Athletes spend hours watching it.

Musicians and stand-up comics do it all the time.

Coaches use this as a coaching tool to help players go from good to great.

It’s called watching ‘Game film‘. This is one of the hardest, most awkward, yet effective ways to see how others see you in action.

Here’s how it works – Try recording your team meetings and then go back and watch/review the recording with your team. (Please make sure to ask permission from your team before hitting record)

When you’re reviewing game film, I want you to pay close attention to the following questions:

1. Who’s doing most of the talking? You or your team?
2. Do you inadvertently shut down others’ ideas? or do you encourage them?
3. Are ideas being debated or is there group-think?
4. Is everyone getting equal air time? or are the extroverts steam-rolling the introverts?
5. On a scale of 1-10, how present are you in this meeting? What about your team?
6. Are you asking more questions or are you jumping in and solving everyone’s problems?
7. Are you the only one generating new ideas? or is there input from the team?
8. What other “quirks” are popping up?

I’ll be the first one to admit that listening to yourself can be very uncomfortable. However once you start doing it a couple of times, it gets better. You get used to it.

I know this exercise is tough, but it’s worth your time. You’ll get immediate feedback and you’ll improve as a result. I hope you try it.

Ali