Skiing (Essay)

John Kimball
copyright 2013


Theory and Analysis of Lifetime Sports

Lifetime Development and Maintenance of Advanced Alpine Skiing Skills

A lifelong love of alpine skiing has developed in me an obsession with form and grace, extending into all areas of my life. From the first time I saw photos of Stein Eriksen’s easy turns, and read the words “reverse shoulder” and “stem Christy,” my mind has been captivated by the desire to put into action all the knowledge I gain from books and magazines on the subject. This essay will demonstrate the development and maintenance of lifetime skiing skills, and will relate this exercise to the reality of negotiating the often-terrorizing terrain of life on and off the slopes. For documentation I have included photographs of myself in various skiing situations, and at different times in my life.

Novice

“Try not to cross your tips.” The tow-rope tore through my little gloved fists and jerked me into motion. A wobbly start, then stubby skis settling tentatively into the track, and then a scary and speedy ride to the top of the short hill, and… wumpf. Down I went. The instructor helped me up, and pointed my tips back down the hill. That rope-tow scared the daylights out of me. It seemed to tear by at a hundred miles an hour. But after a few runs, my legs grew accustomed to the gentle slope and I was able to sidle up to the rope and grab it with one hand. I noticed the snowflakes floating gently through the afternoon sky, and tipped my head back to capture some cold bits on my tongue. It was fourth-grade heaven.

The common elements of ski instruction have evolved somewhat, though the concepts remain secure. Little kids are coaxed out onto the snow, and soon take to the slopes like fish to water. Tow ropes and, more recently, a carpeted conveyer belt for the tiny tykes, have become standard fare for the “ski-wee” set. Heading the other direction (downhill), the basic technique of “snowplow,” or applying pressure to the inside edges of both skis in a wedge fashion, is still the method of choice for controlling speed at this skill level. Soon these youngsters graduate to the “bunny hill,” where they first learn to ride a T-bar or chairlift. It is at this time in the beginning skier’s instruction that the elements of balance, self-esteem, confidence, humility and pride collide to form that elusive mix known as a “beginning skill set.” This magical bag of tricks includes the ability to avoid distractions, to maintain forward motion without falling down, to keep one’s wits about oneself, and above all, to stop.

Youngsters who develop the beginning skill set are likely to derive from the exercise a sense of accomplishment akin to the highest achievement known. This activity lands squarely in the middle of the academic year; consequently, non-skiing friends at school will turn green with envy when they learn that Marcia or Joey can ski. Furthermore, she or he is now a part of that group that talks with such wisdom of jumps, night skiing, and cute boys or girls in the lift line.

Adults who begin alpine skiing lessons for the first time may find a great deal of fear associated with the activity. To challenge a mountain is an awesome thing. Sudden whiteouts, frostbite, and hypothermia may crowd into the mind to distract the adult beginner’s attention. Rampant ego may dictate that the first run ever must be up the chairlift and down an intermediate slope.

When I was a beginner, my father took me out on the intermediate hill. He had bought for me a pair of skis with the old-style “bear-trap bindings.” These beastly contraptions fastened the boots securely to the skis. I was on my first run ever down the South Canyon side of the Daisy chair at Mount Hood Meadows in Oregon. It was dark, and snowing lightly. I felt cold. I had fallen a number of times, and my clothes were wet. I just wanted to get down the hill and have a cup of hot cocoa. I was frightened by the long expanses of open hillside, and by the fast skiers tearing by at breakneck speed and shouting to one another in the artificially lit night.

I lost sight of my dad, and I was going too fast. Suddenly a dark projectile shot out of the woods. I couldn’t stop, and the cannonball of death knocked me down, hard. I hit my head on the snow, and when I recovered I turned my vengeful eye at my attacker. “Sorry,” said the out-of-control adult beginner as he righted himself and took off into the unknown.

Much shaken, I briefly acknowledged the concerned shout of my father from farther up the hill. In misery, I righted myself and tentatively started down the hill again. At the cat-track, another skier sped toward me. I was shocked. Once again, I fuzzily reckoned I was going much too fast. I crossed my tips and fell, face-first in the snow. A sickening crack met my ears. I turned in horror to see my left foot, backwards from the rest of the leg, still firmly planted in the boot and attached to the dreaded ski. I began to sob, great gasps of anguish spilling out into the cold, clear night. Broken leg.

What had become a truly traumatic event began to shape up shortly thereafter. I had my first experience with the ski patrol, whose gentle and powerful agents deftly removed the skis and boots, placed me in a rescue sled, and splinted the fractured tibia right there on the mountain. When I arrived at the hospital in Hood River an hour later, there was nothing for the doctor to do but cast the leg. The ski patrol had set the fracture as expertly as any physician. Adding to the bright blessings of the post-traumatic experience, I was now a war hero. The following week in school, I accepted all offers of signatures and goofy drawings on the hip-height cast with the easy grace of a diplomat.

The fourth-grade experience with a broken leg translates into a fierce resolve in the rest of life. The ability to walk through fears is the most dramatic result. When a youngster recovers from the trauma of a terrifying accident, painful break and lengthy recovery, then few challenges in life can overshadow that drama. The child learns that fear and pain fall flat before the force of will.

Another great lesson from this type of experience is dependence. A healthy respect for the power of paramedics and doctors to invoke the healing process can lead the child to seek a caring and dependent relationship with God. I was awed by the ability of the Ski Patrol to “set” the fracture perfectly on the mountain, and I concluded that my desperate prayers in the snow had been answered with a resounding “Yes.”

Intermediate

Green circle. Blue square. Black diamond. Double black. To the uninformed, this might sound like an obscure card game. But to the developing skier, these symbols represent the ladder of success. As urgently as a neophyte Shotokan Karate student seeks his succession of colored belts, the student skier longs to pepper her experience with more and more difficult terrain.

As a junior high student, my favorite event was Wednesday night skiing at Cooper Spur Ski Resort, also on Mount Hood. Now a mildly major resort with even greater plans, Cooper Spur was at that time a small family ski area. A single T-bar lift led to a catwalk, from which a variety of slopes descended to the small day lodge. Local kids swooped in and out of the moguls on the steep and challenging Face, caught air off the log jump at the top of the steep “Showtime” or sought powder in the lonely, spotlighted runs at the end of the catwalk. Lift tickets sold for a buck, and all my friends were there.

The intermediate skier feels secure and confident on groomed trails. He has developed such skills as the stem Christy, or step turn. This all-purpose turn is the foundation of all race turns, and allows the skier to experience the obvious “weighting and unweighting” of each ski in a rhythmic fashion. To begin the turn, the skier points his skis down the fall line, that is, toward the bottom of the hill. To turn, he lifts one ski off the snow and steps out to that side. By placing all his weight on the inside edge of that ski, he begins to turn in the opposite direction. The other ski is brought into parallel, and the turn is completed with the help of both skis. To practice this turn, student racers will lift the inside ski completely off the snow and hold it there until it’s time to turn the other direction. The skier’s weight is then entirely on the outside, or “carving” ski.

The natural outgrowth of the development of beginning racing skills is the exercise of “running gates.” The slalom course begins to call, and the mischievous mind of the mid-level ski student can’t resist the discipline of forcing turns in precise places. This is particularly true after an invitational ski race, when rogue intermediates sneak onto the course to “wick some gates” and fancy themselves champions before the bamboo or fiberglass poles are taken down.

At this intermediate stage, the skier also becomes fascinated with “air time.” As a junior-high, fall-line-obsessed maniac, I loved to swoop into a little-known creekbed among the trees, near the bottom of the Palmer lift at Timberline Lodge. The creek formed a natural chute, in the days before man-made snowboard parks marred the alpine landscape forever. My friends and I loved to drop in and blast skyward on the opposite lip, only to flip 180 (more like 130) and successfully drop back in. Straight-ahead jumps over snow-covered boulders or tree stumps were intermediate gold. The desire to land a grand spread-eagle, “daffy” (aka scissor-kick), or “backscratcher” while airborne can produce some of the most spectacular wipeouts on the planet.

The life lessons gleaned from the intermediate skiing experience seem to parallel the emotional development of most people: Skiers who rarely hit the slopes will probably never develop beyond the intermediate stage. The concept of practice and perseverance will not apply to their skiing. Likewise, in life they may never progress beyond the reacting and scheming that comes naturally to those in the human condition. Chronic malcontents, they will continually be comparing themselves to the real performers in whatever profession they weakly embrace.

Advanced Intermediate

Ask any high-school skier worth his or her salt what their skill level is. The response will typically be (with a humble shrug), “intermediate to advanced.” This magical answer contains the seeds of a lifetime of skiing. The wizardry of the advanced intermediate, particularly if this stage is reached at a young age, smacks of a future on the slopes and on the winner’s block. Dreams of Olympic gold, World Cup victory, and heli-skiing in Warren Miller movies come to roost in the thoughts of the young athlete. She now takes great pleasure in planning a route through a treacherous mogul field, and executing most of it. Her times are shorter on the more-frequent Nastar races. Perhaps the high-school ski team gets this student as a new member.

