WEBVTT 00:00:16.673 --> 00:00:19.043 You know, attention is like sunshine. 00:00:19.085 --> 00:00:22.839 You pay attention to something, and guess what? It grows. 00:00:22.840 --> 00:00:25.872 That's why one of the first things a new trainer learns here 00:00:25.873 --> 00:00:29.364 is that the more attention you pay to what an animal is doing... 00:00:29.365 --> 00:00:34.118 right or wrong; it makes no difference... the more that behavior will get repeated. 00:00:34.120 --> 00:00:35.344 It's like these sea lions. 00:00:35.345 --> 00:00:39.066 The more we've tried to quiet them down, the noisier they've gotten. 00:00:39.067 --> 00:00:40.878 Well, it's the same with people. 00:00:41.003 --> 00:00:45.541 The key to getting great results is to pay more attention to what's going right 00:00:45.608 --> 00:00:47.360 rather than what's going wrong, 00:00:47.400 --> 00:00:52.468 and that's a big part of what I like to call accentuating the positive. 00:00:57.991 --> 00:00:59.739 Whenever you're working with a killer whale, 00:00:59.739 --> 00:01:02.463 the most important thing is to accentuate the positive. 00:01:02.464 --> 00:01:06.201 In other words, pay attention to everything the animal does that you want. 00:01:06.225 --> 00:01:10.937 And to do that with the whales, we have to make sure that everything is interesting. 00:01:10.995 --> 00:01:14.305 In other words, that they don't get bored with you or with the situation. 00:01:14.501 --> 00:01:17.262 So to do that, we change things up all the time. 00:01:17.437 --> 00:01:20.417 We're constantly changing what we use as a reinforcer. 00:01:20.545 --> 00:01:23.809 We also change the routines. Nothing's ever the same. 00:01:23.810 --> 00:01:27.074 A good example of that is like while we're sitting here right now. 00:01:27.075 --> 00:01:28.985 You know, the whale could get real bored if I just 00:01:28.986 --> 00:01:31.341 keep sitting here rubbing his nose in the same way, 00:01:31.345 --> 00:01:35.014 so I can do different things. I can ask the whale to give me his tongue, like this. 00:01:35.112 --> 00:01:39.423 I can sit here and do vocals. Good. 00:01:39.594 --> 00:01:43.735 In other words, change things up so the animal has to pay attention to you... 00:01:43.736 --> 00:01:46.555 in other words, has to follow your direction. 00:01:51.736 --> 00:01:54.977 When you take an employee and you change things up... 00:01:54.979 --> 00:01:57.715 you change the reinforcers, you change the routines... 00:01:57.716 --> 00:02:00.246 you're going to keep it very interesting for the employee. 00:02:00.247 --> 00:02:05.029 Get on first and just stay down, stay crouched down. Then when I tell you to, stand up. 00:02:05.030 --> 00:02:05.651 Okay. 00:02:05.652 --> 00:02:08.534 And then you're gonna stand up around the pool. I might tell you to get back down again. 00:02:08.535 --> 00:02:10.455 At some point, I'm gonna tell you to fall off. All right? 00:02:10.456 --> 00:02:13.103 Okay. Okay, just line her up and get right on. 00:02:13.443 --> 00:02:14.443 All right. You ready? 00:02:14.444 --> 00:02:18.221 In other words, they are gonna know that they're gonna get something reinforcing. 00:02:18.222 --> 00:02:20.392 They're going to know they're going to get something they like for it. 00:02:20.393 --> 00:02:22.941 They're gonna know they're being told they've done a good job. 00:02:22.942 --> 00:02:24.885 But it's constantly changing. 00:02:24.886 --> 00:02:29.410 Change in itself is very reinforcing, as long as it's positive change. 00:02:34.448 --> 00:02:38.370 I think every person is an individual and is special, just like our killer whales. 00:02:38.371 --> 00:02:42.472 Each one has their own personality; they have their own likes and dislikes. 00:02:42.652 --> 00:02:46.584 For example, Katina... one of the things that I love doing with her 00:02:46.585 --> 00:02:49.873 is gently touching her on the side of the face. See that? 00:02:49.875 --> 00:02:53.955 And she'll roll, and then rubbing her right here. That's one of her favorite spots. 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:55.759 So that's unique to Tina. 00:02:55.830 --> 00:02:59.013 Just like with the trainer; each trainer is a little different. 00:02:59.014 --> 00:03:05.468 Some enjoy water work; some enjoy research; some enjoy just hanging out at the pool. 00:03:05.470 --> 00:03:10.208 So it's very important to be an effective coach or to be an effective trainer, 00:03:10.209 --> 00:03:14.928 knowing what's gonna get that animal jazzed, knowing what's gonna motivate that person. 