The Importance of Deliberate Practice

Deliberate practice – the concept introduced by Geoff Colvin in his book Talent is Overrated, is seen as the key to outstanding performance. Colvin refutes innate talent as the rationale for exceptional performance, citing numerous case studies where deliberate practice starting at a very early age led to greatness. Practice in business is rare. In today’s age of tweets, multi-tasking and over-committing, we often assume if we have a general understanding of a new concept, that is good enough. We need to be willing to invest the time to deliberately practice to truly develop our capability to excel. In Behavioral Interviewing, we need to practice probing effectively to avoid leading the candidate and to get an accurate assessment of their skill set. In Presentation Skills, we need to repeatedly practice our first two minutes – including exactly what we will say, how we will stand, our body language, smile and eye contact in order to project confidence and credibility. As we are often the most nervous when we begin, deliberate practice enables us to get off to a good start. In Giving Constructive Feedback, we need to practice our body language, gestures and choosing our words to provide an accurate and fair approach to constructively supporting our team. Each of these is a small example of leadership skills that require deliberate practice, not just the understanding of the concept, in order to improve our performance. I challenge you to decide what skills or behaviors are most important to success in your role today. Once identified – learn the best approach, practice, receive feedback, and practice again to build competence and become great.