Show, don't tell: the power of video feedback

“While we might know how we feel or think at any given moment, how we appear to and are perceived by others is harder to understand. Used in conjunction with psychometric and 360 degree feedback, video can provide the final piece in the self-awareness jigsaw, generating telling moments that lead to real enlightenment.”

The words are from our own website, and refer to our use of video as a key element in our commitment to providing learners with rich feedback. If we’re being really picky with ourselves – surely not unreasonable for an organisation that highly values self-awareness as a foundation of development – we might take issue with one of the words we used: ‘telling’.

Part of the specific power of using observational video as an integral part of leadership and development programmes comes from the fact that it illustrates an approach that is usually applied as an edict in a very different medium of literature and fiction: “show, don’t tell.”