Half-Time Team Talk

Have you taken any time to ask yourself that question?

Have you paused for reflection?

Have you taken stock?

Have you reviewed your performance?

Have you looked back over your 2020 goals list (if you made one) and checked what you’ve done and what’s still to do?

Sorry. I know that’s a lot of questions.

But those are all questions that, if asked, could benefit you. They are questions that should be asked before you hurtle on into the second half of 2020.

There’s a reason there are 2 halves to most championship sports. And it’s not just so the teams can change ends.

It’s so the teams can review their performance and give themselves a better chance of victory in the second half of the game. All games are more interesting when the competition is closely fought. Who would watch to the end if one team were winning 10-0 at the half-time point but there wasn’t a half-time, they just kept playing on without stopping so just continued to take advantage of the momentum they’d gained and romped home 30+ goals to nil?

What a dull game. That wouldn’t hold many people’s attention.

By having a half-time talk, everything can change. Momentum can be stopped. Winds can change. Tables can turn.

In last months’ edition of Water Matters I shared that we use this half-time talk as a useful analogy to check-in with ourselves and review our performance before we play on to the second half. It’s a helpful metaphor.

Truth is though, apparently it’s rarely a “game of two halves”. Sky Sports bust that myth a while back. They looked back and checked every Premier League result since 1992 and found that the half-time result - win, lose or draw - has been unchanged at the final whistle in 6,507 out of 10,794 games - so there is a 60 percent chance that the half-time result will also be the full-time result.

But in my opinion, that means two things...

1. Teams don’t use the half-time talk well enough to their advantage. i.e. they don’t ask themselves the questions I listed earlier and get really honest with themselves about their first-half performance and make the necessary changes. This is because it can be difficult and uncomfortable and it’s easier not to do it and just carry-on regardless, just hoping that things will improve in the second-half (as we all know, ‘hope’ is a terrible strategy).

&

2. It means that 40% of teams do turn around first-half losses and win at fulltime. And 40% is not a small number (how would you like 40% interest on your savings each year? see, 40% is not a small number!). 40% means that however bad your first-half of 2020 was, you can turn things around for the second-half and still win come 31st December 2020.

It won’t happen unless you make it happen though. Don’t just ‘hope’ that things will get better. ‘Hope’ that sales will improve. ‘Hope’ that new enquiries will find their way to you. That’s not a good strategy. That’s not the outcome of a good half-time talk. Of a proper review. Or an honest look back over what you could do better or what needs to change.

The following pages are full of stories of things we’re reviewing at the half-way point in order to have the best second-half we can in our business. Hopefully you’ll find them helpful & interesting to you too. And maybe they’ll help spark some new ideas for you & your work, to help you make your second-half of 2020 your best 6 months yet.