At the risk of becoming an Olympics bore, I found this fascinating article on the BBC website about the video technology that helps Olympic athletes to perform at their best - of particular interest was how it related to employee performance and feedback. 

The article describes how many years ago, the analysis of the athlete's performance was all done in the coach's mind, and it was all subjective.  The problem with this was that the coach can usually only remember 30% of the athlete's peformance, and this limits the feedback that the coach is able to give.

What the new video  technology provides is a moment to moment analysis of every move the athlete makes, which then enables the coach to advise on the small adjustments that make good performance brilliant.  The video system also acts as a reminder to the athlete of their best peformances, and the overlay allows comparisons to be made between different performances.

"The beauty of the software is that we can make changes during the actual performance as opposed to afterwards," Mr Murray says. So in the case of cycle team sprints, where there are breaks between races, it might affect gear selection, or the angle of attack round the bend.

In helping employees to accelerate their performance, good feedback is really critical. And that doesn't just mean feedback from one person (the manager), but all-round 360 Degree Feedback from everyone who sees the employee in action. This regular 360 degree feedback, together with consistent goal-setting and goal-reviews, is the equivalent of the the cycling software described in the BBC article.  Together it provides richer feedback, and enables changes to be made to the employee's performance on a day to day or week to week basis, not just at the end of the year.  It also helps the manager to help the employee make the small adjustments that will make their performance really great.  Small changes are easier to make, and with the right coaching, can lead to more motivated and engaged teams. 

Gold medals all round!