I remember I did consider talking about high reinforcement rate and WHY I think it’s important … however I remained focused on facilitating opportunities for the team to be successful. I realised I didn’t have to focus on changing my clients verbal behavior because something potentially far more valuable was occurring. Max’s behaviour was reinforcing new [more desirable] behaviours for his human!
This made me curious about what we want as trainers from our sessions. When I find myself ‘expecting’ my client to understand why training works – it can make me feel worried if they continue to offer me different interpretations. I feel worried that maybe they will stop making progress if they don’t understand the reasons behind what I am showing them. For me though I have found these worries to be unwarranted! I’ve learned to trust the science and that reinforcement drives behavior for all earthlings – including us human learners. I know I could always add more information [and from time to time I do] but it’s not my main focus. I’ve learned that I don’t have to try change “all of the things” to help my clients approximate forward in the desired direction.
I know the feeling of overwhelm all too well. Therefore I feel that I want to avoid offering my clients too much information and too many skills to develop at once. I’ve learned starting with small easy steps can often get us to where we want to go faster.
How about you – have you had similar experiences? I would love to hear about them – please feel welcome to leave a comment below and let us know.
Best Regards
Anna Bartosik (Blog Writer & ATA Happiness Engineer) &
Ryan Cartlidge (Blog Editor & ATA Founder/Connector/Facilitator).
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* This blog post is based on real life events and situations… However, to respect the individuals involved and their privacy some information might have been modified, including names