Gregg Patterson: Get “Sticky”

POSTED ON October 1, 2024 @ 9:30 am

Gregg Patterson Founder and President “Tribal Magic!!!”

Challenged by STICK

Leaders are teachers. Managers. Golf pros. Superintendents. Chefs. Dining Room Supervisors. Those-Who-Teach are trying to change behaviors, change the thinking, change the norms and make those changes STICK.

And making those ideas and those behaviors STICKY “ain’t easy.”

Those-Who-Teach are often discouraged, haunted by doubts that what they’re teaching won’t have a long-term, big-time impact on those being taught. Was an entire day wasted preaching and teaching to members and staff? Were the big bucks wasted on seminars, video tapes, prizes, books and the miscellaneous stuff of education? Did all that money and all that “preaching and teaching” go in one ear and out the other? Will they remember what was taught? Will they use what was taught? Will they act any different now than they did before? Were the big bucks wasted? Will anything that was taught—STICK?

And leader-teachers want to know—what’s needed to make stuff STICK???

Needing Sticky

Teaching is all about making ideas, processes, procedures and behaviors “stick.” Something has “stuck” when it’s remembered and used.

Both the teacher and the taught want stuff to stick. It often doesn’t. Why STICKY—and why not???

Roadblocks to Stick

There are lots of roadblocks on the journey to STICK. Might be the message. Might be the teacher. Might be the “classroom.” Might be what’s taught. Job One is knowing and removing the roadblocks to STICK.

Sometimes it’s the message. Good idea but the wrong club. Good idea but the wrong employee. Written when it should have been spoken. Spoken when it should have been written. Classroom when it should have been “work room”. If it’s the wrong message delivered in the wrong way for the target market, it won’t stick.
Sometimes it’s the focus. Cell phones, interruptions, upcoming events, side conversations dilute focus and deny STICK. Multi-Tasking is a loser on the journey to STICK.
Sometimes it’s the student. They may be dumb as a rock. Their genes may be flawed, the synapses don’t work and nothing sticks. They may be genetically opposed to the ideas being taught—wrong psyche, wrong gray matter, wrong persona. They may be indifference to the message, to the teacher, to the passion. End result—No Stick.
Sometimes it’s the teacher. They’re boring. They talk abstractions. They not interactive. They don’t care. They fail to live The Message. Are disorganized, confused, diverted, monotone. They deliver a “one-shot-never-repeated” message—and moan and groan because there ain’t no muscle memory. End result—No Stick.
Sometimes it’s the classroom. It may be the “little c” classroom—no windows, too hot, no fan, bad karma, no flip charts, no VCR, bad acoustics. It may be the “Big C” classroom—the BIG PICTURE cultural network of employee team, membership, the local community and contemporary society—that doesn’t care about what’s being taught, doesn’t reward it once stuck, is completely indifferent, cynical, or actively negative about the issues and ideas and the procedures being taught. “Big C and little c” classrooms can be barriers to stick. End result—No Stick.

Start with removing—the roadblocks to Stick.

The Principles of Stick

A Culture of Stick is built on the Principles of STICK. Consider these……………….

Stick Needs “The Sticky.” Employees who care about the job want stuff to stick. Members who care about the club want the rules to stick. Sticky types. Filter out the indifferent. Be selective. Eject with prejudice. Select those with the potential for stick.
Stick Takes Personal. People remember stuff that affects them “right now.” The Stick Factor increases when the student knows that they benefit personally and directly from the stuff being taught.
Stick Takes Practical. Things that a student needs are remembered. Utility improves stick.
Stick Starts at Home. “Home Schooling” is Club Schooling—teaching at the club, on site, every day, for the entire shift. Teach employees in the trenches, at the club, using local examples, taught with “professors” they work with each day. Every situation an instructional opportunity. Stick improves when the stuff being taught is taught at home.
Stick Takes Examples. Current, personal and local. People learn from observing “right behavior” in others. Everyone they meet is a role model. Peers. Management. Members. If those examples are consistent with the message, taught behaviors stick.
Stick Takes Repetition. Ideas are lost without repetition. The Big Cheese needs top preach and teach “The Message.” The supervisor needs to preach and teach “The Message.” Peers need to repeat “The Message.” Repeat it enough and the message will stick.
Stick Takes Consistency. “Right behavior” needs to be “right” everywhere in the club. If the G.M. say one thing, the clubhouse manager another, the supervisor a third, the membership a fourth and the president a fifth, confusion prevails. Things stick when there’s consistency in message and behavior.
Stick Takes Stories. Stories are entertaining and enlightening. Great teachers are great story tellers. Theories are forgotten but stories are remembered. Good stories and great storytelling help the message stick.
Stick Takes Simple. K.I.S.S. helps stuff stick. Keep It Simple Stupid. “This is right, this is wrong.” “This is good, this is bad.” The message being taught should be simple, clear and unambiguous. Breezy abstractions don’t stick. Confusion doesn’t stick. Clarity sticks.
Stick Takes Small Bites. People can only digest and absorb so much at one time. Three hours classes, all day training sessions, once a year debriefs do little for Stick. “Small Bites” stick.
Stick Takes Passion. Teachers who teach with a passion are heard more clearly and listened to more intently by those being taught. Good teachers with deep passion have high stick.
Stick Takes Interactive. Bull sessions improve stick. Talking outside the classroom about the stuff being taught helps stuff stick.
Stick Takes Brew Time. Ideas stick when the “stickee” thinks about the issue when left on their own. Why do I do this? Why should I do that? What were they thinking when they taught me this? Brew time helps stick.
Stick Takes “Doing Professor.” People remember stuff better when they’re asked to teach others about the stuff they’ve been taught. Make everyone a professor and stuff will stick.
Stick Takes Neighborhood. Neighborhood is about “context.” The staff neighborhood. The member neighborhood. What you hear and see “in the neighborhood” effects what you do, think and say. A neighborhood that affirms “right behavior” helps stuff stick.
Stick Takes Quizzes. People love to take tests. Quiz questions are “goals” that allow clear achievement and reward. Staff and members enjoy the challenge of a short, direct, practical, focused quiz.
Stick Takes Rewards. Performance rewarded is performance remembered. Stuff sticks when people are rewarded for remembering and acting on stuff that’s been taught. Cash is king and praise is princely.
Stick Takes Patience. Stick starts slow and then accelerates. As the foundation grows, so does stick. A foundation takes time. Little seems to stick. Then the student gets really sticky, ideas snowball, and everything starts to stick.

Ponder these, The Principles of Stick. They work

Get STICKY

Leader-Teachers want what’s taught to stick—to be remembered and used. Behaviors which are taught have no value without Stick.

The Principles of Stick are universal but the tactics for delivering Stick are unique to the management, the staff and the members of a given club culture. Finding the right tactics takes practice and patience.

Think Stick. Teach Sticky. Get Sticky.

And enjoy the journey———————