I work with companies helping them improve the potential of their business and their people. I believe that change works from the inside out. What I mean here is that if we can develop the potential of staff at every level we can harness their potential to catapult business performance to amazing levels. This will only come about by investing in the human potential of the business.

The average business invests very little in their Training & Development but world leaders in Business recognise that they can only achieve results through others. Consequently, they invest in training and developing their people to give themselves the edge over their competitors.

From my perspective, I believe that improved business performance comes from self esteem, and this translates into enabling people to demonstrate and improve their self confidence. When we bring up our children the development of self confidence is high on the agenda, but this is something not just consigned to the young but it is applicable for every organisation. If we fail to develop the people we work with and encourage them to do better everyday then we are probably falling behind the competition. The competitive edge in all businesses is achieved by helping staff to develop themselves and achieve a high degree of self-confidence. Why is self-confidence so important? Once people demonstrate high self-esteem, they take more responsibility for their future. We have noted that self-confidence breeds challenge. People are much more likely to question the way things are done when they are confident, feel positive and know their views will be listened to. If we can develop a culture of continuous improvement based on the premise that we develop organisations from the inside out we will create a culture with a self sustaining edge for improvement.

By developing people beyond their comfort zones, they are enabled to achieve goals that they did not think possible. They feel good about themselves. This enables people to manage their own future. I believe that the average business over manages and over controls people. This is because either management don’t trust people or do not have the strategies in place to enable people to manage and develop themselves and their associates. It is time to replace the control of others with trust and this only starts when we decide to help people fully develop their capabilities.

It is important to think through strategies to set this process in motion. As I said, we start the process from working with the individual, developing the capability of the organisation to set and master change. Often people in business get so caught up in the day to day stuff that they fail to give enough thought to what they could become. In some cases they spend time and devote resources to trivial activities without giving a thought to mastering potential.

We are often too busy just earning a living rather than working on shaping our lives, not having the time or the techniques to really plan things the way we want them to turn out. Yet planning for success is relatively easy. When people ‘succeed’ in any aspect of life, they leave behind them clues as to what worked for them. I believe that if we can trace the techniques, processes and behaviours that others use to achieve the “success formula”, we can emulate that same success. Discover what works for others and adapt it to self.

What I am interested in is modelling personal achievement. What specifically do people do that causes them to be successful? When we know this we can apply the same principles and replicate the same success.

Yale University carried out an important research study in 1951, which found that of all the students graduating that year, only 3% had written goals for what they wanted to be and to achieve in their life. Twenty years later, the survivors were surveyed and a tangible measure applied to their lives. There was little point examining “satisfaction” or “well-being” as these are too intangible and vague to define so material wealth was the fundamental measure. It was found that the collective wealth of the 3% with written goals was more than that of the remaining 97%. Further research established that this was down purely to planning and goal setting, graphically illustrating that “those who fail to plan, plan to fail”

Planning and target setting are critical in measuring improved performance in a variety of fields. Planning and target setting can become part of the four activities in the success cycle. The success cycle maps the processes we need to consider if we want to develop from the inside out.

I’ll take you through each of the four components or processes.

1. Focus - upon specific targets in all areas of your life. What are your goals for your Career, your Relationships, your Physical Health & Well-being. What would you want to have in terms Material Possessions? What do you wish to achieve spiritually? How would you like to contribute to your immediate community? This goal setting process focuses upon those things that are important to you. Too many people just focus upon one aspect of their life, for example – their career, and they somehow forget about the others. You might want to spend some time right now writing down a list of all the goals you wish to achieve along the lines discussed. Once you have a Focus of what you could become, what you want to possess and what you want to do with the rest of your life, you can move to the next stage.

2. What moves us towards our goals – noticing what behaviours take us towards rather than away from them. When we reconsider the action we have taken in the past we may recognise that too often we give up after one or two attempts. For instance, the person seeking advancement in their career may stop applying for jobs after being rejected two or three times. If we are not careful we may make a decision there and then to give up – not to try again. Too many people give up on their dreams too quickly. A key characteristic that differentiates the high achiever from the also ran is persistence. Coolidge ‘s quote illustrates this point well. “Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” A commitment to never give up demonstrates a determination that leads to success.

3. Let us move to the third stage of the cycle. The Results we achieve further add to our Belief that we can do and be whatever we wish. Sometimes, we don’t get the results we want. We have to be very careful we don’t label this “failure”. If we do, it can stop us moving on to achieve our aspirations. We must ask “what actions must I take to ensure that I will achieve the results I want”. If the actions you are taking are moving you further away from your goal it is time to change what you are doing. Only an idiot would believe that doing the same thing time and again is going to lead to different results.

• Our Beliefs are critical in moving us forward - self-belief and positive self esteem project us. This is the most important part of success . “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right!” This phrase is attributed to Henry Ford builder of the Motor Industry. How does this translate to personal success? Well, if you believe you have the capacity to overcome obstacles, you probably will. If you see obstacles as insurmountable you will perhaps not even try. Your beliefs cause things to happen or not. Our beliefs colour our world – “is the glass half full or half empty?”

• Understanding precisely how beliefs drive behaviour and performance is critical in mastering personal performance. You may want to examine your own beliefs. One way of doing this is to listen to what you actually say. Our words reflect our conscious and unconscious thoughts. Most of the time we do not sift and analyse our language precisely, we just let it come out. By analysing language patterns, we can learn to understand the “drivers” that influence achievement. For instance, have you ever caught yourself saying “I’ll never be able to ……… (complete the sentence yourself). In these instances you have already made up your mind! So, listen to what you say – it is called ‘self talk’

• Another reliable technique is to work through the “empowering beliefs process”. It works like this.

• Make a list of your fundamental beliefs about your capabilities in your work and your life. Compile two lists illustrating: (a.) your strengths and (b.) your weaknesses.

• Looking at your beliefs about your strengths. Think of instances that support your positive beliefs and feel good about them. Reflect on your successes.

• Now, look at the self-limiting ‘beliefs’ that stop you improving your personal performance. Imagine, seriously, what life would be like if these did not exist.

• Now, take one self-limiting belief. Scan your memory for events when this belief was not supported by reality. Now, think of what would happen if you could relegate this belief to the “Museum of self-limiting beliefs”. Build up evidence to negate this belief.

• What positive beliefs do you need to create for yourself to replace the self-limiting belief? Write them down now and think of times when these were true for you. Imagine that you have these beliefs right now. What can you now achieve?