“Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise” by Anders Ericsson
In my blog post “Armchair Experts,” I introduced a method for developing proficiency that Anders Ericsson outlines in his book “Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise.” The model focuses on learning while doing, emphasizes iterative feedback, and applying feedback into the next attempt. This cyclical fashion for learning does not go through the traditional “school-like” scale of knowledge where you start at the basics first and proceed in an order determined by other experts—rather with Ericsson’s way, you learn the activity largely through practice.
Reading “Peak,” I thought of this scene of my husband and my sister-in-law doing a crossword puzzle. My husband and I find crosswords extremely challenging, but my sister-in-law is a master. She does them almost every week. In fact, she will sometimes share her progress with specific people throughout the week, turning it into a collaborative affair. Not many people know that crosswords have some repeating tricks—specific small words used frequently, phrases in clues, themes for specific sections. The more that you attempt crosswords the better (and faster) you’re going to be.
My sister-in-law is perfectly channeling Ericsson without knowing it.
· She set frequent intention to be better. She created space for her to attempt the crosswords weekly (most of the time!) so that she could eventually complete the hardest versions (NYTimes Sunday) on her own.
· She created opportunities for feedback. She sought out experts in her life that had experience and listened to their insight.
· She incorporated feedback in her next attempts. She tried and tried again, creating a mental list of insider knowledge about crosswords.
Ericsson’s approach sounds simple. Given the model focuses on feedback and iterative approaches, this model is ideal for busy clients that need to learn in addition to their daily tasks and those that have identified key coaches, mentors, or experts to provide feedback. This is the ideal way to combine with an already busy work schedule or family life. As long as a client is willing to deliberately practice and seek feedback, this model could be broken up into “digestible chunks” of time that complement existing activities.
However, because the model is so heavily focused on personal deliberation and accepting feedback, there are a few things clients will have to be ready to acknowledge before starting. For example, Ericsson outlines a few mindsets in “Peak” that are crucial to starting to develop proficiency: 1. Understanding past performance is not necessarily an indication of future success, 2. Effort is required to get better. In the story of my sister-in-law above, she clearly didn’t start her journey by saying, “You know what, I’ve never been good at crosswords so I think I’m just bad at crosswords.” She also didn’t get better just trying and wishfully hoping something would happen. A client has to be willing to come to the table with intention and an open mind.
Feedback is a linchpin of Ericsson’s model. Clients have to be ready to seek feedback, keep track of feedback, and make a plan for incorporating feedback into their next attempt. Accepting feedback is something that you also have to practice to be good at—for many clients, I recommend starting here. What’s goes through your mind when you ask for feedback? Do you have a mechanism for remembering what is said? How often do you seek constructive feedback vs. positive feedback?
A caveat: While I think this model is ideal for working adults, it is likely not how you’d want to learn something technical. There is some element of learning the basics that is crucial for success. For example, if you needed to learn how to fix a computer, you likely need to understand how code works. There is a reason that people go to college/university to learn vocations and curriculum make you take “101” Introductory classes.
For further reading:
Ericsson, A., & Pool, R. (2016). Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Ericsson, K. A., Prietula, M. J., & Cokely, E. T. (2007). The making of an expert. Harvard Business Review Online. https://hbr.org/2007/07/the-making-of-an-expert
Building relationships takes listening
How many people find themselves multi-tasking or half-listening to co-workers, friends, and family? Sometimes, the world can feel like everything is demanding our attention. I have lived in a major metropolitan city for the last 6 years. I’m used to passing tons of people on the street, cars whizzing past; but I always find my calm running through the park.
I realized what this time brings me—time to meditate to music, time to mentally uncheck from work or responsibilities, to listen to myself.
I build relationships with my clients, friends, and family in the same way—I create that “park” opportunity for them, a space where they can process what life brings them.
Diana Bonet wrote about the importance of silence in “Four Key Elements.” In her work, she focuses on how people become good listeners and outlines four steps for people to take during a conversation. Shockingly, responding to the person’s statement is the fourth and final step—the first three are focused on listening, processing, and analyzing your own response. Throughout these preparations, Bonet emphasizes how silence provides opportunity not only for the person talking to continue to elaborate on their thought, but it also the listener to process their own reactions.
Listening—Bonet’s first stage, “Hear the Message”—is crucial to how I build relationships. It also helps me grow as a person. As an “advocating” style communicator, I tend to speak loudly, emphatically, and with emotion. To some, this can turn off the opportunity for them to share space in a conversation and share. By listening and creating silence intentionally, I’m not only helping clients/friends/family grow, but also myself.
