Debriefing -the secret of champions

Debriefing – the secret of champions

Written & brought to you by

Ken Crause – Business Transformation Coach.

Years ago, I decided to take training to become a commercial helicopter pilot. The school I chose to attend happened to be run by two Jewish brothers. One was a certified mechanic and the other a flight instructor. When I started the practical part of flying, I was told that after each flight I had to sit down with the instructor to “debrief”. I was not sure exactly what that was, but he was an ex-Israeli military pilot, so that is how he was taught. I soon found out that “debriefing” meant, we would go over the flight, talk about what we did, good and bad, and then decide on what needed improvement. It was both a session to face reality and at the same time find encouragement from small achievements.

Many years before that, I worked as a financial consultant. One day a young school teacher came to me for help with budgeting. Apparently her family were all wealthy and although she earned a good wage, spent it all and had not a dime saved. Her father in particular was disappointed in her. What I had her do, is to write down EVERY SINGLE PENNY she spent each day. She had to keep receipts to remind her and each day she was to enter the amount she spent into a category on a budget sheet I made up for her. I had items such as transportation, accommodation, recreation, food, entertainment etc; and also a miscellaneous category. She was to do this for 3 months and meet with me the end of each month to go over WHAT SHE HAD DONE. After the first session, I gave her an idea of what a good budget looked like – percentage wise of her income. For example, 25% for accommodation, 15% for transportation, 10% for savings etc. I never had to tell her another thing. She saw for herself what she was doing wrong by keeping records and soon made her own corrections. At the end of 3 months she had a savings account and was saving 20% easily. Her father was so impressed he bought her a brand new car and gave it to her.

I have known people who years ago went on a diet program with Weight Watchers. The program sets out what you should be eating in each food category a day. But the genius of their program was that you had to write down each day what you actually ate. The people I knew that faithfully followed the daily record keeping and assessment once a week, lost weight easily and soon reached their goal weight.

So what’s the point I am trying to convey here?

SUCCESS IN ANYTHING COMES WHEN WE SET A STANDARD OR GOAL, THEN KEEP DAILY RECORDS OF WHAT WE DID, THEN MEASURE IT AGAINST OUR OBJECTIVES OR GOALS.

The more details we record the better. This is “being accountable” at its best. I do not need someone else to be accountable to. I have myself to be accountable to. That way my success is not dependent on the other person being there all the time. I am not saying that it’s wrong to be accountable to someone else, but it is the weakest of choices that’s all.

Most people do not like accounting, but quite honestly it is the very thing that will guide you and show you where you are at relative to where you are going. Time management is keeping an account of what you spend your time on. Money management is about keeping an accounting of what you spent your money on. Fitness management is about keeping an accounting of what exercise you did. Weight management is about keeping an accounting of what you put into your mouth. Learning is about being accountable for what you read. Spiritual growth is about being accountable for the time spent reading the scriptures and time spent reading or watching something of spiritual value. It is also time spent in prayer.

At the end of each day, it is critical you make the time to “debrief” yourself. Go over what you did and ask yourself if that was acceptable for your goals. I guarantee that the pain of failing to measure up will soon give you the strength to change and do better. Most people fail to do this, but I have yet to meet a highly successful person in any field that does not do just this. Is it time you were more accountable? What areas of your life are in bad shape and need some work? I want to encourage you today to commit to be a good accountant in those areas, by keeping detailed records of what you are doing, then at the end of each day taking 15 minutes or so to debrief yourself.

On a final note, I would like to suggest you create a debriefing system for your staff. Can you imagine how great they will all become if they are required to debrief the end of each day? How can you help them do better if you have no idea what they are doing? Most employees feel that they need help and guidance but most never get it. This alone creates stress and fear in employees – fear they may do the wrong thing, make the wrong decision and ultimately lose their job.

If you are serious about success, then debriefing should become a way of life for you personally as well as your staff.

Ken Crause – Business Transformation Coach

Email: ken@crauseco.com