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July 2007
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THE INNER GAME
This piece was written numerous years ago in an earlier incarnation of our newsletters.
By popular request I'm re-issuing it. I am struck by how its pertinence and applicability seem only to have increased in the intervening years.
Timothy Gallwey brought an important phenomenon to our attention with his landmark bestsellers, namely the distinction between the 'Inner Game' and the 'Outer Game'. We play BOTH games, whether we realize it or not.
My first exploration of this came through the Martial Arts. My 'Sensei' used to tell me that there was no way to lose in a Martial Arts competition, as long as the aim was growth. His point was that my opponent's job was to challenge me to progress and develop. My job was to return the favour, as vigorously and devotedly as I could. While perhaps the game was set up so that only one of us would 'win' the outer game, we could both win the INNER GAME, which is the game called growth.
In fact the 'inner game' is by far the more important. I continue to feel if societies and organizations would 'get' this, we would make tremendous strides towards both surging profitability as well as vital contribution.
We play the inner game in numerous disguises. We play it in a disguise called marriage, we play it in a disguise called work, we play it in a disguise called parenting, we play it in a disguise called athletics, but it is ONE game -- the game of self-knowledge, the game of growth, the game of discovery.
As Gallwey points out, the traditional way the game is played stresses the 'outer game' to an unhealthy degree. Let's take the simple example of sports coaching. The coach has an image of 'perfection' derived from an 'average' of great performers -- i.e. the 'classic' tennis swing. Such 'coaching' usually involves trying to get the learner's style to mutate into the closest approximation of this external ideal. The subtext of the coaching is: 'Obey me, ape me, ignore your instincts or idiosyncrasy' In other words, when you can copy me, you have learned!
Gallwey discovered that when instead, the coachee was given an example of an effective swing, some minimal guidance, but then asked to increase awareness of what worked and what didn't, non-judgmentally, they began to find their own 'perfect swing'. One has only to look at the difference in backswing say between a Federer now or a Sampras or Agassi earlier to affirm that while there are clear overlaps, as one comes to trust one's inner ability, a definite and distinct 'personality' and 'style' emerge.
The key growth trio for the inner game are Awareness, Choice and Trust. If we increase awareness, make a choice to develop, and trust our ability to observe, adapt and learn, then we start to dial out the carping inner dialogue and ego interference that blunts the cutting edge of our forward movement.
As Gallwey sums up: "Performance = Potential minus Interference." Pithy AND true!
This was tested for a group of Telecom Operators. They were in a 'dead-end' job, about which they had pretty much learned all there was to be learned, technically, in the first two weeks. The company wanted to improve the level of courtesy, without increasing the length of call time (which would increase expense, something they wanted to avoid).
Just as there is a personal growth trio of awareness, choice and trust, there is a coaching trio of performance, learning and enjoyment. In other words if we can help people focus not just on performance (which done by itself creates stress and sometimes rebellion if we push too hard, especially in jobs with middling compensation and little upward mobility), but rather on what they can learn and how they can make what they do as enjoyable as possible, we have a much easier time. We then help them to become more aware, to make better choices, and to get out of their own way so that they can better fulfil their potential.
Using 'Inner Game' methodology, the operators were asked to consider what they could try to learn from each call. After considerable exploration, they found that one of the chief things that would be fascinating to focus on, was the level of tension in the caller's voice. They broke this down into various factors (like how rushed they were, etc). Each operator was asked to be aware of the level of tension or ease in the caller's voice on a scale that was set up. This became a type of 'game', and far more enjoyable than just punching in information too. They were also asked to be aware of their own voice and what it conveyed. They were helped to do exercises akin to an acting class, learning to modulate their voices.
An amazing thing happened! Courtesy ratings shot up, without anyone explicitly focusing on courtesy at all! How? As the operators focused on what they could learn from the caller's voice, it was quite natural for them to shift their response, speed, alertness, anticipation, too. As they became aware of their own voices and what they conveyed, they began to enjoy flexing those to evoke various responses. As a result, empathy and rapport both shot up! Even more amazingly, the operators reported their personal relationships at home had improved significantly too, simply by their extending this awareness to their private interactions as well!
