[Masterclass] 4 Performance Mindset techniques that elite performance coaches use

Speaker A: Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you are in the world, and welcome to the Valor Performance mindset training session which is being brought to you today by SASE Sales Leadership, which is the company that's developing elite, uh, sales professionals through combining tactical best practices with emotional intelligence. I'm Matt Cameron, CEO of sase, and I'm joined today by Sarah Milby, CEO of Valid Performance, who'll be leading our training. Our, our objective is to leave you today with four tools that you can walk away with to immediately apply in developing the mindset you'll need to succeed in 2023. Now to set the stage, uh, I want to share with you how the performance mindset became core to my journey as a sales professional over the past 20 years. Some of you know me as a former sales leader from Salesforce or perhaps from having run half of Yammer's sales organization, uh, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2012. I've had a pretty charmed professional journey which has seen me take the stage at conferences like Sasta, talking about my experiences and how members of my team were able to take home over a million dollars in take home paid through executing at an elite level. And I want to share with you that these outcomes came from a fairly non traditional background that relied on all the mindset capabilities that Sarah is going to be sharing with you today. Now, as it happens, I came to sales during and after a, uh, career in combat sports. And this picture here was taken in 2003. I can't believe it's been nearly 20 years when I was the Australian cruiserweight kickboxing champion. And with kickboxing and sales, the uh, consequences of failure are fairly dramatic. We have binary outcomes. Right. And it does beg a question, is sales or in combat sports, are they team or individual efforts? And as you can see by the photo, the performance of an individual is definitely made possible by a team. It might be that you're standing alone, but you certainly have a coach or coaches in your corner. And in combat, 15 minutes in the ring is kind of like the buying decision at the end of a cycle. The outcome is broadly decided before the final stage and it's a result of the input or our, uh, effort and actions of a team m of collaborators. So let me set the stage by saying here are the key things that I took from being a professional fighter that tied directly to what Sarah will be teaching you to apply today. Firstly is resilience and optimism. Uh, it might be that you have the skills and all the abilities you need to win the Deal. But if you can't manage your emotions, it could be moot. Because if you freeze by being too tentative or focusing on the downside, it all prevents you from doing what you can and should do. And whether it be in a single ballot or an opportunity, there's going to be setbacks and we can't let that break us down. In fact, it's often said that in amateur fighting, it's often the person who can absorb blows and still keep moving forward, who wins. And in sales will lose deals will experience setbacks. But the elite are always able to accept that we either win or learn, and both add to our experience in a really positive way. And secondly, in terms of what we can control. Mike Tyson's well worn phrase I think is true. Everyone has a plan until they're punched in the face. And in sales, we have to be agile in our approach. You can control what you do, not how people will react. So it's important that you focus on what you can control and let the rest take care of itself. Sarah will be talking about that in detail. Thirdly, so consistency is key. There are really no shortcuts to becoming elite. And one of the folks that I really admired was a chap called Kostya Zhu, and he was the unified title holder for light welterweight in boxing. And he finished his amateur career after 270 fights. So it wasn't one and done. It wasn't an overnight success story. It was persistence that pays very much like in our profession. And lastly, with respect to staying motivated, uh, when things get tough, you really have to be connected to some form of higher purpose. Either it's religious or otherwise, actually. And it's really no accident that many elite boxers are persons of faith because they have a feeling or a calling that transcends themselves. If you're working just to pay the bills or buy a car or something like that, when you hit the canvas, uh, you realize that you can do without that car. It might be a bit easier just to stay down, right? But if winning is connected to your purpose and you understand your why, then you'll be able to push through adversity whatever your purpose is. And this is what will motivate you and sales through challenging times. And I think we're coming into a period now in particular where this is really, really important. So, having shared a little bit about my personal journey as it connects to today's content, I'm going to hand over to Sarah, who show you how to make this happen for you in the profession of sales.

