IMPROVING THE PRACTICE PLAN

No one would argue the notion that you need to plan out your practices.  Coaches, managers, organizational development teams all plan for the time they have to develop their staff.  As we have learned from our work at Uncommon over the past several years, chances are that what you are doing now probably isn't nearly good enough, if you want exceptional results from your practice sessions.

Specifically, we are perpetually astonished at just how much it pays off to do three things:

1. Plan with data-driven objectives in mind

2. Plan down to the last minute

3. Rehearse and revise the plan

Coaches and leaders often fail to recognize that planning practice must be a data-driven endeavor.  What is more, the best coaches constantly adapt their practice in response to what they learn about the needs of their team from on-the-job performance and from the results of practice itself.  As people succeed at tasks, you add complexity; as they struggle, you reduce it.

Good plans for practice leave nothing to chance.  There is no question of which drill will be inserted where, or who will get a chance to practice which skills.  There is no mid-practice poll of what favorite drill to do next, no free time earned for efficiency in completing activities.  Plans that lead to successful practice account for each minute with useful activity.

From "Practice Perfect" by Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway, and Katie Yezzi