John Wooden is often called the greatest coach of all time. He won ten National Championships in twelve years during his tenure as head coach of the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team. At one point, he won seven championships in a row. The next longest streak is two. With his college roster substantially turning over every year, Wooden’s secret weapon was adaptability: when he had two 7-footers in Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, he focused on parking these ‘bigs’ near the basket and feeding them the ball. When he had a shorter roster, he adapted to focus more on shooting from the high post. Hundreds of very good coaches have not fared as well: their system ‘clicks’ with a star player and they have great success, and then the star moves on and they continue to try to run the same playbook – while their success, career, and reputations diminish. As Wooden succinctly put it: “failure is not fatal, but failure to change can be.”

John Wooden with Lew Alcindor, Lynn Shackelford, Kenny Heitz, and Lucius Allen; Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Wooden was coaching basketball, but he was also dispensing essential career advice. What he understood was that if you want to be future-proof, the steady refinement of one set of skills isn’t enough. As Kelly Bradley, the CHRO of RBC, Canada’s largest bank, recently shared: “we talk about [acquiring new skills] as building range. Expanding skills and experiences gives individuals more options and the organization more flexibility. In a world where change is constant, range becomes a strategic advantage.”

“In a world where change is constant, range becomes a strategic advantage.”

Now more than ever, a future-proof career hinges on the ability to acquire new skills that allow you to adapt to a new reality. So, can you get better at building range? Well, that’s where meta-skills come into play.

Skills and Meta-Skills in Action: The Pharmacist

Consider someone who has been a pharmacist for the past 20 years. They came out of University with a Chemistry degree and started working in a job that required two primary skills: chemistry to compound the medication and math to count pills and work the cash register. As technology advanced, the compounding and dispensing part of the role became more automated, and the role of pharmacists expanded greatly to include services like medicine reviews for Seniors, diabetic counseling, celiac counseling, flu shots, diagnosing and prescribing, and more. Suddenly, being a pharmacist also required customer service (or even sales) skills, and the process savvy to manage an automated dispensing process. Fast forward, and we can easily imagine the role evolving to require mental health counseling skills, tech savvy to perform diagnostics to deliver personalized medicine, and more.

Figure 1 – A Pharmacist’s Journey: Skills vs. Meta-Skills

Chart displaying meta-skills at various points in learning growth cycle

These different sets of skills anchor execution at different points in time – but what enables our pharmacist to evolve from one set of skills to another and remain successful over time are meta-skills. These are the capabilities that allow someone to consistently and repeatedly let go of old skills that have anchored their success and acquire and learn new ones.

Getting Better at Building Range: Three Imperatives

The discipline of evolving and building range can be broken down into three imperatives: see clearly, move quickly, and stay the course.

01.

See clearly Build self-awareness and empathy.

02.

Move quickly Strengthen flexibility, creativity, and learning capacity.

03.

Stay the course Cultivate resilience

01. See Clearly

Acquiring new skills starts with developing a great radar: Where am I strong? Where am I falling behind? What do I need to work on developing? Self-awareness is half of the battle, but an under-appreciated meta-skill is honing the ability to listen to critique with empathy rather than resistance. When someone points out a gap or limitation in your skill-set – instead of pushing back, consider “what are they seeing that I’m not? How could that help me identify a skill I need to build?”

02. Move Quickly

Strengthening learning capacity is at the heart of moving more quickly to build range. The faster you can move up learning curves, the easier it is to acquire new skills. There are many great resources that can help you get better at learning – but one of my favourites (which also happens to be free) is the Learning How to Learn course taught by the wonderful Dr. Barbara Oakley.

03. Stay the Course

Finally, the journey of evolution is not a straight line. Adults hate being at the bottom of learning curves, and the journey up those curves is fraught with pressure, discomfort and setbacks. It is much more comfortable to refine one skill set over time than it is to build range. One of the most effective ways to build resilience is to focus on relationships: who else is working towards the same goals as you? Who can you learn alongside? Who will push you, support you, and absolve you of the guilt we all feel from not being enough? Identifying 2-3 people who can be in your ‘training group’ can be a well-spring of resilience.

Meta-Skills: Crystal Ball Optional

Jeff Bezos famously said that he built Amazon around the belief that at no point would people want to pay higher prices or have worse product selection. As he stated at the time: “I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’… I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is the more important of the two.” Meta-skills are that rare example of something that will not change. There is no crystal ball required to see that the future will be different than the present, success in that future will require new and different skills, and an ability to spot critical skills, rapidly learn, and stay the course through the learning curve will be an advantage.

