We’ve been engrossed in the Olympics this past week as we watched athletes who had put their lives on hold to continue training for an additional year, finally take center-stage in Tokyo to compete in their chosen sport.
Each athlete speaks about their perseverance, determination, and unwavering focus on becoming better and stronger in their field. Even those who are at the top of their ranking in their nation, or have won previous Olympic medals, continue with the same determination and focus to better themselves each time they enter their respective arenas. For many, it means 6+ hours of training each day—every day, even though they are already masters in their sport.
They understand that a one-second improvement can be the difference between standing on the podium, or not. These athletes have accepted the Shoshin mindset, a Zen Buddhist philosophy of a beginner’s mindset that fosters openness and acceptance for continued learning and growth.
This made us think about business and the importance of ongoing training for our teams. How often are companies and employees incorporating the Shoshin mindset?
Many firms start new hires with an intensive orientation and training, and then only provide feedback or additional training when something isn’t going right. Even worse, if the candidate hasn’t performed well by a specified timeframe, it’s assumed they are not a right fit for the role. A lack of proper training by the company is rarely taken into consideration.
What if, as hiring managers, we created a continuous training program, an investment in growth and learning to encourage all employees to adopt the Shoshin mindset in their daily routine? And, as candidates what if we created an opportunity to go back and review the basics, shore up our foundational knowledge, add new skills and embrace new technologies? Even if we’ve been doing our craft for years, how much more successful would we be if we improved our skills and became just a little bit better, faster, stronger?
At Artisan Creative, we’ve embraced continued learning and have implemented the following into our workflows over the years:
Training on Processes
- Hold on-going bi-weekly one-hour trainings to continue learning together
- Create short Loom Videos for all tasks, so new hires have a quick visual reference
- Use Trello to house docs and references
- Utilize Slack for quick questions if someone is stuck
Self-development
- CliftonStrengths assessment to learn more about our peers
- Toastmasters to become a better presenter and speaker
- As needed Coursera or Udemy classes
In a market where it’s a challenge to find candidates, continuous investment in our teams can make the difference between success and failure.
In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few. ~ Shunryo Suzuki, Zen master
How do you implement ongoing training and the Shoshin Mindset in your business?
We hope you’ve enjoyed our 589th a.blog.