But the finest test of the AI skill level is powder. Steep and deep, this fresh snow and cold-air experience takes on an irresistible charm to the eager skier. As a racer, I had learned over and over to lean forward in my boots, to feel the edges with my toes, and carve those turns. When I found powder, though, all that changed. This feathery substance required the development of a new level of skiing prowess. I learned to center my weight directly over level, flat, parallel skis, back ramrod straight and knees jumping up to 90 angles. The new skill even involved leaning back for control when necessary. The worst thing one can do in deep powder is to sink a tip, so the first few runs in the deep are lessons in “why we use a ‘leash’ when skiing in deep powder.” The loss of a ski that has skittered away under the undisturbed sea of white is a time-consuming event that threatens to dampen even the most jubilant spirits.

Floating through the forest, navigating between the trees on a hill that seemed much too steep to support such control, my tips crested the surface of the weightless down. I gasped with delight, the cold night air filling my chest with an overwhelming, beautiful shock. It was real! I had never had such an experience in powder. The ankle-deep snows of Mount Hood had somehow, miraculously, multiplied a hundred-fold in 24 hours of sub-zero manna from heaven. Waist-deep and ethereal, the powder exploded around me with every careful and exhausting jump-turn. At once I understood the name of Tahoe’s Heavenly Valley.

Advanced

Longer skis. Better boots. Steeper hills. Faster times. Now our skier has graduated to the upper echelons of the skiing world. Most skiers never attain the skills, knowledge, and gear that the advanced skier boasts. Most likely, he or she is a racer who has been actively running gates for four consecutive years or longer. There is still fear, but confidence and adrenaline will cause the advanced skier to enter terrain and drop off cliffs and cornices that the intermediate-level skier can only admire.

My own experience at this level was relatively short-lived. And although my skills may yet be described as “advanced,” I fear I will never again ski with the abandon this title suggests. I now have a family with young children, a concerned wife, and a half-million dollar life insurance policy, lest I forget my place. I am in my 30’s and beginning to feel the effects of jumping off roofs and cliffs. A sprained ankle from playing basketball; a strained shoulder from tossing my daughter in the air; and the double-black diamond high drop on Elevator Shaft starts to look like a sure trip to the hospital.

Ah, well. I shall retire to the blue squares and adrenaline-producing speeds of the Intermediate runs, and the single black diamonds of the occasional steep and fast showboat run. And I shall work on my reverse shoulder turns, knowing that fitness and grace are hand in hand. I will also continue to seek and destroy bumps, cornices, and steep powder-filled bowls, for as long as breath is in me.

Expert

Warren Miller's movies are filled with expert skiers. These are the rare birds that fly with easy grace from a helicopter, skis together, backs straight and knees bent, out into the open air and drop with arms outstretched into a waist-deep field of powder at the top of a forbidding mountain. They are shown outrunning avalanches, shooting off 60-foot cliffs, and landing every acrobatic jump with aplomb. Most of us grow old (read: 40-plus) before ever graduating to this elite level, but those who reach Expert have reached skiing nirvana. No hill is too steep, or rocky, or peppered with trees to deter the expert skier. They are admired from the chairlift as they amble effortlessly through a lethal mogul field or drop into a steep bowl from the high ridge, the one you have to hike to. Broken skis and broken limbs are of no consequence to the Expert.

In the Winter Olympics and the World Cup of racing, the greats of skiing are displayed for all the world to see. Jonny Mosely, the mogul king, has shown us that it is possible to negotiate a nightmarish field of apparently random bumps with easy grace and hard piston-like legs. The aerial artists who perform “jelly rolls” and inverted helicopters with a full twist are the daredevil elite of the skiing world. But on the slopes of every ski resort are another class of expert: The Ski Patrol.

Nothing is more beautiful to an above-average skier as a ski patrol officer in his or her yellow or red Gore-Tex™ jacket, making perfect turns while scouring the slopes for out-of-bounds intermediates. These heroes of the hills are often trained paramedics, with catlike reflexes and razor-sharp intuition. Providing comfort and safety to the masses, they flit about on the latest demo equipment while joking gently with the lift operators.

