Setting your team goals? Debrief first.

Review your 2013 team goals.

This is the time of year for resolutions and there is a plethora of opinion on the merits of resolutions, and even more on how to set goals.

If you are in the communications and media business you’re raring to go after a quiet time. But before you get going and take some action, we’re all doers after all, maybe you should stop and read on.

In the book “Think Like a Winner,” Yehuda Shinar talks about continuous debriefing. Regular evaluation of your performance helps you identify what generates success. His winning philosophy contributed to the coaching of the English team, who went on to win the 2003 Rugby world cup against Australia. During a seminar London with the Capital Radio team Shinar talked to us about many things and debriefing really stood out.

Past Performance

Whether it’s reviewing a live TV or radio show or a piece of digital content, analysing how it went or debriefing is critical to improve future performance.

Now is the perfect opportunity to do what most people don’t, and that is to review what you have actually achieved against your 2013 goals. This includes acknowledging those accomplishments that weren’t goals in the first place.

Debriefing your last twelve months is as effective as reviewing an individual broadcast show, team project or a game.

Continuity of your purpose.

For shorter term objectives the benefits of reviewing your performance seem straight forward. However in regards to longer term activities, more teams should have a regular process for a ‘formal’ review of their annual business goals. This is usually only seen in the Annual reporting season for quoted companies and Government agencies where it’s a corporate governance duty.

Benefits of a full debrief.

Recently, a client took on my recommendation to get the management team together to review their past 12 months. The benefits of the debrief were:, clarity, confidence and a renewed energy, including;

• Clarity on how much further the business had progressed
• They knew what they did well, the whole team understood the actions that led to greater progress
• They discussed and agreed the areas in which they’d not done well against the goals
• They agreed what they’d do differently in the following year and allocated actions towards this year’s plan.
• Review your past goals by yourself or with your team, it will make a positive difference to your on-going performance. It will also help you
• to win.