Excellence in Training

My Program is Great, Theirs Sucks!

How often have you heard some version of the old "My program is great, but programs X,Y and Z suck." from a trainer attempting to sell their program? We all have programs and systems that we believe in. I am assuming that you believe what you teach is the best or most effective program for your officers. If you do not believe this why are you teaching it?

Over the years I have been exposed to a lot of trainers, training, systems, beliefs, thoughts and ideas. If you have been reading my blog or my articles for a while you know that I have some strong opinions on a number of topics relating to mental preparation and effective training. 

I think it is good that we do not all think the same, teach the exact same way and teach the exact same material. That makes the world interesting and allows all of us to grow. What bothers me however, is hearing trainers attempt to sell their system, product, etc by running down other people's stuff. They spend more time bad mouthing other people than they do talking about the merits of their material.

Here is my advice. Sell your program based on the merits of your program. If your program is not good enough to stand on its own without having to run down someone else, then step back and have a look at your program. Sell the features and benefits of your program.

Every program has something to offer. No program has everything. Seek to improve yourself, your material, your delivery and the learning experience for the people who attend your programs. Leave the attack ads and slandering of others to the politicians.

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 those of you who still love to hold a real book in your hands go to www.warriorspiritbooks.com.   

 

 

 

The Power of Questions

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of doing a 4 hour Pursuit of Personal Excellence presentation at the Alberta Game Warden Association conference. It was a great afternoon with a very receptive and very interactive audience of law enforcement professionals and their spouses. That evening I had the privilege  of delivering the after dinner keynote address. In the weeks leading up to the event I pondered various themes and topics for the keynote address. As I mulled over the many possibilities a question from Emerson came to mind. This question is often posed by my friend Bill Westfall, "What has become clear to you since we last met?" 

What has become clear to me over the last few years is the power of questions. The most powerful of all those questions is What's Important Now? (Which I now refer to in all my presentations as Life's Most Powerful Question.) 

As trainers too often you feel like you need to have all the answers. I have learned you do not. What you do need to have is the patience and confidence to ask good questions. As Dan James says "Asking questions will get you the performance you are after far better than dictating demands." Questions help everyone involved to learn and grow through self-­‐reflection which is a more powerful tool for creating lasting change than being told what to do by someone else. Questions guide people to discover the answers through their understand, knowledge, experience and perspective.

Questions are a powerful tool during debriefings. Questions such as

• How did you feel about your performance?
• What did you do well?
• What did you learn from the experience?
• What would you like to do differently in a similar situation in the future?
• What do you need from me for you to be more successful in the future? 

I have discovered the key to effective debriefings is simply to Ask More - Tell Less. 

I ended the keynote address Saturday night the same way I will end this post with the challenge to reflect on your life by asking yourself the following questions from Jim Rohn:

"You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay? Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change."

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.   

 

 

Are you going pick on me?

We all know cops don't like to sit in the front row of a classroom. As much as trainers complain about officers that sit at the back, you are no different. Go to any law enforcement trainers conference and the back rows there fill up first. 

When I get people that voluntarily sit in the front rows I like to thank them for doing so. On more than one occasion officers have asked me "Are you going to pick on me if I sit here?" I explain to them that I do not pick on anyone during the presentation and would certainly not pick on someone who has the courage to sit in the front row. 

Why would someone have to ask that question? The answer is simple. Because they have been picked on before, or watched other officers in class get picked on. If you want people to sit near the front then thank them, reward them, encourage them but do not pick on them.

I hear trainers complain about how hard it is to get cops to participate in class only to watch those same trainers embarrass people when they do participate. I have even seen trainers encourage someone to speak up by guaranteeing them "I won't embarrass you" and as soon as the person spoke up the trainer embarrassed them. If you want people to participate in your class then thank them for their participation, acknowledge their contribution, ask followup questions to probe deeper into their answer but do not embarrass them.

It should bother you as a trainer that officers are concerned about getting singled out and picked on in training. If those in attendance are concerned about it you know there are people that stayed away because of it. If you are like me and you have been the one singled out and embarrassed in a class you know what I am talking about. No one likes to be embarrassed especially cops and especially in front of their peers. 

As trainers you need to find ways to encourage people to attend training and make training so informative and enjoyable that they want to come back. If your practices include embarrassing people you need to ask yourself why? What is the benefit? Sure we have all done it at some time and everyone else gets a laugh out of it, but what is the educational benefit? In a risk versus gain analysis the risk is high, and the gain is low. The risk is that officers are reluctant to go to training if they are concerned about being singled out and embarrassed. 

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.   

 

You Still Have to Produce

Recently my wife and I went to a popular restaurant with a group of friends. The restaurant had a great reputation as evidenced by the lineup outside the door. Despite the great reputation the service and the food were both mediocre. In fact, based on my initial interaction with the person I believe was the manager or owner of the restaurant I would have walked out if we were not with a group. So why am I telling you this?

Regardless of your reputation as a trainer, regardless of the buzz created by past performance you always have to produce. Every time you teach, every presentation you deliver you owe it to the people you are training to be at the top of your game. It may be the 100th time you delivered the material, but for the audience it is likely the first time they have experienced it. Even if they have been to that class before it should be different than the time before, and ideally better than the time before. It will be different and better as a result of your critiquing your performance each time and improving the manner in which you deliver the material. 

If you are not evaluating your performance as a trainer and seeking to improve the content and the delivery of your programs, you are doing a disservice to your officers.  

Having just finished writting this I feel like a hypocrite and owe you an apology. I have committed to post a blog entry every Tuesday morning. Many of you are subscribers and weekly readers of the Excellence in Training blog. Last week I failed to post. I failed to produce. I failed to deliver. I am sorry for that. There are lots of excuses such as travel schedule, writers block, etc but they are just that - excuses. I am sorry I failed to deliver and thank you for your continued support and readership.

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.