00:03:19.789 --> 00:03:22.337 Each person is different. Each day is different. 00:03:22.338 --> 00:03:25.158 And I think it's important as a manager or a leader that you find out 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:28.506 what those likes and dislikes are and you work accordingly. 00:03:31.918 --> 00:03:35.235 A lot of times, if you're not reacting to each employee as an individual, 00:03:35.236 --> 00:03:37.476 that can work against you in your relationship. 00:03:37.477 --> 00:03:39.925 If you're not taking those things into consideration, 00:03:39.926 --> 00:03:44.100 you can actually be damaging your relationship and not making that person special. 00:03:49.313 --> 00:03:53.485 Well, I think fun is an important part of any relationship. You can't have all work. 00:03:53.486 --> 00:03:55.484 Sometimes you've got to sit and interact with the animal. 00:03:55.485 --> 00:03:57.581 You've got to play with them, and you've got to let them know that 00:03:57.582 --> 00:04:00.698 that's a part of their life is having fun too. We're not all work. 00:04:00.699 --> 00:04:04.838 It's a little bit of learning and a little bit of shows and a whole lot of fun. 00:04:04.839 --> 00:04:07.748 And that's what makes the learning process a whole lot more efficient, 00:04:07.749 --> 00:04:09.732 and it builds a stronger relationship. 00:04:09.733 --> 00:04:12.178 It helps your trust, it helps your relationships, 00:04:12.179 --> 00:04:16.211 and everybody enjoys working with each other. Right, guys? That's right. How about you? 00:04:16.453 --> 00:04:18.013 There you go. 00:04:22.421 --> 00:04:28.203 Another part of accentuating the positive is something we've all experienced. 00:04:29.950 --> 00:04:32.367 Remember when we were learning to walk? 00:04:33.536 --> 00:04:35.524 When we took a step and then fell down, 00:04:35.549 --> 00:04:39.633 we didn't hear "why can't you walk across the room?" we heard, "that was great". 00:04:39.634 --> 00:04:41.756 You can do it; keep it up." 00:04:44.033 --> 00:04:49.721 In other words, we were being praised for making progress, not just achieving the end results. 00:04:51.866 --> 00:04:55.394 It's so important to pay attention to correct behavior 00:04:55.395 --> 00:05:00.677 as opposed to incorrect behavior, because we're gonna do what we practice most. 00:05:00.678 --> 00:05:06.665 And if the killer whale is getting praised or interrupted for doing the wrong behavior, 00:05:06.666 --> 00:05:08.806 it's very likely that it's gonna keep doing that 00:05:08.807 --> 00:05:11.444 because it got attention for doing the wrong behavior. 00:05:11.445 --> 00:05:15.949 It's so critical as a trainer to catch them doing something right 00:05:16.010 --> 00:05:20.313 and praise them for doing it, just like in praising progress with your employees. 00:05:20.414 --> 00:05:24.773 It's so important to praise and affirm people along the way, 00:05:24.774 --> 00:05:28.541 because if you didn't and you just waited for that behavior to happen, 00:05:28.542 --> 00:05:30.871 you'd be waiting a long time. 00:05:32.975 --> 00:05:38.028 Accentuating the positive isn't about being soft. In fact, it's anything but. 00:05:38.106 --> 00:05:41.175 It's about being real. It's about paying attention. 00:05:41.176 --> 00:05:46.663 It's about caring enough to connect and build a real relationship with people. 00:05:47.141 --> 00:05:53.359 And that means we have to take the time to find out what motivates each individual. 00:05:55.070 --> 00:05:58.986 We need to treat everyone as individuals with unlimited potential 00:05:58.987 --> 00:06:01.508 for development and accomplishment. 00:06:03.410 --> 00:06:05.653 We need to work at keeping things interesting 00:06:05.655 --> 00:06:09.247 and not fall into a pattern of the same old, same old. 00:06:11.703 --> 00:06:15.343 And we need to remember how important it is to praise progress, 00:06:15.344 --> 00:06:17.714 which means catching people doing things right 00:06:17.714 --> 00:06:20.895 or almost right and giving them a "good job," 00:06:20.896 --> 00:06:24.307 or as I like to think about it, a "whale done." 00:06:27.140 --> 00:06:30.619 Accentuating the positive is one of the best ways I can think of 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:33.237 to let people know you care about them as people, 00:06:33.238 --> 00:06:35.584 not just as coworkers or employees 00:06:35.584 --> 00:06:38.331 and in the process, build the kind of relationships 00:06:38.332 --> 00:06:43.207 that will motivate them to do the right thing. Kiss, jay?