A harrowing experience raised its head while I was riding the Blue chairlift at night at Mount Hood Meadows in the early 1980’s. The weather had degenerated into a Northwestern phenomenon known as “freezing rain.” The wind had picked up, and the chairlift was beginning to sway erratically. Fear gripped my partner and me as I began to pray we would make it to the top of the lift safely. I promised myself this would be the last run. As we swung out over the second-highest area of the chairlift (about 60 feet off the ground; the highest span is about 100 feet up), the cables ground to a screeching halt on the lift towers. "Pop. Pop. Pop. Skreeeeeeek."

If one has never heard the sound of a lift cable stretching as it forcibly stops, one cannot know the peculiar panic of that moment. In sheer desperation, I prepared to kick off my skis and jump free, lest the cable snap above my head. From that height, I expected the skis to become razor-sharp rapiers if the lift chair were to fall straight to earth. In an alternate scenario, the cable could snap farther up the hill, or even on the return side, and we might be gently lowered to the ground.

I clung to the poles suspending our small perch as the chair swung to and fro in the icy wetness. There was a last shudder of activity from the lift tower, and then silence. For what seemed like an eternity, we swayed in the freezing breeze, waiting for the lift to start back up. They must be fixing the engine in the lift house, I surmised. Finally it became clear that we weren’t going to move. And then I heard voices from far below. There was the ski patrol, moving up the line, lowering stranded and frozen skiers to the hillside below by way of a little seat at the end of a rope. When they came to our chair, they swung a long line over the cable in front of us with a tiny metal anchor on a short pole at the end.

"Slide it under your butt and jump off the chair." The clear call of the red-jacketed ski patrol came up through the night.

"Yeah, right," I thought. But there seemed no other way down. I called back: "Do you want me to kick off my skis?"

"No, just keep them on. They will stabilize you on the way down."

In one of the most unnatural acts of my life, I scuttled onto the tiny seat and pushed myself off the chairlift. Suddenly I was dangling 60 feet up in space, clinging to a steel broomstick and swinging in the icy wind. My heart leaped into my throat as I frantically surveyed the scene. There, far below, were the heroic members of the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol. Wedged against the hill, two of them lowered me to the ground as a third looked on and talked me down.

Once on the snow, he asked me if I could ski down. I thought I could, and said so.

Safe again in the lodge, we were given hot cocoa and checked for frostbite and hypothermia. If it weren’t for the daring expertise and training of expert skiers, in love with the mountain and primed for service, that night on Mount Hood might have been much worse.

Conclusion

When a child first grabs the rope tow, someone really ought to tell the parents about the compulsion that will be embedded in his tender young mind. It may crowd out all else, becoming an obsession that threatens to overtake all other thoughts. So deeply in my psyche is the mountain and the snow, that when I lived in the Bay Area and took the occasional trip to Tahoe to try my skills at Alpine Meadows or Squaw Valley, it only fostered in me a desire to move closer to the mountains. Since I was unsuccessful at landing a job in Roseville, I began to pine for the Cascades, and in 2001 completed the cycle. My family and I now live in Saint Helens, Oregon. From Highway 30 en route to Portland I can see three mountains, including Mount Hood. Skiing is two and a half hours away, and I’m thinking about moving to the other side of town to be at a little higher elevation. Bring it on!

Documentation

For documentation, I have attached some pictures of myself skiing and wakeboarding (an off-season variant of skiing) at various times in recent history.

Parenting (Essay)

John Kimball
copyright 2013


Parenting


When I became a father for the first time in 1990, my view of the world and my place in it was forever altered. I was overwhelmed by the reality of a new, living person who was dependent on me and on the development of skills I had never known I possessed. My heart and mind opened up to a world of possibilities, emotions, and responsibilities about which I had not even dreamed. Nearly twelve years later and now a father of three, I am fully engulfed in the life of the parent. The lessons learned along the way will help me and haunt me for the rest of my days. Above all, I have learned that flexibility and love are the building blocks of effective parent-child and parent-parent relationships. This essay will discuss various parenting styles, traditional and non-traditional parenting roles, changes in family dynamics brought about by children, and issues in the development of a child’s world view.
For documentation I have included some photographs of my children.

