This past weekend I had an opportunity to witness the importance of training and proofing. The pictures attached to this story are Dan Phillips, Chief of the Plymouth Fire Department and the other picture is a 120+ year old house that was donated to the fire department for training purposes.

A control burn for fire departments is a rare and unique experience. For five days leading up to the big burn three neighboring fire departments took turns conducting small controlled burns, extinguishing fires and rescuing life-like dummy’s planted in the house.

Local residents were informed of the date and time of this controlled burn so as not to create alarm when it occurred. On the day of the total burn, a crowd of residents gather in designated locations to observe and take pictures. Chief Phillips did a great job addressing the crowd to providing 10-20 minute explanations about what the fire fighters were preparing to do next, and then he would excuse himself to instruct his staff. While addressing the crowd, Chief Phillips made some very interesting comments emphasizing his job is about teaching staff new techniques (that means he is learning new techniques) the best proven methods. He went on to explain how important is to create new unexpected training scenarios (Proofing). Chief Phillips stated firefighter’s train every day, not just occasionally, so when faced with a real fire they act with confidence which reduces hesitation, doubt or mistakes. That is right, his job as a teaching, learning, proofing and creating confidence, which are four of the traits displayed by leaders.

CONFIDENCE

Confidence is very important to the success of both individuals and organizations.

True Alpha’s are born with confidence, not to be confused with arrogance. An example of such innate confidence was displayed by Thomas Edison who after failing more than 1,000 times to find a functional filament for his incandescent light bulb, he continued to persist with his invention, stating that they were not failures; he had found over 1,000 materials that were not appropriate material for his incandescent light bulb filament. He had the confidence in both himself and his ideas not to falter in his quest. This is referred to as Natural Confidence

For those who are not born alpha, confidence can still be developed, but it requires work, when successful this is called Learned Confidence. Some of the tools that can be used to develop Learned Confidence are:

Training is a useful tool to improve confidence. Learning how correctly or efficiently performs routine job tasks helps build confidence. Identifying the most efficient method of performing an operation, then breaking that skill into small easy to train steps, which then is used to help train others which is often called benchmarking. Using Benchmarking knowledge broken down into small steps, training can be very effective at building learned confidence.

Practicing is the repetitive performance of an activity to ingrain and insure understanding of a skill or activity. The more often an activity is preformed the efficiently the activity is performed, and so too is the confidence.

Proofing is the activity of practicing for the unexpected. Once an activity has been learned under ideal conditions, then it is time to practice such activities under unusual adverse situations.

These are common techniques used in sport such as teaching a person the proper technique for holding a baseball bat, where to place hands on the bat, positioning the body, where feet should be positioned. This is all done utilizing proven techniques that have produced the best batting outcomes, which we call Training. After the novice batter understands the how to swing a bat then it is time to repeat the activity, “batting practice”. The newly learned skill is then repeated standing in the batter’s box swinging at pitch after pitch to become more comfortable and successful, thus called Practice. Once the skill becomes a natural comfortable routine, then it is time to practice under variable and adverse situation, taking batting practice in cold weather, with a variety of sun/shade positions, hitting sliders, curveballs, knuckleballs, etc., this is referred to as Proofing

This same technique is used to teach a person to swing a golf club, shoot free throws in basketball, driving a car, or even making sales calls.  

People are more likely to repeat a behavior they feel confident performing and less likely when they lack confidence. If you want to increase the frequency an activity is performed, or the chances for a desired outcome of a behavior, building confidence is a very useful tool.

Leaders create a vision for others to follow

On May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy stood before Congress and proclaimed “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” He did not say we would like to; nor did he say it would be a worthwhile project to look into; nor did he say we will try to accomplish. John F. Kennedy stated the USA would complete this task by the end of the decade. He spoke confidently creating a vision, he made others believe would happen and then he told them when it would happen.

Leaders create visions for others to believe will happen and then the followers make his vision happen.

The “HOW” is easy when you have a “WHY.”

When the speech was made, NASA had just been created. Even more remarkable, the USA had not been able to launch any type of rocket of any size without it self-destructing.

But, at the time the USSR was far ahead of the USA in the space race and John F. Kennedy needed to do something to get things moving forward. And fast. He needed to mobilize the entire country on a single-focused event, which was tangible, measureable, and understandable by every American. Nothing motivates people like competition. Which is just exactly what JFK did, he threw down the challenge to the rest of the world, including what the USA was going to do and when. Great leaders confidently provide a vision; they are smart enough to allow others, who possess the specific talents and skill with the freedom and creativity to figure out HOW the actual project will be accomplished.

JFK did not talk about what type of rocket booster would be used, nor did he explain in details. He didn’t create the idea of stages of development through separate programs such as Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. He had no idea HOW it was going to happen, which was up to the scientists, engineers, and business people. What he gave Americans was a clear vision of WHAT needed to be accomplished and WHEN. Leaders are good at motivating their followers toward a common goal and keeping them focused to achieve that goal.

Page 282 Book “How to Treat Your Employees Like a Dog”

HAPPY 4^th of JULY

The continental congress, in Philadelphia, PA., led by President John Hancock voted on July 2, 1776 to declare independence from Britain (not July 4).

John Hancock was the first of 56 signatures on The Declaration of Independence. It took months to obtain all of the signer’s signatures. As of August 2, 1776 there were 51 signatures, the exact date of the last signature is not known.

The signatures were made by representatives from the original 13 states. Can you name the original 13 states?

The first five US Presidents were signers of the Declaration of Independence. Can you name them?

The first fireworks display took place in Philadelphia, July 4, 1777.

The US Constitution was not signed until 1787.

Every July 4^th at 2 PM Eastern Time the Liberty Bell is rung 13 times, once for each of the original states.

Three signers of the Declaration on Independence died on July 4; Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in 1826, James Monroe in 1831.

Calvin Coolidge is the only US president to have been born on 4^th of July 1872.