Four Steps to Train Anyone to do Anything

In my coaching practice, I first check on my client’s activity, making sure they are hitting weekly goals. Then we review skills from past weeks and role play, making sure they are using the training I provided. This is before we work on new skills. I learned this process from a USMC Marine Corp drill sergeant. In the Marines, recruits need to learn a lot in a short amount of time. But they also need to retain the skills. He said, “A lot of sweat in training means less blood in the battlefield.

Let’s take a fox hole. The drill instructor tells the recruit what the specific dimensions are and what a good fox hole looks like. He then tells the recruit to repeat the steps and what he has learned. The next step is to watch the trainee dig a fox hole. If he does it wrong, the instructor will tell him how deep a grenade or artillery shell can penetrate the ground and repeat the fox hole dimensions. Unlike in business, the recruit will dig until he gets it right. But we forget 70% of what we see, hear and feel in 24 hours and 90% in 72 hours. So, the sergeant tells the recruit to dig a fox hole again a few days later. Seems like a lot? To save Marines’ and soldiers’ lives, it is all necessary

Here are four steps to train your staff to learn and retain new skills:

1. Tell them what to do

Let them know what you want them to do and why you need them to do it. Lend some context to the task. Your business is not like the Marines. You aren’t allowed to tell them what to do and expect them to do it because you said it. But if you let them know the significance of the job and why it’s important, they will take more pride in the job.

2. Show them what to do

Let them see what excellence is and how to do the skill correctly. It isn’t enough to know what to do; they have to see it done. They have to see you model the behavior. If you do this, you will set a standard to follow.

3. Watch them do it

You will never know if your employee learned a skill unless you watch them do it. I have made the mistake time and again of telling someone what to do, watching them nod with understanding, and then realizing (when I quizzed them) that they didn’t listen. At a minimum, they should take notes to establish a model to refer to if they forget any details. At best, you can use their notes and model to establish an operations manual that can be updated whenever there is a new skill.

4. Wait a day and watch them do it again

Often when you teach a skill, an employee can duplicate it right away but didn’t take notes. So, the next day they can’t remember the steps and get lost. The answer? Wait a day and watch them do the skill again so you can be sure it is in long-term memory. There is a rule of training that if someone can do a simple skill five times over two days, they have it for life.

If you are smart and don’t want to keep training from scratch, you will ask your staff to create an operations manual and add skill steps with each training.

That way anyone can train. It will also save you a lot of time when you onboard new staff.

I would love to send you a free video of “How to Train Anyone to do Anything.” Write me at [email protected] or call 714-368-3650. We will spend a few minutes talking about your goals for increasing your business this year.

Dr. Kerry Johnson is “America’s Business Psychologist.” He is the best-selling author of 17 books including the recently released, How to Recruit, Hire and Retain Great People. He is also a frequent speaker at financial conferences around the world. Peak Performance Coaching, his one-on-one coaching program, promises to increase your business by 80% in 8 weeks. To see if you are a candidate for this fast-track system, click on www.KerryJohnson.com/coaching and take a free evaluation test. You will learn about your strengths and what is holding you back. Or call 714-368-3650 for more information.

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