Whale Done! 8

Today, we will continue to learn with Wes Kingsley in Ken Blanchard's book entitled Whale Done! It carries the subtitle "The Power of Positive Relationships." The message and the "to do" items meld nicely with our journey to culture excellence in safety, quality, ethics, production, in fact, with all we do.

Our friend, Wes, is back at SeaWorld to talk with the Trainer about what he has learned so far. The Trainer doesn't waste any time, he picks up right where he left off the last time they spoke.



Trainer: "Rather than focusing on the negative - what they do wrong - we pay attention to what they do right. We always try to catch the whales doing things right ... Our success with the whales happens a little bit at a time. We can't wait until they behave exactly as we want before we praise them."

 

Wes: "Always praise progress. It's a moving target."

 

Trainer: "Not only does focusing on the positive motivate the behavior we want, it builds trust and the fun-loving kind of environment we need to work successfully with these animals ... Rewards aren't the issue. Trust is the issue."

 

Wes remembers earlier comments about ignoring poor behavior and redirecting energy onto something else that can set up a Positive Response. He wonders out loud how hard that is to do.

 

Trainer: "You're right. It is hard - not so much because people are so difficult, but because through practice we've trained our attention to notice only what they do wrong. We have our eye out for the negative behavior. We think it deserve much more attention. That's why we jump all over it and make a big deal out of it. Plus, those people that get labeled as difficult always have people around them looking for them to goof up. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy."

 

This type of behavior is really easy to do especially when you are having a tough day, or deadlines are approaching, or your boss just jumped all over you, Wes admits. The Trainer suggest that when you are having a tough day, that you ought to practice redirecting.

 

Trainer: "In fact, when you're first starting out, you'll actually find yourself redirecting a lot - in place of the negative responses you've been giving. In many cases, your first positive responses will follow right after redirecting. You observe their new efforts, and see how quickly you can accentuate the positive and catch them making progress in the new direction... When they didn't do something they were supposed to do, rather than spending a lot of time on that, we'd go back to the goals we'd agreed upon and get them refocused on them... Redirecting and giving 'approximately right' WHALE DONEs are the keys to turning poor behavior around... Humans naturally want approval from others. When you're dealing with your kids or with the people at work, and you consistently call attention to what they do right, it's like you're responding to the best that's in them. After a while, they begin to enjoy all the positive recognition. They find out it's more fun to succeed and achieve and be praised for it."

 

Wes is certainly glad he circled back to talk with the Trainer. It's all starting to come together for him. Next time, we'll see if Wes can piece it all together.

 

(I really like the following phrases spoken by the Trainer: "When you're dealing with your kids or with the people at work, and you consistently call attention to what they do right, it's like you're responding to the best that's in them." Wow, that's good stuff right there!)



Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc