A Sure-fire Way to Stand Out From Your Competition

As our business kept growing, I had less and less time to help around the house.  And I’m so thankful that my wife agreed to become the plumber, the electrician, the person to take care of the yard, a whole host of trees, and the swimming pool.  She paid all our personal bills along with chauffeuring our three boys and their friends.   

I could not have done all that I accomplished without her.  And you know what is amazing, she really likes doing all that stuff.  Lucky me!  In fact, you can just image what is her favorite cable channel…HGTV…and especially the show “Fixer Upper”.  She loves the training and learning new, detailed step-by-step home refurbishing knowledge and skills.  It’s her bent. 

What Is Your Bent? 

As for me, I have spent years learning and attending training on new moving and storage industry skills and even non-industry specific skills.  However, my bent and my strength have always been in developing people.   

In doing so, I live out one of my core values, Achieve Significance, and fulfill my purpose to, Make a Difference – In People, For People, and Through People.  My values statement is simply – People, People, People.  When I accomplish these, they give me energy; I get excited, and passion swells up in me.   

I do everything in my ability to never fall short here.  It is my bent, my strength.  Where is your bent, your strength? 

Both Training AND Development 

You can see it is not either/or, but both – training AND development. 

Also, it is interesting that in my previous industry (moving and storage) and in other industries as well, most leaders are interested in only the training to gain new knowledge and skills.   

The development of people is undervalued.  Leaders seem to expect people to just know how to behave on the job.  Leaders tend to assume that everyone knows and understands the importance of being on-time, taking initiative, being friendly, and producing high-quality work. 

But, this requires a personal growth plan for yourself and for your people, and it means you need to… 

When you work ON the business, you intentionally remove yourself and your people from the daily grind of working IN the business.  And you set aside time for training AND development.  

Every leader can build a culture where people thrive and profits soar by understanding the need for both training AND development in their organization. 

To get, and keep a job, people usually need a full list of technical and knowledge skills that were acquired through training. 

Doctors must go through years of training to become a medical doctor. Dentists need to know how to fill your cavities.  Accountants need to be certified.   

Plumbers and electricians spend a great deal of time as an apprentice.  Manufacturing workers need several hours of training to operate equipment/machinery safely and efficiently.   

Personal assistants need to accurately type 80+ words per minute.  Even workers who perform moving services need packing, loading, and unloading skills training.  The list could go on and on. 

Beyond Technical Job Skills Training 

Beyond the training of technical job skills… 

• Which medical doctor do you go to?  The one who is kind and friendly and takes time to be with you, or the one who sees you as only a body count to bill for. 

• Which dentist do you go to?  The one who is pleasant and fun to be around with and takes time to answer your questions, or the one who treats you like a number in a long line of mouths and molars?

• Which accountant in the organization do you go to?  One who has a strong work ethic and a great encourager to his or her co-workers, or one who hits the door straight up at 5:00 pm regardless of a peak demand time and never appreciates others who work for him or her? 

• Which manufacturing worker or worker performing moving services do you retain when times are lean?  The one with a positive attitude, open and willing to help, or the one who is inflexible and will not admit to making mistakes? 

Regardless of the position or job mentioned above, it is the personal development/people skills that is the true difference maker which matters and contributes the most toward results and profits.   

“How you ACT is as important as how you PACK.” 

This simple phrase is the reason why I still remember my first training program I gave to our employees in my previous industry (moving and storage). The program used the phrase “How you ACT is as important as how you PACK” – and repeated it over and over throughout the training.  

“How you ACT” is your personal development/people skills. 

“How you Pack” is about your training of technical job skills. 

Whether you have a bent toward learning/training technical job skills, or a bent toward personal development/people skills, one thing is for sure that every organization needs both training AND development. 

What is your bent – training or development?  Do you have a plan for training?  Do you have a plan for development?  Please share your thoughts <here>. Is there someone in your human resource department who would enjoy this article?