“Individuals who invest in strengthening their awareness, learning capacity and resilience can become irreplaceable”

Investing in meta-skills will pay a guaranteed return for both organizations and individuals. Organizations that invest in building meta-skills at scale will be rewarded with a talent pool that can adapt to new requirements and deploy new capabilities with greater ease and speed. Individuals who invest in strengthening their awareness, learning capacity and resilience can become irreplaceable. Rosie MacLennan is a powerhouse: she was the first Canadian athlete to defend a gold medal at a summer Olympics by winning back-to-back golds in trampoline in 2016 and 2020, she served as the Chair of the Athletes Commission at the COC and fought tirelessly for safe sport, and she has an MBA from Stanford. We were fortunate enough to have Rosie join us at our annual Third Factor client dinner a short time ago, where she shared a behind-the-scenes look at her path to Olympic triumph, the significant challenges she faced on the journey, and the tools she used to help overcome them.

Here are three lessons from Rosie’s talk that can help anyone striving for their own version of a gold-medal performance.

1: Confront failure head-on

One of Rosie’s most interesting insights was slightly counter-intuitive: when the fear of failure is strong, don’t shy away from it – lean into it. Ahead of the Olympics, Rosie consciously worked to confront the possibility of failure directly, and work through her worst-case scenario in vivid detail.

“By confronting the possibility of failure, you can free yourself from its grip.”

In partnership with her mental performance coach, Rosie sat down and played out two scenarios: what if things go well and I win? And, what if I stumble and fail? With these two scenarios in mind, she vividly worked through how she would feel and what her life would be like: 1 day after, 1 week after, 1 month after, 1 year after, and, eventually, 5 years post-Olympics. Rosie’s realization? Ultimately, the outcome at the Games would have little impact on her life 5 years down the road. Regardless of the outcome she would be okay. This mental exercise allowed Rosie to remove the distraction of fear from her preparation. By confronting failure head-on, she could redirect her energy from worrying about what could go wrong to focusing on what she could control. Whether you’re preparing for a major presentation, launching a new business venture, or pursuing a personal goal – instead of trying to avoid thinking about failure, take the time to visualize the negative scenario. When we “play out the full movie” what we often find is that the fear comes from the fact that we are just imagining a moment in time – an incomplete thought or image that doesn’t reflect the fullness of time. By confronting the possibility of failure, you can free yourself from its grip and focus entirely on performing at your best.

2: Embrace direct feedback

Rosie’s coach, Dave Ross, is known for a style that is extremely candid. While some athletes balked at his bluntness, Rosie saw something deeper: a genuine commitment to helping her succeed. She understood that behind his straightforward critiques was a profound belief in her potential. Instead of resisting his feedback, she consciously worked to lean into it, using it as information to unlock higher levels of performance. This ability to harness the value in blunt feedback came from her taking the time to understand Dave as a person. She took the time to look beyond personality and style to understand his values and ultimately his character. These insights didn’t just unlock her own performance, they also allowed her to help other athletes shift their perspective on Dave’s feedback by sharing her insights into what was behind his style. When you find yourself chafing at direct feedback, consider the intent of the person delivering it. Where are they coming from? What are they trying to help you accomplish? Often, others are trying to help – even when their wording or approach might trigger some reactivity.

3: Use visualization to overcome obstacles

In the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics, Rosie faced a daunting challenge: a series of serious ankle injuries that left her unable to perform her trampoline routine for weeks. In fact, she was unable to practice her full routine until one day before leaving for the Games.

“When we imagine something with enough vivid detail – to our body, it’s real.”

Rather than letting this setback derail her preparation, Rosie turned to the power of imagery and visualization. Unable to train physically, she trained mentally. This started with simply imagining herself bouncing on the trampoline again. She shared that, initially after the injury, every time she would close her eyes and visualize jumping on the trampoline – she would see herself falling. With effort and (mental) practice, she was able to start to imagine herself jumping with confidence, and eventually to visualize her entire routine in vivid detail. Remarkably, Rosie finished 4th at the Tokyo Olympics— less than a single point off of the podium featuring the best athletes on the world, all of whom had been training regularly, despite having been unable to physically practice until a single day prior to travel. When we imagine something with enough vivid detail – to our body, it’s real. Some studies estimate that for elite athletes, mental rehearsal delivers roughly 85% of the benefits of physical rehearsal. Rosie’s experience certainly backs up that research. Visualization isn’t just for elite athletes. It’s a tool anyone can use to prepare for high-stakes situations —whether it’s a speech, negotiation, or exam—spend time visualizing your performance. Imagine every detail: the environment, your actions, and the desired outcome. This mental preparation can help you feel more confident and prepared when the moment arrives.

