Picture this: a motorbike weaving through traffic, or a dancer gracefully leaping across a stage. Two seemingly different worlds, but with one surprising secret to success. As someone who's experienced both riding motorcycles and professional contemporary dance, I've discovered an intriguing paradox about performance and focus.
The Counterintuitive Truth About Concentration
Let me share a quick experiment. Try walking along a narrow curb, deliberately focusing on every single step. Concentrate on the potential risks, the precise placement of your feet, and the mechanics of each movement. How far do you think you'll get? My guess? Not very far at all.
This microcosm perfectly illustrates a broader principle: sometimes, hyper-focusing can be our worst enemy.
The Fear-Driven Approach to Safety
Leaders often demand employees slow down out of a deeply ingrained but fundamentally flawed understanding of safety. Our traditional safety model is rooted in a misguided concept: that safety is merely the absence of errors. This fear-driven approach sees mistakes as something to be eliminated through constant vigilance and micromanagement.
But what if safety is actually an emergent property? A dynamic state that arises when employees are trusted, valued, and given the space to leverage their training and expertise?
When Overthinking Becomes the Real Danger
In both dancing and motorcycle riding, the moment you start consciously micromanaging every action is precisely when things can go wrong. It's counterintuitive, right? We're typically taught that careful, deliberate concentration is the path to success. But what if that's not always true?
A Leadership Perspective: Trust vs. Control
This leads to a provocative question for leaders and managers: Are we approaching employee performance through a lens of fear rather than potential?
We invest heavily in training and ensuring competency—which is crucial. But after that foundational work, we often undermine our teams' capabilities by demanding they second-guess every move. This approach doesn't create safety; it creates anxiety, reduces performance, and paradoxically increases the likelihood of errors.
The Power of Flow
What I'm describing is essentially the psychological concept of "flow state"—that magical zone where skill meets intuition, and performance becomes almost effortless. It's where training transforms into instinct, and professionals operate at their peak.
A Call for Reimagining Safety
I don't claim to have all the answers. But I invite you to consider: Safety isn't about preventing every possible mistake. It's about creating environments where employees can fully engage their skills, where they feel trusted, and where their expertise is genuinely valued.
Wrap Up
Maybe it's time we move from a fear-based model of safety to one that recognises the incredible potential of skilled, empowered professionals.
What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear your perspectives on transforming how we think about safety, performance, and organisational trust.
Comments