Many people reading these words either took piano lessons or paid for their children to take them.
I don’t think it would be much of a stretch to say that everyone reading these words knows someone who has taken piano lessons.
If they can play piano at all, how many lessons did they take?
In our organizations today, we want people to learn important skills like leadership, communication, project management, problem solving, building an excel spreadsheet, and (literally) thousands of other things.
Back to our piano lesson takers — did anyone ever expect them to be able to play the piano after one lesson?
Yet, much of the time, we treat training for skills at least as complex as playing the piano as a once-and-done event.
If a budding piano player can’t play after one lesson, we don’t blame the instructor or the lesson. Yet if a person comes back from training and they haven’t mastered the new skills, too often we assume there is something wrong with the training.
It’s not the training, the instructor, or the learner.
If you want your people to grow and build skills this year, treat your learning like piano lessons . . .
Keep taking lessons, and between lessons, practice what you are learning.
Yes! And an important thing for us learners – not just leaders and trainers – to remember. My eight-year-old is studying piano now and every time she gets a new piece she has a moment of frustration and doubt where she says some version of “I’ll never get this!” Her playing is so much better than it was a year ago, but she often simply experiences the frustration – in the moment – of struggling with the next developmental level, rather than feeling the long-term progress.
Improvisers talk about thinks like listening skills and spontaneity and collaboration as muscles that can be exercised. We would never go to the gym once and expect to be in shape, eh?
Thanks, Kevin, for another great frame.
Kat – thanks for the comment and example. She’s 8?
No way.
K 🙂
Hi Kevin,
This is a great point.
Often is the case that managers are expected to get everything right first time, and in reality, most of the time this is not possible, especially with something progressive such as leadership skills. It is much more realistic, as you have pointed out, to think that you get better at something over time, as you practice.
Also, there is a culture of being praised for success and punished for failure, which reduces the desire to try out new things and leads to stagnant management and leadership practices.
Kindest regards,
Chris.
This is a short but sweet article. Your article hits the points of whats very important in society. Too often we become focused on how quickly one picks up a skill, rather than how thorough their knowledge is on it. It is essential to treat training similar to “piano lessons,” and giving employees the time to comprehend these lessons and information.