Parenting Styles
Discipline: Authoritarianism and Permissiveness
“Stand up straight!” These are the words of the authoritarian parent.
The permissive parent says: “It’s all right, whatever you kids want to do is OK.”
If a ten-point scale is drawn from absolute permissiveness on the left to structured rigidity on the right, the measure of appropriate parenting can occupy an area from approximately four to seven points. Beyond this measure to the left lies the area of neglect in varying degrees, and to the right lies the area of abuse.
Neglectful 2 3 Permissive 5 6 Authoritarian 8 9 Abusive
---------------<------ -------="" discipline="" sane="">-------------

Parents who are emotionally crippled by excessive alcohol and drugs, fear, depression, selfishness, or anger will lose themselves in the outlying regions of self-centered insanity and will cause heartache, anguish, and untold damage to their children. But effective parents will find a way to govern their own behavior and temperaments, and so avoid these extremes.

In the Kimball home, a workable mix of permissiveness and authoritarianism has emerged as the best method for managing discipline. Our children are aware of certain simple rules, the breaking of which always results in swift and appropriate disciplinary action (usually a ‘time out’ or the loss of a privilege, but willful disobedience may escalate to a lovingly administered swat). In addition, my wife and I have agreed to always discuss concerns about discipline and to be very flexible in “choosing our battles” with a toddler, a kindergartner, and a pre-teen. Small squabbles and even shouting matches between children are often tolerated, under the belief that it is good to let the children work these things out among themselves. We believe our energy is best spent in setting an example for our children of self-discipline, responsibility, and love.

A child’s ability to think through a problem or situation and understand the consequences of her actions will serve her better as an adult than a system of rewards and punishments. This concept has largely replaced shouting and frightening children as ways to control discipline in our home. Subtle differences in words and inflection can shift the situation from a punitive one to a growth opportunity. A sympathetic “It’s too bad you didn’t get your toys picked up. That means you won’t be able to play at your friend’s house” is far more effective in the long term than “Pick up your toys now!” or even, “If you don’t pick up your room, you won’t get to play at your friend’s house!” Children who learn to accept consequences for their own actions will learn to think through situations before taking action, and will be less likely to evade responsibility or blame others later on.

Attachment Parenting
My wife was raised in an extremely permissive (read: alcoholic and neglectful) home, and I was brought up in a dangerously authoritarian (read: abusive and violent) home. She came into our marriage with some old ideas about love being related to gifts and shopping, and I arrived with some significant fears and survival instincts intact. Both of us are recovered alcoholics and drug addicts. By the grace of God, we met and fell in love after each of us had achieved substantial sobriety time, and the work we have done in alcoholic recovery has made us aware of our own selfishness, self-centeredness, dishonesty, and fear. We have embraced the idea that in order to pass along ideals that we were never taught, we must make these ideals our own and act accordingly. The principles we value most are honesty, hope, faith, courage, responsibility, love, willingness, open-mindedness, integrity, and spirituality, or God-consciousness.

As we searched for a parenting philosophy that would best uphold the principles we have willfully embraced, we discovered the concept of attachment parenting. This somewhat controversial parenting philosophy supports the ideas of extended breastfeeding (up to and beyond two years of age), the stay-at-home parent, and the family bed. These concepts seemed radical when taken as a package, but they appeared to offer the ultimate in emotional support, love, and affection for children. Since my wife and I have both come to believe that these are the highest needs of babies and young children, we embraced this philosophy and applied it with the two children that are ours together.

Attachment parenting asks the husband and wife to make some real sacrifices for the sake of the children. Extended breastfeeding is hard on a woman’s body. Having one parent who stays home with the children is difficult for the family financially. And the family bed sometimes offers little more than sleepless nights, the spread of childhood illnesses, and well-placed kicks. But the bond that is established between mother and children through breastfeeding, the stability of the home with a stay-at-home parent, and the total safety and security of the family bed are parenting treasures not to be missed.

My son was born before I met my wife. He also has been raised in a loving, affectionate, and supportive environment. However, he has been raised largely without a father figure present. His social challenges are outside the reach of this essay, but his life is a testament to the power of prayer.

Another element that we have incorporated into our family life is the idea that children will benefit from seeing their parents behaving like two people in love. There have been some lapses in our commitment to this concept, but whenever my wife and I are willing and able, we embrace and show caring and love for each other in the presence of our children. Family mealtimes and family prayer reinforce the concept that there is structure and purpose to our family’s activities.

The benefits of attachment parenting have been enormous. Our children are secure in the knowledge that they are loved, and they are showing the independence, joy, and freedom of expression that arises from that security. One note: The benefits of reading to one’s children cannot be underestimated. A child’s love of reading and books will have an enormous impact on his life. It is evidence of parents’ early commitment to an active role in one very important piece of the parenting puzzle.

