What is a 38 Tries™ Try?
In the pursuit of efficiency, many leaders and teams try to smooth every road and flatten every hill. We want "seamless" workflows and "frictionless" apps. But there is a hidden danger in making things too easy: a frictionless environment is a stagnant one.
But to really build and strengthen a high-performance team, you need to architect deliberate friction with 38 Tries™ kind of tries. These are filled with friction that doesn’t paralyze but allows you to grow! You don't need to eliminate friction; you need to curate it because easier isn’t always better.
For a 38 Tries™ kind of a try, you need the following:
1. Don’t shy away from the friction.
When a team member feels that "friction" of intense focus, their brain is physically tagging neurons for change. This isn't just a metaphor; neuroscientist Michael Merzenich demonstrated that without this level of focused arousal (triggered by the release of acetylcholine), the brain's "map" doesn't update. If it feels easy, the brain stays exactly as it is. Acknowledge it but don’t run from it. Move towards it.
2. Focus on Deliberate Practice
Anders Ericsson, who pioneered the study of "Deliberate Practice," found that top performers stay in a state of constant friction. They intentionally seek out the things they are not yet good at to bypass the plateaus that trap average teams. Want to get better at your executive presence? Find ways to practice it: an all-hands? lead a virtual learning session? This is crafting deliberate practice so you don’t get trapped in a plateau.
3. Self-reflection
Most teams reach a "good enough" level and stop. They become "automated," which is the enemy of expertise. Anders Ericsson, who pioneered the study of "Deliberate Practice," found that top performers stay in a state of constant friction. They intentionally seek out the things they are not yet good at to bypass the plateaus that trap average teams.
Design for those meaningful friction points because they are the connective tissue that transforms a group of individuals into a high-performance team.
The best teams do 38 Tries™ types of tries, together!
