Is This What This is Supposed to Look Like?

Recently, my wife and I were watching a video of our daughter’s cheerleading squad performing in a tournament. They’d gotten second place, and so my wife (who’s not the coach but who often supports the coaches) was reviewing the tape to determine where the misses were. 

To be clear, second place is great. And we always message that the score is not important if she tries her hardest. Still, it’s still pretty cool to hear them announce that her team placed. 

As we watched the video, I noticed one girl who seemed out of sync with everyone else. They were jumping in unison, but this girl was off. I pointed it out, and my wife explained why. 

“She’s actually jumping higher than them. So she’s landing a split second after they are. Then when she jumps again, she’s slightly behind them. It makes it look like she’s the one messing up, but really, she’s doing the move better than they are.” 

Of course, that doesn’t really matter, as they need to be in unison. So, unfortunately, that girl needs to jump less high going forward. 

But my larger point is that my wife understands cheerleading so well and so deeply, that an eight-year-old jumping ever so slightly higher than other eight-year-olds was immediately noticeable to her. 

I cannot tell you how many times I’m with a leader in either a school or corporate setting, and I ask, “Is this what this is supposed to look like?” and they can’t answer me. 

I observed a leadership team meeting at an insurance company. Half the people were in person, and half were on Zoom. But those on Zoom had cameras off, and some were driving. 

“Is this what this is supposed to look like?” 

I was in a lunch room at a school, and there were ten tables of students and ten adults. One would think it should be one adult to a table, but instead, the adults were huddled together, looking at their phones, and some were eating? 

“Is this what this is supposed to look like?” 

For every last thing you’re trying to accomplish, define what good looks like. Some of this can and should be done in advance. Some will need to be done responsively. That’s okay. But ask yourself, “Is this what this is supposed to look like?” 

If not, define it, message it, and hold everyone accountable to it.