I'll train that out of you.
"If you could kick the person in the pants most responsible for your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month." Theodore Roosevelt
I heard this phrase used numerous times in my journey as an Army leader; "I'll train that out of you," or "We need to train this out of ourselves." It meant using training, coaching, or mentoring to rid ourselves or our teams of a bad habit or practice. Training was central in a profession designed for war. We raised leaders to be trainers, to prepare their men and women for the ultimate - combat.
"I'll train that out of you," applied a developmental versus a finger wagging approach to bad practices. While it can come off as rude or abrasive, if done correctly, it serves as a sound investment in a person or a team. What follows this statement should be a commitment - an investment by a leader to help change the behavior, habit, or practice of an individual or team. Ownership is another great way to describe the leader's duty to grow his or her people.
I have a newly formed team around me in a new business venture. We get along great, have formed a deep level of trust and are all committed to serving our customers and our community. I've used this approach leading them. There currently exists a bad habit of bringing me problems and not solutions. This is not a slight on my team. I've seen several individuals and teams do this in my time coaching and consulting businesses and it is my duty to train this out of them. As their leader, I own the bad habit and I'll invest time in them to 'train it out of them.'
Of course we invested time up front to establish a shared vision, belonging, and form trusting relationships. This is a precursor to all leadership practices. "I'll train that out of you," is not a phrase for day 2 of a relationship. With this foundation, I, as the leader now have the maneuver space to say this and practice it. I've challenged my teammates to develop solutions (plural) to problems. I explained (or trained) this solution vs. problem approach to them and provided examples. Now I correct them when they slip, coaching them to do the work - to use their creativity and intellect to problem solve. Of course I'm always there to help them but I want them to grow in this space.
What do you need to train out of your people? What can I train out of you?
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell