Friday 9 October 2009

Expertise and expert performance

One of the most fascinating concepts I have come across in a long while is that of Expert Performance. This is a body of work on how expertise is gained, and what sets experts apart from the rest. Studies have been done across a range of disciplines. Malcolm Gladwell’s wonderful book Outliers referred to some of this work.

Two fascinating ideas come out of the expert performance research:

  1. It takes an average of 10 years to become expert in something

  2. Practice means deliberate practice, not doing by rote
The 10 years figure is interesting, and provides a guideline for how much time is required to master something. However, it is the “deliberate practice” concept which is most useful to us in our day to day activities. That is practice which has its prime objective of improving performance. It may sound tautological – surely all practice is designed to improve performance? Not so. It is perfectly possible to spend 1 hour practicing French verbs with half a mind on what is for dinner, or whether it will rain. Alternatively, I hour can be spent in a structured way with reviews every 15 minutes so that learning is maximised. Of course the latter is more difficult and more tiring, which is why many of us prefer to keep half a mind on dinner.

Deliberate practice means pushing the boundaries of our practice – expanding our capabilities and working on new areas within our field. It also means getting feedback on how well (or badly) we are doing, and practicing afresh in light of that feedback. To build expertise it is necessary to reflect on the processes and methods used to perform well.

This is important in performance management. Whatever we are striving to do well requires both practice and feedback, both external and internal. It means keeping a record of our performance and improvements. All of which takes effort, but the months and years pass whether or not we are gaining new skills and pushing our professional capabilities forward.

And of course deliberate practice and monitoring progress is as applicable to a business or department as to an individual. The larger the group, though, the more structured the systems need to be for providing feedback.

16 comments:

  1. Landscape , Outdoor, Landscape Lighting Installation, Lawn Sprinkler Design, Repairs, Installation, Lawn Irrigation Service, Sprinkler System Backflow Testing at Long Island, Nassau County, Suffolk County, Dix Hills NY, Huntington NY, Syosset NY, Smithtown NY and Happauge NY

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diskdatadestruction.net offers Mobile paper shredding, Mobile hard drive destruction at Hauppauge NY, Suffolk County NY, Long Island NY, Ronkonkoma NY, Melville NY, Huntington NY, Garden City NY, Farmingdale NY, Westbury NY, Bohemia NY, Stony Brook NY, Nassau County NY

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nyallpurposepaving.com offers Paving Contractor, Parking Lot Repairs, sealing, striping, Oil and Stone Driveways at Riverhead NY, Quogue NY, Hamptons NY, Southampton NY, Sag Harbor NY, Green point NY, Wading River NY, East Moriches NY, Center Moriches NY, Mannorville NY, Miller Place NY , Mt. Sinai NY,Greenport NY

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jettonsgrading.com offers Grading, Excavation and Paving Contractor, Land Clearing Services, Septic Systems, Retaining Walls and Driveways, Drainage Systems, Construction Site Clean-Up, Demolition Contractor at Walhalla SC, Seneca SC

    ReplyDelete
  5. Atopcommercialpaving.com offers Commercial Paving, Asphalt Contractor, and Parking Lot Resurfacing at Queens NY, Nassau County, Bayside NY, Jamaica NY, Middle Village NY, Ozone Park NY, Howard Beach NY, Little Neck NY

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bedbugprocpc.com offers Bed Bug Exterminator, Bed Bug Inspections, Bed Bug Elimination, Bed Bug Inspection for Hotels and Residential and Commercial Bed Bug at Palo Alto CA, San Mateo CA, San Jose CA, Belmont CA, San francisco CA, Redwood City CA, Sunnyvale CA

    ReplyDelete
  7. Davispestmanagement.com offers Pest Control, Exterminator, Bed Bug Removal, Inspections, Rodent, Pest Elimination, Commercial, Residential, Professional, Licensed Exterminator , Scorpion, Bee Hive, Hornet, Fire Ant Removal by Service Area, Las Vegas NV

    ReplyDelete
  8. reliablecommercialpaving.com offers Parking lot paving, walk way construction, Commercial paving, asphalt, Parking Lot Repairs, Parking Lot Striping, Commercial Blacktop, Parking Lot Repairs, Commercial Paving Contractor, Commercial Asphalt Contractor at New Jersey at Hanover NJ, East Orange NJ, Newark NJ, Morristown NJ, Summit NJ , Union NJ, Hackensack NJ, Patterson NJ

    ReplyDelete
  9. Complete-pest-control.com offers Pest Control, Exterminator, Rodent Control, Rodent Elimination, and Pest Elimination at Palo Alto CA, San Mateo CA, San Francisco CA, Redwood City CA, Sunnyvale CA, and Belmont CA

    ReplyDelete
  10. Divorce Attorney, Female Divorce Attorneys and Long Island Divorce Attorneys, Long Island Female Divorce Attorneys

    ReplyDelete
  11. Realestatebydavidschoelles.com offers David Schoelles Real Estate, Cash for Homes at Arizona, Scottsdale AZ, and Phoenix AZ

    ReplyDelete
  12. johnniescarwashonoak.com offer Best Car Wash on Long Island, Detailing Centre, Car Detailing, Brushless Car Wash, Full-Service Car Wash, Car Detailing, SUV Detailing, Best Car Wash, Auto Detailing, SUV Detailing, Lease Return Detailing at Copiague NY, Lindenhurst NY, Amityville NY

    ReplyDelete
  13. Carpet, upholstery cleaning, carpet stain, odor removal, carpet steam, ceramic tile, commercial carpet cleaning at mobile al

    ReplyDelete
  14. Realestatebydavidschoelles.com offers David Schoelles Real Estate, Cash for Homes at Arizona, Scottsdale AZ, and Phoenix AZ

    ReplyDelete
  15. Kitchen cabinets and Kitchen cabinet supplier, remodeling, countertops, New Kitchen Cabinets, Wood Kitchen Cabinets

    ReplyDelete
  16. David Schoeless Plumbing, David Schoeless at AZ, Scottsdale AZ, Phoenix AZ

    ReplyDelete