The urgency of the need
This theme matters to me: when a problem becomes frequent and/or intense, there’s urgency. And yet, almost no one sees it coming.
Experience shows that denial, endearingly human as it is, distorts our perception of these conditions, right up until the first conflict occurs. 90% of my clients react to a violent traumatic event, when only 10% prepare for it beforehand (often in a team-building atmosphere, far from real urgency).
This imbalance isn’t inevitable. It’s a choice, usually unconscious, to postpone a decision that could be made today.
The urgency of retention
If the “denial, aggression, awareness” path characterises the customer journey of safety training, those in charge of the training must keep a level head, never losing sight of a central question: if the problem shows up tonight, tomorrow, or in three years, what tools will my trainees actually be able to use?
That’s the whole difference between training and simply occupying a room for a day. A course that doesn’t think through its own retention over time — three days, three months, three years later — has produced a memory, not a skill.
Minimum means, maximum effectiveness
We select the best tools by continuously updating our teaching methods. The goal is to be able to do, right now, the maximum with the minimum of means.
The flying back-kick “death tornado” move will therefore never be our priority. What matters isn’t the impressive move — it’s what remains, intact, the day nobody expected it.