#6 Do What You Can Do, to the Best of Your Ability
At Stonewall, we push the team members to consciously understanding what they're good at and encourage them to do whatever it is to the best of their ability every single time. There will always be things you're not great at (maybe it's a specific toss, or a turn, or a drill move), but there will always be things you're great at. Exploit that! Then start to work on the things you're not so good at, one at a time (see Rule #7).
Real World Application: Often times people focus on improving what they're not good at. Think about at school, it's the classes that you don't do well in that you often focus on, and if you pay attention closely, you'll notice it's likely at the detriment of what you're really good at! Gallup - a consulting firm best known for it's polling capability - talks about exploiting your natural talents, and then do your best to make your weakest areas acceptable. For some more insight, check out Gallup's website, and how they distinguish between a talent and a strength here. At work, if you are known for something, people will know to call upon you for that subject matter expertise, and it becomes part of your personal brand. For example, at work I'm known for my expertise in Federal Recruiting, even though I also know how to do Competency Modeling, Workforce Planning, Leadership Development, and leadership Coaching. People know that if they need expertise in Federal Recruiting, they call me first, but they also know I'm capable of doing other things as well.
#7 Make One Thing Better Each Time
Particularly during auditions, at spin clinics, or when learning new work, we tell the members to make one thing better each time. Sometimes if they think about the work as a whole, they get overwhelmed and they try to get everything right every time...and as a result, don't get anything right and worse yet, get anxious and frustrated. Instead, if you don't worry about everything, and focus in on one thing to improve, you're more likely to actually improve that one item. Think of it as a small win! If you add up all the small improvements you make, by the end of running through the choreography ten times, you'll have fixed ten things!
This advice is also something choreographers, coaches and instructors should remember. Don't expect one of the members to fix everything you're asking them to fix in one try. Give them corrections at the same rate that they can actually apply those corrections. For example, if you're teaching a movement section, first fix the steps or their feet. Let them get that right, and then work to correct their arms. Once that's corrected, then give them more information about where their head should be facing. You get the idea.
Real World Application: No one is perfect, and yes, you should knock it out of the park in the talent area you have (See Rule #6), but that doesn't mean you should ignore your weaknesses - or as we like to say at my company "opportunities for improvement." But sometimes when you try to improve in multiple areas at once it's overwhelming and you're less likely to make noticeable improvement. Take, for example, my job. I need to know multiple functional areas of human capital (like I mentioned above), I need to know the contracting process, I need to know financials (finance I know, our method of finance tracking I do not know). I have to be good at people management, and I could go on. Each of those categories has multiple areas that I need to learn, too! If I try to become good at all of that, I won't be able to improve a noticeable amount in any area. However, if I choose a couple areas to focus on at a time, I'll get noticed for my improvements. For example, this year I'm working less on learning new functional areas within human capital, but rather am continuing to develop my project and people management skills. I love both areas, but am finally getting the opportunity to build on what I know and manage a team and a project. By the end of this project, my boss will know I can manage people and projects, and I can start expanding my financial knowledge next!
#8 Finish Strong
Color guard is a judged activity. Human nature is to remember your first impression and your last impression. Every performance will have mistakes - be them minor or major - but the judge and the audience will remember how you end. Choreographers and show designers keep this in mind when they create the show. We want to have an opening that sets the stage for what the judges and audience should expect. And most importantly, we need an ending that leaves an impression with them so they remember your team. Here's an amazing moment from SI in 2013, captured by Jolesch during their finals run at WGI World Championships, where they went on to win the silver medal in Independent A (IA) class.
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| 2013 Stonewall Independent WGI IA Silver Medalists The Ending (c) Jolesch Photography |
#9 Just Breathe
Often times in color guard or other performing activities, coaches remind the performers to "just breathe." We often use this at Stonewall when we're warming up before a show and someone is trying too hard to get a toss and is messing it up over and over. I remind them to take a deep breath and it helps them recenter, and remember that there's no need to stress. I would say 9 times out of 10, just a few deep breaths are enough to recenter the students I work with, and remind them that they're supposed to LOVE performing, not stress about it. The other 1 time out of 10, I just have to try something else.
Real World Application: Breathing is the body's natural way to de-stress regularly. There's even research that shows that how you breathe can cause your brain to get out of the stress mode, it can lower your blood pressure and heart rate, spark brain growth, and can even change gene expression (check out this article on NPR or this one on Forbes)! Imagine you're at work, you just found out your client/boss hates what you're working on and you have to redo it tonight because it's due tomorrow. So you stop, and take a few really deep breaths. You automatically can refocus and stop panicking, so that you can stop wasting time worrying and move into action to get the job done.
#10 Don't be Married to Anything (aka expect change)
At Stonewall, we constantly tweak every single count of the show. We have about 7-8 months to work on a four minute show, rehearsing about 15-20 hours a week....on four minutes of a show! That's a lot of repetition. Many color guards have portions of their show that don't change and they practice by repetition over and over. At Stonewall, we run rehearsals a bit differently. We do far fewer repetitions, and instead spend time in rehearsals tweaking parts until they make the most sense. We expect the members to pick up the changes quickly, and just get them right, even if we only get to practice it a few times. As a result, our show changes every single week, and not in the sense that we add to the show. No, we fundamentally change a couple sections, and then minority change nearly every single section of work (adding lower body, adding free hands, turning some people around to face backwards, adjusting choreography, switching entire drill spots).
We don't EVER set anything in stone, until the last week (and even then, we make changes!). The students we teach understand that change will happen, and they know we always have the best interest of the show and group in mind. It's never personal when we make changes (okay, ALMOST never personal). As a result, they've all learned to adapt to change incredibly well! It is not innate in everyone to be adaptable like that; you have to practice it so that you can change quickly, when needed.
Real World Application: When I hear about employees or staff who are unhappy at work, it's often because there is a major change occurring (or they perceive the change to be major). However, my assumption is always that change will occur. I can decide to go with the change or find another job, but there's no use in stressing over the change. If you start to embrace change as a necessary occurrence for business to align to the market, then you won't see change as a bad thing, or a personal attack on you. Imagine if you just go with the flow, and start to find ways to make the change work, you'll be seen as someone who is a problem solver, instead of a problem identifier. And your stress level will go down 10000%!!
There are probably 20 more rules at Stonewall that apply in the real world, so there may be yet another post. We shall see! What rules do you have in your performing group that may translate to the real world?
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