We all know this cliche, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink”. This implies that we can lead others down the right path, but at the end of the day, it is up to them to make the final leap of faith to take action. Leadership expert John C. Maxwell takes this quote one step further. He states, “You cannot make a horse drink, but you can make it thirsty.” As leaders, we cannot simply show others the way, but we need to entice them and make them want whatever is at the end of the road.
Many times in traditional martial arts, this enticement is something concrete and physical. This can be a new belt or a trophy. Most people would want to get their black belt or be a grand champion in a tournament. These rewards motivate practitioners to train harder, and improve upon their skills. While not intrinsically bad, these superficial enticements will not last forever. To learn more read my other article “Beware of the Bright and Shiny”. A better enticement to provide as we lead is to explain to our students, what doors will be opened to them once they reach a certain level of proficiency. These open doors can be invitations to exclusive training opportunities, the ability to lead others, or officiate at tournaments. These open doors beget even more learning and development creating a virtuous cycle that trophies and belts might not create on their own.
At my studio, one of the black belts teaches a 2 hour class exclusively for brown belts and above simply known as “brown belt class”. Students get excited to be able to attend this class to get extra training opportunities. Membership of this class is not something that ends after one day, it is something that continues in perpetuity. In a similar way, I recently gave one of my black belt students the opportunity to run his own class during the week. From this opportunity, I have seen him be inspired to improve not only on his teaching ability, but also on his own technique. Those of us that are instructors know how much being in front of students inspires us to be our best.
What are some other ways as instructors that we can make our students excited for what comes next? Feel free to leave a comment in this article.
