CONCLUSION

The Monday Morning Test

When we lead our workshops, we strive to make the techniques we teach and practice pass the “Monday Morning Test.” The guidance we give has to be specific and concrete enough for teachers to be able to use it productively first thing on Monday morning. The key to passing the Monday Morning Test is not lofty ideals but specific actions that can be immediately implemented. We hope that if you are a coach or a trainer or already engage in regular, intentional practice, specific practical applications for the ideas in this book are already obvious. What if you are a partner in a law firm, the head of a division or a nonprofit agency, the principal of a school, a manager at a grocery store, or an individual seeking to improve at something you have not regularly practiced before? What are the first steps in bringing the power of practice to your profession, your organization, or your life? How do you begin to get better at getting better?

The pages that follow are an effort to help you think about application and implementation. Here are concrete actions and approaches that can be applied in an array of settings and that you can start using as early as Monday morning. We describe three scenarios of what it could look like to put our rules into action. The first scenario describes how you might apply these rules as a leader or manager in your organization. The second scenario looks at how the rules could apply when you are working one-on-one with a colleague, mentee, or small group of people. And the final scenario suggests how you might use these rules as an individual in the quest for success in your field or endeavor.

MONDAY MORNING FOR ORGANIZATIONS

If you are a leader or member in an organization and want to bring the power of practice to how you develop and improve people, the following rules can be used first thing on Monday morning.

Rule 2: Practice the 20

Use this rule to identify a handful of the most important skills that you need individuals in your organization to master in order to drive 80 percent of your results. If you don’t know where to start in identifying those skills that apply to your work, then use another concept from this same rule and leverage the wisdom of crowds. Poll your people (draft the e-mail first thing on Monday morning) and ask them to respond to the following question by three o’clock in the afternoon: “What are the three most important skills we all need to have in order to be successful?” It’s not an exact science, but you will get a pretty good starting point for what you need to practice, and further, your team will be invested in the process. Depending on your company or organization’s size, you will get a variety of responses and can narrow in on the top three skills to practice.

Rule 10: Isolate the Skill

Let’s say the top skill that your organization recognizes is the need to “effectively communicate with clients.” It is now your leadership team’s job to break down this larger skill into isolated skills for practice. What managerial skills are most necessary for success? What skills do you most need to isolate in order to “effectively communicate with clients”? Maybe it means isolating skills like using eye contact, narrowing the focus of presentations, or active listening by nodding and taking notes. Make sure the skills that you isolate are small enough to be intentionally practiced.

Rule 11: Name It

Give each skill a sticky name that will mean something to everybody in your organization. When something becomes an “it,” you can talk about it, model it, practice it, and give feedback on it. What skills or concepts will you name so that they can be taught and practiced?

Rule 16: Call Your Shots

You have the right skills in your sights and you have them named; now as the leader it’s time to call your shots. You should model not only the skill itself but your willingness to practice in front of others and to ask for feedback. Tell your team what you’re working on—for example, active listening—and how you’re going to demonstrate it in meetings or in a role play with a “client.” Ask people for feedback on the skill; then model how you practice again while integrating the feedback (notice here that we’re also inserting Rule 23, “Practice Using Feedback”).

Beyond Monday Morning

We recognize that large, sweeping organizational change cannot be created in one day. Use the rules in the following discussion to continue on your path to improving practice within your organization.

If practice is new to your organization, you will be best served if you anticipate people’s potential resistance to it (Rule 32, “Break Down the Barriers to Practice”). Modeling your own willingness to practice will certainly help. It will also help if you anticipate the different reasons that people in your organization may be hesitant to engage in practice, as well as anticipate particular individuals who may be especially resistant. Maybe the public aspect of practice will be particularly challenging for some; if that’s the case, then allow them to practice privately first. Others may be skeptical of or resistant to change. Ask these individuals to trust the process and to give you feedback afterwards on what worked for them in practice and what was challenging. Then continue to break down barriers through continued practice. Whatever the barriers may be, anticipate them so that you are ready to lead your team in overcoming them. And be on the lookout for creative ways for avoiding practice, like we saw in Rule 32.

