Achieving under Pressure

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Achieving under Pressure Lessons from High
Performance Environments

• Professor Dave Collins
• PhD CPsychol. CSci. FSMA
• P2E Associates

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Part 1 Tuning your engine
Natural Rhythms Nutrition
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Rhythms- Natural and Not So Natural!
 
 
 
SNAPSHOT 2 TLX Total167 Cortisol585 Hydration
OK
SNAPSHOT 3 TLX Total103 Cortisol350 Hydration
OK
SNAPSHOT 1 TLX Total101 Cortisol380 Hydration
OK
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Daily Peaks and Troughs

• Natural peaks and troughs
• 14.00 and 19.00 slumps
• Engineered peaks and troughs
• Change of activity
• The 90 minute barrier
• Meaningful breaks
• The fag Break Advantage
• Snacks, drinks and walks

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Drinking for Performance

• Hydration
• 1.5-2 Litres per day (12 glasses of water!)
• gt1 Bodyweight loss impacts mood, anger control,
  balance and cognitive function
• gt2 can lead to 20 drop in performance
• (Sharma et al., 1986. Ergonomics, 29(6),
  791-799)
• 3 is not unusual
• SOME other drinks are OK
• Resist the Volvic Challenge
• Watch your total caffiene

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Eating for Performance

• AVOID THE SUGAR RUSH
• Chocoholics and biscuit fiends beware
• GRAZING
• Little and often (helps weight management too)
• Eat early (Breakfast crucial)
• BALANCE
• Complex carbs for energy, protein to maintain
  balance
• Avoid the Eat and run effect

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GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME (GAS)
STRESSOR
ADAPTIVE ABILITY
RESISTANCE PHASE
EXHAUSTION
COUNTERSHOCK
SHOCK
ALARM PHASE
TIME
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THEORETICAL ASPECTS DELAYED ADAPTATION TO AN
EXERCISE STIMULUS (YAKOLEV 1965 1977)

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3
O
PERFORMANCE
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1 IMMEDIATE RESPONSE (FATIGUE?) 2 RECOVERY 3
OVERCOMPENSATION 2 3 DELAYED TRAINING
ADAPTATION 4 DETRAINING
-
TIME
STIMULUS
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STRESS IMPACTS

• Extreme stress can result in breakdown
• Impacts immune system frequent minor infections
• Impacts motor control system clumsiness and
  injury rate
• Affects mood, sleep, libido, stiffness, libido,
  vigour, libido, appetite, libido, sweat rate,
  libido etc.

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So remember.
STRESS IS ADDITIVE AND NON-SPECIFIC IN ITS IMPACT
The Zulu Principle!
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EXTRAS FOR THE BUSINESS SETTINGThe magnifying
effect of a small problem
IMAGINE ..You are a high speed computer, one of
the best around. Any problem (e.g. A hassle)
uses up working capacity and slows you down. You
need to work harder to get the same result.
BUTYou are a person, better than a computer!
The problem slows you downand (being human) you
also WORRY about the problem. For every one
unit that a computer would lose, the effect is
often TRIPLED because of our tendency to
ruminate.
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The Frazzle FactorDaily hassles and
Under-Recovery
MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT SUN



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Your OWN Support Plan

• Eat, drink and be recovered!
• Micro, meso and macro cycle impacts
• Control the controllables
• An emphasis on eliminating daily hassles
• Im just a boy who cant say..
• Managing up Negotiate time blocks
• Managing down Red Flags and ZULU adjustments
• Planning and using work blocks
• Proactive variation and reactive recovery
• Time to recover/Time to prime

Just like the athletes LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
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Part 2 Changing the Arena
Accentuating positives VERSUS ENSURING positives
and minimising negatives
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Enduring PrinciplesWhat generates performance?
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Human Assumptions on Progress

• We assume that we are in control
• Denver International airport (16 months late,300
  over budget)
• Eurofighter jet (5 years late, 25 billion above
  predicted cost)
• Scottish Parliament building (3 years late,
  projected 35million actual 414 million)
• The Sydney opera house (a scaled down version
  completed 10 years late, with estimated costs of
  7 million eventually amounting to 102 million

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Human Assumptions on Progress

• We know that we will make it
• When asked to predict completion date for their
  honours thesis if everything went as poorly as
  it possibly could, students significantly
  underestimate by up to 50 (Buehler et al 1994)
• Predictions based on realistic best guess
  scenarios or hoped-for best case scenarios,
  produce indistinguishable results (Newby-Clark et
  al, 2000)
• 20 year study of 284 prediction experts suggest
  accuracy lt 14...no better than dart throwing
  chimps (Tetlock, 2005)

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Because MOST of us dont.....

