Introduction: Performance Accelerator Plan as a Learning Tool
When my mother died unexpectedly from a heart attack on October 3, 2012, my heart was broken into many pieces. To heal my heart, I thought I’d do something that gave me joy. I decided to create a reading challenge for myself because of how much reading books gives me pleasure. Reading books written by authors from around the world would challenge my worldview. I challenged myself to visit 30 countries via the books I read. The result? I read 80 books in four months written by authors from 29 countries.
Intentional reading increased my understanding of the world. It helped me to think more critically and place many things into context. I realized that others could benefit from this type of reading challenge. So, I created the Read the World Challenge.
Bustle, the digital publisher, targeting millennials, had this to say about the Read the World Challenge.
“Avil Beckford brought this one to my attention. Her Read the World Challenge consists of a month-by-month reading plan designed to make you a more well-rounded person and a better entrepreneur. With 60 titles needed to complete the challenge, it's not one for the faint of heart, but Beckford provides plenty of helpful lists to guide your book selection process.”
Source: 9 Reading Challenges For Adults To Take In 2016 By Kristian Wilson
How the Reading Challenge Has Evolved Over the Years
Since then, the Read the World Challenge morphed into the Extreme Reading Challenge, then into the Strategic Reading Challenge. I always felt that the name wasn't the right one. I had no idea what to call it. After writing this Case Study, members of my mastermind group made some suggestions. And now it's the Performance Accelerator Plan. You invest in the Performance Accelerator Plan to participate.
Understanding the World Through Reading
Reading is a way to understand the world around you. If done correctly, and you read the right books, you can anticipate events coming down the pipeline. These events that can impact your business. Learn how to leverage the Performance Accelerator Plan to secure authority. It will also help you to figure out the trends that relate to your business and work. While participating in this career development plan, you’ll engage in reading books that can help you on the job.
When you participate you'll get resources to help you grow in your careers. The Performance Accelerator Plan is more like a leadership development tool. You and a group of colleagues could join and use it as a workplace book club. The Performance Accelerator Plan is the only reading challenge and career management plan aligned with the skills the World Economic Forum says professionals need to thrive in their career. You read books that teach you skills that are relevant in today’s workplace.
One reader, Nancy Smith, says,
“The starting document ‘getting the most from reading…’, the ‘Testing What You Learned from Reading This Book’ template were vital tools to getting started…. I have never come across such a strategic business-related reading challenge with this top down high-quality approach. Other challenges I’ve seen were only about the number of books read. Without any consideration for the actual learning (what, why and how to learn for a specific reason).”
Why the Performance Accelerator Plan?
One reader, Candace Green doesn’t have a degree from an American university, though she lives in the US. She’s an autodidact, using the reading challenge to fill the gaps in her knowledge. Green is acquiring advanced skills to earn more money. And to make sure she isn’t left behind in the new economy.
How is the Performance Accelerator Plan Helping You?
You can never be certain how your product or services will help your clients and customers. Smith told me that,
“Instead of reading on an adhoc basis, I can plan my reading for strategic purposes and am driven to read books I never would have read. The systematic way of analyzing each book and keeping notes, and the combination of learnings over a month give invaluable learning as well as an easy way to find back to specific topics.”
I’ve always taught my readers to take written notes when reading books. After they complete the book, I recommend that they review their notes and pick out the big ideas. When they complete a month of reading books, they’re then asked to combine ideas from the books they read during the month. Nancy Smith has found this practice invaluable. She further adds,
“I prefer starting from a monthly book plan, so I can prepare for which books I should read. Typically, I will read several books in parallel at any given time.”
As a part of the Performance Accelerator Plan, participants get weekly emails reminding them of the type of books to read.
What are Your Top Reasons for Doing the Performance Accelerator Plan?
I looked at what readers told me and here are the top reasons for participating in the Performance Accelerator Plan:
- My biggest passion is reading. I have a life goal of learning something new every single day. The challenge supports both my passion and life goal.
