Life at Full Volume: The 12 Principles of High Performance

Life atFull Volume:

The 12 Principles of High Performance

David B. McLaughlin

Includes Self-Assessment

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Life at full volume is about being a high performer. It means taking the volume knob on the amplifier of life and cranking it to 11 because 10 is too boring. It makes no difference if you are a rock star, senior executive, or beginning your career at the bottom of the corporate ladder. It does not matter if you are a stay at home mom or dad, or a student trying to figure out your next move. The principles of high performance are the same for everyone. How you apply them in your world may be different, but the only proper place for the volume knob is 11. Anything less than full volume will not do.

fullvolumedevelopment.com Life at Full Volume: The 12 Principles of High Performance – David B. McLaughlin @fullvolumedev

I have discovered The 12 Principles of High Performance after: • developing people for over twenty years, • examining research data in multiple domains, and • pouring over dozens of books in the field of human

development.

I have positioned each principle within one of three main categories:• Intrinsic Motivation,• Competence Proficiency, and• Social Ability.


Intrinsic Motivation

High performers have passions inside them that have to come out in creativity, energy and productivity. They do not get everything right, but they crank out enough that some of it sticks. They are driven to perform. And perform at a high level. If you are not living up to your passion and potential there will always be a hunger for something more.

The word “intrinsic” means internal. The principles of high performance included within the category of Intrinsic Motivationare principles that come from deep within and cause high performers to jump out of bed saying, “Let’s do this, world!” (Well, most mornings.) Those principles are: Character, Purpose, Determination, Curiosity andImprovement. These principles are the power source for who you are and set the stage for everything you do.

Competence Proficiency

High performers get things done. They know what to do, when to do it, how to do it and why they are doing it. And, they do it better than everybody else. Most importantly, they are having more fun than anybody else. They love what they do because they are so good at it. The people who are not good at what they do are miserable with life, generally sad, mad at those who are high performers and do not get much accomplished.


The principles of Competence Proficiency are: Execution, Focus, Leverage, Innovation and Alignment. These principles are where the action is. All of the accomplishment, glory, winning, raising the trophy, or taking the humble bow, is achieved right here.


Social Ability

You don’t have to be an extrovert to be a high performer. But all high performers know how to partner with people. The best performers genuinely care about others and see the world as big enough for everyone to be successful. They do not discount personal responsibility as a trade-off for getting along. Rather, they promote accountability and help others achieve it.


Emotional Intelligence and Collaboration are the principles of Social Ability. People with social ability are like agents in the music business who are meeting people, making contacts, and creating deals so that shows can happen and music can be heard. High performers, however, know they are their own agents. They cannot rely on others to be socially adept for them.


High Performance


Character

Purpose

Determination

Curiosity

Improvement


Execution

Focus

Leverage

Innovation

Alignment

Social Ability

Emotional Intelligence

Collaboration

The 12 Principles

Let’s survey the 12 Principles of High Performance. Life at full volume requires a deep dive into each topic. Consider this a road map to developing each of these areas.

There is an assessment at the end with which you can evaluate yourself on the 12 Principles of High Performance. You can re-evaluate yourself from time to time, as often as you wish, to see if you are improving and becoming a higher performer.

Character

When you take time to think about and identify what values are important to you, it makes decision making easier. When you are tested, things will be infinitely more difficult and confusing than the black and white ethical questions we set up for ourselves. But the questions, practices and processes of articulating our values help us identify what kind of people we want to be and help us set up a framework for decision making. In

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We do not all have the same backgrounds, beliefs and values. We will not always agree on the way things should be. Knowing where your boundaries are and why you set them there will help you know how set in stone they are and if you should be open to changing them. High performers know what their integrity, ethics and values are. People around them know what lines they are not willing to cross.

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Purpose

High performers know what they are trying to achieve and why. The best performers know this at a personal and organizational level. When you personally identify your purpose or mission, you have a clarity about your life that allows you to say “yes” to some opportunities and “no” to others, even when they all may be tempting.


IntrinsicMotivation

The same is true for organizations and teams. There will always be more great ideas than you will have the time to accomplish. Knowing your purpose is what allows you to make wise choices. Purpose gives clarity. High performers use purpose as a filter for everything. If you cannot articulate why you are doing something, it is guaranteed nobody else will understand either.


