This is a guest post by Christian Knutson, P.E., PMP, leadership coach, civil engineer, author and an accomplished professional specializing in A/E/C work internationally. You can read more of Christian’s work at The Engineer Leader, a recognized blog on leadership and life success for engineers and professionals.
The concept comes from Sir Dave Brailsford, director of British cycling and a former team coach. In 2009 he delivered a plan to the British government that he could build their first-ever Tour de France winner in four years using a plan using “aggregate marginal gains”. He broke down the individual elements of a world-class cycling team and focused on improving each component piece by 1%, noting more, nothing less. It worked in only three years. In 2012 Sir Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France…and the gold at the London Olympics.
If 1% incremental improvements can make a world-class cyclist in three years time, what can it do for you? It can give you a target that’s not out of reach to go after and thus less likely to make you stop. If your goal is to pass the P.E. exam, putting 15 minutes into studying every day for a year is less daunting than a two-week bender right before the test. Creating a 1% improvement in an area of your life today, then another 1% improvement tomorrow, and the same for the next 70 days and you’ll end up much more improved than attempting the 70% solution in one day.
Aggregate marginal gains applied in areas of our life might include:
1. Professional Skills. You aren’t going to be hired into a C-level position if you’ve never performed at a management level. You won’t be hired into a management level unless you’ve led project teams. You can’ be on a project team if you don’t skills to be there in the first place. See a pattern? If you don’t start with the basics you can’t hope to operate at the top. What are your aspirations at the top end, what do you need to do to get there? What are you doing right now to make aggregate marginal gains?
2. Learning. This doesn’t need to be formalized grad-school or a $1,500 weeklong PDH session. What’s in your reading queue? When’s the last time you visited a library? Make a habit of building your continuing education on more than just the 15 PDH’s you need to fill the box on your annual P.E. renewal form. Read 15 minutes a day or listen to an audio book on the commute to work. Doing this alone you can knock out over 20 books a year.
Check out this May 2013 video by Tim Ferriss who shares how to master any skill by deconstructing it. Definite aggregate marginal gains activity here.
3. Relationships. This isn’t hitting the “500+” mark on LinkedIn or meeting your goal of cleaning out your business card stock at a conference. This is about personal connections that start with a shared interest and grow into a meaningful, true relationship. This is the kind where both of you are invested in the other’s success, happiness, and growth. Beats 500+ online every day.
The concept of aggregate marginal gains holds true for language training, learning an instrument, or working on your graduate thesis. Small, routine incremental improvements over a period of time will summate to produce great results. Sports is full of examples, so is business. If this is good for the hero’s of the court or the entrepreneurial success, then it might be worth consideration of what 1% can do for you.
“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Benjamin Franklin
Image courtesy by By Robin McConnell from Aviemore, UK, via Wikimedia Commons.