My best friend in grade school lived directly next door. Our parents were similar. And like many Americans who grew up in the 50s and 60s, all four of our parents smoked cigarettes. Despite their smoking, what did our parents tell us about smoking? You guessed it: “don’t do it!” and “it’s nasty” and “it’s dangerous!” Now the difference between me and the neighbor is that my parents decided to walk the walk - by the time I was in middle school, they had both quit. His parents did not.
Between me and my friend, only one of us was addicted to nicotine by age 18. There is no prize for guessing correctly which one of us it was.
Oftentimes leaders will invest in employee development training, but they’re absent on the big day and subsequent reinforcement sessions. If you’re not willing to invest the time to participate in the training - what message does that send to your employees?
When it comes to employee training and development, leaders must play.
Employee development training is a process, not an event. Training should catalyze real change (in sales training, this change is measured in terms of positive outcomes). And real change is the result of lasting behavioral modification. What is your personal commitment to behavioral change?
And just because you are deeply committed doesn’t mean your team is, or is even capable of change. Sales grit is an aggregate of desire, commitment, motivation, outlook, and responsibility. If everyone on your team is missing just one of those five “grit” indicators, they may not be capable of getting better.
It doesn’t matter who is responsible for the employee development training at your organization, or if they’re internal or external - they should have “guru” status with your employees. If you’re trainer isn’t able to facilitate those breakthrough moments consistently - you may need an upgrade. Often times we dish out thousands or tens-of-thousands of dollars for a training program that was invented in an academic setting, and a trainer that couldn’t succeed if you hired him to sell for you. And we expect him to take us to the next level...it just isn't going to happen.
Don't settle for a subpar employee development. Contact Lushin today to see how our employee development and sales development training programs can take your business to the next level.