“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Alvin Toffler
This quote was brought to my attention during a presentation in Lake Oswego, Oregon during a discussion on the the pursuit of personal excellence. I came across the quote again a week later and as I had time to reflect on it I realized it has a powerful message for all trainers. As a trainer you need to learn, unlearn and relearn continually. What is the hardest part of that equation for most of us? Unlearn. You see it every day in training where you are trying to break officers of less desirable habits they learned elsewhere. Cops are creatures of habit and cop trainers are no different.
Too often we like to hold on to the old because it is comfortable. I am not advocating change for the sake of change. I am advocating learning, unlearning and relearning for the sake of our officers. We owe it to the people we train to let go of the old ways of training that are not serving the best interests of our learners and learn new ways to engage them. In some cases, learning ways to engage them for the first time. Our job is not simply to throw out a bunch of information and hope some of it sticks. Our job is to challenge assumptions and to engage the learners in dialogue, discussions and debate through stories, images, videos and other activities.
Read books and blogs by Garr Reynolds and nancy Duarte. Spend time on www.ted.com watching short engaging presentations. Attend the annual ILEETA conference March 24 to 29. Attend the Emerson Hour at the ILEETA conference. Read books. Learn from professional speakers and trainers within law enforcement as well as outside the law enforcement profession.
You do not want to be the illiterate of the 21st century so continue to learn, unlearn and relearn.
Take care.
Brian Willis – A Man With Many Questions
At Winning Mind Training we are driven by our dedication to inspiring the pursuit of personal excellence and our belief that every law enforcement officer deserves to experience awesome training.
Has watching the Olympics has peaked your interest in imagery and you find yourself wondering exactly what imagery is, how it works and how you could build it into your training programs to help officers achieve excellence? When you attend an Excellence in Training Course you will learn that and many more ways to take your training and the performance of your officers to the next level. Check out our website at www.winningmindtraining.com for a list of upcoming dates and locations for the Excellence in Training Course.
To book Brian to speak at your event or to your officers contact him at winningmind@mac.com.
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