Personal Bests, Blind Spots & Better Teams

I recently had the opportunity to bring the World Record Mindset to the Town of Drumheller’s All-Staff Meeting. The theme of the presentation was Teamwork. Mindset. Personal Best., and over 45 minutes we explored how the same mindset that goes into pursuing a world record can apply to the way we approach our work, our relationships and the challenges we face as part of a team.

I shared the story of setting a world record on my 62nd attempt and used it to introduce one of the core ideas behind World Record Mindset: every world record starts with a personal best. The record itself might happen once, but it is built on all of the attempts, failures, adjustments and small improvements that came before it. In the workplace, that same idea shifts the focus away from perfection and toward continued growth — asking what our best looks like today and what we can learn that will help us be better tomorrow.

From there, we talked about some of the things that can either help or get in the way of people doing their best work. We explored the idea of reducing friction, making better use of the knowledge of the people closest to a problem, and becoming more aware of the blind spots that naturally exist when people have different roles, experiences and perspectives. One of the ideas I wanted people to leave with was that when someone sees something we do not, it does not automatically have to feel like criticism. Sometimes it is simply information we did not have before.

We also spent time on difficult conversations and the value of asking earlier so we can learn sooner. That means asking before assuming, being willing to say what we are seeing, accepting that we might be wrong, and helping create an environment where other people feel comfortable doing the same. Those conversations are not always easy, but avoiding them rarely makes them easier.

The post-presentation survey was especially encouraging. Forty-five staff members completed the survey, and 85% of those who rated the presentation gave it a 4 or 5 out of 5. The ideas that showed up most often in the feedback included personal bests, blind spots, reducing friction, teamwork and difficult conversations. Comments such as “Fresh perspective,” “Celebrating your personal best,” and “You said so much without using jargon” were particularly meaningful to me. I also appreciated the constructive feedback, including suggestions for even more interaction, because that gives me something to take into the next presentation and continue improving.

A huge thank you to Esther and Julie for bringing me in and giving me the opportunity to work with the Town of Drumheller team. I also want to thank everyone who participated throughout the presentation. The engagement, laughter, comments and insights from the staff added a lot to the conversation and made the morning much more than simply standing at the front of a room and delivering a talk.

I ended by asking everyone to think about what their own personal best could look like that day. Maybe it was having a conversation they had been putting off, reducing one source of friction, looking for a blind spot or simply choosing one thing they could do differently. That is ultimately what World Record Mindset is about: not expecting a world record every day, but continuing to find the next opportunity to learn, improve and move our own personal best forward.