Speaker B: Thank you. So much. Matt. Hello everybody. I'm so excited to be here with you all today and walk you through a couple of these, uh, techniques and tactics that you can apply. Right after this session. I wanted to start by why I started Valor Performance. And my story is, having worked in market facing and customer facing roles in sales, I was put in a ton of sales methodology trainings and uh, support and critical components of success. Right. But what I found was especially uh, during times of change and adversity, uh, there was a gap, there was a gap in some of the support that I really needed and, and it was around these mindset skills. So I really was looking for help and support to stay focused because I was constantly feeling distracted. New products, new competitors, new organizational design, uh, changes. And I really needed additional support in just how to handle my own emotions and my motivation, uh, during those times. And I was leveraging a lot of my experience as an athlete. So I played soccer in college. I got into competitive running and ended up winning a marathon along the way. And I had a coach in my corner during that time that wasn't just on some of the, again, tactics, the dribbling and shooting in soccer as you will, but I had a mindset coach and he worked with me on things like this. And that's the type of skills and the support that I was really looking for when I was then in sales and when I then was rising in the ranks and leading teams. And by the way, as the story goes, I absolutely need now as I run Valor Performance. And so what I found is that some of these performance mindset skills, what happens in between your two ears, they're actually universal and it's across all different industries and sectors and arenas of performance and Olympic athletes. We all know with athletics how much mindset is critical to performance. Elite military leaders, healthcare professionals, business executives and sales. And I started the business focused on sales organizations where the performance, the pressure to perform was so high and where the mindset skills are going to be everything. And the thing about performance mindset skills is while they are so universal, they are not commonly practiced. Why in sales we often have these analogies to sports. We will say things like, man, once you make a deal, go make 10 phone calls, uh, they are in the zone. But we don't practice that way. And it is so critical during times of pressure to hone in on these mental skills. So that is what we are going to do today. And at Valor, we have, uh, a community of coaches who are high caliber performance coaches and this is their craft working on performance mindset skills. So I will share a little bit of what I have learned from them along the way, too. In sales, you, we are business heptathletes. I stole this from a former colleague of mine. And it's so true. Often reviewing the data. Right. Connecting with prospects, teammates, and by the way, going back to the pressures to perform, Doing so in a context of constantly changing work, home, uh, life and situations. So one way I like to think about valor and these skills that we're going to walk through is it's all really around how to perform and lead in high pressure, highly competitive environments. And if nothing else, I want you to take away a couple things from this session. One is how you lead yourself. So some of these skills that we hope you apply for you, they will also have a ripple effect. And some of these skills will be able to help you lead and connect with other people critical during times of change. And we have a framework at valor that you'll get exposure, uh, to that's all around these skills to perform. The mental mindset skills. You see that, uh, line there? Courageous. And I named, uh, the company valor for a reason. I am sort of obsessed with courage. Spoiler alert. Uh, but the reason is because all these things, again, are not commonly practiced and they may be a little uncomfortable. Um, and that is why this is Performance Mindset 201. Uh, because we are hoping just to give you exposure to some of these things and for you to have a little bit of courage to try to apply it into your everyday. All right, let's get going. First, Matt's good in sales. Uh, we had three tools and techniques that you can apply, and lo and behold, now we have four. So we have a lot to get through. And I hope you just, uh, can take away one thing from this whole session today. So let's dig into bouncing after setback. You know, in Matt's opening. Matt, that was great. Thank you so much for sharing your story. And I really appreciated how you talked about the. How your response to the setback was the difference between winning and losing. And that really is life. Right. Like how you respond. The time it takes you to respond from a setback can be the difference in seeing it as, uh, uh, actually a propelling forward than a real step back.

Speaker A: Yeah. And so, you know, in sales, we have this daily pressure of delivering results. Right. The end of the month, sometimes I felt like if someone's standing behind me pushing me toward a cliff. Right. And your parachute, if you will, is the pipeline, uh, that we've built and sometimes it doesn't go all our way. And I'm looking forward to hearing, uh, uh, what you're about to share with the group. I was reflecting on this topic, and there's a fellow I want to call out. His name is Aaron Zukoski who works at Trey IO Now. And if sales needed a three and a half times pipeline to definitely hit their number, he would always, uh, go for 10x. In fact, we called him Mr. 10x, 100 activities a day. Um, his thing was that, you know what, If I didn't hit it today, I would get it tomorrow. Like, he never let himself, um, fall back. If he did 90 today, then he would do 110 activities tomorrow to hit that average. So in sales, if we miss our monthly number, this represents an opportunity, right, to launch back into it next month. Because as you know, it's always hero to zero, right? The dials reset end of every period, um, in a world of quotas that we're being pushed along for. So I think it's important to understand that one miss is just a blip in time. So love to hear your thoughts on bouncing back, Sarah.

