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1-Page Summary of The Three Laws of Performance
Fundamental Change Is Necessary
Many executives suffer from lagging sales, declining employee morale and other problems. These issues often arise because they don’t know how to fix them. They just try some things out, but those solutions only work for a while before another problem arises. To truly change your company’s dynamics, apply the Three Laws of Performance: 1) Don’t blame employees or products; 2) Focus on goals rather than methods; 3) Think in terms of systems instead of events.
Law One: “How People Perform Correlates to How Situations Occur to Them”
Different people see the same situation from different perspectives. The way you view a person’s actions depends on your own experiences and expectations. For example, someone might think of a co-worker as selfish or spontaneous, while another thinks of them as empowered or spontaneous. It doesn’t matter who is right; it only matters how each person views things. In fact, reality is in the eye of the beholder.
When employees are dissatisfied with their company, they often feel it’s because the company is insensitive and profit-driven. Therefore, employees who believe this will have a negative attitude towards their job and management. They won’t be committed to improving their performance or feeling optimistic about the future.
When managers try to fix their employees’ attitudes, they often fail. Managers mistakenly think that improving morale and performance is as simple as giving more training or making personnel changes. They also believe that trimming expenses will improve profits without harming employee morale, but this belief is misguided because employees can see the cuts for what they are: punitive measures. In addition, leaders who don’t make structural changes to their companies guarantee chronic low performance. Only real collaboration between workers at every level of a company can lead to progress—but only if there’s communication between them too.
Law Two: “How a Situation Occurs Arises in Language”
Communication is a huge part of the workplace. People communicate through their words and nonverbal cues, such as body language and facial expressions. If co-workers don’t speak honestly with each other or management, it can lead to dysfunction in the office.
Opening the lines of communication doesn’t mean just speaking your mind. It means discussing issues that affect performance and being open about concerns. Bottling up thoughts creates disorder, so it’s important to clear out the clutter and let new ways of thinking in. One way to do this is by identifying “rackets,” which are negative behavioral patterns that typically have four components:
A common complaint about Bob is that he often does not complete his assignments on time.
Complaining is a negative and unproductive behavior in which people feel victimized by their circumstances. There are four types of complainers: the complainer, the persecutor, the victim, and the martyr. Complainers blame others for their problems while persecutors attack others to avoid blaming themselves. Victims believe they’re helpless and let life happen to them; martyrs think they’re superior because of how hard they try when everyone else fails. To eliminate complaining, we must first identify what type(s) of complainter we are and understand why our behavior exists (complaint payoff). We need to examine past events that have shaped us into who we are today so that we can move forward with a new mindset.
Law Three: “Future-based Language Transforms How Situations Occur to People”
There is a distinction between “descriptive language” and “generative language,” which can influence the future. People who are unwilling to change their views will have a negative outlook on life, as they expect things to stay the same. For example, people who view their employers negatively are unlikely to be optimistic about their futures.
