Chapter 1

What is the Value of Reflection?

As one year comes to an end and another makes an entrance, we often find ourselves reflecting on what happened, where we are now and where we want to go…

My epiphany over the last few weeks has been the degree to which I can learn and grow with a genuine and thorough reflection on the recent past.

Looking back at 2016 I discovered a number of breakthroughs and was able to analyse what made the difference compared to previous years. In the case of writing and wellness it boiled down to smaller steps never compromised, rather than big aspirations with insufficient progress markers to help build momentum.

There were disappointments of course; potential work opportunities unrealized and an imbalance between competing personal priorities. Analysis of these has helped me to refine my approach to business development, and to connect personal goals so that where possible personal priorities can be achieved together.

Interestingly I noticed that I had written down a stretch vision for 2016 back in 2012. I reflected on the list and was surprised that more than half of the items could be ticked off. I’ve now done the 2020 version.

Very importantly, reflection can and should inspire self-respect, gratitude and recognition. When things are not going our way, we tend to forget some of the positives. Time set aside for reflection ensures that recent achievements are noted and appreciated, it also highlights significant others who have provided love and support to us along the way.

The power of reflection is huge: It is an in-depth retrospect to help us get better. This principle is of course best practice for not just personal but also project improvement. Regular and rigorous performance reviews gather lessons from what went well and not so well. These learnings help teams get better at anything and everything that is sufficiently reviewed… The trouble is that there is no instant “future performance warning” for non-review so we assume we are ok to dismiss the need for regular reflection when in actual-fact staying the same effectively means we are losing ground.

The value of structured reflection and performance review as a minimum is organised learning, accelerated improvement, appropriate recognition, and in the case of projects, a more cohesive and effective team.

Chapter 2

Inspiring Why?

I’ve just finished “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek; an inspiring and insightful book which I can thoroughly recommend. In his last chapter, Sinek offers a succinct summary of what distinguishes organizations that start with why…

“We are continually improving at what we do, we come to work to inspire people to do the things that inspire them… If you believe what we believe and you believe that the things we do can help you, then yes, we are better than the competition… Our goal is to find customers who believe what we believe and work together so that we can all succeed, shoulder to shoulder in pursuit of the same goals, not opposite each other in pursuit of a sweeter deal…”

The concept of clients buying why you do what you do, rather than just what you do is a paradigm shift and one which offers a healthy challenge to us all.

“Apple” is used as a strong reference point in Sinek’s book due to the company’s trail breaking lead in “challenging the status quo” with all that they do. Sky’s mantra is “believe in better”. The Royal Marines ask if you have the necessary mindset or “state of mind” and believe that 99.9% need not apply. It is the “why” aspiration which inspires interest, commitment and loyalty from employees and customers alike.

If clients buy why we do what we do, it makes sense to take a moment to be very clear about our “why”.

As a performance coach, it certainly helped clarify my “why”: I have a personal belief that as individuals and within families and project teams, we are all capable of so much more than our current reality. As a company, we believe that all project teams have strong potential for continuous improvement and innovation; this inspires me and completely aligns with my passion and aspiration.

The longest running client we have had is more of a partner and their belief rhymes perfectly with ours – they believe that their project teams can get better and better and that as a collective, each team has huge potential to be world class. We brought the “how” and “what” expertise at a tactical level to support project leaders in catalyzing the transformation, but the decision to involve us was based on our “why” – that diverse and newly formed project teams have the potential within them to become world class… 

Sinek makes the point with which I agree; too many of us get stuck on promoting the “how” and “what” we do, which is important but not necessarily inspiring, certainly not conducive to long term commitment.

Be clear about your “why” and inspire colleagues and clients who believe what you believe. The “how” and “what” will take care of themselves. Thanks Simon.

Chapter 3

Which Leading Indicator is the Best Predictor of Performance Improvement?

The correlation between leading and lagging indicators of performance is a fascinating one. Clearly it is also hugely significant given that the lagging indicators are effectively the business results.

I reflected on this recently albeit with a laser focus on the offshore oil and gas industry where I have advised on front line performance improvement for the last 10 years. Lagging indicators tend to be about safety, productivity, efficiency and cost. Leading indicators tend to be about team induction and recognition, safety management participation, efficiency and cost improvement contribution, planning, review, and closing the learning loop.

I trawled the data that we have collected in that time and realised it aligned with my intuition; whilst on all projects there has been clear evidence that improvement and innovation has benefited from a rigorous approach, the difference between the good and great projects has been project leadership adherence to the regular weekly lessons learned conference call.

On projects where there has been performance creep on this fundamental discipline, there has always been performance creep in other key areas as well. Operational reviews have typically slipped and planning rigour has been eroded too. Ultimately, on projects where lip service was paid to the necessity for a weekly lessons-learned-conference-call between the office and the front line, trouble has continued to interfere with progress, and results have been inconsistent. 

It is arguably the less tangible benefits of the weekly learning conference call that have the greatest impact and these benefits are therefore most significantly missed when this discipline is dismissed. I am talking here about leadership cohesion, collaboration, camaraderie, mutual respect and a sense of fun – soft elements that are hard to achieve – elements which emerge when stakeholders from different sides of the contract table go through the hard yards together, and become one team with one mission… 

An investment in a declared improvement initiative as distinct from assuming that daily business as usual will naturally lead to improvement, is a declaration of intent, it is a signal to the project team that ordinary will not suffice. It is an investment in a project performance legacy. A project less ordinary and more extra-ordinary.

Weekly one hour lessons learned conference calls driven by the project leader convey the following key messages to the team:

1.      We do the right thing

2.      We do what we agreed and committed to do

3.      Learning is important for everyone at every level of the operation because we don’t know everything; in fact, we are all learning all the time

4.      Going into a repeat operation with a related lesson still open is unprofessional

5.      World class results are driven by a world class team which maintains the highest standards no matter what

The engine of performance improvement includes planning, review and closing the learning loop. The way these disciplines are applied may look different from one industry to the next, but they are fundamental in order to grow and learn. They require teamwork and communication, organisation and attention to detail. They require effort.

Our project data conclusively shows that there is a very clear correlation between team adherence to rigorous, professional, weekly lessons learned conference calls, and the slope of the improvement curve for the key measurables of safety, time and cost.

Capture, discuss, close and implement lessons learned for next time improvement and you will raise the performance bar – guaranteed.