Back in the day when my body used to work and I had fewer pounds around the middle I used to play tennis. Being self taught, every inch of progress was hard won - with longing glances at the "naturals" - they with the easy flowing strokes, follow through and the blindingly fast serves. But progress did come game after game and it got to a point where I could hit fairly reliably and hard and somehow managed to get my serve across the net and inside the opponent's court more often than not. After a few years it happened. I hit the plateau.
My game stopped improving and I kept making the same mistakes. Again and again. The clock of learning had lost some gears and broken its springs. Nothing seemed to be working. All the weak wristy forehand returns , the just-short lobs that came crashing back as the opponent hit his stride. Nothing seemed to improve, whatever I did. It almost looked like I had run out of my initial cache of ideas and now was running on empty.
When I decided to do something finally, I signed up for tennis lessons. My pride at being self taught gave way to the grudging admission that professional help was much needed if I were to break out from the plateau. It was hard to undo years of self taught certainty but I tried. I opened my ears and listened and my body tried to obey the commands of the instructor. And then magically, the fog lifted.
My serves got faster, more accurate and repeatable. The one o'clock position, a deeper toss and the bend of the body like a bow to hit the ball at the right time with the entire force of the body - that was what the instructor told me. My lobs got richer and deeper, arcing to the roof almost and dropping vertically in the back making it hard for the opponent to slam down like an errant mosquito. All this in four to six lessons! Clearly those who know know well and those who only strive can never know until they have been shown the light.
I have been enjoying a better game and somehow winning seems to matter less than that perfect contact of the racket with the ball, knees bent down, taking the ball very low and skimming it over the net; the easy follow through as the racket follows the trajectory of the ball; the feel of the courts on a warm sunny day with blue sky and white clouds passing through.
I am beginning to believe that enterprises also go through a plateau phase. They are smug in the ways they have learned, often self-taught. They have their game down to some level of plateau that they have become happy with. To change the game, they need to go through a intervention like I made when I went to that tennis clinic. Enterprise architecture promises to be that secret sauce that gets you across the plateau.
My game stopped improving and I kept making the same mistakes. Again and again. The clock of learning had lost some gears and broken its springs. Nothing seemed to be working. All the weak wristy forehand returns , the just-short lobs that came crashing back as the opponent hit his stride. Nothing seemed to improve, whatever I did. It almost looked like I had run out of my initial cache of ideas and now was running on empty.
When I decided to do something finally, I signed up for tennis lessons. My pride at being self taught gave way to the grudging admission that professional help was much needed if I were to break out from the plateau. It was hard to undo years of self taught certainty but I tried. I opened my ears and listened and my body tried to obey the commands of the instructor. And then magically, the fog lifted.
My serves got faster, more accurate and repeatable. The one o'clock position, a deeper toss and the bend of the body like a bow to hit the ball at the right time with the entire force of the body - that was what the instructor told me. My lobs got richer and deeper, arcing to the roof almost and dropping vertically in the back making it hard for the opponent to slam down like an errant mosquito. All this in four to six lessons! Clearly those who know know well and those who only strive can never know until they have been shown the light.
I have been enjoying a better game and somehow winning seems to matter less than that perfect contact of the racket with the ball, knees bent down, taking the ball very low and skimming it over the net; the easy follow through as the racket follows the trajectory of the ball; the feel of the courts on a warm sunny day with blue sky and white clouds passing through.
I am beginning to believe that enterprises also go through a plateau phase. They are smug in the ways they have learned, often self-taught. They have their game down to some level of plateau that they have become happy with. To change the game, they need to go through a intervention like I made when I went to that tennis clinic. Enterprise architecture promises to be that secret sauce that gets you across the plateau.
1 comment:
Apt comparison. True for all aspects of life and skills. That's why Hindus believed that it is necessary to have a worthy guru to attain true wisdom in the quest for attaining God and true happiness. Very nice reading. thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Dr J.P. Char
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