Speaker B: Well, first I just have to say, because I am a quote lover, as everybody will experience during this session today. Uh, so here's one from Kobe Bryant. But Matt, you actually just reminded me of another one, Billie Jean Kings, because you mentioned how, uh, uh, your story, he relished the pressure. And Billie Jean King said, pressure is a privilege. And I love that because it's so true. And sometimes, again, how we are approaching the situation can be critical to our interpretation of it. So, uh, let's talk about what is a setback. And I love this graph. I actually strategically took away the Y axis for those paying attention at home. Um, and I love this graph because if you look at one of the minimums, the minimum points on this graph, you'd see it as a potential setback, a decrease. But then if you zoom out to see the whole graph, you see the trajectory going up. And so what is a setback? And I loved how even you said in the beginning, winning or learning. And again, how can we see potential, uh, setbacks as propelling us forward? And I want to actually think about this Y axis for a second. The original version of this slide had feeling. And I was thinking to myself, well, gosh, it all depends. Because what if I was seeing this as, uh, my sales performance? What if I was seeing it as the health of my relationships? What if I was seeing it as my feeling, um, a, uh, sense of Mastery of my craft and learning and growing. What if I was seeing it as my connection to, uh, my partner at home, my spouse? So it is all relative. But that is what I just want to kind of call out here as we think about, um, bouncing back sales, brutal, constantly faced with adversity. But it is really around how you are viewing some of these potential setbacks. And it's going to be that difference in your viewpoint on how quickly it is for you to rebound. Sorry, one more point on this one. Uh, I also sometimes, let me just. I want to share a couple ways that I leverage performance mindset in my day to day. And sometimes, um, I'll tell you, I will experience a setback. And the biggest thing I struggle with is the berating or the rumination about it in my head. Right. And sometimes around, um, to the point of like, how are you viewing it as a setback? I sometimes like to call out to myself all the things that had to go right to even be in that moment. So I'll give an example. Um, many, uh, of us have back to back zoom meetings. I do as well. And sometimes I'll be like, I'll have a poor, um, it'll be a rejection. Ah, A client doesn't move forward. Um, the presentation doesn't go as well. It'll be some version of a setback. And sometimes I like to just remind myself again, the privilege of being in these arenas where my job is to connect with other humans who are trying to be at their best in times of pressure and all the things that had to go right to even have that call. And so again, just shifting the perspective a little bit. All right, I want to move on to just. How about, uh, Matt, something that you mentioned. Uh, process outcomes. Okay. Like performance psychology, uh, 101. By the way, 90% of our coaches come from, they have advanced degrees in performance psychology or related fields. Many, um, of them have worked cross disciplines. And this is critical. How do we think about outcomes versus process? So let's just do a couple examples. I always think about different parts of my life. So I'm going to do, um, a classic relatable one of like running. Okay. So, ah, I used to run marathons. Outcome finish said marathon. Right. Um, and, and all the things that had to go into before I even got to the starting line and then after said marathon, how that outcome is going to improve my process. Okay. Training, uh, what did I eat the night before? How much was I sleeping? Did I get new shoes? This is a very like. Okay, yeah. That makes Sense. Right. You don't just show up and just run. What's the process? How are you setting yourself up for said outcome? Okay, so that one's so obvious. And we in sales, of course, everybody loves a good W. I think, uh, I've just been wired to feed off of some of those extrinsically motivated, um, type feedback loops. So getting that W, you see the outcome, of course that's fulfilling. But what does it teach us? What data? This is why game film is so critical for athletes. What game film? What have we learned about the process steps that we can apply? I also think, and I'll extend, when I talk about process steps, I extend it to even thinking about the systems in place. So, um, I'll go back to running if I. So I went for a run this morning. What were the systems I put in place to help me with those various process steps or habit formation? Did I have my clothes, uh, out the night before? Did I make sure that my husband can watch the kids, uh, so I can head out the door? Uh, and so similar as we think about the steps, obviously for all of us as it relates to setbacks is what's the learning from that setback that can apply and inform and improve our process to help get uh, to the results that we're looking for. Matt, I actually want to just impromptu turn to you for a second. Anything else come up for you? As it relates to sales with process and outcomes, 100%.

Speaker A: And that's why I think the rise of conversational intelligence and recording tools like gong and chorus and so forth and so on really just makes sense because it's a perfect analog for the game replay, uh, that you talked about. And certainly the uh, best sales organizations the world, Absolutely. Using those properly and review them in the coach, coachee format. In fact really valuable for peer to peer coaching as well.