IntrinsicMotivation

Determination

Life at full volume requires the ability to get yourself started. You cannot wait for someone else to tell you what to do and when to do it. You must be self-motivated and encouraged. The first thing to do in the morning is inspire yourself, then inspire everyone around you.

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You cannot stop high performers from making progress because they are determined. They have grit. When they get knocked down they get back up. When they are exhausted they take a deep breath and keep going. When they are ridiculed they ignore it and take another step. High performers might change strategies, methods or tactics. They might change battlefronts, but they never stop learning and moving forward.

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Curiosity

Within us is a desire to know more. We search for knowledge, understanding, meaning, skill, and ability. We appreciate the fact there is more around us than we can ever comprehend. That thirst causes us to seek new information that will allow us to perform at a greater ability than ever before.


IntrinsicMotivation

Each of us comes with a set of experiences that forms our opinions and beliefs. When we are open minded we realize there are other experiences and viewpoints we can learn from. We do not have to agree with every perspective to learn from it. But we do need to listen and understand if we want the highest level of knowledge. Accepting challenging assignments and experiences opens us to new possibilities so we can live at full volume.


IntrinsicMotivation

Improvement

High performers were not always high performers. You become proficient by trial, error, and feedback. You can grow into greatness but you never start out great. High performers are self-directed learners. They figure out what they need to learn and learn it.



High performers crave feedback in their pursuit of self-development. They want to know what they are doing well and why, and where they can improve and how. The reason they are high performers is because they do not accept “good enough” as an acceptable level of performance. They know their competitors are coming after them, and they are leaner, younger, faster, and more agile. The market is changing, technology is evolving, and if they want to keep up and stay at the top they have to pay attention and work both hard and smart.



Execution

There is an exchange of resources for the value you bring. If you want to be more valuable, you have to add value or bring something of more scarce value. When what you bring is a commodity, your value plummets.


CompetenceProficiency

High performers are very aware of the deliverables they offer and how well they are executing on them. They are in touch and know how to adjust to the needs of current and potential customers. Failure is recognized as a possibility and learning opportunity but excuses are not allowed as a means to avoid responsibility. Problem solving and creativity are required in order to bring results.



Focus

The ability to keep yourself from being distracted is the new and great competency of our time. We live in a hyper attention-grabbing universe. Every aspect of society is competing for some region of your mind. The awareness to be present in the moment brings great value to your work, relationships, thinking, and well-being.

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We very often settle for a good idea or performance instead of the best idea or performance because we do not focus. You cannot have clarity when you are moving fast.

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Leverage

This is the difference between being a high performer and a workaholic. A workaholic continues doing more and more and just gets busier. High performers work hard and smart to increase their execution and output while working less.



You have to combine efficiency with effectiveness. If you just go for efficiency you might end up doing damage in the long-run to people and systems. But when we properly use leverage to our advantage we can gain exponentially more productivity than we would otherwise.



Innovation

Awareness requires you to continually be creative and adapt to changing events and environments. You must have the courage to act even though you do not know how everything is going to turn out in advance. You gather the best information, advice and wisdom to move forward with bravery.



High performers know they need to make both incremental creative adjustments and giant innovative leaps in thought. Innovative creation takes time and space, getting out of the routine, and a commitment to going big. Calculated risks have to be allowed. The ability to fail while attempting greatness is factored in to the cost of doing business. Without reaching for greatness you will never find it.



Alignment

Life at full volume is a life that is lived in alignment. Primarily, you have to live in alignment with your own values, beliefs and principles. That means you take time to think about important questions and determine what is essential to you. If you do not live within your purpose and values you will be miserable.



Within your organization you can only perform at your best when your work is aligned with the organizational purpose, mission, strategy, goals and culture. The organization must define each of these things and effectively communicate them at the corporate, department and team levels. They must also be congruent with your personal values for you to operate at peak performance.



Emotional Intelligence

The ability to identify and manage your emotions as well as the emotions of others is an ability of infinite value. Self-awareness gives you the understanding your emotions are changing as well as the reason why. Self-control gives you the ability to regulate your emotions.


Social Ability

Being able to read other people provides you with the ability to understand when you need to stay the course, adjust, press-forward or back off. Being aware of the emotions of others is critical for getting along and helping others get along. High performers know how to understand and influence those around them.


