Why training matters.

My mission in life is to serve as a trainer of client service people, yet I have long been ambivalent about the efficacy of what I do, having first expressed my view in something I wrote more three years ago.   

That post was called “Is training necessary?” This post is called “Why training matters.” 

What changed? Did I do a one eighty, now finding myself in the land of contradiction? 

What changed, in part, is David Brooks, who wrote a New York Times opinion piece that includes this: 

‘I’m also reminded of the maxim that excellence is not an action, it’s a habit. Tenacity is not a spontaneous flowering of good character. It’s doing what you were trained to do. It manifests not in those whose training spared them hardship but in those whose training embraced hardship and taught students to deal with it.” 

Given the extraordinary circumstance in which the world finds itself, it makes sense that Brooks’ subject is the medical profession, people who thankfully go through years of arduous, rigorous, character-building apprenticeship, which serves them well in times like these. Leave it to me to diminish what Brooks has written, applying his words not to physician/nurse/EMT heroes, but instead to client service. My apologies, but if you would indulge me for a moment, I’ll continue. 

I conduct a workshop called Five Ways to Build Trust with Client and Colleagues in which I walk participants through five core principles, much as I do in The Art of Client Service. Near the conclusion of my session commentary, I point out to those assembled they already know this stuff; it’s a matter of converting thought into action.

I then show a simple chart: on the horizontal access I map the stuff people know, ranging from nothing to everything; on the vertical access I map the stuff people do, ranging from none of the time to all of the time. On a 45-degree angle, I then draw a line halfway up the middle, pointing out that most people do some of the stuff they know some of the time. “This is where you are.” I then continue the line to the top of the chart, pointing out that all of us – me included, BTW – should do all of things we know all of time. “This is where you should be.”

As Brooks says, “excellence is not an action, it’s a habit… It’s doing what we’re trained to do.” 

He got that right. Knowing and doing are two decidedly different things; it explains why I patiently repeat the things we should be doing, but often don’t.  

The opposite of training is no training, leaving people to figure out stuff on their own. I know first-hand what it means to not get trained, with client and colleague bodies strewn in the wake of my all-too-many mistakes, as I muddle my way to getting things halfway right. I do not wish this on anyone. 

Training matters. Lord knows all of us should be grateful for the training medical professionals receive, and while we express that gratitude, we should leave room to acknowledge those who strive to make us better at client service, as imperfect as that training might be.