Speaker B: Yes, I love that and it's a good point on like what are we going to be doing with that data? I also want to call out though is, uh, we've worked with some sales organizations who are always learning and they want to, they want to lean into that constant learning approach. But even as a leader, how are you signaling, how are you signaling whether you're so solely focused on the outcomes or whether you're celebrating some of the milestones and process steps along the way? And that's critical because that's not always the case. Right. Uh, holding people accountable to outcomes. Yes. But also making sure that you're very clear on what they can control in the process steps. All Right. I want to get into some specific, uh, ways to help with the time to rebound after setback. So I really think that that is one of the biggest competitive advantages in the modern workforce, I was going to say in sales, in the modern workforce is your ability to bounce back. And I want to just give some things, uh, to consider. So, uh, when we go back to that graph and we think about one of those minimums, how do you respond to those setbacks? I shared Sometimes I end up beating myself up. Wasted energy, really. But how can I make sure that I'm aware of my thoughts, emotions, so then I can put myself in the best position to rebound in thinking about that and the connection of thoughts, emotions, behavior, mood follows action. I wanted to share, ah, a strategy that I was privy to through Dr. Jack Gropel and Jim Lauer, who are pioneers in human performance and were founders of Human Performance Institute. I had an opportunity to chat with, uh, Jack not that long ago and he talked about, in their work with professional tennis players, uh, the 16 second cure. I wanted to bring this to you all. 16 second cure was really around in between points and how tennis players could just use 16 seconds to rebound from whatever that last point was to prepare for the next. There were four phases and it was a positive physical response. Think like a fist pump, uh, or, um, a clap. And then a relaxation response. So a deep breath, maybe a little walk, maybe a towel off. And then beginning to prepare for the next point and really getting into some sort of ritual to get back into the zone, if you will. Okay, 16 seconds. 16 seconds. We all have 16 seconds. Okay, we all have 16 seconds. And what I love about that is how we can apply it into our day to day. And let me tell you how I do so back to back zoom meetings where you are like, literally, I don't have a second to even like run to the restroom, get a glass of water. Right. I know that feeling. I live that too. But 16 seconds, setting yourself up to be able to rebound, whether, however the outcome goes, um, on whatever. The last meeting was just thinking about your 16 second cure, if you will, to transition. So what does it look like for me? Well, I am very aware of my body language. Right. And so the physical response, maybe I don't end up meeting with a fist pump, but actually just last week I had a meeting with one of my colleagues and we did high five. Or maybe it's a fist pump, whatever. And I sometimes think about just smiling, even a positive physical response. And then I think about my relaxation response. Sometimes I just stand up sometimes I do take a deep breath. And then as I think about my prep, I will often prime myself. I'm obsessed with sticky notes. My entire team knows, and so I often will be surrounding myself with, with types of preparation for the next. So this is just something to consider. But 16 seconds and how it works with elite athletes can work for us as we perform in a different arena. All right, so let's see if I actually touched on these things. Let's round out bouncing back. Number one, choose. It is a choice to focus on process. Everything else is miles or data points. Number two, consider your self talk and how it can propel you forward or hold you back. Uh, let me tell you actually about one of the little stickies for me. I have a sticky that I read every morning that says, uh, you can think different thoughts if you want to. It just brings back the locus of control to me that I can choose to think different thoughts if I want to. So consider your own self talk and how it is helping you or hurting you and then practice your own version. I don't know what it looks like what works for you is going to be totally different than what works for me. This is why a tailored coach is vital, because a personalized approach is going to be critical. Um, but this is just something for you to consider. And then lastly, and one of my favorites, and we will get to motivation later. But as I think about that Y axis on that graph, axis, axis. Uh, on the graph that I showed you before, just celebrate what and how you are learning through the work. What's so beautiful? I have a lot of gripes about the modern workforce, but what is so beautiful about the modern workforce? And frankly, one of the reasons why I love sales is because you're constantly practicing and honing this craft and celebrate what you're learning about yourself along the way. All right, Matt, that's what I have for bouncing back. Shall we transition to the next one?

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, please do. And as we do, I'll say that, look, I really love this, uh, with respect to thinking about outbound sales teams, I know there are some folks on the call who are sales development leaders and whatever else. And this concep to the 16 second reset, just like a tennis player does after every point, I think it's perfect, it's immediately actionable. And I think you can figure it out for yourself, uh, straight after this call. It's one of the things you can immediately implement, I think create that ritual. So if you want to step to the next slide yeah, let's talk about this. Um, as you said, we can't control how a prospect or a customer responds to us, but we can control what we say, what we do. And to your point, Sarah, we. How we think about what's happened. And, uh, the best professionals celebrate not just the outcome, as you said, the win or the w, uh, but the process. Right. And if you consistently execute the process well, then inevitably you're going to be successful. So I'm looking forward to this next session, Sarah.

