Warren, service advisor for Ron’s Automotive, told Session 9B of the Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

“Grandchildren are a special blessing. As mine began nearing school age, I wanted them to enjoy the electric train set I found under the Christmas tree when I was their age. So Christmas before last, I bought a sheet of plywood and built an elaborate layout with elevations, a snow capped mountain, waterfall, river, small lake, airport, people, houses, stores and churches … much better than the one had as a boy. Three generations were thrilled as I unveiled my colossal city.

This year when my 7 year old grandson, Nathan, visited our house for Thanksgiving weekend, I had the train all set up again, but Nathan would not take the controls to run the train. After coaxing and questioning, I remembered he had taken a corner too fast last Christmas and rolled the train off the track. ‘Slow it down, Nathan, don’t hurt Grandpa’s train, it’s almost 50 years old. I’ve had it since I was your age,’ I said. Nathan is a sensitive, caring boy beyond his years, and the over correction last year had crushed his confidence. I thought, ‘I can’t believe what I’ve done’, then I remembered the Turbo 3-Step on-the-job training model I had learned a couple of weeks earlier. We sat at the controls together and I began to go through each step of the LDL training process. I explained how to accelerate and deaccelerate and showed him what to do as the train traveled uphill, down and around the corners. Then I explained all the details as he controlled the train. Then I asked him to explain each

step again as he ran the train once more carefully and with confidence. I was amazed and so pleased at how well it worked. Nathan now looks forward to operating Grandpa’s train, and I’m glad to be better prepared for the younger grandkids who are coming up.

The lesson I learned from this experience is that critical correction is easy to do when something upsets me, and that critical correction can too easily damage confidence and relationships. Proper training can help prevent the need for correction and meaningful empowering training is more fun; correction is a lot more stressful for both the giver and the receiver.

The action I call you to take is control being upset … and calmly remember to patiently train everyone on your team, and when your training doesn’t work, carefully use the correction model when needed. You’ll help build strong relationships and your teams’ confidence each step of the way.

The benefit you will gain is better relationships, less stress, better performance, a confident team and continuous improvement without the need for so much correcting. You and those around you will be happier and look forward to working and being together. It’s so much nicer being around people you enjoy.”