Recently my wife and I were in a very nice steak house looking forward to a great night out, a nice meal and a glass of wine. The server who looked after us was very professional, very knowledgeable about the menu but, did not leave a great impression. The reason? He was a robot.
He went through the cuts of meat on the menu and the prices. He explained that everything was al a carte and that the sides were certainly large enough to share. He asked if we would like a drink to start. He took our orders and occasionally checked back to see if we wanted another glass of wine. He was however, a robot. He seemed to be just going through the motions. He did not allow his personality to come through during any of the interactions we had with him. As a result, he did not leave a great impression on either one of us regarding the restaurant as a whole.
So, what does this have to do with Excellence in Training? Absolutely everything.
How many of us have succumbed to RTS (Robotic Trainer Syndrome) and become robotic when we teach? How many of us have simply memorized our presentations and give them verbatim every time, to every group regardless of nuances of the audience? How many of us just go through the motions when we teach a class? As a result how many of our participants walk out of the class with a bad impression of the training as a whole?
I know, some of you are wanting to justify the robot routine because you have taught the same class a hundred times before. So what? Just because you have taught it a hundred times before it may be the participant’s first time through. Or, it may be their one hundredth time taking a class from you. Regardless, as professionals we owe it to them to teach it every time like it is the first time. We owe it to those people in your class to bring passion, energy and commitment to every class. Remember that what you teach them that day may save their life or the life of someone else.
As important as it is for officers to train with imagination and emotion, it is equally as important for trainers to teach with imagination and emotion.
Take care.
P.S. Be sure to order your copy of If I Knew Then: Life Lessons From Cops on the Street fromwww.warriorspiritbooks.com.
Thank you to those of you who purchased books at the ILEETA conference or gave donations to the Scholarship Fund. I was able to raise $3330.00 (a third of my goal) in one week for the ILEETA Scholarship Fund.
Brian Willis
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