24: Ain’t seen nothin’ yet

Over the past twenty-three emails, we’ve been discussing a different way of approaching performance improvement. Not by overwhelming people with more knowledge dumping, or by forcing new skills upon them, or by gee-ing them up with extra motivation.

But by making work easier.

And the thing is, whilst it might seem like we’re solving business problems... this is much, much bigger.

This stuff keeps me up at night is because our future depends on it.

And when I say "our" future, I don't just mean you and I - aka the professionals getting paid to help people perform.

I'm talking about humanity.

Bold claim? Hear me out...

Performance enablement is the discipline upon which every other discipline depends.

Why?

Well, people can only perform within the limitations of their environment.

And if that's true, the design of work determines what people, teams and organisations are capable of achieving.

Think about all those mission-driven businesses creating positive impact in the world (I have one friend whose business makes sandals out of old car tyres!).

And then consider how the people working for these businesses - both the leaders at the top, and everyone underneath - can only perform within the limitations of that organisation. I.e., if there's friction, their ability to perform is directly determined by the amount of friction.

That must have a knock-on effect when it comes to what a business can achieve, right? If the people are enabled, they can do better work.

But for every business that thrives, there are many just scraping by - and some that fail completely. Not because their product or service was bad, or because they hired the wrong team... but because their people weren't enabled.

And if that's true for businesses, the same can be said about other types of organisations too - governments, councils, non-profits, health services, charities... There are all kinds of organisations that can't fulfil their potential because their people are hampered.

So, if we could just remove some of the friction that stops these amazing people from doing these amazing things, what impact could we have on the world?

Now, this may all feel a little abstract, so let's get personal.

What are you capable of? Not just within the context of your job or your career. I mean, as a human being. What’s the highest possible contribution you could make?

Speaking for myself, if I wasn’t working with one hand tied behind my back, I could focus on projects I know would make a difference. I could be a better dad. A better husband. A better son. A better brother and a better friend. Ultimately, I'd have more time to focus on becoming a better version of myself - and maybe reaching my potential.

And if that's true for us, it's also true for the people shaping our world - founders, politicians, thought leaders, artists… What could they achieve if they were unleashed?

The world is accelerating in a pretty horrific direction - and whilst we may think of ourselves as ‘just’ L&D professionals, we have an incredible opportunity to redirect where things are going.

Because we're not just redesigning workflows - we're engineering the conditions that allow people to do their best work.

And if we can do that consistently, the downstream impact will be impossible to quantify.

But whilst that gives us an extraordinary opportunity, it also comes with a risk.

We’ll dive into that next.

Yours,
- Ant