Speaker B: Uh, well said, Matt. And I actually, um, I have to confess, I hate this one. I hate this one. I mean, I love this one and I hate this one. And let me tell you why. Um, because turns out, and my team is probably like. I can tell you why. Um, because I, for my whole life, athletics, uh, uh, going through different, um, schools, uh, and my career. I like control. I like the control. Just, uh, full disclosure, because it gives me a, uh, sense of control when there's a lot of uncertainty. It's a way for me to manage my fears, my anxiety, uh, something that I've constantly had to monitor and work on. I share that because this is one that is an active muscle for me. I'm, um, constantly pushing myself to practice what I'll share with you in a second, the mental agility to consider, what do I control, what can I influence and what can't I control? And I see this in many different ways. Uh, let me tell you as a CEO, how I think about this one. Now, in this especially macroeconomic environment, and frankly, during when Covid was first hitting and all the different things that were thrown at us as businesses and as leaders, over the past few years, I've really had to practice this muscle. And one of my favorite, uh, things that I do as a CEO is scenario plan. If this happens, then this and just contingency planning. What's your best case, base, case, worst case? And plan for it in a way that gives you a sense of, again, that locus of control. What can you control is, I don't know all the outcomes, but I can think about the different process steps. I can think about, uh, what decisions I may need to make and when I need to make them, and the data points that will help tell me that story of when I need to and how I need to make that decision. Um, I also want to call out, uh, how I use this one. Not just as a CEO, not just as an athlete, as a mom too. But controlling the controllables is just such a critical concept as you're thinking about where to put your energy, which we'll get into later when we talk about sustaining performance. But it really helps because just like that quote said, like worrying and obsessing about how other people are going to respond. Guess what? You can't control how other people are going to respond. What can you control? How you convey the message. All right, so anyway, let's. Let's dig into a couple things here. Um, I. And I'm going to go back to kind of the connection on this one with communication, because to me, there's such a direct line. But stay tuned. So first, let me give a shout out to, uh, Dr. Lauren Tashman. She is one of our coaches. She, uh, helped me with some of this slide. A lot of the coaches actually have had input on this slide, on these slides. Um, but on this one, what was so interesting is just how putting yourself in the perspective of thinking through what can you control, what can you influence, what can't you control is practicing mental agility. Okay, so this is one of our core, um, this is part of our framework and one of our keys to sustainable performance at Valor. And it is critical. Matt, you even mentioned it in your opening, uh, you use it. You said one of my favorite words, agility, which we all need, right? And how that mental agility of just being able to toggle, see different perspectives, um, promotes your own resilience. Kind of like, you know, everybody talks about resilience, but let's like, really, uh, dissect down, like, how you can actually promote that resilience. But of course it would, right? Like, understanding where to put again your energy and then what to let go because you can't control it is of course going to help you adapt. And that, by the way, is going to really help support grit. So, Angela Ducksworth, work. A lot of people know about grit, and by the way, I love the connection to grit, uh, and growth mindset and how understanding one of the controllables is our ability to learn, our ability to prepare, our ability to apply some of the data. Again, this kind of goes back to the last one, but some of the data from some of the outcomes that we can actually, uh, apply those into our day, and that helps promote optimism. Optimism has a little bit of a bad rap. So let me just do a quick promo for optimism. Um, it is not puppies and rainbows. Learned optimism. Dr. Martin Seligman, Mittens work. Learned optimism. Because you can actually practice this. By the way, it has been applied to sales. Talk about a good business. Uh, case for optimism. It has Been applied to sales and improved, uh, ability to exceed target quota and retention. If those happen to be important to you on this call, please consider optimism, um, but how that enables mental agility. Um, one of the, uh, quick takeaways that I love about as it relates to optimism and mental agility and some of this, like controlling the controllables. One of my favorite valor exercises on the platform is about. It's called the power of yet. The power of yet. Uh, and so the whole idea here is if you say, uh, we haven't achieved the goal, we didn't achieve the goal versus we didn't achieve the goal yet. Wow. The power of language. The power of language. Just adding that one word opens up to the possibility and that there is optimism. It's how do you prepare for a challenge? How do you, uh, see the opportunity in the current moment? So, anyway, just a couple things to consider as it relates to optimism and really pushing your brain to think in different, uh, perspectives. All right, I want to segue over to, uh, and by the way, I told Matt I'm m a fast talker and I get a little passionate about the subject if you can't tell. And so if you are putting something into the chat, um, I will. You'll have to, like, stop me, Matt. Um, but I did want to just get to one of my favorite framings around coaching and this idea of performance mindset is the ripple effect. I talk about the ripple effect a lot when it relates to coaching, culture of coaching, um, but also just what performance mindset can do to a team in an organization. Why I wanted to insert this as it relates to controlling the controllables, performing without the controllables is because sometimes, and when we talk about controlling the controllables and you think about, or at least I, uh, with even that diagram, the locus of control, it feels very grounding in some ways, which is amazing and powerful. But that doesn't mean that it's an isolating, uh, concept because in fact, if you think about controlling the controllables as it relates to communication, sometimes we often think about controlling the controllables because we want to validate what we can't control. But there's so much we can as it relates to our, uh, interactions with others. Matt, obviously you know so much about this as it relates to connecting with prospects, clients, etc. And internally too, how are you communicating a message as leaders? How are you, especially during uncertain times, providing a source of stability for your team? How are you, uh, crafting the space with another human? I say that intentionally. Because whether it's someone on your team or a prospect or a client, to be able to connect, sometimes as a leader that means you too have to be vulnerable. And so that's courage. That's courage to maybe say something about how you're feeling in the moment or, uh, maybe as a leader. And I don't know all the answers, but I'm excited to figure it out with you. And so I want us to just think about how it can have this ripple effect as you think about leading yourself, lead self to then lead and connect well with others. All right, so what are the takeaways? Well, first, uh, practice this. Practice this. You, uh, mentioned higher power, um, Serenity prayer would be the takeaway here. Um, and by the way, that also has courage in it. Uh, the courage to know the difference. Um, the second, prepare for the uncontrollables. Ah, I actually didn't get to this. Let me just quickly, briefly discuss proactive responses, strategies. Um, Viktor Frankl quote on the. There's a gap between stimulus and response. There's a gap between stimulus and response and being able to control your response. And sometimes by the way. And one of the reasons I use valor the most in running valor is because I, uh, am very reactionary. I react. I, um, am quick, I love to execute. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Right. I run hot. Um, I am always on the go. What I benefit the most from my valor coach is just widening the gap between that stimulus and response and practicing my proactive responses. React, respond, respond has an element of intentionality as opposed to react. Okay, so preparing for those uncontrollables because guess what? We are all surrounded in stressors external. How are you responding to the stress? You can control your response. And then lastly, put yourself in the position to positively impact and influence those around you. That's that ripple effect. And by the way, how beautiful is it when you are in someone else's ripple? What you can control is to give them that feedback on how they showed up. Really impacted, inspired you. And again, that's how it can have a whole, uh, uh, impact across the team and an organization. Few thoughts, Matt, on, uh, performing without the controllables.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's interesting. You talk about, uh, impulse control. And it's funny, if you look at my EQ DNA, that's my weakest competency. I don't know what's going on there, but the bias for action, the need to act now, it's fascinating. Uh, but yeah, it's critically important. I think, um, having the Skills you articulated, um, really uh, are ah, what's needed to get through the periods uh, similar to the ones we've been through right now. Right. Uh, and we talk about the um, in our training as well, about having the ability to separate um, uh, experiences from feelings. The connection between an experience and a feeling is thought. And if we can take the time to control our thoughts, then we can feel differently. Right. Um, and so I love what you shared. Uh, I think it's fantastic. So why don't we talk about sustaining this high performance? And I love the quote you've got on the next slide of course, because it's from Bruce Lee, which connects directly to me. Um, and in fact I want to call back to what you were talking about relationships before and what working with other humans. And I think consistency really connects to that. You know, we build trust in relationships by doing things like being reliable, doing what we say we'll do consistently, adding value. And at times, you know, certainly if you're in an outbound motion, it can feel really overwhelming. Right. Because there are just so many things we need to do and we don't folks, we don't want to forget and so forth and so on. So I think it's really critical here to sort of set, you know, daily and weekly rituals or routines that allowed you to build over time to stop us focusing on the deals or the things that are right in front of us at the moment. Because if we do that, it feels like a never ending stream of things that are being thrown at us. Right. And easily you can get overwhelmed and that intensity that you're going to talk about can uh, lead to burnout. So excited to hear this next section.

