Happy 2011! Well, it’s been off to a wonderful start so far for me, I have a brand new puppy named Rufus. He’s a 10 pound French Bulldog, but sometimes it seems he’s really just a potato with a puppy disguise on.
For those of you that know me, this is something I have been waiting for my whole adult life. As a child, I had two family dogs, both standard poodles – who often just looked more like little horses. I was too young to know exactly the type of training we used for them – but it may have been some combination of crate training, paper training, and a mixture of positive and negative reinforcement. We even had a dog trainer – but I often felt frustrated that the pups would have accidents, would bark endlessly at seemingly nothing, and frequently got into things they weren’t supposed to. Nonetheless, I loved them dearly and always wanted one of my own.
When I got the okay to get a puppy, my husband and I spent lots of time researching dog breeds. My good friend, who’s a trainer, suggested that we think about what our lifestyle is like and find a breed that really matches it, otherwise, we’ll be forced to change lifestyles for the pup and we’d need to be ready to do so. Right away, this made me think about choosing a job, or performing a role in an organization – it’s got to be a customized decision that really works for you – so that you can work for it.
The Frenchies are an interesting breed – unlike most other breeds, they were basically bred for snuggling – not hunting or protection or any of that stuff. They are often described as a “well behaved, adaptable and comfortable companions with an affectionate nature and even disposition; generally active, alert and playful, but not unduly boisterous” – perfect for me!
The month leading up to picking up this little bundle of joy was spent deep in puppy training books. I wanted to be the most prepared puppy-mom ever!
What’s interesting about puppy training is that there are a couple of schools of thought on it, but the one that my friend/trainer and the books endorse is positive reinforcement (so if you’re thinking people training – it’s more about the carrots than the sticks). Much of the training focuses on “setting the pup up for success” and “helping him make the right choices.” As an OD person, I was fascinated by this approach – maybe this was the answer to a perfectly trained pup, and maybe yelling at my standard poodles when they messed up was part of the reason they continued to do so.
Ironically, I was reading these training books at the very same time I was preparing the performance reviews and feedback for my team for year-end. I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement – and especially setting people up for success. So, if it will work for a little puppy maybe it would also work for the team?
Ever since Rufus’ arrival we’ve been diligent with the positive reinforcement training and are seeing fantastic results. During his first training session, he learned to “Sit” and to “Come” – both pretty impressive, since prior to the training session if we tried to get him to do either of those commands, he’d just look at us like, “what do you want from me?” Also similar to people training – sometimes you need to adapt your training style to meet the needs of your trainees. Once you’ve got that down, it’s just about routine and recognition.
All of this training has brought me a renewed appreciation for the topics of motivation, performance, and training. Dan Pink, who happens to be a keynote speaker at the upcoming Human Capital National Summit in Atlanta, has done some very important work on this topic. I’m thrilled that I have the opportunity to hear him live, but in the meantime, to get you excited about what’s to come – check out this great short video, here. Hey, you never know, it may help you with motivating your new pup, your team, or even yourself!
Hope to see you all at the National Summit, and in the meantime, Rufus and I will be working on other important things like “Stay” and “Heel”!
The thing with dogs though is that they only learn what you teach them. People need to take what they learn to the next level .... on their own. And I agree that positive reiforcement is key. Sometimes people argue that hard working and excellently performing employees do not need reinforcement, they just do what they have to do and find reward in the results. However I think the need for positive reinforcement is inherent in all human beings - when applied appropriately of course. So while you teach Rufus to "stay" and "heel", I hope that people learn to realise that necessary next step and learn it themselves, and we'll assist where needed. Thanks for the good insight