In a doctor's office, there were complaints about waiting times for patients, and a backlog of appointments. It was suggested that this was not because there was an inadequate number of doctors, or a sudden outbreak of unforecasted demand, but due to poor scheduling and administration support.
Using the 'Inner Game' approach, it was suggested simply that the administrators keep a record of average waiting times at different times of the day and see what they could learn from that. Interesting and eye-catching graphs were set up, and records started to be kept.
Without a shot being fired, trends became apparent, and it became a 'fun' challenge to locate the root cause, to restructure things, to find out what variables influenced the numbers and more. They even created a fun internal competition to see how well they could control the lines. By forgetting about self-defence, focusing on awareness and what they could learn, and then liberating new choices that would produce a more enjoyable work experience and environment, within a week waiting times had been slashed by over 50%!
This dynamic can be tested at home as well, as implied above. Suppose you have a recurring habit of spats or fights with your spouse or other loved one. Assuming the essential integrity of the relationship is not in immediate question, an 'Inner Game' approach can work wonders.
Agree to simply become more 'aware' of two dimensions, situations that trigger the fights, and the 'topic'. Agree to create a chart or read-out that will be discussed at a neutral time, as to both triggers and topics. Thereby you learn how you together 'stage' and 'create' disagreements. It is natural once this is visible, to catch the triggers and interrupt them, to make new choices, to trust each other to evolve better responses. This will often happen without consciously trying to. That's the magic!
After doing this for a week, choose to pay attention to the level of tension or happiness in each other's voice, and to monitor the same in your own. Make it an adventure to explore to learn this about each other and to adapt your own voice and responses with the aim of enhancing interaction enjoyment. This combination will produce once of the most illuminating as well as exhilarating months together imaginable!
By the by, I have used two instances of what we can pay attention to. But the number of things in any given situation we can choose to increase awareness of, are virtually limitless. There's the fun and potential excitement of it all! As we silence the inner distraction and increase awareness, we amplify both focus and potential fun. We must just ensure we select variables that are observable, interesting and in some way relevant to the situation.
The most important take-away is that we will create far more exciting work and life environments if we set, in addition to performance goals, learning and enjoyment goals and increase our awareness of not only how well we are doing, but what we are learning (or could choose to) and how much we are enjoying what we are doing (and how we could re-imagine and recreate it so that it is more enjoyable!). These additional dimensions take our potential far beyond the limitations of stress, ego-competition and conformity. We are set free!
It is fascinating to note, that at a time of poor mass communication, when the United States was not the dominant world power, it decided to work on the 'Inner Game' of government (knowingly or otherwise).
It created a division of power, institutions that could codify learning and express multiple points of view, it gave choice and power back to people and dedicated itself at least in part to people's right 'to pursue happiness'. These rights meant however a commitment from citizens to safe-guard this for each other -- through a rule of law and legal accountability.
These rebellious colonies evolving into a nation set an example that helped usher in a new era in world history. This was largely achieved in the early years of its influence without muscle or MTV. That example of self-governance began to be followed in country after country, as written Constitutions sprang up, Monarchies tumbled, rights were invested in representative assemblies, and self-expression and self-actualization became virtues to advance. As global awareness grows, the inner game comes with it.
Perhaps in today's times, there are lessons here as to how to best influence each other. Today, overt muscle and coercion, active propaganda and diplomatic grandstanding, seem to nullify mutual cooperation and respect. It may be that we need to 'inspire' as much as 'force'. It may be that while we play various necessary 'outer games', as a family of nations we need to rediscover the 'Inner Game' as well.
May we promote mutual awareness and a willingness to continuously grow and transcend our past paradigms as a central plank of any policy that expects to build progress through human interaction.
May we each spend some of this month enabling ourselves and others to play the real game of growth, inspired by our greatest human challenge: to let life teach us what works, and to have the openness and to invite the grace necessary to capitalize on that.
Omar Khan,
Senior Partner, Sensei International
Phone: 1 (212) 295 2191, Fax: 1 (212) 295 2121
e-mail: omar@sensei-international.com
Omar Khan is a globally acknowledged leadership development innovator and success coach. He is a sought after change catalyst and a pioneer in transformational learning. He is the author of the acclaimed book SYNERGY as well as the newly released and much awaited, TIMELESS LEADERSHIP.
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