Social Ability

Collaboration

The ability to work in teams is a critical competency not just because people are more interconnected than ever before but because we actually create better outputs together than alone. Bringing together diversity of thought and practice allows us to create at a higher level than on our own.


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Learning from others through mentorship and apprenticeship speeds up our proficiency exponentially. Communicating with others and developing the art of listening empathically extends and elevates our influence and understanding. Life at full volume can only be lived with the deep appreciation of the value of others.


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Full Volume

Life at full volume is a continual improvement of your performance. The objective is not to be in a pressure-cooked environment that breaks people. Instead, high performance is about developing your art and having people watch in awe at the ease with which you dazzle them with your proficiency. As you develop the 12 Principles of High Performance you will continually improve your ability to rock your world.

What Now?

1. Join other like-minded high performers and learn more about developing The 12 Principles of High Performance. You can [email protected] to join the band for free.

2. Take the self-assessment on the next few pages to find out how hard you are rocking your performance right now.

mailto:[email protected]?subject=Sign me up for info from Full Volume Development!

Self-Assessment

Use the assessment on the next few pages to measure yourself on the 12 Principles of High

Performance. Give yourself a score for each statement from 1 to 6.

1 = Never 2 = Almost Never 3 = Occasionally 4 = Usually 5 = Almost Always 6 = Always

I have clearly identified personal beliefs, values and ethics and others know my values.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Myself, my team and my organization all have clearly identified and stated purposes and/or missions.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I am steady in the face of obstacles and keep myself encouraged.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I regularly seek new knowledge and experiences even if they are different from my own perspectives.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I am always improving my attitude, skills and knowledge and am ahead of my peers.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I have a high output of creative deliverables with high customer satisfaction.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I cut through distractions and am mindful about what is important.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I deliver more outputs than my peers in a high-quality manner without being considered a workaholic.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I regularly risk failure in order to initiate valuable new creations, versions and adventures.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I live and work consistently within my values and know my work is aligned to organizational strategies.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I am fully aware of and in control of my emotions and able to read and influence the emotions of others.

1 2 3 4 5 6

I embrace diversity and teamwork in pursuit of the greatest amount and quality of productivity.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Score

Total your points from all twelve questions. If you scored:

0-18 Flop

If you were in the music business your record would have flopped. The good news is, we are not analyzing your latest hit single. From a performance and personal development standpoint, you view yourself as a low performer. You need to immediately seek coaching on how to improve your performance.

19-36 One Hit Wonder

Your performance is similar to a band that has one hit. You have a little bit to offer but you run out of momentum quickly. You need immediate coaching on how to improve your performance. Take your basic abilities and turn them into great strengths before the band loses its contract.

37-54 Gold Record

You are on the right track. There is a buzz about you. Some people see you as a high performer but others are not buying what you are selling. Your consistency is questionable. Sometimes you are hot and sometimes you are cold. Coaching can help you get to the next level. You should also consider mentoring some of the newbies in areas in which you excel.

55-72 Multi-Platinum

Consider hiring a body guard. Everybody wants to see you and be you. You are performing at the top of your game. But do not get overly confident. There is always room for improvement and the environment is always changing. What was hot yesterday can be out of style tomorrow. Be sure you pass along your wisdom and experience by mentoring others and keep up your skills by being mentored and coached.


Life at Full Volume: The 12 Principles of High PerformanceDavid B. McLaughlin, M. Ed, SHRM-SCP

FULL VOLUME DEVELOPMENT exists to develop high-performers who rock the world. Organizations achieve maximum performance when they help individuals and teams achieve maximum performance.

David McLaughlin has been developing people for over twenty years. He is an organizational development professional who has worked in the corporate and non-profit sectors as employee, manager and business owner. For over a decade he has performed in one of Oklahoma City’s top employers in the domain of organizational development. He has served as President and Executive Advisor for the Central Oklahoma Chapter of the Association for Talent Development.

David has a Master’s Degree in Adult Education and B.S. in Accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma. He is a Senior Certified Professional from the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM-SCP). David also enjoys serving on the boards of several non-profit organizations. He is a popular conference speaker who brings unique energy and humor built on deep, useful content.

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Life at Full Volume: The 12 Principles of High Performance

Leadership & Management

Transcript of Life at Full Volume: The 12 Principles of High Performance