I stumbled across an untitled draft from June of 2012 (T+14 years ago), and the knee-jerk reaction was to blow it up and return to writing fiction thrillers. Some might call that a distracting, crazy, demented, ADHD moment. That may be …but it’s my crazy, and I’m still not in jail.
As my finger hovered over DELETE DRAFT, I started to read, and couldn’t stop. Amazingly, it was still relevant to the Training profession I had nearly drowned in for 35+ years. Honestly, it is more relevant today, and with AI even more accessible. But, you’ll have to et off the deck… Check it out and see if you agree…
Peace! G.
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A Cat’s Failure Is a Proximity Issue, Not a Skill Deficiency
One never knows when validation of an idea might show up, or, for that matter, show up in such an unrelated way. Then again, maybe what first appeared unrelated was meant to shed light on something that is truly relevant, though subtle in its presentation. So what did all that philosophy mean?
I am forced to blame this observation on my cat, Gracie, more specifically, her umpteenth unsuccessful attempt to catch a bird. What struck me this morning was her tactics. Her tactics – the repetition of unsuccessful attempts to achieve a successful outcome – struck me as a validation of something I have become passionate about over the last several years of corporate training.
It was an illustration of the parallel between our tactics and the application of training to sustain human performance – to create successful business outcomes. Often, we do this training very well – but outcomes remain unsuccessful…over and over.
Grace, more affectionately known as Gracie, was the runt of her litter. Being the runt has never dawned on her, since she, without hesitation, continually terrorizes Bob, the much larger and much older long-haired grey cat. My point is that she can be aggressive and bold when she is in the mood. Aggressiveness and boldness aside, she is a hunter at heart, not a very good one when anything she’s after is faster than she is. Crawdads are about the only prey in constant fear in our backyard. The birds and bunnies just laugh.
Feeders hang in the backyard, not that this makes for a baited field the cats hunt over. Rarely, if ever, is there a “gift” left on the doormat that resembles what’s left of a bird. Nonetheless, Gracie continues to hunt and continues to fail – continues to use the same tactic and accomplishes the same result – no bird.
What came to me as I watched her this morning was how we tend to do the same things with corporate training. By now, if you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know I’m from the training discipline and hope to remain in it until work is a hobby rather than a career. I share that so you will know I am not bashing training; I only seek to make a connection that would improve our outcomes, just as a change in tactics would gain Gracie the bird of her choice.
It was funny this morning, Gracie was on the deck with me, and a couple of doves, big fat juicy doves, landed about 25 feet away at the base of the feeder. Through Gracie’s eyes, she was seeing the jungle and prey waiting for capture. Muscles tensed, tail switched, and she flattened herself to the surface of the deck; good form, good tactics for hunting.
Her problem was proximity to the point of attack. When she bailed off the deck in hot pursuit. Breakfast flew away laughing. I had a few words for Gracie, “Stealth, Grace. You need to be out there before the opportunity to pounce presents itself.”
Stealth was the only way she was going to get close enough to bag a bird. Stealth meant adopting a different tactic. But it was more than a different tactic. It implied a change in proximity. She had to get closer. She had to be closer to the point of attack to achieve the outcome she instinctively sought.
That meant her proximity had to be closer to where she would execute her craft, just as we need to move training closer to the point of work [attack]. In earlier posts, I’ve written about the concept of learning at the point-of-work forever.
Gracie validated that point this morning with yet another failure. The only way she would leverage her skills as a cat/hunter, to use her agility effectively, she needed to rethink her tactics and position herself closer to where “work” would take place.
Gracie needed to move off the comfort of the deck and position herself in the weeds… in the field of play. She needed to be within the work context. Closer. She had to be closer to be effective.
Her innate skills as a hunter were not lacking, just as many trainers and training programs are best-in-class. The problem with being a skilled hunter – skilled trainer is that we attempt to make an impact from the comfort of the deck. We have to get off the deck and closer to the point of attack. We need the advantage of optimized proximity.
We can teach about birds and tactics until blue in the face, and yet we will never ever successfully bag a bird or offer an effective solution from the deck.
Birds are bagged at the base of the feeder – @ the point-of-work. That’s where training needs to be, and with content that might not resemble the training content we are so proud of in our classes and courses. Tactics must change with proximity. Actionable content should be at the base of the feeder, consumable in the workflow.
I could imagine lying in the weeds with Gracie coaching her to lie still…don’t move…wait for one to land…and stop flicking that damn tail around. My point?
The tactics to reinforce what we learned on the deck use a different mindset, different tactics, and different tools, all implemented in the vicinity of where we seek flawless execution – Point-of-Work.
Happy hunting!
Gary G. Wise
gdogwise@gmail.com
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