What's Getting in the Way of Performance?
Most organisations and sports teams spend a lot of time trying to improve capability.
We train people. We coach them. We analyse performance. We introduce new systems, processes and technology. All of that can be valuable. But what if capability isn't actually the problem?
More than 50 years ago, Tim Gallwey explored this idea in The Inner Game of Tennis. Despite the title, his work was about much more than tennis. It explored something that remains incredibly relevant to anyone interested in human performance. Gallwey captured it in a remarkably simple equation: Performance = Potential – Interference
In other words, improving performance isn't always about adding more capability.
Sometimes it's about understanding what's getting in the way of the capability that's already there.
When good people don't perform at their best
We've probably all experienced it. You know you're capable of doing something, yet in the moment you don't perform as well as you know you can. The same thing happens in teams.
Put a group of talented, experienced people together and it doesn't automatically create a high-performing team. Something gets in the way. It might be pressure. Overthinking. Fear of making the wrong decision. Lack of clarity. Poor communication. Unspoken tension. A reluctance to challenge. Or simply too much noise competing for people's attention.
The interesting question isn't always: What do we need to get better at? Sometimes the better question is: What's getting in the way of us being as good as we already could be?
That's a very different conversation.
The game inside the game
Gallwey described an "inner game" that takes place alongside the visible game.
There is the performance everyone else sees. And then there is everything happening internally while we perform. The commentary - The judgement - The expectations. - The pressure - The fear of getting something wrong.
Anyone who has played sport will recognise it. Make one mistake and suddenly you're thinking about the mistake rather than playing the next moment. But this isn't confined to sport. A salesperson starts worrying about hitting target rather than listening to the customer. A leader becomes so concerned about making the wrong decision that no decision gets made. A team becomes focused on protecting individual positions rather than solving the problem in front of them. The environment changes.The context changes. But the interference can look remarkably similar.
What happens when pressure arrives?
This is an area that fascinates us at MODe. Most people don't suddenly lose their knowledge or experience when pressure increases. Yet their ability to access it can change dramatically. Think about the difference between practising something and performing it when the result matters. Or having a difficult conversation in your head compared with actually having it across the table. Or making a straightforward decision when everything is calm compared with making the same decision when time, reputation or money is on the line.
Pressure reveals interference and understanding what happens in those moments can tell us a lot about how individuals and teams perform.
Are we observing or judging?
Another powerful idea from Gallwey's work is the distinction between what happened and what we think about what happened. They're not always the same thing. "We were terrible."
"Nobody was engaged." "They don't care." "I completely lost control." "That meeting was a disaster."
These statements might feel accurate. But are they facts? Or are they interpretations?
There is an important difference between judgement and awareness. And that difference can completely change the quality of the conversation that follows. This is particularly relevant when we review performance, give feedback, coach others or try to understand why something hasn't worked. The quality of our observations often determines the quality of our learning.
What are we paying attention to?
There's another dimension to performance that is easy to underestimate: attention.
Where does our attention go when things become difficult? Towards the problem in front of us? Or towards what just happened? What might happen next? What other people are thinking? What we don't want to happen? The scoreboard? The target? The consequence?
High-performance environments understand that focus isn't simply about "concentrating harder".
It's about being able to direct attention towards what matters most when there are dozens of things competing for it. That applies whether you're carrying a whistle, leading a team, presenting to a board, talking with a customer or making an important decision.
Are we helping people perform — or getting in their way?
Gallwey's thinking also raises an uncomfortable question for coaches and leaders.
Sometimes the interference doesn't come from the performer.
Sometimes we create it for them.
We want people to take ownership, but we constantly tell them what to do.
We want people to make decisions, but we require approval for everything.
We want people to develop confidence, but we're quick to point out what's wrong.
We want independent thinkers, but we're always ready with the answer.
The intentions are usually good.
The impact may be different.
One of the most interesting questions for any leader or coach is therefore:
What am I doing that helps people access their capability — and what might I be doing that gets in the way?
This is where sport and business meet
At MODe, we spend a lot of time exploring the connection between high-performance sporting environments and the challenges teams face in business. The environments may appear very different. The human beings aren't.
➡️ Both environments involve pressure.
➡️ Both involve decisions.
➡️ Both involve relationships.
➡️ Both involve mistakes.
➡️ Both require trust.
➡️ Both require people to communicate when things aren't going perfectly.
➡️ And both need individuals to access their capability when it matters.
That's why Gallwey's work continues to resonate with us. It provides a different way of thinking about performance. Not simply: How do we add more? But: What could we remove?
A conversation worth having
Imagine sitting down with your team and asking: What is currently getting in the way of us performing at our best? Not who's to blame. Not what course everyone needs to attend.
Not what new process needs to be introduced. Just: What's getting in the way?
The answers might surprise you. They may reveal individual interference. They may reveal team interference. They may expose something within the organisation itself. And they may open conversations about awareness, attention, trust, coaching, pressure, communication and decision-making that don't normally happen.
These are some of the areas we're beginning to explore more deeply through MODe's performance workshops and programmes. Because one of the lessons we've taken from sport into business is that high performance isn't simply about having talented people.
It's about creating an environment where talented people can actually perform.
Sometimes that requires adding something. And sometimes the biggest opportunity is identifying what needs to get out of the way.
Performance = Potential – Interference.
So perhaps the question for your team isn't: "How do we become more capable?"
Perhaps it's: "What's stopping us from accessing the capability we already have?"
Better Conversations. Better Outcomes.
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