The document discusses using visualization and imagination to improve performance in sports and business. It states that visualizing expert or perfect performance can help one understand their own performance gaps and identify areas for improvement. This relationship between actual and perfect performance is the same whether in sports or work, where ideal agreed actions replace expert play as the standard. Striving to deliver ideal actions and constantly improving performance is suggested as a way to increase success and satisfaction in both domains.

1. Think of your favourite sport. It does not matter
what it is, only that you can ‘see’ in mind how to
play. Now imagine some particular aspects of the
game that is important to being good at the game. I
imagine golf, although I was never very good, I
enjoyed the round, so an important aspect was being
able to get close to the pin from say 100 meters.
Now think of someone very, very good playing that
aspect. For golf, ‘seeing’ a top golfer on TV play the
shot, for different lies and fairway situations. Be
sure and ‘see’ it in detail. I continue the golf exam-
ple so I can be explicit. In mind, ‘see’ how they
approach the ball, the routine they use in the setup,
any practice swings, and depth of back swing to
deliver the precise distance, etc.
In this first instance, our insight into perfect play
depends on watching in detail people very good at
the play. Now visualize what we do. It will be less
than the expert play. The gap I call the performance
gap. If we now rate the expert at 10 out of 10, then
we can judge how good we are, and then begin the
process of improving our play making it closer to
10. If we make it closer to 10 our results will im-
prove.
Perfection is the performance level we can imag-
ine in mind beyond expert play
If we understand the process of using our imagina-
tion to ‘see’ what to do, we can remove the ‘expert’
as our example, and we can now set the standard as
the ‘perfect play’, one even the expert can strive for.
We can then use our mind to ‘see’ ourselves deliver-
ing the perfect play and by so doing we can develop
our play so that our actual play moves closer to the
perfection in mind and our actual results improve.
The idea of doing it perfectly depends on the
standard we set for ourselves
Ideal actions in business are the agreed actions that
offer greatest chance of greatest success at achieving
the KPIs assigned and accepted in the role. They sit
in the exact same psychological relationship to self
as do the detailed play in our favourite sport. In
fact, we understand the relationship between actual
and perfect delivery of the agreed ideal actions in
sport better than we do in business. It is likely you
will ‘sense’ the relationship and in particular the
emotional aspects of the relationship between the
play in sport better than you sense it with ideal
actions in your job.
Your relationship with perfect play in sport is
exactly the same as your relationship with deliv-
ery of ideal actions in your job
Building a focused, non-emotional, performance
relationship with ideal actions in sport or business,
where the intent is to deliver the actions to the best
of your ability I call professionalism. Top sports
people only release themselves from the
‘professional’ focus when the actions delivered as
best they can on the day, and they are joyous or
depressed with their performance. Under OPD the-
ory, as in sport so in business.
Our striving ensures we can say: I did my best
The difference between sport and business is typi-
cally the time in which we need act. In sport, the
action is simple, the forehand shot, or the pitch to
the green. The action is done in fractions of a sec-
ond. In business, the action is always over a much
longer time. There is almost no situation where we
cannot pause, take a moment, collect ourselves.
In business the ideal actions are almost always
more complex than in sport. Closing that big deal,
ensuring production on time and to quality stand-
ard, etc. The complexity in business is almost al-
ways balancing the actions, which is where it is
very important to have an agreed set of ideal ac-
tions guiding effort.
Perfection is the standard we set for ourselves in our mind
Perfection in business is first identifying the ideal actions on paper
The role specification links the job to the
business plan, such that it is agreed that if the
ideal actions delivered to standard then the
person in the role will have fully delivered
the expected contribution to the business
plan.
Perfect game plans perfectly delivered
The role specification(s) defines current in-
sight and understanding of the contribution to
the current business plan from the job. Ideal
actions negotiated and agreed, the person agrees they
seek work life success and satisfaction, and willingly
engage with their own success which begins by them
building their game plan. The team leader then enables
delivery of the game plan by supporting the person with
positive emotions doing each day at work.
Question for reflection
If ideal actions clearer on paper, clearer in mind, and
people striving to deliver them to lift their own success/
satisfaction at work, would results improve?
Newsletter 10 Perfect human performance
Newsletter topics
1. Seeking new thinking.
2. How to double profits.
3. Goal—action.
4. Linking staff action to
strategy.
5. Human performance
driving results.
6. HR as rollout of strate-
gy.
7. Behavioral structure of
the organization.
8. Understanding human
psychology.
9. Linking people to be-
havioral structure.
10. Perfect human perfor-
mance.
11. Performance manage-
ment moving actual
toward perfect perfor-
mance.
12. Built in flexibility.
13. A scientifically proven
balanced solution to
human performance
as a driver of results.
14. Redefining engage-
ment.
15. Culture.
16. All HR policy changes.
17. Lifting expectation.
18. Redefining leadership.
19. Redefining manage-
ment.
20. Why has it not been
done before?
21. Stop. Reflect. Chose
and improve.
22. Why can’t we do it
ourselves?
23. Mind of the CEO.
24. HR as the ‘right hand’
of the CEO.
25. Building a ‘verbal
ready’ Executive.
26. Understanding human
motivation.
27. Building and imple-
menting an integrated
motivation policy.
28. Human capital.
29. Finding and develop-
ing talent.
30. Choosing better ideas.
Reading these newsletters you will gain
new insight into how to manage the link
between people and your organization so
that both benefit by increased results,
greater success, increased profits, more
fulfilling work, and greater satisfaction.
Contact: info@opdcoach.com to meet and explore how this system will lift results in your business.
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