Bringing it all together

Rosie MacLennan’s journey to Olympic success is more than a story about athletic achievement. Her approach to confronting failure, embracing feedback, and harnessing the power of visualization provides lessons that can help all of us. Here’s a challenge: think about your own version of a “gold medal performance.” What are you striving for in your career, relationships, or personal growth? Now, consider how you can apply Rosie’s three strategies: Confront failure head-on: What’s holding you back? Imagine the worst-case scenario to start to rob it of its power. Embrace direct feedback: Who in your life is pushing you to be better? How can you listen with an open mind and use their insights to grow? Use visualization to your advantage: What mental rehearsals can you do to prepare for your big moment? Emerson is a leading global technology, software and engineering company that provides heating, air conditioning and refrigeration solutions for commercial and residential markets. In Canada, much of its success relies on its relationships with some 2,500 contractors who in turn rely on Emerson solutions to operate their businesses. Rewarding its contractor-customers with memorable experiences has long been an important part of Emerson’s strategy and Emerson has worked with Third Factor for several years to ensure that these events go beyond simply being memorable to also help customers improve their leadership skills. In service of this, Third Factor designed and delivered a full-day experience to equip Emerson’s customers with meta-skills for adapting to rapid change, a first-hand understanding of their performance under pressure, and practical strategies for using the pressure in their lives as fuel for growth – featuring an unforgettable para ice hockey experience on a frozen glacial lake. Click here to read the case study.

The Meta-Skilled Organization: Building the Capability to Evolve

Skills allow us to execute. Meta-skills like empathy, resilience, creativity, and self-awareness allow us to evolve. As organizations and industries face increasingly rapid change and disruption, in which job descriptions are fluid and agility is essential, these meta-skills are increasingly at the heart of sustained success. The ability to adapt is what makes us future-proof, and what separates individuals and teams that endure from those who are replaced. In this webinar, Third Factor CEO and author of The Power of Pressure, Dane Jensen, will illustrate how the capability to evolve can be broken down into six core meta-skills and outline practical skills and strategies you can use to cultivate your own ability to adapt. You’ll gain new insights into what’s really required for future-proofing yourself and your organization, and discover six core meta-skills across three categories that foster personal evolution.

You should attend if:

You want to build your team or organization’s resilience to rapid change
You’re responsible for change management at a project or organizational level
You’re charged with building competencies of adaptability, flexibility, innovation, or problem solving
You want to build your own capability to adapt to an uncertain future

The Meta-Skilled Organization

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About the presenter: Dane Jensen is the CEO of Third Factor, the author of The Power of Pressure: Why Pressure Isn’t The Problem, It’s The Solution, an acclaimed speaker, an instructor at Queen’s University and the University of North Carolina, and a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review.

As in many sports, when navigating uncertainty it helps to “look where you want to go.” In his latest article for HBR, Third Factor CEO, Dane Jensen, outlines a process for imagining a plausible, positive version of the future and taking steps to actually get there. Read the article at HBR.org.

Join Third Factor CEO, Dane Jensen, to celebrate the launch of his new book: The Power of Pressure: Why Pressure isn’t the Problem, It’s the Solution.

In this virtual book launch event, Dane Jensen will tell unforgettable stories of pressure, teach practical skills for performing in peak moments and over the long haul, and leave you with renewed energy for tackling the biggest sources of pressure in your life.

Registration is $29.99 and includes participation in the live event on September 1st or 8th, 2021, access to a recording of the session, and a hardcover copy of The Power of Pressure.

You should attend if:

You are a senior leader in need of strategies to perform through pressure
You are an HR professional responsible for leadership development in your organization
You are looking for powerful new ideas to present to your business audience
You want to build your own capability for performing under pressure.

About the presenter:

Dane Jensen is the CEO of Third Factor, an acclaimed speaker, an instructor at Queen’s University and the University of North Carolina, a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, and the author of The Power of Pressure (HarperCollins).

Skilled workers across the country are making their position clear: they have no desire to go back to the way things were, and they’re willing to leave their job rather than return to the office. From an organizational standpoint, however, it’s not so straightforward. There are arguments for and against bringing people back into the workplace. Attempting to transition to a hybrid model is sure to be fraught with challenges. And for some organizations, a return to working face to face is the only way forward. To establish a post-pandemic model for work that prioritizes productivity, a plan for employee retention is imperative. Senior leaders must be able to clearly articulate the benefit of returning to in-person work and find ways to motivate individuals within the team to endure the change. To do so, organizations need to make full use of people leaders to ensure that understanding and motivation cascades to each individual contributor.

Give meaning to the change

While the value of returning to in-person work may be clear to the senior team, it’s unlikely that everyone in the organization will find it apparent.

