Excellence in Training

Letting Go

A few years ago Joe Calloway delivered an exceptional presentation at a National Speakers Association Conference. The focus of the presentation was the question "What are you letting go of?" Calloway's challenge to all the professional speakers and trainers in the audience was to look at what they teach, and the products they sell and decide what they needed to let go of. He encouraged everyone to let go of the presentations and training programs that are comfortable because they have taught them so many times but are stale in their content and their delivery. He encouraged people to ensure the material and the manner in which it is presented is fresh. 

He also asked a great question that really struck a cord with me. "What are you good at that you feel trapped by?" Great question. As I reflected on it I realized there were a few presentations and programs I was teaching that, while I was good at teaching them I felt trapped. I no longer looked forward to teaching those programs. I was no longer excited to see them on the calendar. As a professional I showed up and gave it what I believed was my best effort. Do I believe the participants of those programs realized I was no longer excited to teach them? I doubt it. Did they truly and honestly get my very best? In all honesty the answer is probably not. At a subconscious level you are going to be influence by the fact the program no longer excites you. So, what do you do?

In my case I stepped away from some of those programs and referred clients to other people who could provide great training for them. If you find yourself in the same position then move on to something else. It is easy to get comfortable with what you know, what you are good at or what makes you money. None of those are good enough reasons to keep doing it.

If walking away is not an option then rework the program. Find new material, new exercises, new ways of teaching the material to make it fresh and keep it fun. This will enhance the experience for both you and your officers. 

You need to step back and look at what you teach and how you teach it then ask yourself "What do I need to let go of?" What are you teaching just because that is how you have always taught it? What are you teaching just because it is in the lesson plan when you no it is no longer valid, or no longer the best tactic for your officers. It is easy to get too comfortable with the material, the powerpoint and the drills. It takes work to update course training standards and lesson plans. It takes time and energy to continually be reading, training and studying to keep abreast of the latest information and the latest tactics and techniques. It takes work to filter through all the new information and determine what is appropriate for your officers and your agency. It takes work to build a business case for why we need to do things differently. It takes time and effort to changes peoples attitudes and to convince the naysayers. But, it is worth the time and effort.

If you are not willing to put in the work, the time and the effort then it is time to let go of your role as a trainer. 

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.

Register now for the 2012 Legacy of Excellence Conference and save $100.00 of the registration fee. 

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.   

 

 

Ten Commandments of Presentations

The following is from the great blog "Nick Morgan, Public Words" -

The 10 Commandments of Presentations

I. Thou shall speak authentically, from the heart.

II. Thou shall focus on the audience.

III. Thou shall not use Power Point as speaker notes.

IV. Thou shall not begin thy speech with a joke*.

V. Thou shall speak with all appropriate passion, and not be boring.

VI. Thou shall tell stories and not kill thine audience with endless data.

VII. Thou shall not make a sales pitch for thy company or thy services.

VIII. Thou shall not begin with talk of thyself.

IX. Thou shall not speak through thy nose, or at the floor, or while advancing thy slides.

X. Thou shall not exceed thine allotted time.

(*unless thou is really, really funny.)

This is great advice and was driven home recently when I attended a presentation where the speaker violated all of these. 

Make sure you check out Nick Morgan's blog at http://publicwords.typepad.com/nickmorgan/

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.   

 

 

 

 

Seek To Be Worth Knowing

"Worry not that no one knows of you; seek to be worth knowing."

Confucius

I just had the pleasure of spending a week at the Southeast Regional Warrior Symposium surrounded by people worth knowing. Some of those people presented at the event, some of those people attended the event and some of those people were part of the organization and logistics of the event. Some of the people were well known and others were not. All were worth knowing. 

The list of presenters included Bobby Henline, Col. Danny McKnight, , SGM (ret) Billy Waugh, Col. Pete VanAmburgh, Dr. Michael Sulick, Dr. Mike Asken, Dr. Alexis Artwohl, Chris Lawrence, Chris Ghannam, Jeff Norwitz, Jeff Chudwin, Dr. Mauricio Lynn, Pete Gould, Henk Iverson, Kevin Dillon and others. Some are true heroes. All of them are warrior scholars and all worth knowing.

