Knowing isn't Doing

At CAPACITY Building Emergency Management we help our clients plan for, respond to and recover from all manner of emergencies. Part of that requires some substantial training for those expected to undertake response duties when chaos does strike.

Coming to training can be fun (at least ours are). Training is exciting if you're learning something that you believe can help you be more successful when the pressure is on.

But it's not really about the training. It's about the behavior change after the training. it doesn't matter what you learn if you don't implement the ideas. As the saying goes, the person who CAN read but DOESN'T is no better off than the person who can't read at all.

Coming to training won't change your life. Only you can do that by implementing what you learn.

There are things that will help you do that. First, we do everything we can to not only teach you, but persuade you to change. We do our best to inspire you.

Second, we do our best to help you stay in touch with others who come to the training. You can help by shaking hands with your fellow attendees, and reaching out electronically afterwards and ask how their implementation is going. Ask questions! Share your struggles.

But no matter how engaging any training session or course is, it starts with you. I can’t help but wonder at the proliferation of online training, courses on offer, distance learning, seminars, corporate ‘off-sites’ and so on that are available nowadays. And yet most, are not entirely new. I concede there are always new attendees who need the information that the training provides.

However, in my experience as an employer, I have been confounded by employees’ willingness to attend training sessions but unwillingness to adjust their habits afterwards.

So the message is simple. Knowing is one thing; but doing is something yet again!

It's up to you.