Speaker B: Uh, thank you for sharing that quick shout out to the image in the background here because Karen Davies, uh, part of the Valor program performance team and our coach community, um, sustaining high performance. So I did talk about my least favorite one. Now I get to talk about one of my favorites, um, because well, I created a business on sustainable high performance. Um, I'm sort of obsessed with sustainable high performance. So key things here, endurance sport, frankly. Again, modern workforce is like an endurance sport. And we often are a knowledge workforce. Like our instrument. We have to take care of our instrument that is enabling us to perform at the highest levels. And one of the things that um, we often hear across a lot of our Valor clients, well the number one topic is energy management. Energy management. Um, and one of the topics that ends up coming up across the Valor clients as well is really on responding to stress and uh, I would like to myth bust here because there is, um, a myth that stress is bad or you know, just kind of an assumption that stress is bad. You know, get rid of stress. Stress is normal, Stress is normal. And uh, we need to be very grateful for stress as like part of our response. Um, and so what I want to just kind of call out here is the ebbs and flows. Not good or bad, but the ebbs and flows of a stress response is normal and means that you are alive. The unfortunate thing about a lot of our conditioning, expectations, modern workforce, is we end up in this. Burning, uh, bright and then burning out. Go, go, go, go, go until you can go no longer. Which is why we talk about sustaining high performance. This is so critical as we think about your zone of optimal performance too. But that means that we all need to practice how to view ourselves in a way that we give ourselves some recovery. Dare I say that, right? Because a lot of us are so conditioned, especially in high performance where it is like, go, go, go. You got to grind, grind, grind. But for how long? For what? And so this idea of being able to think about recovery as a way to sustain your high performance as a way to achieve uh, your goals. Again as an athlete, you cannot do, uh, interval day, every day, or your long run if you're marathon training every day. You need that periodization. And we in knowledge workforce need that periodization. We as, ah, leaders by the way, because I feel very passionate about this, we are responsible to be thinking about this for us as individuals and the team in which we lead. So, uh, this is a valor framework and I want to just kind of walk you through it for a second. We often are talking about in high performance environments, the performance part. Okay, so let's go through. You know, that's the. I'm playing the soccer game, I'm running the marathon, I'm in the um, sales presentation, I'm in the board meeting, I'm pitching to a venture capitalist. Um, those performances, by the way, I also extend that to like sometimes when I am, uh, my husband and I joke sometimes that it feels like at home with our two little toddlers. It feels like quite a performance because you got to be full on, you got to be locked in, fully present in the zone. Um, but all aspects of when you absolutely need to be on and it's critical performance, you also need to weave in that recovery. And of course we know in sales the preparation, right, that's the whole process to get to outcome. Okay, Sometimes, by the way, there can be over analysis but how are we thinking about the preparation stages to get to the performance and then the critical moments of recovery? And sometimes by the way it's the mindset that doesn't fully enable us to get that recovery because how many of us have been uh, uh, not at work but still thinking about work. Oh my gosh, the number of vacations that I've taken where I'm like, I come back and I've just like, I've spun myself into like uh, you know, a tizzy because I keep ruminating about all the things and so I need to think about too how can I give my mental energy that recovery? And sometimes I think about again going back to some of human uh, performance institutes, the mental energy, the emotional energy and the physical energy. And I think about kind of this whole framework for all of those. But for mindset it's often underappreciated. And yet in knowledge workforce that is our key tool for high performance. So something for us to consider and very much a la Steve Covey's ah, seventh habit. Sharpening the saw. Um, let me just say one uh, quick thing that many of these concepts Matt uh, are, they're easy, it's easy for me to say. What I really want to also share is how hard it is to do in the day to day and that's why they're not commonly practiced. It's also why there's value in having a coach who can help you think through how to apply some of these to you and yourself. So um, let's just kind of circle back to some of these key concepts. So when we think about sustainable high performance and uh, that graph and the optimal performance stress isn't good or bad. We can learn to work with it, we can reframe it, we can think about the frequency, the intensity. Actually I put here the stress plus rest equals growth. That's a shout out to uh, uh, Brad Stolberg and Steve Magness. They're the co authors and best selling authors of Peak Performance. And uh, it's so simple. But I loved how he puts it, stress plus rest equals growth because then uh, we know we need that stress but we also need that rest to then grow. And so another way if I think about it is too to also have some time to debrief. Like as a leader sometimes I think about the stress of executing on a presentation but then having a debrief with my team to kind of like recap, put your shoulders down, take a deep breath, apply some of the learnings. You need that like time in between second, set yourself up for success with the periodization. So I don't really love the concept of time management. You're going to get this fixed amount of time. Um, but energy management, energy management across the various levels. Uh, I think about this sometimes. Uh, across, like I think about it within my day, I think about my energy management. Um, I think about it across my week. Like I'll zoom out and look at my week calendar and think about the periodization or maybe how do I have a little bit of ebb and flow in the energy of what it's going to take of my energy. So for me, is there certain analyses that I need to do? First of all, what time of day should I be doing that? I know I won't be able to do it five days a week. Uh, not for me. Um, when do I have like the creative time, the creative space? When do I talk to customers? When do I talk to my internal team? I think about these things. Sometimes I can't control them. Going back to the other concept, but let me consider and how to set myself up for success so I'm not like going, you know, climbing uphill with my own energy. And then lastly is surrounding yourself with the people, processes and systems that allow you to sustain your performance. Sometimes this is where you need a coach, sometimes this is where you need a colleague or manager who you can have the conversations with about sustaining your high performance. Because guess what, Sustaining your high performance is in everybody's best interest. Let's be really clear. And so how can we bring in people? And by the way, this is critical part of sustainable high performance is the connection with others because you don't need to be doing all this stuff alone. All right. I think that's what, um, I hit on most of the points. Not all of them, but, uh, hopefully getting the gist across.

