A few percent improvement in several areas of my game

I have to admit that I am biased & favor Nadal over any other current tennis player – RF included! I watched the Wimbledon finals in bits and pieces just because I couldn’t watch Nadal looseL. However; I have to admit that whatever little I saw, I couldn’t help but appreciate the quality of play that Djokovic was dishing out there. He deserved to win…!!!

Few days later, I come across this wonderful blog post which analyzes the comment made by Djokovic at the post match conference. Suddenly, I had new found respect for Djokovic and could put into perspective why Djokovic won the Wimbledon and is currently the best tennis player at the moment.

Wimbledon champion John McEnroe asked Djokovic what he had changed about his game to become number one. What was different between this year and last? Djokovic shrugged his shoulders, almost imperceptibly, and gave an important answer:

A few percent improvement in several areas of my game. 

Djokovic’s answer, in a way, helps us understand that ‘learning and improvement’ (in any area) is often about the little things and not always about the big bang changes/initiatives that we embark upon.

To quote from that blog:

The difference for him was not an addition to his repertoire, a brand new skill he could brandish against Nadal or Federer. It was a few percentage points’ improvement in his serve, in his return, in his volley, and in his ability to concentrate. Keep in mind that he was already the best returner of service in the world and strong enough in the other elements of his game to compete with and occasionally defeat two of the greatest players in history.

That was not enough. So he went home and got a little better in several parts of his game

Collectively, those few percentage points added up and made the difference. When you are playing with the best in the world, it those few percentage points matter & make the difference.

So, I thought, would this statement & approach be also applicable to us in business? How can a few % improvement make a difference to us?

Then I thought about:

• A few percent improvement in our utilization
• A few percent improvement in our billing rates
• A few percent improvement in our DSO
• A few percent improvement in our CR revenue
• A few percent improvement in our attrition figures
• A few percent improvement in our estimation
• A few percent improvement in our execution
• A few percent improvement in our personal productivity
• A few percent improvement in ….

Imagine what all this can lead to – just a few percent improvement..!!!

Would you like to add to this list of “A few percent more…”