For a whole bunch of reasons, I really enjoyed the latest column by Dan and Chip Heath at Fast Company, entitled, “Watch the Game Film.”

Professional sports teams and great athletes have long understood the power of watching game film to learn about themselves as well as the strategies and tendencies of their opponents.  Aside from professional speakers, few of us in business benefit from either viewing ourselves in action on film, and sadly too few of us benefit from good feedback and mentoring from our managers and colleagues.   An exception to my “too few” lament is found in the emphasis that great front-line sales managers place on observing and then coaching their reps.  Of course, great front-line sales managers IMO are the exception and not the rule.

The Heaths offer some fascinating examples of the power and tangible impact on performance of third-party observation in business and education settings (well worth the time to read), and then cap things off with the thought-provoking question:

What insights might your team be overlooking because no one is observing carefully enough?

Wouldn’t You Like to Know?

  • What impact you really have on people as you engage with them?
  • What habits you have that detract from your effectiveness as a communicator?
  • What you need to dial up to encourage people to know, like and trust you?
  • What your top (performers, reps, project managers, product managers team leaders) do to engender trust and create positive results?
  • What you can do to help everyone on your team recognize what they need to do to improve?

The Bottom-Line for Now:

The power of observing is under-emphasized and critically important in business.

Much like professional athletes, we need to see ourselves in action to understand our own quirks, tells and idiosyncrasies.  When it comes to dealing with people, engendering trust and earning respect, we’re often our own worst enemies.  It’s long overdue for us to spend some quality time studying game film or listening to someone that has observed us in action.  We all might be surprised at how easy it is to identify and make meaningful improvements in our lives, careers and organizations.

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