Speaker A: Matt, Sarah, before we move on to the next section, I have a great question. My body tells me or signals me when I need to recover. What mental signals or work cues do I need to look for when I might need some recovery to maintain performance? That's a great question.

Speaker B: What a great question. Uh, so let's think about that. What does. When you're mentally primed and locked in and you're sharp, what does that look like to you versus when you're not? And I think to myself about, you know, some of my best performances, if you will, in knowledge workforce. So in like, let's say a presentation, uh, and when it hasn't. And again, that's like an outcome and Then I think about some of what set me up for success or not. So for me, sometimes when I am very sleep deprived, I'll give an example for myself. I am so prone to those rumination thoughts that I shared with you prior, uh, the analysis paralysis. So I know that I'm not like at my best. I'm not even able to pull myself out sometimes to tune into my self awareness to be able to connect to the situation. I'm just not like I'm not firing all cylinders, you know, that's, I don't know another way to put it. Um, sometimes I often think about as far as far as mental energy. I think about focus too. Are you, it's like, are you constantly distracted? And sometimes you have these moments or I have these moments. We all can have these moments where you're like, man, I sat down to do this one thing, I had one thing to do. And I've done everything but this one thing. And I am so distracted. So thinking about again, your mental uh, strength and fortitude and focus, uh, are signals to you. Some of your behaviors can be signals to you on when maybe you need to have a reset. I hope that's helpful. I don't know who asked that, Matt, but I hope that was a little bit helpful.

Speaker A: That was an anonymous, uh, asker. I'm sure that was a wonderful answer. Thank you very much. We better move on because we only got a few minutes with the crew left today. So um, motivating under pressure, um, you've got a great quote from uh, Winston Churchill here. Which reminds me what we were talking about before. There are really two outcomes for deals or hitting targets. You're going to win or you'll learn. And I think it's important that we recognize that both are part of the journey. We can't do one without the other. And the opportunity for me anyway, I think to do a loss review, uh, with your team or your manager is really a gift. Um, because this is where the growth happens. And the best sales professionals are really focused on honing the craft. Right. The results flow from that. And if you focus solely on the deals, um, then not only will you uh, I think lose your motivation, but you're going to grow more slowly. So let's round this out, Sarah, with our last section.

