Leadership Tip: Watch Game Film

If you're a sports fan, played ball in high school, or are familiar with the world of sports at all, I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept of game film. If you're not, it's pretty simple to understand. A game film is just that - film of a game. It's video footage that coaches and teams look back on to see both what they did well and where they can improve.

A camera is an excellent tool for evaluation because it doesn’t lie. It shows you exactly what happened. 

Try filming yourself and your team leading worship, then go back and watch. The first few times, you probably won't like what you see. But that's okay. If you see something wrong and make adjustments, you'll begin to see improvements.

“Game film” of your services will show you where individuals on your team are engaged with a worship service and where they’re not. It will show you if you look bored or excited. It will allow you to see what your posture is communicating. It will tell you if you stumble over yourself speaking or if you get straight to the point. 

Like I said, you may not like what you see, but it will lead to improvement if you really evaluate yourself, make adjustments, and try again. The point is this: game film will tell you how you're leading. 

This is one of the easiest ways to find out where your team can improve. It’s also easy to set up - many of us live stream and record our services already. Even if you don’t, you probably have a phone that will do the trick. 

As you’re watching your game film, start by asking yourself these questions:

-If I were a congregant in the service, would I want to follow those leaders? Why/Why not?
-Do the words I’m hearing make sense? (In speaking moments)
-Is the band engaged with what’s going on?
-Do the people on stage look like they believe what they’re saying?
-Do I/does my team look bored?
-How am I demonstrating worship?
-How am I encouraging worship? 

At Worship Leader Coaching we provide a service called a Worship Service Evaluation. During an evaluation we do this for you: we watch your game film, evaluate your service for you, and then give you steps to take to improve! Obviously, you can do this yourself (and we encourage it!) but we also know that sometimes you need an outside perspective to see what you might otherwise miss. Click here to get a Worship Service Evaluation today!