“Don’t tell me what you invented. Tell me about who you changed.”
Seth Godin
This line is from a blog post by Seth Godin. While the post was targeted at entrepreneurs the message is relevant to trainers.
It is easy to get caught up with letting everyone know how busy you are, all day, every day. How many classes you have booked, how many hours you taught, how many miles you fly, how many nights you stay in hotels every year, how many presentations you did, the new classes you created to address the hot topic in the news, how many followers you have on Twitter, how many connections you have on LinkedIn and how many “Friends” you have on Facebook.
Impressive, but what has changed for the better in your agency or in the profession today, this week, this month as a result of your training?
More importantly who did you change today? Let me rephrase Seth’s question, “Tell me about who you inspired today to take action and change themselves or their circumstances?”
Who is better off today because of the action he or she took as a result of attending your training or spending time one on one with you (in person or on the phone)?
Who did you influence today to do more, dream more, and learn more?
Who did you inspire to push themselves to higher levels in their learning, their training and their lives?
Who made the decision to stand up and accept the mantle of responsibility to be a leader in their agency as a result of your training?
Who did you inspire to be a better son, daughter, husband, wife, partner, mother or father?
Who did you inspire to become a better officer (patrol or corrections), deputy, trooper, constable, dispatcher or trainer?
It is easy to get so caught up with quantity (number of classes you have scheduled, number of classes you taught, number of people you trained, number of followers on social media, etc) that you forget about the power of connection?
As a trainer your mission is not to simply share knowledge, skills, and tactics, it is to inspire change in the way people think, act, train, prepare, lead and live.
What’s Important Now? – Focus on the mission and tell me about who you inspired to change.
Take care.
Brian Willis
Winning Mind Training – Dedicated to helping good trainers become great trainers and great trainers to deliver awesome training.
The Excellence in Training Academy – Where trainers come to grow. Join the Community of trainers committed to the pursuit of excellence in and through training.
Interested in hosting an Excellence in Training Presentation, Seminar or Course? Contact to me at winningmind@mac.com and we can work together to determine what will best suit your needs.
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