American Idol - About the distinctions

This post is a continuation of the post on 10/21 about music and triathlon:

When you work with a good coach they are there with you observing and providing feedback as you do your workout. They report back on your speed, form, heart rate etc. They shout encouragement as you round the track. "Relax your shoulders and keep your head up! Lean forward Dan, let gravity work for you". It's the same thing in music when you are doing scales or practicing a song. Your vocal coach is listening, working with you each step of the way. Coaches observe the details and can help you make minor corrections in the smallest movement or sound which can make a big difference in the overall performance. In order to do that, they need to be totally grounded and have expertise as it relates to the distinctions of the sport or musical discipline.

American Idol is a great example of what I'm talking about. After each performance the four judges offer feedback and for me, as a trained vocalist, the feedback is not very good or useful. Given the lack of rigor with the distinctions by the judges I think it's safe for me to state that the perfomers are left in a confused state much of the time. Rarely are the judges saying the same thing. And maybe it's all for show... however it points to what this post is all about.

The problem with coaching in the domain of communication (sales, customer service, management and leadership) is that up till now, the distinctions have been a bit fuzzy. In other words, if you were to ask 100 sales people what constitutes a great sales effort, you're certain to get many different answers. And herein lays the problem.

Until you can get your entire company on the same page, operating with the same set of distinctions in the domain of communications, all you have is a bunch of independent cowboys riding the range doing their own thing. However, once you can harness the power of the team, by adopting a model (shared language, shared practices and shared distinctions), then you've got something very powerful.

Your company begins to operate like a finely tuned orchestra or like a Super Bowl winning football team... because everyone is on the same page.

Is this possible you ask, in the domain of sales, customer service, leadership and management? The answer is a resounding YES! Here's how it works.

Do you know that in the english language there are now one million words! This is more than any other language and is part of the problem. Without distinctions in how to use language it's easy to get lost in the words, in the detail, in the data of communication.

The good news is this... there are in FACT only six linguistic moves or acts that are responsible for everything on the planet. That's right, one million words can be broken down into six moves in language. Understanding and being competent and even masterful at these six moves makes it possible and in fact, easy to learn. Additionally, it makes coaching more powerful and it makes measurement possible.

During the next blog, I'll get into it in some more detail.

Stay tuned!