Training is leadership… period. It does not matter what the title says, the actions of an educator are the very definition of leadership. Even the words we use to describe good educators scream LEADERSHIP at us, just like the words we use to describe poor educators highlight poor leadership. I mention this to highlight an important point: if it applies to leadership, it applies in education. The difference is instead of influencing how they perform their duties, as an educator you are informing their minds on how they should be thinking about the job… and I do not need to mention how exponentially more important that may be. The mindset that informs their performance as clinicians is where you can have a great impact on their development… or no impact at all.
Is that always the leader/educator’s fault? I say yes and I say no. Here is why…
John Maxwell outlined some fundamental truths to leading people by asking the question: “Can you lead everyone?” In so doing he uncovered that there are two limitations to doing so, people limitations (the individual you are leading) and personal limitations (you, the leader). In this edition of Training Notes, I will expand his definitions into the training space and attempt to shed some light on why it is sometimes so difficult to modify clinical performance with training.
Here is the podcast episode that informs some of these points:
Leadership Limitations: Can You Lead Everyone? (Part 1) (Maxwell Leadership Podcast)
Truth # 1: You cannot train people beyond where they are willing to go.
“How many times have we tried to take someone to the top of a mountain they did not want to climb?” – Maxwell.
Educators quite often encounter people who are discouraged, disappointed, or disillusioned with the job or the training you are providing. I personally suffered from this with the training in one program I was with. I could not stand it. Everything from the scheduling of the events to the content to some of the educators just burned me up. Why? I had no awareness of the vision for the training beyond “if you don’t participate you will be punished.” I had to be there, I didn’t want to be there, and to make things worse, the training offered little real value to a majority of the participants.
Vision in training is the key. You as the leader have to know where you are trying to take them and why they need to be there. You have to convey that vision in a manner that highlights how it will build them to meet THEIR potential. A vision for training that screams “compliance,” “my success,” and “status quo” does not inspire people to grow to meet their potential. It frustrates and discourages them. Upon deeper inspection, we often find that these leaders are attempting to take us to or train us to a level that they themselves have never been. How can you lead someone to a place you have never been?
Vision overcomes the complacency and disillusionment that teammates sometimes bring to the training. New and old. Continually communicating a compelling vision for training keeps them oriented to the results and away from the friction that comes with tough and challenging training. Once they have completed a training evolution, the communication switches to how much closer they are to their potential than they were before.
As a leader you must be aggressive about addressing complacent attitudes in training. Nothing will kill the momentum of even the best training event than an attitude of “this doesn’t matter,” “I just have to show up because you’ve mandated me to.” You need to have hard conversations with these folks and get to the bottom of the sour attitude toward training. More often than not, it is because they have not been able to realize the value of the training. They initially attended because they thought it would make them better and push them toward their potential, but the training failed them and fell short of the goal to improve their performance. They do not see the training as something that is in place for THEM, rather it is something you are doing to build YOU and your name. They cannot see the vision, just extraneous work events that are not helping them grow.
Truth #2: You cannot train people beyond how fast they are willing to change.
An educator that is truly dedicated to developing the team/trainee into the highest level professional possible will inevitably encounter friction as they try to do so. Raising the bar of performance and education for some people is uncomfortable. It requires that they change what they are doing and how they think about what they are doing, and this frustrates some to the degree that they refuse to embody a new higher standard.
They are resistant to this vision of higher performance standards and a higher level of training. Maxwell highlights two reasons for this:
1.) They cannot see where you are trying to take them.
2.) They clearly see exactly where you are going, and refuse to put in the work to get there, because they do not want to be there.
Training that forces change is monumental in terms of effort and emotional commitment. From all parties involved. One response may be to take a “tiered,” slow roll approach to implementing the new training and performance standards in an attempt to make them comfortable with it. You are trying to maybe foster buy-in. This will backfire every time.
When we make change “easier” for people, we are hurting them. You are slowing their growth! You extend the time it takes for them to realize the vision, and thereby extend the time that they have to deal with the pain of a changing training culture/environment. This is particularly frustrating. Change and move on. Human nature is to frustrate and complain their way through change until they make sense of it and they can then relate to and accept the change. Have the tough conversations. Answer the “why do I have to do this” question by reciting the VISION. Have the back and forth dissenting conversations until the change becomes axiomatic to them.
Truth #3: You cannot train people higher than they are willing to climb.
As a new leader in an organization I saw an immediate need to elevate training and education standards across the board. The team had been allowed to slip in to mediocrity… And they were enjoying it. It felt a little bit like Gunny Highway in Heartbreak Ridge working with his new recon platoon. Some of the attitudes ranged from brazenly disrespectful to outright rejecting the idea that they needed any training in the first place. They were, in their minds, “good enough.”
But I saw the potential… or at least I thought I did. You see, I was coming from the critical care and flight community to take over a for-profit operation doing far less invasive care, and I just assumed everyone wanted to do and be more than they were. This was a tough battle that I eventually lost. It was not until I heard the podcast I referenced earlier that it became clear to me. I was leading to my expectations and completely ignorant of their true potential.
Maxwell and I share a set of weaknesses in this area. We both believe a few things:
– that people are capable of more than they are doing.
– that people want to do more than they are capable of.
– that people can realize their potential faster than they are capable of.
Educators hit a wall sometimes when trying to push people beyond their comfort zones. Sometimes we are attempting to take people beyond where they should be. Some people should never be elevated to the elite level. They simply are not capable of operating successfully there, and to do so would be to guarantee their failure. It is an unfortunate and ugly truth in training and education.
Here are 5 Truths of Potential according to Maxwell:
1.) Not everyone can climb to the same level.
2.) Not everyone can climb higher than their present level.
3.) Leader’s evaluate the individual’s potential.
4.) Leader’s place each person in position for success.
5.) Once success is realized… a leader must push them to go higher.
We lead and train people to their potential, not our expectations, as Maxwell says. We have to match the training and education to their potential by asking:
“What are you really capable of? What can you achieve?”
Most people do not know the answer to these questions themselves. Which is why you exist in the first place. You exist to reveal that potential to them through training and professional development, and it is how you train them that matters.
(Credit to Pat MacNamara for the Outcome vs. Performance based training mindset)
If you train them through an OUTCOME based mindset you are bound to have trouble. An outcome based mindset is where you evaluate how much they can do and how fast they can do it through a lens of success or failure. Their performance is measured in relation to a pre-established, often arbitrarily selected, standard that they may not even be remotely capable of achieving.
If you train them with a PERFORMANCE based mindset, you will see their true potential revealed to them and to you. Performance based training gives the trainee permission to operate within their CURRENT capabilities. You then get them closer to their potential (through each training evolution) by showing them what they are doing and what they CAN do.
Close Out
Not everyone is capable of operating in the prehospital world with a clinician’s mindset. Not everyone wants to climb that mountain. They feel just fine and safe operating with the technical ability to execute a protocol. Does it mean they are not valuable to a team or an organization? I don’t think so. Does it mean they need to be beat over the head with training designed to get them to a level that they are not willing to pursue or are not capable of attaining? I don’t think so.
To truly be successful in training for high level execution, you have to first be better at selecting the right people for the mission profile. The second thing you have to do is know, very clearly, the vision for the training and development of those individuals while they are with your organization. Finally, you have to train them to fully realize THEIR potential. If they were appropriately vetted and selected you will see that high level execution you are hoping for. If they are not, you will continually hear “why do we have to do this?” Beware of being frustrated when people who have realized their full potential simply are not meeting your personal expectations. This is a you problem, not a them problem.
