Breaking news: maximum effort does not equal maximum results.

Picture the scene…

Imagine telling your team to simply put in 85% of their effort. To not give 100%. To keep 15% back.

Imagine telling your team to not do their very best. To not give it their all.

I remember telling my kids that as long as they put in ALL their effort then the results would come. That’s all that mattered; putting in everything you’ve got.

And the mantra had followed me through the world of work - put all of you in it. Give 110% (because 110% exists ; ))

I’ve been that person that started a training session begging people to give me all their focus, all their time, to give 100% of themselves for all the time of training. Have I ever got that? NO. Because it’s impossible for someone to focus 100% of the time for long periods of time.

I’ve been that person that thinks that someone (to obtain excellence) just needs to give a bit more, try harder, do more.

And then I heard about the 85% rule and …spoiler alert…. I now start training sessions asking people to simply give me 85% and the result is interesting.

And when the 85% rule is cascaded through business, when the business asks their people for just 85%, the response is brilliant.

I didn’t think I could love a percentage rule as much as I love the 1% marginal gains theory, and then the 85% rule came into my own learning and development and I’m sold.

The 85% rule to winning hails from Carl Lewis - the nine time Olympic gold medalist who was known as a ‘master finisher but a ‘slow starter.’ He’s been described (by the BBC) as ‘defying the laws of sprinting’. He often started his races at the back and then seemed to stealth like move into first place with the ease of someone walking to the shops - not winning an Olympic gold medal.

He became known for not performing at full speed, for not totally going for it, but operating at 85% - and here’s the ‘gold’ dust; when an athlete is told to run at 85% they actually run faster/better than if they’re told to run at 100%.

Science and psychology tells us that the 85% rule counterintuitively suggests that to get to your best performance you don’t give all your effort. Operating at 100% of the time results in burnout, in not getting to the finish line.

When sprinters are told to accelerate to 100% too soon, they end up running a slower race. Your best performances come when you’re not trying your hardest - it’s when the individual is consistent in practice, in performance; it’s not ALL or nothing.

Imagine if you then take this rule into the workplace and you pace your team, you don’t ask for all or nothing; you ask for 85%, for consistency, for pacing appropriately, for finding the lane where they are comfortable and that’s where you then get the best results. By learning how to operate at 85% all the time provides a transformational approach to managing and executing workloads, to getting the best out of people.

Fatigue, overwhelm and stress all ensure that quality is reduced, mistakes happen, burnout is likely and toxic behaviours cascade.

Imagine by asking for just 85%, showing how to practice at 85% and executing the 85% rule consistently, better results across the business are achieved and your people are happier, healthier and more efficient.

It’s a ‘winning’ theory.