We’ve played our game, how did we do?

Key Performance Indicators and principle based evaluation

Last Summer I met my nephew for the first time. He’s two and lives in Australia. Over a short period of time we got to hang out a little and play some fun games. One of the memories that will stick with me is playing with a tube of bubbles with him and my cousin’s daughter. We started by just me blowing the bubbles and them trying to pop them. But my ever so capable relations decided that they should be the ones blowing the bubbles. What followed was some of the cutest pursing of lips and least effective bubble blowing I have ever seen. Now, when I look back on that day and try to tie it ever so carefully into the point of this blog post I got drawn to a simple idea. The intended lesson, or the win for me, was that they would each successfully blow bubbles. This failed. But they did work on another important lesson. How to take turns. In this regard the game was a success.

Similarly, when we play games or compete with our teams we have to find the truth of what happens. We will enter the game with an intended outcome – usually to win. But if we determine success purely by wins and losses, it’s likely that we’ll be unsuccessful a lot. So when we reflect on these games we need to refer back to what our principles are. These principles are what is supposed to determine whether or not we’re playing the game the right way or not. The more often we do things right, the more often we should win.

The frequency with which we “do things right” is referred to in the world of sporting analysis as Key Performance Indicators. These will be very different from one team to another. Last season Leicester City were champions of the English Premier League. At a time when the world is going mad about the importance of possession in football they achieved this feat while ranking 18^th/20 in terms of possession and having the lowest pass success rate. So clearly, their KPI’s are quite different to that of a team that prides itself on possession.

One of my favorite books, Switch: How to change things when change is hard, talks about a concept I love. Bright spot coaching. In the book they talk about a man who is sent to India to try to help solve the problem of malnutrition. Rather than launch studies to find the cause of the malnutrition (evaluating why we’re losing) he finds some well-fed kids, meets their parents and finds out what they’re doing right. He invites other children’s parents along and they adopt the habits. Suddenly more and more kids are getting fed better, and in these small communities the problem of malnutrition decreases. This is the approach to coaching that I strive towards. One where we find what we’re doing well, and aim to make these moments bigger and longer.

So, you’ve just played a game, or competed in a meet, or participated in your sport. Now you have to look back on the event. Look back in the right way. Look for what’s really happening, and whether or not it’s what you set out to have happen. Are you finding the player in front of the goal with a dry pass?