The following contains excerpts from the book, Whale Done (Ken Blanchard, Thad Lacinak, Chuck Tompkins, Jim Ballard).
At our music school in Midland, Texas we believe that music is more than sound, it is relationships. In Leadership, relationships matter.
The thesis of this book is that positive affirmation is a much better leadership ideology than the traditional critical/punishment style of motivation in the work-force. Using the example of SeaWorld’s trainers, in dealing with killer whales, the only way to safely and successfully bring these huge and dangerous creatures into a desire to collaboratively perform amazing stunts for an enthusiastic audience is through encouragement and accentuation of the positive. Doing anything else would quickly end in calamity. If it works with killer whales, why not with people?
The idea is to understand “the power of positive relationships and the need to catch people doing things right in order to develop productive work and home environments.” The author writes, “I was firmly convinced that punishment was harmful in human relationships, and I realized instinctively that it wouldn’t be a smart move with killer whales…I was particularly fascinated by the ability of SeaWorld trainers to use redirection. Upon encountering any undesirable behaviors on the whales’ part, they would immediately refocus those energies elsewhere…to catch whales doing something right.”
Our teaching approach at our music school in Midland, Texas is to affirm the student when progress if made, highlighting the positive. When correction is given, it is always in the light of future success.
In interviewing a SeaWorld trainer, trust was a major factor between the trainer and the animal. “I couldn’t train him until he was convinced of my intentions. Whenever we get a new whale, we don’t attempt to do any training for some time.”
They took time to convince the animals that they meant them no harm. “It takes a long time to build trust and friendship with each of the whales…That trust and friendship is the basis of everything…These animals are not so different form people. They’ll show you when they don’t like how you’re treating them…When our killer whales completely lose their fear of us, the positive vibes between them and us are transferred to the audience.”
The trainer continued, “We accentuate the positive, not the negative. We pay a lot of attention when the animal does what we ask him to do and performs a task correctly…An important concept to remember is that the more attention you pay to a behavior, the more it will be repeated…when we don’t pay attention to what they do wrong, but instead give lots of attention to what they do right, they do the right thing more often.”
“We make every effort to persuade the animals to see us as their friends. After friendship is established, we try to find out just where we and the particular animal can meet on a basis of mutual trust and understanding. We study its behavior patterns to find out what it likes. Then we make everything in the training into a game, injecting easy lessons that the animals learn almost without effort.”
Gaining consent is the first part of developing relationships and, at our music school in Midland, Texas we value the desires of our students and parents, and seek to find ways to partner with them, creating a symbiotic success.
“One of the most harmful practices in animal education is the human habit of mentally limiting animals. What the human thinks about an animal, and expects from an animal, has a direct bearing on that animal’s response of lack of response.”
“The conventional approach to animal training is one in which a ‘superior’ being compels and ‘inferior’ one to do what he or she wants done. Animals can sense expectations with astonishing accuracy…you should never be surprised when an animal does what you ask, even when you ask the first time. These killer whales have taught us to always expect the impossible.”
The teachers at our music school in Midland, Texas seek to establish a ‘servant-leadership’ approach with each of our students. Humility goes much farther than authoritarianism in fostering their growth.
“It’s all about energy management. It begins with controlling our own attention. A simple but very powerful rule to remember is, if you don’t want to encourage poor behavior, don’t spend a lot of time on it. Instead we re-channel the energy…following the redirection, we watch to see if we can catch him doing something right, so we can accentuate the positive and give him a treat…we did not want to use punishment as a motivator.”
- Build trust
- Accentuate the positive
- When mistakes occur, redirect the energy
“The more we accentuate the positive, the more they trust us and the better their performance.”
We have learned, at our music school in Midland, Texas that believing in the potential in our students, from the start, is the first step towards seeing exponential progress in their development.
One of the benefits of studying music is that of learning to work together in a positive environment. When students learn to play in ensembles, several things begin to take place. First, they realize that they must come prepared with their own part learned, in order to be a successful contributor to the overall group. Second, in order to play with the group, they must listen beyond themselves to the rest of the group, becoming aware of other colleague’s contributions. And lastly, they must be aware of the nuances happening in real-time of the musical expression of the group under its director.
All these things in combination require the development of an intuitive awareness of others. This helps develop listening skills and empathy. These qualities, among others, are life-skills that apply to many other endeavors, and could mean the difference between success or failure in business or family.
When we teach our students music at our music school in Midland, Texas, we also understand that we are training them for much more. As valuable and enjoyable as learning music is, it is even more important to gain the valuable insights of collaborative work, personal discipline, long-range planning, pattern awareness, and emotional empathy.