What does Belief Have to do with Performance?

Everything and nothing. It depends on how you use belief to achieve performance but WAY more importantly, if beliefs that have been unknowingly adopted by a company inhibit or limit employee performance, then wouldn't you like to get out of your own way?

The oft quoted Henry Ford: "Whether you think you can or can't; you are right" has not stopped companies from unknowingly working off of a built in set of limitations operating subliminally as a belief system.

So what is a belief? What does it sound like? Belief has many faces. Sometimes we think of belief as mental models. An easy example of that is: self managed teams don't work. For many self-managed teams do work, but the conditions, circumstances, and outlook initiated a totally different process and outcome.

If the organization/company believes that it is a victim of market conditions, then new legislation impacting its viability is a surprise; in fact pretty much anything that impacts failure is a surprise and success then becomes more of a happy accident.

Raising the subliminal to the visible is an important tool in the sustainable business kit. Habits often reflect beliefs. 'What are we doing over and over again that is not giving us the results we seek?' Ask this and other deep questions you will soon start noticing patterns that reveal direction operating below the conscious radar. This is the place where action leads to results of a higher order.

Beliefs, limiting or empowering, are also held within each individual who work for your company/organization. Every element of their contribution is embued with their perception of what is or is not possible or achievable. You can only implement what you can see and believe is possible.

Making a personal list of what you believe is achievable is a good way to expose what guides action. It is the results that truly show how belief gets put into reality. Track back from the results and you will gain insight into what took you there and whether that belief still serves.