Shotgun vs. Sniper

Choose your weapon.

Jul 07, 2021

While scrolling on Twitter the other day, I came across an interesting tweet from The Coaches Club that caught my eye.

1️⃣ Use a Sniper not a Shotgun Too often coaches pause a game, give feedback, then when play resumes they give feedback on everything they see instead of what they just gave feedback on Sniper = Specific, targeted feedback Shotgun = Feedback on everything the coach sees

The Coaches Club @CoachesClub_

A Shotgun approach doesn't help learning It actually hinders it... When we use a Shotgun approach, players don't know where to focus their attention We're overloading their working memory Their brains literally cannot handle all the feedback we're giving them

The Coaches Club @CoachesClub_

When we use a Sniper approach, players know exactly what they are supposed to be focused on and we as coaches know exactly what we should be providing feedback on. We might actually ignore things that need to be correct so that we can stay focused on what matters most!

Luke Gromer, the founder of the Coaches Club hits the nail on the head. When providing feedback as a leader, often times it is done through a Shotgun approach. Providing input in one area, that is then forgotten quickly to focus on other areas that may need further development. Said another way, focusing on all 8 rabbits, and catching none, instead of focusing on 1 rabbit.

The interesting thing I found with the Shotgun vs. Sniper analogy is that it doesn’t only apply to feedback. It also applies to development.

So often as leaders, we over complicate things for the people we lead. We have job descriptions with 10-12 tasks that a person must complete to have success in the job. We coach players to be defensively responsible, play hard and competitively, be creative, be a good teammate, and so on. We are leading with a Shotgun approach.

We need to change the narrative, and begin to lead through a Sniper approach. Targeted, specific tasks. Destroy and recreate job descriptions to provide 1-2 tasks, that encompass everything a person must do to have success in that role.

And before I get shunned from leadership circles for this concept, let’s take a look.

Below is a posting for a Business Development Representative.

There are 11 tasks that the chosen candidate will need to “master” in order to have success in this role. 11.

We can begin to see how a Shotgun approach to leading can cause anxiety, as there are just so many things to worry about for a new employee.

The main role of a Business Development Representative is to find new business for the company, and maintain the current business they have. All other tasks are just fluff.

And to take it one step further, the wording of some of the tasks, such as “leveraging digital channels to open dialogue to potential customers” begin to retract from the creativity of the employee, something we should look to encourage. What if they know a better way to open dialogue that isn’t through digital channels?

If I were to hire for this position, my job description would look like this:

What You’ll Do:

-Create and foster business relationships with new and existing clients

-With an understanding of the market landscape, meet performance indicators, all while communicating with team members

Destroying and recreating the job description, I reduced the amount of tasks from 11, to 2, all while:

having the exact same tasks, just summarized to be more specific
not overwhelming the employee with a laundry list of things they need to master
allowing the employee to complete the tasks as they see fit, empowering them to channel their inner creativity

Shotgun vs. Sniper approach.

Using the Sniper approach, we explain the task that is needed to be completed, but give the people we lead the power to complete it, allowing them to Get Over the Hump.

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