but not every plan is a good plan. Here you will have a look at all the previous steps to put together your action plan.

1. You will discover new learnings about yourself.
2. You will have a clear action plan.
3. You will plot your next steps.
4. You will identify who can support you in achieving these steps.
5. You will look forward to celebrating your successes with significant others in your life.

References

W.T. Gallwey 2001 The Inner Game of Work: Focus, Learning, Pleasure, and Mobility in the Workplace.Random House: New York

Keller 2013 The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results.

Bard Press: Austin TX