Marc Estes

One of my favorite authors is John Maxwell. He has a unique way of packaging complex truths into simplistic formulas. One of his classic books, Developing the Leader Around You (see below), mention this idea of training people and the process that should be followed to maximize your time and energy.  Here are some principles to consider:

The best type of training takes advantage of the way people learn. Researchers tell us that we remember 10 percent of what we hear, 50 percent of what we see, 70 percent of what we say, and 90 percent of what we hear, see, say and do. Knowing that to be the case, we have to develop an approach to how we will train. Here is a five step process to follow:

1. Model It – The process begins with doing the tasks you desire to reproduce while the people you are training can watch. Allow them to observe the entire process, if possible.  As you walk through the process, take the time to explain not just what you are doing, but also why you are doing it and how you are doing it.

2. Mentor Them – As they watch you ‘do’, you need to then move them next to you and ask them to assist in the process.  This will give you a chance to observe them in the elementary steps of the process while still maintaining control.

3. Monitor Them – You then need to move to a place where they begin to take charge of the process and you stand along side of them.  It is important to allow them room to grow, learn and fail. Be an encouragement and use their failures as training opportunities and not a time to rebuke them in any way. Work with them until they develop consistency.  You might even ask them to verbally explain the what, why and how to you to insure that they thoroughly understand the entire process.

4. Motivate Them – The next step is to allow them to fly solo.  Once they take the responsibility as their own, your role now becomes the role of a motivator. The trainee must move from sustaining the process to excelling in the process. Allow them to make changes to the process giving them some ownership as long as the changes produce a better end result.

5. Multiply Them – You will never be truly successful in raising leaders until you have taught them to do likewise. Mastering a skill is not enough. Teaching others to master the skill is truly the end goal.  They will find that the best way to learn a skill as well as to reap fulfillment is to teach others to fulfill the tasks at hand.

Try applying these principles practically to what you are currently doing. Find a potential leader for each of your tasks and begin the process of reproducing yourself today.