At the 11th Annual Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference on June 14, Geoff Colvin, senior editor-at-large of FORTUNE Magazine and author of “Talent Is Overrated,” gave a keynote presentation on principles from his book to apply to a successful ASC.
During the presentation, Mr. Colvin broke down what separates world-class performers from everybody else. He dispelled the myths that hard work, massive IQ and memory or innate talent are responsible for personal or career success.Standards are rising, he said, in healthcare and other fields. “Anybody in information and services is in a world where global competition is a reality,” he said. “We have to be as good as the best on the planet. We have to be world-class great. When you bring yesterday’s standards up against today’s standards, you’re competitively dead.”
Rather, studies show deliberate practice separates those who are good from those who are great at what they do. This deliberate practice must meet the following criteria:
- Be designed specifically to improve performance
- Push you beyond your current abilities
- Be repeated frequently
- Include continual feedback
He gave an example of how a medical sales team used these principles to increase their sales numbers. They attended a class to learn about a new product and then prepared presentations to teach what they learned. They practiced these presentations repeatedly before managers and on videotape for six weeks. They also practiced using the products on simulators. When sales numbers were compared, the team averaged a 25 percent sales rate before the new method and a 98 percent success rate after.
What successful people do and how they do it looks weird from the outside, he said. It goes against mainstream thinking and actions.
The most important question to ask yourself when striving for excellence is what do you really want? “Be honest about what you really want,” he said. “This is so demanding if it’s not taking us forward to something we genuinely want, we are probably not going to get there.”
“Great performance is not reserved for the pre-ordained few,” he said. “It is available to you and to everyone.”