Adrian Trenholm

Performance improvement at NASCAR

September 13th, 2006

I have been sent this picture on a couple of occasions now in the Just Sell newsletter. The man in the helmet is a NASCAR pit mechanic, practising his wheel changing routine. Sam Parker from Just Sell snapped the picture on his cellphone:

This crew member was practicing his job – removing and installing lug nuts on the wheel of a race car — approaching the details with full commitment in a sport where less than a quarter of a second (less than the time lost to a dropped lug nut) can translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in added winnings.

By practicing, I’m sure he tends to perform better .

What I find really interesting is not the practising in itself, but the sophistication of the rig the mechanic is working on, and the presence of a dedicated observer by his side. Clearly, he and his team are serious about performance improvement.

This picture really speaks to me in my periodic role as a trainer. Challenging exercises and accurate feedback are the keys to performance improvement.

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