In addition, when you first incorporate the exchange of feedback between colleagues in practice, you may want to use Rule 28, “Make It an Everyday Thing,” and provide sentence starters such as, “I liked how you . . .” and “Next time you should try . . .” Make it clear that feedback (through modeling and explicit guidance) has to be precise (focused on replicable actions). You have to get past nice: don’t be afraid to give genuine feedback in the name of organizational improvement.

Finally, don’t lose sight of the objective of your practice, and find creative ways to make it fun so that people will be excited to engage in it. Use friendly competitions between departments and cheer for each other during practice; you will see an outpouring of peer support and teamwork during actual performance as well.

MONDAY MORNING FOR A MENTEE OR SMALL TEAM

In a recent New York Times article, “What They Don’t Teach Law Students: Lawyering,” David Segal describes the lack of practical legal training that students receive in law school. This fact contributes to additional legal fees that clients end up paying for through the on-the-job training of young attorneys; it has led to a steep decline in the number of students being hired straight out of law school, and calls into question the preparation that law schools across the country give to their students.

In the article, Segal quotes the general counsel of a major corporation who describes the problem: “The fundamental issue is that law schools are producing people who are not capable of being counselors. They are lawyers in the sense that they have law degrees, but they aren’t ready to be a provider of services.”1 Segal points out that one of the first-year requirements in law school is Contracts, a course in which students examine historic landmark cases. But what students don’t learn in most Contracts classes is how to go through the process of drafting a contract that both parties will agree to, a skill that almost all lawyers have to have on the job.

To address this practical preparation and skills gap, law firms (or even the law schools themselves) could follow the sequence of rules laid out above for organizations. One such law firm, Drinker Biddle, with offices in eight states and two countries, has created a four-month program for new associates to prepare them for the on-the-job challenges and skills required of them in corporate law. A graduate of the program, Dennis P. O’Reilly, says of the program, “What they taught us at this law firm is how to be a lawyer. What they taught us at law school is how to graduate from law school.”2

The law profession is not alone in underutilizing the power of practice to prepare professionals for the demands that on-the-job performance requires. Working with a small team or even with one individual within your firm or company, you can start to bring practice to help with preparation and performance. For lawyers practicing contract writing, you might also have them practice how to speak to a non-lawyer about what a contract means. This concept could be applied in all professions. Doctors need to learn how to explain medical decisions to their patients; IT specialists need to know how to explain concepts to technophobes; teachers need to be able to interpret assessment results for parents. All professions could practice translating for novices in order to address the age-old problem described by George Bernard Shaw: “All professions are conspiracies against the laity.” Practice explaining technical terms that are unique to your profession in order to better serve your profession and your field.

Maybe you don’t work in the context of a larger organization (you may be a writer, an artist, or a coach of an individual sport), or perhaps you work in a larger organization but are only responsible for a small team (as an art director at an ad agency, or a board member of a local sports league). Perhaps you lead a large organization but want to start small in using practice to transform your organization. In any of these cases you may find it useful to apply the following rules to your work, and you can start first thing Monday morning. Begin with one person, one skill, 15 minutes every week. Use the following rules to get you going.

Rule 7: Differentiate Drill from Scrimmage

Differentiate drill from scrimmage and you will be able to bring your practice to a whole new level. Learn from Weill Cornell Medical School and present your team with discrete drills that isolate the skills your team will need to use in performance. To prepare attorneys for a deposition, have associates practice asking their five key questions, whose answers will help them win the deposition (keeping the case from going to court), rather than having them scrimmage and go through their entire list of questions. Or perhaps you work with associates who will never see the inside of a courtroom. Have them practice how to communicate with conviction with another party who is not aligned with their interests and then reach an agreement that is advantageous and acceptable to both parties.

You don’t work at a law firm? Apply this rule with your mentees or your own small team. If you want to incorporate daily practice, you can learn from Nikki and Maggie, back in the Introduction. With a colleague, practice, say, the opening and concluding remarks of your presentation in which you will request funding for your next project. Focus on discrete skills, one at a time. Don’t rush to scrimmage because it’s easier; focus on the smaller practice tasks that will more likely lead to success in the performance. Incorporate practice drills for 15 minutes a day, or take one hour a week for feedback and practice.

