In a Nutshell
Mental rehearsal of performances
is an excellent way to support skill development. LeaderLetter
subscribers have told me that they've found mental rehearsal useful for
job interviews, presentations, cheerleading performances, athletic performances,
sales calls and teaching. There are numerous opportunities to use
mental rehearsal to master managerial behaviors too.
In This Issue
Why Jack's So Slow
Many people believe that
Jack Nicklaus (on the left in the photo above) is the best golfer in history.
However, he's also known for spending quite a bit of time standing over
the ball before taking his shot. Interestingly, what he does while
standing over his shot could be the key to his dominance. Jack is
known for visualizing his shots. When standing over the ball, he
imagines himself taking the swing and the ball traveling along its path
toward the hole. The combination of actual practice and mental rehearsal
can be very effective. Of course, the benefits of mental rehearsal
skills aren't limited to the golf course.
A Managerial Example: Visualizing Supportive
Communication
Here's an example of how
a manager could use mental rehearsal to improve her management skills:
Morgan, a manager, will meet with Whitney, one of her staff members, at
2:00 to discuss the performance review that she gave him. She knows
that Whitney is likely to disagree with the review, because Whitney has
never really been very objective about his performance. Last year
when they met to discuss his performance review, Whitney raised some concerns
about the scores that he received, and that put Morgan on the defensive.
She started to argue with him. Arguing with Whitney was counterproductive,
because it caused negative feelings and didn't lead to any consensus.
This time, Morgan wants to use her effective
listening skills. Mental rehearsal before the meeting will help.
At 1:50, Morgan stops what
she's working on and spends a few minutes mentally rehearsing a few possible
exchanges between Whitney and herself. She visualizes Whitney raising
some concerns about his performance review and imagines herself listening
carefully, paraphrasing back to Whitney what she understands his perceptions
and concerns to be, and probing for additional information. She also
visualizes herself tactfully explaining that she had a different perception,
and clarifying for Whitney what her expectations are for her staff members.
Morgan imagines that her efforts to listen to Whitney, even though she
can't always agree with him, helps to keep him from becoming very frustrated
and belligerent. She visualizes herself summing up their conversation
at the end, and discussing what steps Whitney can take to improve his performance.
Finally, she imagines herself standing up, smiling and shaking Whitney's
hand as their meeting comes to a close.
When Whitney walks in at
2:00, Morgan feels confident and prepared. As they begin to go over
the performance review and Whitney raises some objections, Morgan tactfully
listens and responds. As expected, showing Whitney that she is listening
to him helps contain the level of tension between them. Even though
Whitney walks away thinking that his scores should have been more favorable,
he's not angry like he was after going through this process with Morgan
last year. Mental rehearsal has improved Morgan's performance!
What Mental Rehearsal is and Why it Works
Mental rehearsal involves
imagined, mental practice of performing a task as opposed to actual practice.
That is, when engaging in mental rehearsal, one imagines performing without
having to actually do anything. (Insert your favorite consultant
or management professor joke here.) Many studies have found mental
rehearsal to be successful at improving task performance and reducing stress.
As the cliché goes,
"Practice makes perfect." Yes, practice is helpful, but perfect practice
is clearly superior to repeated poor performance during practice.
Because mental practice is perfect practice, it is also a confidence-booster.
Experiencing success increases confidence, even if that experience is imagined.
Basketball fans recognize
the old cliché that goes something like, "Free throw shooting is
90% mental, 10% physical." It's true that a major determinant of
a free throw shooter's success is his or her mental activity before taking
a shot and through the process of shooting (I'm not sure about those percentages
though). Focus and concentration are very helpful. Accordingly,
mental practice seems to assist mental preparation for the process of shooting
a free throw.
A limitation, of course,
is that one also has to have a certain degree of knowledge and skill for
performing the activity in order to be successful. My 5-year-old
can't make a free throw no matter how much time he spends mentally practicing,
because he lacks the strength to do so. Mental practice should supplement
other forms of skill development, not replace them. For instance,
role playing effective listening skills and getting feedback on performances
helps to develop those skills in ways that mental rehearsal cannot.
Nonetheless, mental practice assists the skill learning process and provides
the extra edge for those who have reached sufficient levels of skill development.
We experience stress when
we perceive threats or opportunities that we fear we cannot handle effectively.
Mental rehearsal can help us cope with stress in two ways. First,
mental practice improves self-confidence, so we can reduce our stress by
visualizing ourselves successfully dealing with our challenges. Second,
relaxation is often a part of mental rehearsal exercises, and relaxation
helps reduce stress. The following procedure integrates the relaxation
and the preparation features.
Note
1. Based on Manz, C. C., & Neck, C. P. (1999). Mastering
self-leadership: Empowering yourself for personal excellence, (2nd ed.),
pp. 70-71. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
About the Photo
AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian:
e-mailed to me from Yahoo! News; news.yahoo.com.
Other Sources
Von Bergen, C. W., Soper,
B., Rosenthal, G. T. & Wilkinson, L. V. (1997). Selected
alternative training techniques in HRD. Human Resource Development
Quarterly, 8(4): 281-294.
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron,
K. S. (2002). Developing management skills, (5th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
About the Newsletter
and Subscriptions
LeaderLetter is written
by Dr. Scott Williams, Department of Management, Raj
Soin College of Business, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
It is a supplement to my MBA 751 - Managing People in Organizations class.
It is intended to reinforce the course concepts and maintain communication
among my former MBA 751 students, but anyone is welcome to subscribe.
In addition, subscribers are welcome to forward this newsletter to anyone
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E-mail Your Comments
Whether you are one of my
former students or not, I invite you to share any insights or concerns
you have regarding the topic of this newsletter or any other topic relating
to management skills. Please e-mail
them to me. Our interactions have been invaluable. Every
week, I learn something new from LeaderLetter subscribers!
Let's keep the conversation going.
A Good, Clean Joke
"I had the strangest dream
last night," a man was telling his psychiatrist. "I saw my mother,
but when she turned around to look at me, I noticed that she had your face!
As you can imagine, I found this very disturbing, and in fact I woke up
immediately, and couldn't get back to sleep. I just lay there in bed waiting
for morning to come, and then I got up, grabbed a Coke, and came right
over here for my appointment. I thought you could help me explain the meaning
of this strange dream."
The psychiatrist was silent
for a full minute before responding, "A Coke? You call that a breakfast?"