Last weekend the final of the Rugby World Cup was held in Japan. Congratulations to South Africa for being crowned the world champion.
It has been a great tournament; some surprises and upsets, exciting games, great crowds and great exposure for the game. Some of the teams will go home happy with their performances. Others will be wondering what went wrong, what could we have done differently? Some coaches or Performance Directors (and Boards!) will be asking what can we learn from the tournament and our preparation before-hand that will help us be better prepared and perform better next time?
Post-event review and analysis is essential for sustained success, whether you have met your performance targets or not. A learning organization is a successful organization. Reflection, asking hard questions and (pre) planned reviews/analysis are hallmarks of a learning organization. Here are some of the lessons we have learned at APEX Global Sport Group after facilitating dozens of performance/campaign reviews:
It is difficult to undertake meaningful internal, self-reviews. Many issues get ignored or downplayed if an organization reviews itself. External, objective reviews are strongly recommended
Use evidence as much as possible vs. opinion. Ideally evidence collection is set up well ahead of time rather than trying to piece together relevant data after the fact.
Be broad – involve as many stakeholders as possible, not just the ones that will give you the answers that you want
Go wide and go deep. Don’t just look at the game result or the performance outcomes, look at EVERYTHING that contributed to, or led to the results. For example, selection, the final preparation period, health/medical management, peaking tapering, logistics and so on. And don’t just settle for the first, sometimes most obvious answers. Ask Why, Why, Why!
The best reviews are set up and pre-planned a long time before the event starts. Build reviews into your strategic plan as part of standard procedure.
Review and analysis of performance is often seen as a knee-jerk reaction to an unexpected loss or poor performance. However, if they are set up before hand and communicated to all stakeholders that it will happen regardless of the outcomes, it will not be seen as a panic reaction.
Olympic and Paralympic teams are less than 12 months away from the 2020 Games in Tokyo. Don’t wait for the Games to finish and then ask “what just happened”. Plan for a review now to set the path for, or “tweak” your strategy for the next 4 years.
For more information about comprehensive, independent review and analysis please contact us at info@apex-gsg.com
