Smart People and The Know Do Gap

I was reminded once again this morning while co-facilitating a webinar that folks continually confuse that fact that knowing is not doing?  I cannot tell you how many of our workshop participants, coaching clients continually say “I know that”, ” this is not new”, “good reminder” and so on.  When you ask the question “how are you applying what you know”, the answer most of the time is “I am not sure”!

Well then… it could be that the biggest obstacle in performance is closing the KNOW/DO GAP. The challenge is not associated so much with knowing what to do, it is not doing what we already know .

If knowledge really were all it took to be a high performer, then all any of us would have to do would be to read that book or take that class and we’d all be winning championships and creating high performance. We would all be high performing managers, great teachers, and phenomenal parents.  REALITY–We are not achieving this level most of the time.

Why? Because the biggest obstacle in performance isn’t not knowing what to do; it’s not doing what we already know.

Back to my experience detailed above. In organizations, where research shows that of the billions of dollars spent on training, coaching and consulting, most of it is on information that is being repeated and still not implemented. So what keeps us from doing what we know?   My experience tells me it is the confusion associated with knowing something and not doing it?

One of the processes I use in my coaching practice is to assist the coachee in assessing their know/do gaps related to their goals. A  key to getting rid of interference associated with the know/do gap  is to create high level focus; and a key to creating focus is a strategy. We then decide on a realistic strategy for implementing known knowledge into practice.

Coming next post–How To Use What You  Already Know for High Performance!

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