There’s a saying in the performance world: "You never rise to the occasion; you fall to your level of training.”
Jim CastigliaThis applies to ANY endeavor, from business to sports, martial arts, special operations, and academia. That’s why constant training and practice are essential in these environments.
I worked for author and business guru Chet Holmes from 2019 through 2012 and trained in his philosophy of business excellence. Tony Robbins was so impressed that they became partners. I attended Chet’s memorial service in 2012 in Santa Monica, CA, following his 17-month unsuccessful battle with leukemia.
Relentless Focus on Key Strategies
He wrote a great book on business growth, The Ultimate Sales Machine—Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies, which I highly recommend.
In this month’s article, I’ll focus on one of those 12 strategies and share some of Chet’s insights and observations.
But first, here’s my question to you… is regular training a core competency of your business?
If it isn’t, here’s why it should be and some powerful potential benefits:
- Training can help everyone on your team “sing from the same hymnal.”
- Training can help everyone sing in harmony
- Training can help new employees hit the ground running
- Training can upgrade the knowledge and skills of existing employees
- Training can provide continuous professional development
- Training can solve any problems in your organization.
Since training can be so valuable, why is it neglected in most companies? Leaders and managers are “too busy” and think training interferes with work and decreases productivity. They struggle to see the value of regular training.
Yes, they may see the value of occasional or sporadic training, especially if it makes people feel good and inspires them. The problem is that sporadic training doesn’t stick or “glue in,” and the inspiration fades. Then everyone gets too busy again, and we’re back to square one.
People Won’t Learn On Their Own
Additionally, people won’t learn independently and often resist learning, especially if they’re smart and highly educated.
Business guru Chris Argyris wrote a Harvard Business Review Classic titled Teaching Smart People How to Learn because it’s such a problem.
Argyris found that people resisted learning because of a fear of failure, looking incompetent, vulnerability, potential embarrassment, and feeling threatened.
They were highly accomplished and not used to failure. Anything that raised their possible contributions to negative results was treated with blame and defensiveness.
Due to this resistance to learning, many fields (law, medical, dental, engineering, accounting, teaching, real estate, psychology, and architecture) started requiring mandatory continuing education units for re-certification. Continuing education is mandatory because most people wouldn’t do it alone.
So, if you can admit the significant benefit of introducing regular and consistent training and practice into your firm, what's the way forward?
Keep in mind that repetition is key to training. Think about how often great salespeople, professional athletes, martial artists, and special operators practice specific actions to program their responses. They don’t want to make it up on the spot or wing it. They don’t want to think in the “heat of battle.” They want to respond perfectly to the demands of their environment. They can execute that skill unconsciously and very competently. That’s what makes them great.
Benefits of Regular Training
If you see the benefit of regular training in your firm, follow the steps below:
- Make it mandatory
- Create an in-depth training plan for your company (what areas to start)
- Tell your people what to expect and what they’ll learn
- Set a schedule and follow it religiously (e.g., Mondays are 9 am)
- Use visual aids to boost learning; humans are visual
- make it fun by involving people in the training through role plays, discussions, questions, tests and quizzes, hot seats, case studies, and other participatory exercises; if it’s fun, your people will look forward to it.
Of course, if you have any questions or would like any support, reach out to me at my personal email, jvcastiglia@icloud.com, or call or text me at 949.338.7141.
Jim Castiglia is the founder of Business Street Fighter Consulting and supports entrepreneurial business owners in their desire to grow and maximize the value of their business. He can be reached by email at JimC@BSF.consulting or by phone at 949-338-7141. Visit www.BSF.consulting
