Archive for category Leadership

Improve 1% everyday and in seventy days, you’ll be twice as good. This concept is called the 1% Solution^® by best-selling author and consultant, Alan Weiss, PhD. By the way, the good people of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have confirmed that the math is correct.

A key tool in the 1% Solution is the Daily Debrief. In this process, you debrief your performance daily either alone or with others. Debriefing provides a systematic approach for reflecting on learning experiences. Think of it as evaluation, but at a much deeper level.

When asked why people should debrief their performance, educational researcher, instructional designer, and author Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan said, “People do not learn from experience. They learn from reflecting on their experience. The failure to debrief is the main reason why people fail to reach their full potential in performance.”

Debriefing Models:

Sales Dogs Debriefing Framework

There are a number of debriefing models. The first debriefing framework comes from Blaire Singer, author of Sales Dogs: You Do Not Have to Be an Attack Dog to Be Successful in Sales (www.salesdogs.com). The process uses these questions:

• What happened? (List only the facts, no opinions.)
• Why?
• What worked?
• What did not work?
• What did you learn?
• What can you do to correct or improve?

Using the Sales Dogs Debriefing Framework, here is how a debriefing might go with one of the clients I coach for speaking.

• What happened? “I lost the speech contest.”
• Why? “The judges picked another speaker.”
• What worked? “Humor. I got over a dozen laughs and two laughs were very long.”
• What did not work? “Winning the speech contest!” [After probing further about their performance, my client came up with an additional answer.] “Being authentic or real. My speech was more of a performance than a conversation. I can see that the other speaker did a better job of connecting with the audience.”
• What did you learn? “Not to taking losing so hard. I thought I won based on the number of laughs I got. It’s about connecting with the audience.”
• What can you do to correct or improve? Letting my real self come across. Focus on connecting with the audience with both my delivery and content. I’m also going to join the Champions Edge so I can take advantage of the educational lessons and speech critiques.” (See the Resources section in the back of the book.)

Another Debriefing framework is from Enlightened Leadership Solutions – Five Step Framework (www.elsolutions.com). In this model, the debriefing process uses these questions.

• What’s working?
• What caused it to work?
• What is your goal?
• What would be the benefit of achieving this goal?
• What can you do more of or better?

Here is another speech coaching scenario where I might use these questions:

• What’s working? “Humor”
• What caused it to work? “Your audio training program: Speaking Secrets of the Champions (see the Resources section in the back of the book).  Also, practicing in front of a live audience.” I went to multiple Toastmasters clubs to practice my speech.”
• What is your goal? “To win the speech contest, become a better speaker, and connect with audiences every time.”
• What would be the benefit of achieving this goal? “Improved confidence.” What can you do more of or better? “Focus more on connecting with audiences in future speeches.”

A good friend of mine, Kevin Spalding, of Alignment Dynamics, Inc. (www.alignment-dynamics.com) has created a [download id="2"] form.

These are three of the many debriefing models. If you follow the Alan Weiss 1% Solution^® and utilize a daily debrief, you’ll be twice as good in seventy days. And the applications are not just limited to speaking or training. I apply the daily debrief to all aspects of my professional and personal life. What would happen if you applied this concept of a daily debrief to all areas of you life? How much better would your speaking be? Imagine how much better your personal relationships would be as well. All it takes is asking a few reflective questions each day.