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I hear people say that practice makes perfect.
I don't agree with this. Only PERFECT practice makes perfect.
Many people think just doing something over and over again
(practice) will help them perfect a skill. But, just putting
in the hours won't do, especially if you are doing things
the wrong way. All your effort and consistent hard work
is worthless unless you practice doing things correctly.
Take interviewing for example. Candidates
prepping for their military transition write out their answers
to questions and practice saying these answers over and
over again with little thought of whether what they are
saying makes any sense to the listener. They practice communication
in a vacuum. Eighty percent of your success in answering
interview questions comes from the content of your answer
(and the rest from your delivery). You could practice the
best delivery in interviewing history, but if your content
is lousy, your interview will be lousy. You cannot interview
successfully without perfect practice. Consider your audience,
think about your past, develop compelling content, and then
practice your delivery. With great content, you will deliver
great answers and get great results.
In another example, I see talented
business leaders who are below average public speakers.
To improve, they just continue to give poor speeches hoping
that repetition would help them improve. Of course, they
never get better because with each speech, they simply improve
poor technique. When asked why they don't invest the time
to get better, they invariably answer that they don't have
time to improve. I argue that they are wasting more time
because they are not getting any more efficient at preparing
and giving great talks.
If you want to improve your speaking
skills, find people who are good at it and learn from them.
Observe them, study them, analyze what makes them good at
it. Break it down into its fundamentals. Then go out and
do the same thing. Now it is time for perfect practice.
Once you learn what you should be doing, practice it right
away. Check yourself repeatedly and force yourself to do
it right. Don't expect immediate results (as a matter of
fact, you may get worse at it in the short-term). By practicing
good techniques, you will improve your abilities. By continuing
to make the same mistakes over and over again, you will
never improve.
I see the same thing with leaders
who are promoted into positions where they need to manage
many details. Instead of studying the way other leaders
manage details, they just flounder hoping time and repetition
will improve their skills. As you grow in a company, weak
skills are like staves in a barrel. The water will never
rise higher than the lowest stave. Perfect practice means
identifying the fundamentals of time management and prioritization
and forcing yourself to practice daily to get better.
Over the last three decades, I have
worked with many strong officers who had introverted personalities.
When I questioned how they lead others with such sedate
personalities, they explained that when the going got tough,
they could always step out of their shell and motivate people.
I always wondered why they just didn't practice these skills
so they could always communicate and influence people around
them (i.e., don't wait for emergencies to step up to the
plate). I mean, if you can motivate people when you really
need to, why not practice to make it a daily habit? I have
never met a person who could afford sloppy communication
in their everyday life and do it the right way when it counts.
After all, bad practice makes bad habits.
We have all seen others around us
who are great at things that we are not. Make these people
your role models and learn fundamentals from them that you
can make a part of your own arsenal. There is an amazing
amount of talent around us. Emulate and study talented leaders,
find out the fundamentals that make people successful, and
then work like crazy to incorporate these success traits
into your daily practice. Remember, perfect practice makes
perfect.
Copyright 2004. Cameron-Brooks, Inc.
All rights reserved.