• Refine plans, estimates, etc. as we go
• (Hedgehogs V Foxes Tetlock, 2005)
• Audit thinking in slower time we like and are
  attracted to decisive answer-rers
• our brains are made for fitness, not for truth
  (Pinker 1997)
• Self-critique dispassionately and in an unbiased
  manner
• when faced with the choice between changing
  ones mind and proving that there is no need to
  do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof
  (Galbraith 2002)

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We are built with.....

• A strong preference for simplicity
• An aversion to ambiguity and dissonance
• A deep-rooted need to believe we live in an
  orderly world
• A lack of appreciation of the laws of chance

As a result, for example.....

• 44,000 and 94,000 patients die each year as a
  result of medical error in U.S hospitals (IOM
  1999)
• major causes of medical decision making error
  identified as physicians lack of competency in
  probabilistic reasoning (Patel, 2000).

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Why is this SO relevant now?

• Thinking space is decreased by acute and chronic
  pressure
• This just accentuates our natural tendencies
• Under pressure, we tend to ignore blocks and
  focus on the wins
• We hope for positives and la-la the negatives
• Under pressure, working on detail makes us
  comfortable
• We micromanage at the edge of oblivion

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SO to stay on track...

• Plan when you can
• Deliberate planning is a luxury to be exploited
• Schedule and adhere to DM audits
• Look at and solve what stops you achieving
• Switch focus
• Trees, castle, trees, swamp

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(Adapted from Foster (1998), MSSE, 30, 1164-1168)
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Measuring Workload

• The NASA TLX
• Developed to identify the sources of workload
  under various conditions and between individuals
• Tells you where the pressure comes from
• Provides a numeric value so sources can be
  compared and interventions evaluated
• Can give surprising answers
• e.g. Surgeons

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WORKLOAD FACTORS
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Using workload Rev-ving slower

• Decrease un-useful effort
• Focus your use of consultants
• The Priority Game
• If everything IS urgent then.?!
• Some urgents are more urgent than others!!!
• Rules of prioritisation
• Cost of a cock up
• Can someone else cover it (parts of it)?
• Whos agenda?

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Stress effects The Take Home Messages

• Stress has positive and negative effects
• Effects are differential relating to nature of
  the task, personality, arousal level, etc.
• Distractions can help and hinder
• How can you use them positively?
• Can you reduce mental workload for certain tasks
  by stress innoculation?

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The Cumulative Effects of Worry

• Worry Fatigue Worry cycle
• Raised Cortisol levels
• Change in Focus

Under-recovery Start the next day/week/month
knackered Fatigue Worry - Fatigue
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Impact of an Over-revving Work Style
EMOTIONAL My interpersonal behaviour MENTAL WORKLOAD How hard Im working AFFECT How I feel in the evening
SHORT TERM (daily hassle) tetchy, on edge Works harder to get same result Tired, everything feels difficult
MEDIUM TERM (nagging worry) Distracted, moody Distraction starting to be less able to concentrate on normally easy tasks, drives self harder Starting to use coping resources e.g. eat less, low or extremely variable blood sugar so fatigued at end of the day
LONG TERM (is this something serious?) damaged goods a martyr to XXXX Like walking through treacle Unable to perform to acceptable standard Exhausted, feeling helpless, victim. Low self-efficacy.
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Your OWN Optimum Work Arena

• Work on increasing potential AND eliminating
  product losses
• Think about balance, timing and process
• Counter natural assumptions and styles
• Plan when you can
• Consider a VARIED work style
• Variation is less stressful AND more efficient
• Variation can be achieved with consistent TOTAL
  workload
• It feels funny as routine is comfortable
• Measure and reduce mental workload

Just like the elite team players ALWAYS PLAY
AT HOME