We’ve all been there. We sit at our desks, nodding in agreement as we read another article about the importance of professional development while ignoring the education modules swirling throughout your network and inbox. This disconnect between our beliefs and actions is a perfect example of cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance occurs when we hold two conflicting beliefs or our actions contradict our beliefs. It creates psychological discomfort that we try to resolve by changing our beliefs, changing our behavior, or rationalizing the contradiction. We know we need this but can’t muster the action it takes to make it happen.
In some cases, you do get your specialists into continuous education while repeatedly ignoring your own education. As business CEOs, we don’t know everything; we don’t know what we don’t know. The same is true for our team.
Time Pressure is an excuse. We believe in training but convince ourselves we’re “too busy right now.” This temporary excuse often becomes a permanent state, creating perpetual postponement.
We understand and value the long-term benefits of education; however, immediate tasks with visible results often take precedence. It’s human nature to prioritize immediate need and gratification over future benefits.
We also get into a comfort zone. Continuing education requires effort and can make us feel temporarily incompetent. Staying within our comfort zone feels safer, even if it contradicts our beliefs about growth and development.
And a huge factor in not making continuing education an important part of your culture is the cost of inaction.
This cognitive dissonance carries real consequences. Think about the stagnating skill sets needed in our rapidly evolving technology-laden industry.
If you want to break your cycle, start small. Ask your people what they need. They may not know best, but using their input will help you find the courses to help your business and themselves.
Create a commitment for your entire team to the number of hours required for continuing education. (We’ve done episodes on this very strategy. It works). Be it lunch and learns, local supplier training, or time away at training conferences. Block time on your company calendar. Build a chart for your team that they fill in and consider a specialty focus that everyone commits to, such as ADAS, Air Conditioning, or Scope Training, to name a few.
One primary key to making this work is finding the time to keep your clients happy while reaching your sales and profit goals. The top shops in our industry know how to make continuing education work and reach their goals. If you need to speak to someone doing this, just drop me a line and I’ll make the intro.
Commit to treat continuous education as any other important goal or initiative. Create accountability partnerships with your team and track and celebrate the learning progress.
Most importantly, stop making excuses about lack of time and document the cost of not learning (comebacks, unhappy customers, and the parts cannon are examples). Also, set specific learning goals with deadlines; if you don’t, your education commitment is just a dream or wish… your training paradox.
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