Developed by K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Th. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Römer (The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance, 1993), and restated by Ericsson and Robert Pool (Peak, 2016).
Improves a skill through goals set just past current ability, full focus, immediate feedback, and repeated refinement, often with a coach, so practice keeps producing gains.
When to reach for it
When a person or team has put in the hours but performance has plateaued and more of the same is not helping.
How it runs
- Pick one specific skill to improve.
- Establish what can be done reliably now.
- Set a goal just past that edge.
- Practice with full focus on that goal.
- Get immediate feedback, and adjust each repetition.
- Find a coach where established methods exist.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance, Psychological Review 100(3), 1993
- Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, 2016