The people who attended the event were equally impressive. All of them are warrior scholars and all worth knowing.

What made them worth knowing? The way they have lived and continue to live their lives. None of them have achieved what they did in life by being concerned about who knew them. None were concerned about awards, honors and accolades. They each set about to become the best they could be in their field and use that experience and expertise to help others achieve excellence in their lives.

What does this have to do with you as a trainer? Everything. I see too many trainers that are concerned with who knows them. They are concerned about dropping names of people they know or claim to know to somehow improve their status in the training world. They spend their time and energy of telling everyone who will listen how great they are.

The true warrior trainers and warrior scholars are focused on making themselves better so they can make a difference. They are not concerned about getting credit. They are focused on getting results. They are focused on their officers and making them better. Some of them will gain notoriety as a result; others will become some of the greatest trainers you have never heard of.

What is your focus? Are you so focused on making sure everyone knows you that you neglect to become worth knowing?

P.S. If you missed this event this year do not make the same mistake in 2013.

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.

Save $100.00 and register before March 31 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.   

 

 

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.    

Lerner Centered, Performance Based

"Learner Centered, Performance Based" is the theme of the book Telling Ain't Training. The book is written by Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J. Keeps and published by the American Society for Training and Development. The book is about why training fails, what makes training successful and how you and your learners can achieve astonishing results.

A few weeks ago I encouraged you to look into developing your platform skills to make yourself a better speaker and presenter. The concepts in this book address another critical area trainers need to explore to better serve our officers and that is the area of adult education. There is a wealth of knowledge available regarding the field of adult learning and some key aspects are address in this book.

There are some very good instructor development programs such as the California POST Master Instructor program developed by Jim Fraser that do an excellent job of educating law enforcement trainers about the world of providing training to adults in a manner most likely to actually result in learning.

I would recommend you get a copy of Telling Ain't Training and take your time in digesting the material inside. It is easy to write it off and say "that won't work with cops". It will if it is thought out and delivered properly. We all need to find ways to make classroom training especially, more interactive.

Another great resource is Richard H. Neil Sr.'s book Police Instructor: Deliver Dynamic Presentations, Create Engaging Slides and Increase Active Learning. Neil suffered an extremely serious career ending injury during an arrest and has chosen to continue to serve the law enforcement profession through his role as a trainer. Neil's book is full of practical ideas and exercises on interactive learning activities that Neil has used with law enforcement officers. While many are targeted at the recruit level they can be easily adapted for in-service training. There are a lot of great take aways from this book. For a limited time you can take advantage of a 25% discount off the price of the book. Use Discount Code:ZL5A5762 at their CreateSpace store (powered by Amazon). The code will be active until February.

This is just a starting point but if you combine these two books with Garr Reynolds Presentation Zen you will be well on your way.

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.   

 

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.   

 

 

What Questions Do You Have?

Do you encourage or discourage questions in your classes? What about response to your questions?

Do you ask "Any questions?" while looking away and gathering up your papers, or while holding your hands up with palms facing out? If so, you are asking for questions, but discouraging people to actually ask them.

A better question might be "What questions do you have?" This question along with an open posture implies that you expect questions and encourages people to ask them. The key here is to wait long enough after you ask this for someone to actually ask a question. 

When you do ask questions of the audience you need to have the courage and the patience to actually out wait them. People are uncomfortable with silence and will seek to fill it. If you are impatient and are not comfortable with the silence then you will often be the first one to break it and will start talking again. If you wait someone will ask a question, or volunteer an answer to the question you asked. 

If you ask questions of the audience and truly want participation then never embarrass someone who had the courage to volunteer an answer. Doing so may get some laughs from the rest of the group but you will make everyone leary of speaking up in your class. You will also make it hard for trainers that follow you to get participation. 

Asking questions and asking for questions is a great way to get people involved in the presentation. Remember to be patient and ask more desirable questions. 

So, what questions do you have?

Take care. 

Brian Willis

If you are interested in booking Brian Willis for a presentation, keynote or course contact him at winningmind@mac.com. You can visit our 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.