Rule 23: Practice Using Feedback (Not Just Getting It)

Giving feedback to those you supervise may not be new to you and your team. But bring your feedback process to your practice sessions and then ask for your mentee or players to use feedback immediately. When you see them practice using it, you will observe if (1) your feedback is clear, (2) they are able to use it, and (3) your feedback results in improved performance. Use the principles from the feedback chapter to keep your feedback focused on what to do differently in the future rather than on what was done wrong in the past (Rule 8, “Correct Instead of Critique”). Then ask your players to incorporate the feedback.

Rule 14: Make Each Minute Matter

In the world of billable hours (or at any company with a bottom line), time is money. The more time that your associates have in their day to be billing clients, the stronger the firm will be. The more efficient your small marketing team is, the more clients you will be able to reach. But when faced with first-year associates or account managers who are not prepared for the demands of the job, you will have to train them. Create systems to enable your practices to be urgent, tight, and efficient. Use timers and structured protocols to allow as many people the chance to practice and use feedback as possible, or to allow one person multiple takes.

Rule 22: Get Ready for Your Close-up

In your quick drills, videotape each other (a simple video from your smartphone will do). Have your mentees watch the video, reflect on their execution of the technique, and then practice again, incorporating the changes they want to make.

MONDAY MORNING FOR YOURSELF

Many of us—the would-be superstars or closet virtuosos—may not have the privilege of practicing with a team. Or perhaps we are an anonymous, small cog in an organizational behemoth. Practice still has its place. And you can use several rules in this book, first thing on Monday morning, to achieve success through practice.

Javier Bardem was featured in a recent New York Times piece that traced his career, describing the performances that have set him apart from the merely mediocre. Bardem has won not only an Academy Award but also a Golden Globe Award, a SAG, and countless awards in Europe.3 Every colleague quoted in the article commented on Bardem’s consistently outstanding performances, but they focused mostly on his hard work and consistent practice. One of the directors he has worked with, Julian Schnabel, observed, “I think the best actors are those who are not only talented, but work harder than anybody else, and that’s Javy.”

The article traces Bardem’s talent back to his childhood and the hours he spent helping his mother, an actress, review her lines and practice her roles. Watching his mother relentlessly go over and over her lines until she knew them cold, and only then seeing her develop her character, framed for him what would become his personal work ethic and habits that would produce consistently excellent results (Rule 21, “Model the Path”). He reflects, “To get to the art, one must work very hard. Art doesn’t exist just as talent. It exists as effort, work and judgment.” We believe that the same can be said for teaching and for most if not all performance professions. The top performers are those who continue to strive, grow, and develop—in other words, they continue to practice.

Despite Bardem’s wild success and his consistent offers of interesting roles from high-profile directors who have great confidence in his abilities, he continues to work with an acting coach, Juan Carlos Corazza. The article explains, “They have worked together nearly 20 years, since the beginning of Mr. Bardem’s career. In a telephone interview from Madrid, where he lives, Mr. Corazza said that Mr. Bardem not only consults with him as he prepares for each role but also attends his classes and workshops, where he is sometimes matched with beginning actors.”

Learning from the greats like actor Javier Bardem, surgeon Atul Gawande, and soccer phenomenon Lionel Messi, we outline here the rules that you as an individual can apply to improve your intentional use of practice in order to become a star in your own profession or pastime.

Rule 17: Make Models Believable Seek Believable Models

We are slightly altering the use of this rule here. As an individual you need to seek out believable models, people who are doing the same work you are doing, in a similar context. Further, you need to try to understand, as Bardem did with his mother, how they practice. Don’t just go to the symphony to hear the greats perform; go behind the scenes and watch how they practice—the process by which they get better. You don’t have to live near a concert hall to be able to do this. YouTube is an amazing tool for practice. Use it to see how the greats practice. On Monday morning, enter “Itzhak Perlman Practicing” into their search tool and see what you find.

Rule 23: [Seek and] Practice Using Feedback

Learn from Atul Gawande and seek out a coach. It doesn’t have to cost you anything. Ask someone, even a peer or colleague in your field, to be your “extra ear.” Practice using the feedback you receive from your coach. Don’t just nod your head in acceptance; immediately try out your coach’s suggestions to incorporate them into your practice. This will make you more likely to apply the feedback during your performance as well.

Rule 4: Unlock Creativity

Identify those skills in your profession or hobby that are weak, thus preventing you from being more creative. Practice these skills again and again until they are committed to your muscle memory. This will allow you to free up more creative space and reach new heights, whether you are sitting at a piano, delivering a speech in a boardroom, or teaching math to 30 sixth-graders.

