 |
This is a summary of the talk given by Deri-Lewellyn-Davies at Home Grown Club, London. Deri is a Precision Strategist and board advisor and has helped scale over 300 companies. He’s an International speaker (Fellow PSA), a No. 1 best-selling author, and a global adventurer.
In this talk, Deri emphasized that high performance and success are multifaceted and personalized. He encouraged the audience to evaluate their current priorities and challenges, whether in life, business, purpose, time management, or energy. He used an anecdote from his experience on Everest during a 9.1 earthquake to illustrate the importance of resilience and being prepared for unexpected challenges. He argued that high performance is not about relentless work but about sustainable success driven by purpose and clear goals.
He critiqued traditional corporate environments for fostering burnout and stressed the need for strategies that integrate business goals with personal well-being. Lewellyn-Davies highlighted the importance of intrinsic motivation, active recovery, and managing cognitive load to prevent burnout. He challenged the audience to rethink their approach to high performance, advocating for a balance between achieving goals and maintaining health and relationships. His message underscored that true high performance is sustainable, purpose-driven, and adaptable to life’s inevitable challenges.
He emphasized the importance of understanding and integrating purpose into business strategy to achieve high performance and sustainable success. He critiqued the traditional notion that fixing business issues alone will lead to personal fulfilment, pointing out that without foundational elements like energy, time, and passion, efforts to improve business may ultimately lead to burnout and dissatisfaction.
Key points include:
- Purpose and Strategy: Businesses must be purpose-driven, as evidenced by high-performing companies. Purpose provides direction and motivation, engaging employees and fostering growth.
- Foundations for Success: Essential foundations such as energy, time management, and passion are crucial. Without these, it’s difficult to sustain long-term success.
- High-Performance Companies: Successful companies align their strategy with their purpose, values, and culture. This alignment attracts and retains top talent, which is critical for business growth.
- Flow States: Understanding and fostering flow states—where individuals are deeply immersed and productive—can significantly enhance creativity and performance. “Flow” requires intrinsic motivation and passion for the work.
- Evolving Strategies: Strategies need to be flexible and regularly assessed through feedback loops to ensure they remain effective. This approach helps businesses adapt and thrive in changing environments.
Deri underscored the significance of purpose-led business strategies and the integration of foundational elements and flow states to drive sustained success and employee satisfaction.
He discussed the importance of measuring inputs rather than just focusing on outputs like revenue and profit in business. He emphasized the concept of “flow science,” where achieving a flow state, scientifically proven through neurochemical triggers and brainwaves, can enhance both individual and organizational performance. The idea is that aligning strategy and purpose and orchestrating flow within an organization, leads to high performance.
He went on to suggest that CEOs often mistakenly believe they must know everything, but recognizing areas of incompetence and seeking support is crucial. Precision in strategy and delegation are key to effective leadership. He also highlighted that high performance isn’t about excelling in every area but knowing where to bring in experts and focusing on core growth strategies, such as marketing, sales, acquisition, and innovation.
Furthermore, he stressed the importance of having a clear purpose and building a business ready for exit, even if the exit isn’t immediate. This approach ensures flexibility and preparedness for unforeseen circumstances. A case study was presented where a telecoms and call centre company, initially struggling, realigned its purpose and eventually scaled from 3-4 million to 25 million before exiting.
Advocating for a balanced approach
Lastly, he extended the concept of strategic planning to personal life, advocating for a balanced approach that includes relationships, health, adventure, and personal growth. He underscored the importance of clear goals and daily habits tailored to individual needs rather than following generic advice. The ultimate message is to consciously design both business and life strategies for sustained success and fulfilment.
He discussed the importance of employee satisfaction and its impact on business performance, citing a study from the London School of Economics and Gallup. Employee happiness leads to increased customer loyalty, productivity, and profitability, with a 95% confidence rate. The study emphasizes that business success hinges not only on strategic planning but also on effective execution and time management.
A case study about Adam Day from the online estate agency Hatched illustrates these points. Despite business success, personal life suffered due to a “churn and burn” work culture. Post-exit, Adam refocused on family, health, and purpose, which led to new success at EXP, a global real estate company. He highlighted the psychological impact of business exits, with 72% of business owners experiencing regret and depression post-exit due to a loss of purpose.
Deri stressed the importance of having a post-exit plan to maintain purpose and avoid psychological distress. Strategic execution at a daily level, mastering time management, and focusing on high-value activities are key to business and personal success. The narrative also covers the importance of habit formation and alignment with personal passions to ensure sustainable change and fulfilment.
The overall message is clear: achieving business success requires balancing strategic planning, effective execution, and maintaining personal well-being and purpose.
Addressing and Overcoming Burnout with Flow State
Burnout is a complex issue that cannot be resolved merely by taking breaks or holidays. Addressing the root causes is essential. Burnout is not primarily caused by workload but by a lack of control, insufficient rewards, lack of community, unfairness, and misaligned values.
To combat burnout, it’s crucial to ensure employees have:
- Control: Empower individuals to have a say in their tasks and environment.
- Rewards: Ensure efforts are recognized and compensated.
- Community: Foster a supportive and connected work environment.
- Fairness: Promote a fair and just workplace.
- Value Alignment: Align personal and organizational values.
These elements help prevent burnout and are fundamental in achieving a state of flow. Flow, a highly productive and fulfilling state, occurs when people are fully immersed in tasks they find intrinsically rewarding. This state significantly boosts productivity, creativity, learning, and purpose.
Flow can be achieved individually and within teams (group flow). For optimal performance, everyone in an organization must be in flow, aligned with high goals, and clear on their roles. Strategies to foster flow include creating supportive environments, providing clear feedback, and encouraging personal growth.
Lastly, integrating flow into both personal and professional life is crucial. Activities outside work that induce flow can enhance flow states at work, contributing to overall higher productivity and well-being.
Achieving Flow in Business and Life
To achieve a state of flow in business, it’s essential to balance goals and challenges. Setting goals that are too ambitious can lead to anxiety and stress, blocking the neurochemical processes necessary for flow. On the other hand, aiming too low can result in boredom, which is equally detrimental to achieving flow.
“Flow” requires constant growth and evolution, both in personal life and business. The optimal growth rate, based on current research, is around 4%, a stretch that is challenging yet achievable. This balance prevents both burnout and boredom, enabling sustained high performance.
Other critical factors for maintaining flow include:
- Sleep: Adequate rest to support cognitive functions.
- Movement: Regular physical activity to maintain energy levels.
- Nutrition: A balanced diet to fuel both body and mind.
- Supplementation: Appropriate supplements to enhance health.
- Connection: Emotional and mental support systems to manage stress.
Flow is an energy-intensive state requiring careful management of one’s overall well-being. Cognitive load, the mental energy required for decision-making and problem-solving, is another crucial aspect. Understanding and managing cognitive load can prevent burnout and improve decision-making.
Real-life examples, such as the transformation of a business owner who balanced personal growth with professional achievements, illustrate the importance of integrating flow into both work and life. This balance enables individuals to achieve high performance and fulfilment.
Building a high-performance team, whether in business or other endeavours like climbing Everest, requires aligning individuals’ strengths and ensuring each member is in a state of flow. This alignment fosters group flow, where the collective performance is enhanced by each individual’s optimal state.
In summary, achieving flow in business involves setting balanced goals, managing overall well-being, and fostering both individual and group flow through continuous growth and careful management of cognitive load and energy levels.
