Transform Your Team's Performance with the 1% Better Rule

 

How Small And Simple Actions Everyday Lead to Big Results

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Inches Make the Champion.”   

                           —Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame Football Coach

When water is at 211 degrees, it is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with water boiling comes steam…and with steam you can power a train.

Applying one percent, or in this case one extra degree, of temperature to water means the difference between something that is simply very hot and something that generates enough force to power a machine—a beautifully uncomplicated metaphor that ideally should feed our every endeavor—consistently pushing us to give the 1% extra effort in every task, and action we undertake.

Small differences in performance can lead to very unequal distributions when repeated over time. The people and organizations that can do the right things, more consistently are more likely to maintain a slight edge and accumulate disproportionate rewards over time.

You only need to be slightly better than your competition, but if you are able to maintain a slight edge today and tomorrow and the day after that, then you can repeat the process of winning by just a little bit over and over again.

This is called the 1% Better Rule. The 1% Better Rule states that over time the majority of the rewards in a given field will accumulate to the people, teams, and organizations that maintain a 1 percent advantage over the alternatives. You don't need to be twice as good to get twice the results. You just need to be slightly better.

Kaizen is a Japanese word that embodies the 1% Better Rule. Kaizen translated into English means good change. In the 1960’s, products made in Japan were considered junk. The Kaizen philosophy helped Japanese companies learn to  manufacture some of the best products in the world. This resulted in the Japanese gaining significant market share of vehicles and electronics.

The 1% Better Rule is not merely a reference to the fact that small differences accumulate into significant advantages, but also to the idea that those who are 1% better rule their respective fields and reap the rewards.

Here are some amazing examples from the field of sports:

Golf

·         2.28—the average margin of victory in strokes at the Masters (.57 strokes per day)

·         76%—additional prize dollars on average for winning first place at the Masters.

Horse Racing

·         4.55—average margin of victory in lengths at the Kentucky Derby.

·         260%—additional prize dollars on average for winning first place at the Kentucky Derby.

Auto Racing

·         0.082—average margin of victory in seconds at the Daytona 500.

·         53%—additional prize dollars on average for winning first place at Daytona.

Many years ago when asked what the most powerful force in the universe was, Albert Einstein said, “compound interest.” There’s a force at work in all of us that’s  just as powerful. Just as compound interest allows your money to grow on itself,  Incremental improvement allows your skills and productivity to grow on themselves.

In short, if you want to improve your skills, it’s not about some one-time transformative event or conference. No, your best approach is to get a little bit better everyday. You can’t make quantum leap improvements each day (there are certainly situations where a new idea, technique or approach may in a short time drastically improve your skills or abilities, but you can’t rely on these occurring regularly.) If you want to get 10% better at a particular leadership skill in the next 30 days, that might seem daunting.  But can you get 1% better every day for a month? That seems easier and more realistic. We can all get 1% better each day.

So let’s do the math. We’ll just use the working days and assume 20 working days in the next thirty (even though there are plenty of ways to work on leadership development every day).  At the end of our 30 days, we will have improved by: 20.81%. This is certainly a powerful concept for us personally and should cause you to be excited and ready to start learning, but this is just the start.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The power of incremental improvement is perhaps the most when considered as an organizational leadership development idea. Ask yourself this question: What would happen to productivity, operational excellence and results overall if everyone on my team improved by 1% each day? Now you don’t have one person improving 20.81% in a month, but EVERYONE improving by that amount!

And this is just month one.

Want a strategic leadership initiative? Recent research has revealed that leadership is a set of 22 core skills. Build a process, tools and expectations to help everyone in your organization work on a single skill each month, with the goal of getting 1% better each day. Then, move to another skill next month. 

Here's a 1% better action leaders can take right now: Thank someone or "catch someone doing something right" once more each business day and that will equal 200 more times each year. In the book, "How Full is Your Bucket," the authors reveal how 1% better actions like a 30-second praise can positively affect your relationships, productivity, and health. Click here to download the 6-page book summary.

The 1% better rule is not only a message of action--it's a message of persistence and additional action--the continual application of effort to whatever task or activity you undertake in order to achieve not only the primary objective you seek, but reap the exponential rewards that are possible with the 1% extra effort.

Small positive change can add up to big bucks as the examples from golf, horse racing and auto racing so clearly illustrate.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's culture, employee engagement and leadership capability? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact:

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, title companies, wealth management firms, third-party maintenance companies, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.