Same Effort, Better Results
How removing friction helps you bring more of yourself to what you do
Image credit: Andy’s selfie
Hello fellow Enablers,
I’ve been at Center Parcs in the UK this week for a short family break with my grown-up kids. If you’ve never been, or don’t have it in your country, it’s a holiday village of individual lodges set in a forest around a central “Subtropical Swimming Paradise” and sports complex. The wide variety of fun activities available allows us to keep making memories together now our children are independent enough to choose how they spend their holidays.
Whilst there, I went to the gym with my son, Tom.
It’s equipped with exercise machines rather than free weights. The path of the weight’s movement is determined by the machine. All of your effort gets channelled into using the specific muscles that the apparatus is designed to target. By comparison, when lifting free weights, some of your effort goes into controlling that path of movement.
That requirement to create your own stability builds broader functional strength but dilutes the focus of your effort.
Fulfilling Performance is never far from my thoughts and, as Tom and I were discussing the differences between working out with machines versus free weights, I was reminded of a question from a workshop participant recently. She asked:
How would the effort remain the same if I bring more of myself at work?
The chest press machine in the gym removes the requirement for you to control the path of the weight, so that all of your effort goes into working your chest muscles only.
Effective application of the Fulfilling Performance framework removes the (often unseen) friction that dilutes our effort at work. We can apply the same amount of effort and achieve greater outcomes because less of our effort is being lost to friction.
When we say that Fulfilling Performance is based on the principle “the more you put in, the more you get out,” we are not talking about putting in more effort. We are better aligning our already committed effort to move the “weight” of our work.
If we can apply that same amount of effort but bring more of our talent, intelligence, creativity, capability, and resourcefulness to what we are doing, we will perform at a higher level, get better results, and continue to grow.
If you’ve experienced that, you’ll know that it feels great, it’s sustainable, and it’s fulfilling. That’s why we call it Fulfilling Performance!
The icing on the cake — which ought to be a default requirement for all of us — is that enabling Fulfilling Performance at work energises us to be great partners, parents, and people outside of work too.
Fulfilling Performance is an organisation-wide approach to performance. It brings with it a compelling vision and a framework of diagnostic questions and guiding principles that make it practical and easy to apply. In just a couple of hours, a team can learn enough to get started on their Fulfilling Performance journey. If you’d like to know more, send me a message and we can have an informal chat.
Glenn Wilson: Backing Himself — Building Digital Auto Finance in NZ and Australia
CAREER-VIEW MIRROR #245
From being told to leave school at 16 to co-founding a fintech serving 17,000+ customers and on track for $150m in finance volume this year — Glenn Wilson’s story is a powerful example of reframing adversity and backing yourself.
In our CAREER-VIEW MIRROR conversation, we cover:
🔹 Early leadership lessons from IT and a formative stint at BMW Australia
🔹 The mindset shift after a pivotal trip to the US—and the decision to build a business
🔹 Spotting a gap in NZ’s auto finance market and growing Simplify across NZ & Australia
🔹 Stepping from day-to-day operations into a strategic role while keeping close to the team
If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, leadership, or the evolution of digital auto finance, this one’s for you.
🎧 Listen now: CAREER-VIEW MIRROR / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
Check out the directory of all our guests and episodes on Instagram.
How well-aligned is your team?
Even the best leaders notice times when things don’t feel quite in sync:
People pulling in different directions.
Departments working in silos.
Commitments made but not kept.
Too much firefighting in the day-to-day, and not enough focus on the strategic priorities that really matter.
If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. These are common frustrations for senior leaders — and they’re exactly the challenges we tackle in the Aquilae Academy.
The Academy is a guided peer-mentoring and coaching team for senior leaders. It’s where you learn to apply the Fulfilling Performance framework, get the support of experienced peers, and work through real challenges every month.
In the Academy you’ll find:
A safe, confidential team of like-minded peers.
Fresh perspective, encouragement, and constructive challenge.
Practical ways to bring more alignment, cohesion, and follow-through into your organisation.
If you’re a senior leader who knows you don’t have to face these challenges alone, the Academy could be for you. Contact me and I’ll happily tell you more.
Thank you,
Andy
E: andy@aquilae.co.uk