Vital vs. Negative Behavior

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to Lindy Woods of Dunamis Karate who won my little informal contest about ideas for future writings here at Kickgen.com. Everyone who responded by comment, email, etc. had great ideas, and what I liked about her ideas were that they were relevant and she had a couple of ideas that included people of every age group and could be a benefit to practitioners across all styles. BunkaHere were her ideas in a nutshell: Bunkai...write about bunkai application in traditional forms, possibly even using video for this one; and, Trivia...she also mentioned doing trivia that would span age-groups, and to me sounds very interactive.

Very cool! I am going to send out a "prize-pack" to her this week, but for now go visit her profile at: dunamiskarate.

Now, about Vital vs. Negative Behaviors...

Let me begin by defining what Vital Behaviors and Negative Behaviors are for the purpose of this column.

Vital Behaviors are behaviors that support and directly reflect the vision, mission, values, strategies, and discipline of your school or martial arts system, leading to results you want to see happen every time your doors are open. These should be displayed by leaders, staff, volunteers, students, and parents who are in your school or training hall each and every week. Many times vital behaviors are not displayed, identified, or recognized and I will talk about that in a moment. For now a simplified example...

Let's say "Kindness" is a value of your school and therefore "being kind" to one another would be a vital behavior. More specifically, you see John (a blue belt in your school) assisting Danny (a new white belt in your school) in tying his belt around his uniform...you've just witnessed a Vital Behavior. This reflects the value of kindness, and also leads to the desired results of your students leading one another, helping one another, taking responsibility and ownership in "their" school, and assists you in moving training directives along because you don't have to take time out to tie every one's belt. That's just the tip of the iceberg, because now John and Danny are connecting and a friendship is being built, which leads to retention and a wonderful sense of community in your school. In a sense, John is helping Danny know that he is welcome and that he belongs.

All this from tying a belt? If it stems from vital behavior...you betcha!

Now...Negative Behaviors. Pretty much self-explanatory...any behavior that takes away from all of the above or creates negative tension, confusion, chaos, or any other undesirable result. Same example turned around...

Danny asks John for help in tying his belt. John says, "No way, I am a Blue Belt now and you need to learn to tie your own belt!" Whoa! Back up Bessy!!! I'm sure you can drum up several undesirables in that scenario. Would someone please make John do pushups for the remainder of class?!

So, how do we make Vital Behaviors happen and minimize Negative Behaviors?

A few things for you to roll around in your next leadership meeting or strategic planning session...

First, you must have identified your vision, mission, strategy, values, discipline and any desirable results you want to see happen when your doors are open. This is another conversation in itself, but it is crucial.

Second, you will need to communicate these things to your leaders, staff, volunteers, parents, and students. Each group requires a different type of communication, but people need to know!

Third, and here is the kicker...you MUST create an environment where Vital Behaviors are encouraged and happen organically!

When someone sees a Vital Behavior in action...it must be recognized. Now, don't think you have to hire a marching band to romp through your school each time you see a desired behavior. Many times a simple pat on the back or, "Good job! Thanks for helping," will suffice. As a leader, you will need to remember these things for awards ceremonies, and other official recognitions. For the most part, though, people just want to know they are doing a good job and that someone notices.

The essence is the environment. Are people empowered to display vital behaviors? Is communication of desired results consistent? Are you leaders aware of what is happening around them? What is to happen when someone does something vital? Who can recognize or reward? Is your environment conducive to vital behaviors and recognition? And...does this type of thing happen on its own...organically? Is it a natural outward display that comes from the core of who YOU are and what your school or system is about? After all, "as the leader goes, so goes the organization!"

On minimizing Negative Behavior: it simply needs to be strategically addressed. Studies show that sometimes less than 1% of people would actually speak up, approach a leader, address an issue directly, or intervene in any way when observing negative behavior. This includes higher level leaders and people at all levels of the social scheme. The sad thing is, if left unchecked, Negative Behaviors can spread like wild fire and next thing you know, you have a full-blown crisis that is school-wide.

This also boils down to environment and systems. Do you have a system in place for someone to follow if they witness undesireable behavior (and one that doesn't point the finger at them)? Has it been communicated? Are your leaders, parents, volunteers, and even students trained to know what to do in situations requiring intervention?

I am going to assume you want a school environment that is positive, healthy, open, and faithful in following the discipline that is worthy of a Martial Arts School. Vital Behaviors are a big key to making that happen. Effectively addressing Negative Behaviors is another key.

Have a plan in place to deal with Negative Behaviors, but focus on creating and nurturing the environment for Vital Behaviors and most of it will take care of itself.

Now, go display some Vital Behavior to someone :)

Have An Extraordinary Day!
Doug McGannon
Kickgen.com username: KGDoug
http://www.questfortheusopen.blogspot.com
http://www.twitter.com/dougmcgannon