If you think it’s hard to train employees, try training giant killer whales!
The truth is, the same technique to train killer whales also works on people, and it’s not complicated.
When it comes to greeting customers, first impressions have a profound impact on whether they will do business with you or not. Customers can tell the moment they pass through your front door whether your staff is just there to collect a paycheck or whether they are motivated to serve them.
In his book titled Whale Done (recommend reading), best-selling author Ken Blanchard tells the story of how killer whales at SeaWorld are trained with positive reinforcement. They do this by accentuating the positive and redirecting the negative.
It’s human nature to reprimand an employee when they do something wrong, but all too often when they do things right, it’s taken for granted and not acknowledged. Behaviors that get rewarded, get repeated.
In our 8 Simple Steps to Motivating Your Team, step number five is “Catch ‘em Doing Something Right”.
Simply mark it in your calendar every morning to “Catch someone doing something right”. You’ll be amazed after a few weeks how the morale and attitude of your entire staff will improve, even if your praise is something simple like acknowledging when a habitually late staffer shows up on time…Catch ‘em doing something right and they’ll do it again!