Rule 31: Normalize Error

Learn from our skier friend and the typist in the chapter on culture. Be willing to push yourself a little bit harder, out of your comfort zone, and take calculated risks in the name of improvement. Maybe that means practicing a difficult conversation that you never thought you could have with your boss about your career development, speaking with conviction and persuasion. Or perhaps it means practicing your violin solo with the metronome four ticks higher than you normally would. Push yourself to make mistakes in the name of improvement.

Use practice to help you or your organization pass your own Monday Morning Test. Use this plug-and-play combination of rules to start you on your way. You will no doubt find other ways to put the ideas from this book into action immediately. The key is to dive in, take one small step, and then keep going.

FINAL WORDS ON PRACTICE

The past few years have been dramatic and often stressful for teachers, much as they have been stressful for other professionals as well. As the expectations increase for schools to demonstrate unequivocally that students are learning, so does the pressure for more rigorous evaluation of teachers—and sometimes even more public evaluation of teachers, whose scores in some cities are now published in the newspaper. While it is right that schools and teachers be accountable for results, many teachers are rightly frustrated by the lack of equivalent support they receive in seeking success. What do we conclude if we believe—not as some have suggested, that teachers are lazy and indifferent—that teachers are a committed, hard-working, effective group of people who do incredibly difficult work with little recompense or appreciation? What if teachers working under these conditions have mediocre results and urgently want to get better, but their schools or districts fail to make them better? What if they are good but want to be great and, again, are not supported? What if they are great and want to be life-changing?

In the education sector, we argue that it is the fundamental obligation of organizations to make people better. At the very least it is an opportunity, one of incredible magnitude as the work we do throughout the economy is exposed to more and more competition. What was once a local competition is now global and has become more and more reliant on “knowledge workers.” The capacity to develop people and make them better is, you could argue, the best measure of an organization’s worth. And yet most organizations, including educational organizations, ironically, fail to leverage some of the most basic, effective, and straightforward tools that could help them in that struggle—in part perhaps because they appear so basic and straightforward. (We hope to have demonstrated in this book that while they are powerful, they are not simple.)

In 14th-century England, a Franciscan friar named William of Ockham observed that when there are competing possible explanations for an occurrence and no preponderance of data points to favor one or another, it makes sense to choose the simplest possible explanation, as it is more likely to be true. This observation, known today as Occam’s Razor, can be applied to a great many of our struggles in the field of developing people.

For example, what is the best explanation for the fact that students don’t achieve in all classrooms? It could be that we need to rethink the tenets of teaching and discover new principles to inform what we do, but it could more simply be that when we do know effective methods we fail to apply them because we don’t practice very much. And when you don’t do something a lot, you never get very good at it.

So too it could be that patients in our medical system think their doctors are rushed and don’t care about them as individuals because, in fact, the system has become overtaxed and the pressure to see a volume of patients is too intense to allow doctors to linger with any one. But more simply it could be that doctors don’t practice communicating effectively, efficiently, and humanely with patients, who thus report feeling rushed when all they want is to feel understood.

So too it could be, as the Heath brothers point out, that a thousand situations where the problem appears to be resistance to change are actually lack of clarity: “I don’t know exactly what to do, and I don’t know how to do it, because I’ve never practiced it.” To continue with the old-school philosophical theme, it is worth recalling the much quoted observation of Aristotle’s that “we are what we repeatedly do,” and that “excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Practice, in this framework, is perhaps defined not as a series of drills and activities and scrimmages but as the opportunity to invent or reinvent ourselves in whatever way we wish, by repeatedly doing these activities with strategy and intentionality. We can become not just better surgeons and teachers and soccer players through practice, but better people. As Aristotle also observed, “We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.” We wish, then, not only better skill and greater accomplishment for you, your organization, and your family but justice, temperance, bravery, and success, both in your practices and in the ten thousand games and performances that make up your life’s work.

Notes

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/business/after-law-school-associates-learn-to-be-lawyers.html?pagewanted=all

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/business/after-law-school-associates-learn-to-be-lawyers.html?pagewanted=all

3. Larry Rohter, “The Actor as Architect of a Role,” New York Times, December 29, 2010.