Performance = Capability + Behavior

Owen Eastwood, lawyer for the All Blacks rugby team, who’s done culture creation programs for many organizations, uses this equation. I recently read this from James Kerr’s book “Legacy:

The way you behave, he (Eastwood) argues, will either bring out the best or worst of your capability, and
this applies to businesses and teams as well as to individuals. ‘Leaders create the right environment
for the right behaviours to occur,’ says Eastwood. ‘That’s their primary role.’

Behaviour exists in two domains, he continues: Public and Private.

‘The Public Domain’ means those areas of a player’s life when he is under team protocol –
whether at training, during a game, travelling or on promotional duty. Professionalism, physical
application and proficiency are demanded here.

‘The Private Domain’ is the one in which we spend time with ourselves and where our mindgame
plays out. This is the biggest game of all, as daily we confront our habits, limitations,
temptations and fears.

When it comes to concussion both capability and behavior are impacted. Your brain may work differently (less well than before), which impacts your ability to do different things. And your behavior can be affected, also, as you may be more emotional or impulsive than usual, or you may get angry more quickly and act out in completely new ways. It can be disorienting. And it can be demoralizing.

Especially if you’re accustomed to being a high-performance do-er.

Yeah, concussion can do a number on you.

But you have to remember — all things change. And that includes your capabilities, as well as your behavior. You may have more control over your behavior than your capabilities, in fact. Although the changes in your brain may literally keep you from behaving the way you really want to, still … there’s nevertheless an element of choice in at least some of it.

The choice to stop and take a deep breath, when you’re getting cranked up.

The choice to walk away from a fight, instead if digging in to make your point.

The choice to learn humbly from your mistakes and try again the next time.

There is always an element of choice.

And capability can follow, as a result.

Stopping and taking a deep breath can halt the abrupt surge in emotion that can throw you off and turn your thinking into a hurricane.

Avoiding those fights (or cutting them short) can keep the stress levels down — which can in turn help you keep your head cool.

And learning humbly from your mistakes can help you fine-tune your choices the next time, and improve your capabilities as you go.

Performance = capability + behavior.

Each depends on the other, and the end result is what you want — what you’re used to — what you crave.

So get to it… and get back to it.

Onward.