In the absence of information, people tell themselves stories

In the absence of information, people tell themselves stories – and those stories are rarely positive. Without a clear understanding of the benefit of returning to work, people are likely to tell themselves that it’s because they’re not trusted to do their job while working remotely. Or, that it’s because of their leaders’ own discomfort with remote work. To combat this, organizations need to be able to clearly articulate the value of why people are being asked to come back to the office, beyond “you get to keep your job.” People need to understand how it benefits the organization, how it benefits their team, and how it benefits them personally. A client I work with, League, provides a useful example of this in their communication to employees about their plans for a hybrid model. Their Chief People Officer, Kim Tabac, has promised their people to, “strike the balance between the ‘I’ and the ‘We’ by focusing on the intersection of the employees needs for meaningful work, and a continued focus on their mental health and wellness, with the company’s focus on high performance, innovation, and connection to our mission.” In addition to helping motivate people who would rather continue to work remotely, being clear about the value of working in-person can help to ease the pain of change for everyone in the organization. A few months into the pandemic, we asked leaders about their challenges in the remote work environment and almost one in five said their biggest obstacle was others not being open to change. By giving the change meaning, organizations can reduce this friction point and accelerate the pace at which the benefit of the change begins to outweigh the discomfort of the change itself.

Ditch broad-reaching incentive programs in favour of personalized motivation

Skilled workers are leaving their jobs in droves because they don’t want to go back to the way things were. But it would be wrong to assume that people are most motivated by having flexibility in where and how they work. There are many different things that motivate people at an individual level, as diverse as the team itself. Organizations can drive performance, reduce turnover, and facilitate organizational change by discovering each contributor’s top motivator and connecting it with their work. We recently ran a workshop with 220 leaders at a financial services company on the subject of how to hold more effective career conversations. When we asked the leaders what motivates them in their careers, there was no consensus. A top three did emerge (interesting work, money, and meaningful work, respectively), but none showed a clear majority and only 10% said they are motivated by all three. What this tells us is that a broad-reaching program for this group focused on interesting work, money, and meaningful work would only be a perfect fit for one in ten leaders. What’s more, a program focused on improving work fit to life would only capture the attention of a little over one in three. To effectively motivate individuals through the return to in-person work, and beyond, organizations need to shift to an personalized approach.

Leverage people leaders to put plans into action

As the soccer coach John Herdman said, “People do things for people, not things.” For organizations to successfully communicate the value of returning to work and tap into what motivates individual contributors – and therefore retain skilled workers – people managers need to be at the centre of a culture shift that makes leadership their first job.

People do things for people, not things.

Too often, people leaders feel like managing their team is a “to do” along with the rest of their job. In fact, when we asked the same group of leaders what gets in their way of having career conversations with their people, 42% told us they don’t have the time. Organizations need to give leaders a clear expectation that helping their people grow and develop is their first job, rather than something to be fit in around other tasks. By investing in people and having these conversations, that’s how the work’s going to get done. It’s not the other way around. As the plan is set in motion, focus on three priorities to enable leaders through the transition to in-person work:

1. Encourage leaders to build relationships with their people

At the heart of all this is emotion. Whether someone would rather quit than come back to the office or whether they’re motivated in their job, all comes down to how they feel about the situation. In order to tap into the power within emotion, leaders need to build relationships with their people and earn permission to do so. And if they’re leading a team that’s distributed or working on a hybrid model, they need to pay close attention to their relationships with the people they don’t see in person on a daily basis.

2. Give leaders the skills to coach their people

Telling leaders to find out what motivates their people is about as helpful as a basketball coach telling you to shoot a three pointer. Leaders need to understand their role as a coach; they need questioning and listening skills to open and carry out effective conversations; they need the ability to give their people clarity on what “good work” looks like; and they need to be skilled at giving recognition in ways that’s going to motivate their people.

3. Make regular career conversations a formal part of performance management – and empower leaders to connect their people with what motivates them

With the relationships and skills in place, ask leaders to hold regular career conversations with their people. Make it every leader’s responsibility to understand what motivates each individual on their team and support them in using that information to create connection points between the work and what motivates them.

Avoid the “brain drain”

Enough companies have already learned their lesson the hard way – requiring an entire workforce to undergo a significant and rapid change can lead to a drop in engagement and a rapid “brain drain” if not handled carefully. To ease the transition and retain skilled workers, engage your leaders in a culture shift that puts leadership first, gives leaders the skills they need to motivate their people, and encourages them not just to have career conversations, but to create meaningful connections between what their team does and what motivates them. What happens to people who get really good at time management? They get more work! In his latest piece for Harvard Business Review, Third Factor CEO, Dane Jensen, explores why time management is a trap – and what you can do instead to be more efficient without becoming overwhelmed. Read the article at HBR.org.