For a Little Guaranteed Better - Roll the Tape!

Back when I was training as an athlete, watching video was standard procedure. 
No, I don’t mean that my teammates and I were sitting around watching Die Hard. (Which IS a Christmas movie, by the way.)

We watched recordings of our training. Recordings of our races. And of course, we watched our competitors’ performances. We would dissect the Germans and Russians, noting their strengths, their weaknesses, their strategies. If anybody happened to go fast or push well or do anything exceptional in competition, we would scrutinize the tape to understand exactly how they did it and how they differentiated from us. 

“Video” was a standard part of our day - like getting through emails or checking in with staff. It was just part of the job.

This is possibly the simplest, guaranteed method to improve performance. Athletes do it all the time. Yet so few people in the “real world” do it. 

If I go on a podcast, I listen to it. I make a mental note of which examples or anecdotes work well, and which ones don’t. I notice speech patterns I want to improve upon, and consider how I could communicate ideas better. 

Ditto for live events. If there’s video of the presentation, I watch it. I take note of what stories people love (and which ones seem to stimulate yawns.) I notice what resonates, and what doesn’t. I look for what I’m doing well, and what I could stand to work on. 

Some sales teams do it quite often. Ever heard the preamble: “This call may be recorded for training purposes.” (Now, I can’t vouch for how many actually leverage those recordings for this purpose!)

This isn’t always fun to do. Nobody likes the sound of their own voice, or hearing themselves say “um” or “uh” in conversation. (I’ve been saying “like” WAY too much lately.)

But I never really considered it not an option.

If discomfort is stopping you, my humble advice is: get over it.

Don’t be afraid to identify your mistakes or weak points. There's no shame in the game on that one. If you’re watching tape (or listening to something you said, or reading something you wrote) it’s already happened. It’s out there. Acknowledging your mistake doesn’t make it worse. It just gives you an opportunity to do better. 

At the same time, you might notice strengths you didn’t know you had. You can identify areas of progress and improvement, or things you’re doing well that you want to do more of. 

I treat this as a regular practice, but as I write this I’m thinking it could be a pretty good way to wrap up the year. 

As I’ve said before, the new year presents a natural pivot point. 

But before we pivot or make changes, let’s take stock. Review our work, look honestly at the tape, pat ourselves on the back for what we did well, and decide how we want to move forward. 

Sounds like a good way to enter 2023 to me. Yippee-Ki-Yay. ;)

- Steve