I see this as particularly helpful for all clients, new and continuing. However, it should definitely be used in coordination with response and action. I can see how listening and creating silence can make certain clients uncomfortable—and some uncomfort actually does help us grow and find new insights. But, the key part of a good coach is coming up with a thoughtful question and response that continues to propel the conversation. It’s likely not as useful for those who are seeking a coach to “tell them the answers”—setting ground rules at the beginning of a coaching relationship (that “the answer” is a journey) will help quell those anxieties.
Bonet, Diana (2001). Four Key Elements of Good Listening. A Practical Guide to Effective Listening (pp. 13-31). Boston, MA: Crips Publications, Inc.
There are a lots of different coaching approaches for diverse client situations. Here are my favorites.
Narrative Coaching. Narrative coaching pushes clients to think critically about identities. How did you end up where you are? Where will that take you next?
Narrative Coaching is an approach heavy on input on behalf of the client. As a coach, I build trust by listening and providing a non-judgmental space. I get excited by client stories and I feel as though anchoring on details, context, and key players is the perfect way to learn more about client backgrounds. Given my experience in storytelling and context defining, my skills easily translate into perspective-taking and gap analysis as a coach.
Life narratives are probably a new concept to many young professionals. As someone who moved around careers a ton, I had to quickly figure out my own “life narratives” to hone in on specific skillsets rather than specific industries or job titles.
Drake, David (2018). Narrative Coaching. In E. Cox, T. Bachkirova, & D. A. Cutterbuck (Eds.), The complete handbook of coaching. London: SAGE Publications.
Solution-focused Coaching. Visualizing an outcome or solution can clearly outline what the future looks like. A coach can help anchor a client on the way forward, reframing obstacles and problems in relation to the future-focused planning. Change is possible.
As a full-time, change management consultant, I’m personally and professionally driven to make an impact. Solution-focused coaching will orient clients to a particular goal and can help clients feel like things are in motion. A tool of solution-focused coaching is reframing, allowing the person to see what might have hindered them in the past in a new light. There’s a next step, a goal.
Generally, this approach is best for clients who are coming in ready to heavily contribute ideas and visioning to discussions about the future. It also requires a willingness to arrest current mental models that can be reframed in the pursuit of a goal.
Grant, A., & Cavanagh, M. (2018). The Solution-focused Approach to Coaching. In E. Cox, T. Bachkirova, & D. A. Cutterbuck (Eds.), The complete handbook of coaching. London: SAGE Publications.
Positive Psychology. A belief that thinking about the positive impact of things—through reframing—will be reflected in a client’s attitude and personal understanding of success. This is heavily rooted in a client identifying and understanding their strengths, and relies on the client being willing to revisit potentially painful moments in order to find the light.
Positive Psych is more of a way of being—the coaching engagement is more about establishing reflective habits to encourage strength building and positive framing in everyday life.
Similar to solution-focused coaching, positive psychology focuses on a goal. But, through visualization of core strengths throughout the engagement and use of assessments like StrengthsFinders or Hogan, a client can navigate a path towards their goal mostly focused on their positive framing.
Boniwell, I., & Kauffman, C. (2018). The Positive Psychology Approach to Coaching. In E. Cox, T. Bachkirova, & D. A. Cutterbuck (Eds.), The complete handbook of coaching. London: SAGE Publications.
A quick note on coaching frameworks… A typical coaching engagement doesn’t follow a recipe or script. As a coach, I try to pay attention to a client’s needs and how those needs change over time…and combine bits and pieces of these frameworks to tailor our work in the most productive way.
Ladder of Inference
Despite the fact we all live on planet earth and do similar activities (you know, breath, eat, sleep, blink; grocery shop, smile at our friends), every single person is perceiving the world differently through the lens of their experiences. I’m personally constantly reminded of this while walking through art museums—every person looks at a piece of art and makes their own meaning out of it, based on something that the color evokes for them or a memory that’s conjured.
The Ladder of Inference is the process through which people take facts (the bottom of the ladder) and step-by-step—filter by assumption by presumption—take action.
The coach can be a fantastic way to realize the ways mental models have built over time for facts to be distorted in various ways, and ultimately lead to incongruous action. Accepting the second rung specifically—”I notice specific parts of the world more than others”—helps a person create an awareness for the baseline fact: Their thoughts are not fact.
In a coaching engagement, the Ladder of Inference is particularly helpful for coded events or activities, even ones that haven’t happened yet (blockers). The coach helps a person walk down each rung of the ladder and get back to the objective facts of the situation. Then, you can rebuild a NEW path based on inferences and reframing that aligns to your strengths and goals.