“You’ve been doing it wrong for so long, you don’t even realize how wrong you are doing it!”
That’s my coach’s feedback as she watches my butterfly stroke at a recent Master’s swim practice. She’s right. My kick is out of rhythm with my arms, and it looks like I’m swimming uphill. But with instruction, drills, slowing down, practice (lots of practice) and commitment to improving, steady progress is being made.
Coaching and practice go hand in hand for almost every activity, including how we approach our professional lives. No matter how long you’ve been working, or how good you are, seeking objective feedback and combining it with repeatable practice is critical. I’ve been trying to become a better swimmer for nearly six decades, and I’ve been trying to become a better writer and communicator for almost as long. There is no finish line for improvement.
I was reminded of this by Billy Warden, RLF’s Chief Strategy Officer, during a recent all-team staff call where he urged everyone to be more proactive and engaged in providing feedback on each other’s work. Feedback casts a wide net, including edits, compliments, opinions, questions and things to consider. Rather than just say “do better, work harder,” he provided specific tips and action steps on how to how make the content we create better. He focused on the touchstones of brevity, clarity and urgency, and reaffirmed the importance of practice, practice, practice. A few days later, that advice was put into action when one of our Account Executives provided grammar and editing tips to a teammate on how to strengthen a bylined article written for a client. It made me smile.
As we enter a long-awaited spring season, take a step back and ask how you are gathering and implementing feedback to improve whatever your job is. How can you add value to the work you produce? If you don’t have a mentor or team member available to review your work, an AI tool can be an extremely effective resource—but only if you use it the right way. The most valuable outputs don’t come from a single prompt. They come from dialogue.
I’ve found that one of the most powerful habits is asking AI to ask questions before it gives an answer. That short back-and-forth dramatically improves the quality of the response. And it mirrors what great coaches do. They don’t just shout instructions from the deck; they ask what you’re trying to fix, what feels off and what outcome you want. Context first. Correction second.
Dozens of books and resources are available to help create action plans for improvement. I’m particularly fond of Atomic Habits by James Clear. But whatever path you choose to follow or plan you put in place, couple it with coaching and feedback from peers, technology and third-party resources. The definition of insanity is repeating the same things over and over while expecting different results. That’s why I’m finally committed to coaching, video review, dry land training and practice (lots of practice) so I can finally stop swimming butterfly uphill.
By RLF Communications Founder & CEO Monty Hagler