- My reading becomes more purposeful and strategic.
- The world is in deep need of conscious effective leadership to deal efficiently with the planets’ challenges to reach the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. The challenge supports that too.
- If you need to learn how to do something, you don't need to go through the “pregnancy” and “labor” pain. We don't need to invent the wheel, somebody already did it. We just need to research and read. And of course, afterward, adjust it and apply that info to your own plan. The reading challenge helps with this process.
- The reading challenge helps me to learn new skills to advance my career.
- I don’t want to be left behind in my career.
- I’m an autodidact, so the reading challenge is a structured way for me to learn key skills. I can read at my own pace.
Several of the Performance Accelerator Plan participants remark that it’s very intense. They recommend that I introduce a lite version, where you read only 15 books instead of 60. I listened and created The Performance Accelerator Plan Lite. The accelerator plan is intense, but if you’re not a passionate reader like Nancy Smith, you may find it difficult to complete. Here’s what she says,
“The reading challenge is truly a challenge, even for an avid reader and insatiable knowledge seeker like me. The current challenge is an extreme sport version for extreme readers? I am certain that a lighter version still will bring enormous value for the more average reader. Most important is that this way of reading can create new habits.”
What Does it Mean to Read a Book
The problem lies with people’s interpretation of what it means to read a book. Most books were never meant to be read from cover to cover. Sophisticated readers like Smith, who are also interested in neuroscience, know this. They can easily pick out the key ideas from the books they read.
With feedback from these challenge participants, I created the Learning How to Learn Again Program. This program teaches you effective reading and learning strategies you can use for the rest of your life. With these strategies, you’ll be following the 80/20 Rule. That means, you’ll understand about 80 percent of the book, simply by reading 20 percent of it. You’ll learn how to digest any non-fiction book in 30 to 60 minutes.
“For people who are not used to reading, I would think they need to get the habit of reading. Starting with small daily chunks and having their books easily available (bathroom, kitchen table, bedside table, living room, audio book in car/on mobile…”
says Smith
How is the Performance Accelerator Plan Different from Reading Challenges?
Several people remarked that they love the structure of the Performance Accelerator Plan. Specifically they mentioned:
- Weekly emails.
- Test your knowledge of the book.
- On-boarding booklet.
- Get the Most Out of Reading Books PDF download.
- Knowledge of profit reading.
Is the Performance Accelerator Plan Helping You to Achieve Any Goals?
According to participants, The Performance Accelerator Plan is helping them to:
- Learn career boosting skills.
- Get out of their reading comfort zone.
- Structure their reading.
- Develop intercultural awareness from reading the world.
Nancy Smith added:
“It helps me sharpen my skills as leader and as a reflective human, strongly supporting a development towards wisdom.”
What are the Biggest Reasons You Have for Recommending the Performance Accelerator Plan?
Nancy Smith sums up the responses nicely:
“Reading is primordial if you want to develop as a contributing citizen of this planet. The strategic reading challenge [performance accelerator plan] is the most powerful and efficient way to truly develop skills and character. If you want to be deeply knowledgeable, nuanced, culturally/historically/religiously/geographically… aware, reflective, remain relevant, and learn from most of the current and historical thought leaders, this challenge is for you.”
Final Thoughts: How to Use the Performance Accelerator Plan to Secure Authority
You’ll reap the benefits of the Performance Accelerator Plan only if you read the books actively, take notes, do the exercises and apply the ideas. The types of books you read will enable you to secure authority in the workplace. If you think the Performance Accelerator Plan is for you, why not join now? Why don't you participate in this employee reading program with your employee resource group.
UPDATE: After I wrote this case study, members of a mastermind group recommended that I change the name of the Strategic Reading Challenge to Performance Accelerator Plan. When they read the benefits of participating in the strategic reading challenge, they knew the name had to change. They thought that calling a reading challenge was doing the program a disservice.
Note: I've changed the names of reading challenge participants to protect them! First published in May 2019.
