High Performance, Elite and Professional

What's your environment like? Do these have to co-exist?

High performance is a mindset,
Elite is a level of performance and
Professional is a pay grade

The above is something I am fairly sure I have appropriated, or at least adapted from a mentor of mine from many years ago (hat tip to Grant Jenkins). It came up in a conversation with some work colleagues recently, one of whom really liked it and inspired this article.

It is clearly from the world of sport, and whilst I think we fetishize the sport (and to be honest the military) world as it pertains to business I do think there are some lessons here to take away for health and performance (in the sporting and business realms).

High Performance

Given we are defining this as a mindset, then what it looks like probably stands to reason. It is all the attitudinal things we hear about or all of “the things that require no talent”. To name a few: being on time, looking for feedback and seeking ways to improve. In the most talented individuals it may prolong career longevity and in the more borderline it may be the difference between selection and not.

Crucially, this type of mindset often sets an improvement trajectory, regardless of starting or end points - both of which may be out of our control to a degree. A high performance mindset and approach to improvement allows for faster learning.

We are certainly not all dealt the same hand in life, but we do have a level of control over our approach.

Elite

This is a level of performance, which in some realms becomes synonymous with professional, but not always. For example, this may be in a non-paid endeavour, or perhaps in one where someone is unable to earn enough to not have to work alongside this (often the case in certain Olympic sports). Expanding this beyond a sporting context, in artistic endeavours, this may be a musician before signing a deal, or an artist not willing to sell their works.

Elements of talent certainly play a role in elite performance, some of them physical (wingspan in some sports for example), but almost everyone I know has a story of someone whose talent was squandered or similar.

Professional

This is fundamentally a pay grade in most cases, that is, you are paid for your work. In some cases there may be some nuance, triathlon comes to mind in which athletes earn a professional designation. This allows them to earn significant winnings and means they compete against other pros but not that they are necessarily paid a wage or salary.

Many would suggest that professionals behave in a professional manner and to a degree this may be true but it certainly isn’t always the case *Insert alcohol related incident relating to a professional sportsperson of your choice here*. To be clear, this is not a judgement on these individuals as much as a discussion of the nuance in the premise of this article.

The fundamental premise of the quote and venn diagram above, is that a high performance mindset is adoptable by anyone but isn’t necessarily adopted by everyone despite performance or pay.

Barriers to High Performance

“High Performance isn’t for Everyone” is something I’ve heard said often (sometimes from my own mouth). Fundamentally this comes down to how we receive feedback and how willing we are to be made uncomfortable in our growth. Being in a high performance environment can be (and often is) simultaneously very difficult and very rewarding - when pushed many may prefer not to adopt this mindset. Again, this is not a value judgement but the discomfort of these environments and standards they can set mean many prefer a different approach when actually choosing (rather than verbalising a preference).

Aren’t All Professional Environments also Elite and High Performance?

You’d be surprised and it can be a bit difficult as a coach or leader at times.

There are some very common archetypes (read stereotypes), for example the elite level performer who is not particularly high performance in their mindset, diet etc. Of course at some point this may limit them but it often doesn’t for a long time. These individuals are often some of those who are ‘naturally talented’.
I have worked with a few of these individuals over the years in the sporting arena, they often skipped or were late to training sessions and would not be particularly focussed at times, but in most teams you just have to select them (they’re usually the best player or close to it). In a work environment this may look like the disruptive superstar.

The opposite exists too, the pleasure to work with who just isn’t going to make it for some reason again, often due to reasons we call ‘talent’. These folk are relentless in their will to improve, including aiding those around them, often amplifying others. They’re often great for team chemistry and aid in cultural architecture for the leader (think; upholding standards, role modelling etc). Whilst I have worked with a few of these people, one individual comes to mind specifically, and to be fair to them they were very talented, but didn’t quite make it (perhaps as a result of being a little short). This individual was so focussed and high performance minded as a pre-teen he was doing things like booking himself massages for recovery.

As another example, to tie a bow in the framework; a friend of mine once played for a team who were elite. Unfortunately, they were not yet professional and this was a source of conflict and frustration for them as they felt they should be. Many of them were struggling to continue to attend all training required whilst balancing work or study commitments. That said, there was also at least one occasion where many team members arrived to a morning training session having been out the night prior and sporting the stamps on their arms from the prior night (amongst other things) - perhaps not quite the high performance mindset you would want from people who want to be professional.

Resources

An interesting and pertinent omission to this point has been resources. There is no mention of resources in the above descriptions and whilst many probably assumed that they are present in the professional (and maybe elite) environment this is certainly a spectrum and not always true. In his book “The Gold Mine Effect” Rasmus Ankersen investigates environments he calls “Gold Mines” (think Rift Valley Kenyan runners, Brazilian footballers and Jamaican sprinters). Interestingly in many of these cases, resources are scarce at best. I also remember personally talking to a coach who’d worked with a very successful international sporting team telling me that after they’d had initial success, facilities had been upgraded and he felt that the work ethic in the team had changed as a result (same personnel). This team is yet to see the success it once had.

I’d surmise from this that resources (beyond a point that’s probably lower than we think) were neither necessary, nor sufficient for elite level performance and a high performance approach.

How does this Fit with Health?

In a health context, terms like professional and elite probably don’t make a lot of sense and it’s not worth stretching to make these fit. That said a high performance mindset may look like:

• Disciplined and dedicated to things like good sleep and nutrition.

• Looking to improve lifestyle for example engineering more movement into their day.

• Seeking help in realms where they could improve (perhaps a personal trainer, cooking classes or therapy).

High Performance in a Work Context

When it comes to situations in the work world where high performance is not yet aligned with performance level or pay grade, we are usually talking about things like internships, trials or perhaps ‘acting up’ a level. In this context, the paradigm works exceptionally but probably doesn’t need more explanation (in short; high performance mindset will hopefully help level up, and not having one will be a big barrier). Beyond this though, in a work context:

• Things like being on time and prepared should probably go without saying but in case they don’t for some reason, then I guess that’s high performance.

• Upskilling outside of work to be better in your craft.

• Seeking feedback (internally and externally) and reaching out within the industry to learn from and share ideas with others.

My Experience with High Performance

In my experience, truly high performing environments are hard to come by (and of course there’s a spectrum). Many people yearn to be involved in elite and/or professional environments assuming they will be high performance and perhaps there’s a greater likelihood there, but it’s certainly not a given.
The best high performance environments I have seen or been involved with start from within though, and are most powerful when driven from the ground up. That is, they are owned by the individuals in and on the teams more than the leaders of the teams. Most notably none of them start with the budget, that’s for sure.

My Take

• Upgrade your standards and mindset before expecting performance or pay grade to change

• Lean in to the discomfort

• If you find yourself in a high performance environment - embrace and cherish it, they’re the exception

• The best teams in the world, the ones that differentiate themselves are high performance in their mindset, perhaps not always performing at the highest level but over the longer term they tend to rise to the top (think sporting dynasties or huge individual legacies)