Jumpers For Goalposts

Last night we had our weekly gymnastics class.

To clarify, I was accompanying my daughter, rather than slipping on a sequinned leotard and practising my ribbon routine.

And incidentally—hosting a gym class looks fun!

If I ever take a break from L&D, being a kid's gym instructor may be just the ticket.

From what I can gather, the job primarily involves leading a gaggle of excitable 5-year olds Pied-Piper style around a gymnasium and doing a variety of random activities including star jumps, monkey bars and balance beams.

Fourteen kids each paying $18… not bad for an hour's work!

Whilst this daylight robbery was unfolding in front of my eyes, I couldn’t help but notice a five-aside soccer match being played on the other side of the sports hall (I’m loathed to call it “soccer”—where I come from it’s called "football". I mean, the point of the game is kicking the ball. But round here they called a variety of egg-shaped sports “football”. And seeing as we’re quite an international bunch, I thought it important to clarify).

Being an avid?soccer?fan, and having not played for several years, watching this filled me with nostalgia and quickly consumed my attention.

As the game progressed, I spotted a nervous-looking teenager playing striker for the green-bibbed team.

Throughout the time I was watching, he had at least eight attempts to score, only to see his shots saved.

I quickly realised his problem—he wasn’t trying to score, he was trying not to miss.

All of his shots were on target, but they were straight at the keeper.

Maybe it was pressure from his teammates?

Or maybe his teacher had instructed him to “hit it hard and low, and you’ll increase the probability of scoring.”

Cue flashbacks from second-grade football practise (my PE teacher was an indignant ex-rugby player called Mr Bond, who thought soccer was for sissies and repeatedly called me “Andy”).

The problem is, when you hit your shots hard and low, you're hedging your bets.

Yes, the keeper may fumble or be in the wrong spot.

But when you?don’t?aim for the corner, you run the risk of them being saved.

And there just so happened to be the footballing equivalent of Spider-Man in goal, which meant every shot went straight into his hands and stuck to them like glue.

Had he aimed for the corners, he may have blazed a few over—but one of them might have gone in.

This reminded me of L&D—so often, we make sacrifices rather than going for broke.

We skimp on analysing the real problem because the client is hankering for a quick solution.

We avoid interviewing employees because they're so busy.

We force extraneous content down our learner's throats, just because the SME told us it was essential.

The problem is, when the objective is to improve performance, there's little margin for error—especially when we're defining a strategy.

One small compromise and the whole plan is in jeopardy.

When it comes to identifying the problem or opportunity, we either get it right or wrong.

There are no half points for trying.

Of course, there may be?certain situations where we need to compromise.

And?some?performance improvement is better than none.

But this relates to the choice of tactics, rather than approach.

So, as you enter your next client conversation, consider whether you’re?really?trying to score... or trying not to miss.

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