I would practise 4 or 5 times a week for a competitive game, irrespective of the competition. My children attend swimming training 5 times a week, with their coach refining their technique and preparing them specifically for different strokes and lengths of competition. They focus on PB’s (personal bests) and break up their races into achievable tasks and goals (stroke rates and breathing). Is this like your business training?
Sadly, when it comes to business training, most leaders and managers (like myself) have not become smarter with age.
In an economy with slow growth, rising unemployment and a relatively poor business outlook, training does not seem to be high on the agenda. It is a very short-sighted view.
Training (either formal or informal) and coaching provides employees with the opportunity to try new concepts and ideas, rehearse procedures and behaviours, and perfect skills in preparation for business. Targetted training ensures employees maintain their skills in areas of expertise not often used, rounding their skills and abilities and limiting mistakes due to underuse.
With Australian culture so obsessed with sporting success, we seem to have learnt very little from it to help with business success.
In sport, when you faced with a more difficult league and increased competition, do you increase or reduce the number of training sessions the players / team go through?
My men’s basketball team plays weekly and trains annually. Our win / loss ratio is average and the number of injuries the team sustains is high. There is not one member of the team that likes losing, and we all know what we need to do, but it doesn’t get done. Our egos and our memories are playing tricks on us – we remember how it used to be. The evidence is clear (poor win / loss ratio and high injuries) and the answers are obvious. If we were either a junior team or an elite professional team the answer would be obvious – make changes, practise more, warm up before play and learn specific set plays that the competition is unprepared for and is suited to our skills.
In business, we face tough competition, pressure on prices and ask our staff to do more with less ‘players’. In this environment, what approach do you take to business training – the old, amateur or the elite professional?
The answer you provide may have a much longer effect on your business than you may think. My amateur basketball career was put on hold for 5 weeks while I recovered (I don’t think my team missed my skills). Will your business have the same opportunity?
Perhaps it is time for your business to hit the training track if you want to stay in the game and beat the competition.