Speaker B: Okay, I will be quick on this one because this was a bonus and I do want to hear uh, more from the group. Um, okay. Big thing on motivating under pressure is that um, the days of like coin operated, um, as uh, salespeople is over um, if ever it was a thing. And often we think about these extrinsically, ah, extrinsic motivation. So we think about like promotions and pay raise and bonuses and benefits. And what I want everybody to consider for yourself and your team is the intrinsic. And Matt, you used what I love the word craft. I love it. I mean to me when I think about the craft of sales or the craft of just what is sales. It's human connection, right? It's problem solving. Um, and so when I think about that it's such a, it's a beautiful demonstration of the combination of these motivations. And by the way that combination, some of the balance of these things that you see on the slide here is critical for sustainable high performance. Funny how some of these concepts overlap. As a leader what I want to call out is not to make assumptions on your team and how you're wired or what motivates you may be different than your team. So can we approach our teams, our colleagues with some curiosity and listen and hear about some of their drivers because that is going to be critical for their long term success and keeping them motivated, especially during times of adversity. And also that will help signal to us as leaders how to weave in certain um, language, uh, in meetings. Calling out the craft, maybe calling out the joy, the fun of it, calling out the growth that everybody's experiencing can be so critical to motivate teams instead of just. And guess what, if you do it then you get this Biff. Right? And so uh, just the awareness of the balance, the combination across the teams and within yourself. And some of this also ties to values which I'd be remiss not to say it's a critical foundation and one of the keys at Valor for high performance. But all just to say to approach it with some curiosity both for yourself and your team. So I'll make this one and scene, uh, very quick just so we can get to the group, the poll and the Q and A. So bringing curiosity to understand you and your team's current motivations, balancing the types of motivations and being intentional. Oh yeah, I love this one. Uh, I love the phrase uh, uh, the seller behind the sale. Just like we do with prospects. Turns out some of the skills for consultative selling are the same as getting to know your team. And some of it by the way has to do with the curiosity, intentional questioning, but by the way also listening and creating the space to really listen, which that's really where some of that self awareness comes in. It comes back to the controlling the Controllables, full circle and scene. Let's get onto the poll.

Speaker A: All right, quick poll, everybody, uh, to see where you're at with performance coaching. So I'm going to give you, uh, a few seconds here. Two quick questions with respect to performance coaching at work. What's that like for you? Do you already have access to this? You wish you did, or for me, there's not so much value. And if you had a performance coach, would it be someone inside your organization, or do you think it'd be more helpful for you outside the organization? I'm going to give you three more seconds, counting. And one. I'll do it slowly. Two one thousand. Three one thousand. Actually got a few more. I can see them coming in. Maybe I'll give you a couple more seconds. 3, 2, 1. End poll and let's see the results. Well, there we go. Look at that. Pretty evenly split over the top there. And then, uh, it looks like there's a preference, Sarah, for folks outside the organization. Kind of makes sense because a lot of the stuff you talk to may or may not be politically sensitive in terms of career development, all that stuff. So it's nice to have that trusted independent third party, isn't it?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think trust. I spot on with the element of trust there as a third party. I think there's also just an element of expertise, too. Uh, so kind of depends, but, uh, absolutely. That's something that we see obviously across our clients. Super interesting. That's great.

Speaker A: It is. So, uh, we've only got a couple of minutes left, so I think we probably don't have time for Q and A right now. However, we're easy to get hold of. Uh, you can find myself and Sarah on LinkedIn. Sarah, could you wrap it up for us just by giving us a sort of a summary, uh, at the end here?

Speaker B: Yes, and I would love. Actually, as I give the summary, I know we're short. We have just a couple more seconds. But those, as you're starting to wrap up, uh, from this session, put in the chat. What's one thing that you're going to take away from this conversation? What's one thing? Not 50 million, one thing. And the reason for that is because obviously, uh, what really resonates with you may be different from someone else, hence why you need a personalized approach. But many of these concepts are universal. So I'm curious what really stood out. But look, the key concepts here are around, uh, the bouncing back after setback and really understanding your point within that setback and how to rebound in the fastest way possible. Uh, controlling the controllables or performing when you're faced with so many uncontrollables, sustaining your performance for the long haul, as well as motivating during times of pressure. Many of these concepts are connected to one another and they all are critical components to long term success. Uh, I am just going to scroll through the chat. I know you are too, Matt, but just seeing all the different, uh, 16

Speaker A: second M cure is definitely a popular one. I love that one. Uh, for sure.

Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome. That's great. Yes. Oh, so many good ones. So many good ones here. Uh, I love Matt, by the way. I'm just now seeing your joke about either coin operated or flattery operated. Uh, for salespeople. That's amazing. Persistence is key. The ripple effect. Yes, absolutely. So look, this was uh, a pleasure, Matt. Thank you so much for having us. And for anybody who wants to learn more about Valor partnershipsalerperform.com or you can obviously connect with me on LinkedIn. And Matt, it's always a pleasure to do any work with you.

Speaker A: Fantastic. Great job, Sarah. Thank you all for joining us. And this recording will be made available so you can share it with your peers or team for those folks who weren't able to access it. Take care and uh, look forward to the next time we get together, Sarah, and share some more wisdom for Valor performance. Ciao everybody.

Speaker B: Bye everybody.