In a previous post titled The Hero and the Mentor, I wrote about Nancy Duarte’s philosophy of making the participants in your training the hero while you, as the trainer, embrace the role of the wise and humble mentor. Today I want to reinforce the importance of the word humble in wise and humble mentor.
I am going to be blunt here and simply state that you were not always the stud you are now (or think you are now). Getting to where you are now as a trainer has been a journey. A journey of learning, development, growth, maturity and more growth. A journey involving a variety of experiences, ups, downs, successes and failures. It can be easy to forget where you once were and how far you have come. It can be easy to forget what you were like as a recruit and as a new officer in the field. It can be easy to forget what you were like when you first started teaching.
It can be easy to forget, but it is important not to. It is critical to remember where you came from and how far you have come. It is important to remember what it was like to be new, naive and unskilled. If you have trouble remembering then take a class in a topic you have no experience in and perhaps no interest in. It can be ballroom dancing, latin, philosophy or any other subject on which you currently have little or no knowledge or skill. The subject is not as important as the experience. It will allow you to experience (once again) what it is like to be new, to be incompetent and perhaps even to be uninterested. It will give you some valuable insight into what some of the people in your classes are experiencing. It will make you a better trainer.
If you are a firearms or physical skills instructor go a week and do everything with your non dominant hand. Unless you are completely ambidextrous it will force you to slow down and have to think about what you are doing. It will feel awkward and uncomfortable for a while and make you more conscious of what you are doing. It will bring you back to the world of officers in your classes. It will make you a better trainer.
Whats Important Now is to stay humble as you embrace the role of the wise and humble mentor.
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.
The Excellence in Training Course is coming to a location near you. Excellence in Training is a comprehensive professional development course created by a law enforcement trainer for law enforcement trainers. It is designed to help good trainers become great trainers and great trainers deliver awesome training. Check out our website at www.brianw260.sg-host.com for a list of upcoming dates and locations in 2014.
To book Brian to speak at your event or to your officers contact him at winningmind@mac.com.
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