A Narrow Mind and a Fat Head

At the start of a new year many people get caught up in diets and make that annual promise to eat better and exercise more in order to lose weight. After weeks of over eating people tend to stand on the scale and marvel at the weight they have gained. 

This post is not about diets or exercise although I do encourage you to eat healthy and regularly engage in functional fitness activities. This post is about about narrow and fat, but it specifically focuses on what's above the shoulders, not what is below.

"A narrow mind and a fat head invariably come on the same person"

Zig Ziglar

Sometimes as trainers and educators we develop a narrow mind. You stop looking at what other trainers are doing to see if you can improve. You fail to look outside of our industry for information, advice, direction and new ideas. You stop innovating. You stick with the same lessons plans because it is easier than redoing all of them. You stop going to conferences and courses. When you do go to conferences you discount anything that is different from what you are already doing or you just hang out in the halls and visit because after all there is nothing you could learn in any of those classes. You stop asking for feedback on your program.

Sometimes you also get a fat head. You read the course evaluations and embrace all the ones that talk about how great you are and discount the ones from people that were not that impressed with your program. When people offer advice or constructive feedback you discount it saying "What do they know?" You are the 'lead instructor' for your organization so you start to believe that puts you at the top of the instructor food chain. You get some articles published and maybe even have a book and you start to think there is nothing more you can learn. 

OK, time for honest reflection for all of us. Have you developed a narrow mind? Have you gotten a fat head? Be honest. It happens to all of us at one time or another. The key is to recognize it and do something about it. 

Take care. 

Brian Willis

If you are interested in booking Brian Willis for a Harnessing the Winning Mind and Warrior Spirit or Pursuit of Personal Excellence Seminar or an Excellence in Training Course contact him at winningmind@mac.com. You can visit his website at www.winningmindtraining.com for a list of presentations and courses Brian can offer your organization, staff training function or conference.

Registration is now available for the 2012 Legacy of Excellence Conference. 

W.I.N. 1: Critical Issues in Training and Leading Warriors, W.I.N. 2: Insights Into Training and leading Warriors, If I Knew Then: Life Lessons From Cops on the Street and W.I.N. 2: Warrior Reflections are now all available in e-book format for your iPad and your favorite e-book reader. For print versions go to www.warriorspiritbooks.com.   

 

 

Comments

[Mitchell Weinzetl]

Brian,

I couldn’t agree with you more; complacency kills cops and training programs, and poor training puts officers at risk. Before we are too quick to vilify the trainers, however, keep in mind that oftentimes they are not the decision-makers, and many Chiefs and Sheriffs (and other command staff) are predisposed to the “way we’ve always done it.” I know because I am not only a police chief, I have been a use of force and firearms trainer (among other things) for more than twenty years. I have also sent officers to instructor certification schools and then expected them to teach and train the way that I was initially taught; that was a long time ago.

I recently attended a two-day FLETC use of force refresher school and I was thoroughly impressed with the delivery and the program, but more importantly, with the content. Several ideas were presented that I feel will be worthwhile to bring back to my agency and that I intend to incorporate into both our policies and our training programs.
Your message is a good one, but it needs to reach the decision-maker level. Even though I pride myself on being change-oriented, when the change suggested is someone else’s idea, I can be difficult to convince. As instructors, we must continue to learn and grow as you have suggested, but another aspect of improving our training programs may involve the need to convince decision-makers of the value of making a change.

Instructors who are facing such a challenge need to keep in mind that the Chief or Sheriff may not fully understand what you want to do and why, and it will be up to you to make sure they can see the value in what you are suggesting. Here’s a hint; whenever possible, get your boss to set aside some uninterrupted time to discuss the issue, make sure you’ve done your homework, and then make your pitch.

Mitchell Weinzetl