Since we have moved to Austin, one of the things we took advantage of was being only 45 minutes from Sea World. I took my son Teddy to Sea World and of course, Shamu was the hit! Shamu flat out just rocks!But how did Shamu get so good? Was it by lack of training? Was it by no motivation? Was it by absence of leadership? Do you think Sea World just takes a boat out to sea and starts yelling "Jump Whales....Jump!" Do you think Sea World just puts an ad in the paper for expert whale that can jump ten feet out of the water and then....poof.....a Shamu shows up and just rocks the house. Hmmm. Guess what? It doesn't work like that. But in the event that a Shamu just does show up, those are called Superstars and just make sure the ACH hits her account every two weeks. But don't hold your breath because the Superstars will not just jump out of the water on their own.
Shamu naturally does not just jump over a rope ten feet in the air; on cue at the exact moment; and hit the notes perfectly every show. This takes huge amounts of spaced repetition training! The trainers start off by having Shamu swim over a rope. Then they raise it. Then they put it slightly out of the water. Then they put the rope completely out of the water. So on and so forth until it becomes second nature for Shamu to rock the house by jumping over a rope and soaking the first ten rows!
Same is true in business. It takes a training strategy. It takes a huge commitment to excellence in training. It takes leadership! All your employees can become so much better than you, or they, ever thought by a spaced repetition excellent training program. The reason spaced repetition is so critical is the same as Shamu training. Sea World does not just show Shamu a video and say "Now go out there and make it happen." People, like whales, learn by taking a concept and learning it and then practicing it and finally perfecting it. Then another concept is introduced on top of the first one. Same thing. Learn, Practice and Perfect it. So an and so forth until the end result is a huge whale shocking the audience by super cool performing. People can improve so much by training and positive motivation.
Same is also true in your personal life. You are capable of Shamu type results and performance by applying those same principles. Hard work. Attitude. Positive environment. Accountability. Leadership. Out of the box thinking. Out of your comfort zone. New points of view. Positive re-enforcement. Teachable. Commitment.
Turn your company and yourself into the Star of the Show and be a Shamu!
