Performance or Results?

Performance and results are usually used synonymously in business to mean the outcome. But really, they are fundamentally different things.

Results are the outcomes, the score. In shooting, did you hit the target?  Performance in contrast, is about inputs and what you did that led to or influenced the result. They are related, but performance is what causes, influences or leads to the result. Shooting is a brilliant metaphor for this.

In the 2021 Tokyo summer Olympics, GB Athlete Kate French went into the final event of the Modern Pentathlon, the laser run (combined running and shooting), in fifth place following the swimming, fencing and show jumping disciplines. She needed to make up 15 seconds to guarantee the Gold.

Keeping a cool head and under intense pressure she quickly established a lead in the running and shot brilliantly, finishing 16-seconds ahead of her nearest rival.

‘I had to focus, I knew I could do it if I just focused on my shooting and ran as hard as I could’.

Now retired and also working with her former GB teammate Lydia Rosling, herself a former World Champion, as performance experts within Metris, we often run shooting skills exercises as part of our programme design. Using laser pistols and targets that illuminate when hit, the exercise can be run in any open indoor venue.

Fun, fast paced and engaging, shooting helps individuals and teams explore the relationship between performance and results. Applying an accelerated learning process, individuals are taught the fundamentals of pistol shooting before participating in a range of competition scenarios that also explore the impacts of pressure on performance.

Shooting, like any skill, is comprised of numerous constituent parts. The activity helps to identify and break these down. After around 30-mins, participants know enough to be able to construct a performance map showing the fundamentals of what shooting performance involves and how to apply and focus on these. What can be understood by analogy, with shooting, can now also be applied to the team’s actual business context. What are the key aspects of performance in your domain and how do you pay attention to these things?

Under pressure our attention is highly likely to be pulled to the outcome and to external factors. What colour are the lights flashing on my target? What about on my competitors’ target and what are they doing? Compelling but useless information, in terms of managing and optimising your own performance. Control the controllables, focus on sight picture, breathing and trigger pressure.

Laser shooting is more than a fun activity; it’s a powerful metaphor for business performance under pressure. When leaders and teams learn to shift their focus from results to the controllable inputs that drive them, they build the mindset and habits needed for consistent, high-quality execution. In the moments that matter, success doesn’t come from watching the scoreboard it comes from mastering the shot.

If you’d like to improve your business’s performance for better results, contact us for a conversation.