As we hire new folks, many of us find ourselves in the training role.
One of my heroes in coaching, basketball legend John Wooden, practiced the Five Laws of Teaching. They are:
- Tell them.
- Show them.
- Have them demonstrate.
- Correct them.
- Have them repeat.
For the most part, most trainers get through the telling and showing part but move on before the demonstrating, correcting and repeating part.
The last three steps take patience and diligence. As someone who was born a klutz, I can tell you that it takes someone like me awhile to get the moves down. I am awkward with small motor skills. I don’t have an intuition about how to put things together nor do I see how things work.
I find I really benefit from a teacher sticking with me. In fact, some teachers have to try multiple things before I get it. I am grateful for the teachers that stick with me.
I’m sure we have folks coming through our doors who aren’t “natural” at what we do. Consider all the Laws when teaching, coaching and training. It will cause our teams to get stronger faster.
