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This Week: 10 of the best frameworks and mental models to foster high-performance

Introversion vs Extraversion

A mental model that can be extrapolated to mean:

“People are not interchangeable.”

To maximise the success of any venture, put people in positions that maximise their strengths and minimise their weaknesses.

Don’t fight nature, embrace it.

Pygmalion Effect

Higher expectations lead to improved performance.

The highest performing companies—and people—are typically those with the highest internal expectations.

Want to achieve more?

Start with your expectations.

Directly Responsible Individual

A DRI is someone made explicitly responsible for completing a task or project.

It prevents situations where work isn’t completed and it’s unclear who was responsible for making sure it happened.

A DRI provides clarity and no room for excuses.

Law of Triviality

People spend a high % of their time on minor issues.

Why?

Trivial issues are easier to understand and form opinions about—they don’t require serious thinking.

High-performance companies don’t waste time or money on issues that don’t move the needle.

Crew Resource Management (CRM)

An idea from the airline industry involving promoting the voices of all crew members.

It dissuades hierarchical decision making by encouraging Crew members to raise issues freely.

The voice of all matters more than the voice of one.

Seek Disconfirming Evidence

Disconfirming evidence is ignoring information that contradicts existing beliefs.

It’s comfortable to ignore what makes you feel uncomfortable.

But the smartest companies embrace disconfirming evidence to prevent long-term failure.

Forcing Function

Forcing functions are anything that “forces” a desired action to be completed.

For example, sharing a product launch date with customers is a forcing function to build the product on time.

Why are they useful?

They prevent excuses for not meeting goals.

Extreme Ownership

“Extreme Ownership. Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.”

—Jocko Willink

Set clear expectations around what it means to take responsibility.

Elite companies don't finger point or play blame games—they own outcomes.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit 

Don’t shy away from sharing your point of view or disagreeing.

But, when a decision is made, let go of your ego and commit to the decision.

Popularised by Amazon, this model prevents Groupthink and fosters forward progress.

Weekly 1-1's

1-1’s are a compulsory weekly meeting between employee and manager.

They can be used for feedback, career development, or to share issues.

Whilst a simple exercise, 1-1’s are a vital forcing function for continual improvement and monitoring sentiment.

There you have it, 10 of the best frameworks and mental models to foster high-performance.

I hope you found these as helpful as I have.

Stay curious,

Alex

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🔗 Favourite links of the week 🔗

1. 6 questions that will make you more likeable
2. The Surprising Power of Questions
3. Justin Mikolay's summarization of David Perell

See you again next week!

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