Parenting Roles
Traditional Family Values in United States Culture
Recent years have yielded a return to patriotism, boosted the esteem of the nuclear family in our society’s eyes, and embraced the love of family that has so long been a part of American culture. It appears that the development of the family has tracked the development of women in America. From the sexual revolution in the 1960’s to the liberation and individualism of the 1970’s to the narcissism and materialism of the 1980’s, America’s young women appear to have returned since 1990 to a more traditional role as spouses and homemakers. As evidenced by the return of big-band swing and nostalgic restaurants, America longs for the idealism of the 1940’s and 1950’s again. Likewise, the American dream appears to have swung back from the do-your-own-thing-claw-your-way-to-the-top ideal toward the mom-dad-2.3 kids-dog-white picket fence-nuclear family ideal. This is interesting because most of the women starting families today weren’t alive in the 1950’s. But their mothers were, and as the Baby Boom generation contributes more and more to popular culture, its influence on the young women of today is profound. The rise in the female membership of our churches is evidence of women willing to embrace and sacrifice for larger families with traditional love-God-your-country-and-your-neighbor ideals.

Fathers, also, are embracing the role of the provider for a bustling brood and a wife who often sacrifices time and career to stay home with the kids. The election of George W. Bush to America’s highest office speaks of a return to more conservative values in our society. It is the desire of many young men to serve their country in the ongoing fight against terrorism, and the rise in patriotism lends support to the traditional family. Popular country music also reflects a trend toward traditional family formations and values; songs such as I’m Already There by Lonestar heartily support the idea of a father who is one hundred percent devoted to his family. To be sure, myriad views are represented in contemporary entertainment. But the popularity of patriotic and family-oriented themes cannot be denied.

Divorce, Blended Families, and the Effects on Parents and Children
The separation of the two main figures in a child’s life can have a devastating and lasting effect on the child. Sometimes, parents are so affected by the breakup of a marriage that their relationship to their children disintegrates. When this happens, the children are likely to suffer intense feelings of abandonment. If the children are left with one parent, they may subconsciously expect that parent to fulfill the roles of both parents. If there is a shared custody arrangement, and both parents are amicable toward one another, the deleterious affects on the children can be lessened. Fierce resentment between the parents only serves to intensify the child’s feeling of abandonment and disorientation. The stabilizing influence of one strong parent can be a saving grace in such a situation.

When a new spouse is integrated into a hitherto single parent family, there may be a significant upset because of the change in primary relationships. Where the child may have been the primary relationship of the parent, that role begins to be played by the new spouse. The child will need special attention to feel that she is still important to the original parent.

In my family, these dynamics played out in a dramatic way. As a single father I had joint custody of my son and I enjoyed taking him and his half brother for weekends. When I began dating my wife-to-be, there was some tension between her and the older boy, and even between her and my son. Shortly thereafter, I (painfully but believing it was right) stopped taking the older boy on the weekends. My son’s mother did not appreciate that there was a new woman on the scene, since by taking both boys on the weekends I allowed her some free time. There was another, deeper dynamic in play of which I was not aware, but soon enough it raised its head.

In 1992, my new girlfriend was learning to accept that I had a young son. This was not easy for a single girl with no children, because it represented the reality of another woman and another high-impact (primary!) pre-existing relationship between my son and me. Eventually she fully accepted the reality of my son, and soon we decided to marry. Then things got really interesting. I was visiting with my son on alternate weekends, and often the three of us spent time together. My boy was about three years old, and he began to express his own sense of family. It became clear that he wanted all of us: his mother, my new fiancée, and me to live together with him and his brother. He drew pictures of his family with all of us present. I thought this was an attempt at developing security for himself. But I soon learned that, in part, he was acting out the subconscious desire of his mother. It was a rude awakening, and a real depiction of parenting gone awry.

When my fiancée and I were planning our wedding, we included plans for my son to participate in the ceremony as a ring-bearer. His mother then insisted that her older son play an active part in the wedding as well, and when I refused she did not allow my son to attend. I was very upset by this seemingly insane manipulation at the expense of these innocent boys. In reaction to her action, and myself still not emotionally mature, I withdrew from seeing my son for nearly a year. I shall always regret the loss of a precious year in my son’s life. When emotionally underdeveloped, unmarried young people cast themselves into the role of parents, the innocent children suffer most.

In my experience, there are but few positive events to come from the dissolution of one family and the formation of a new one, save the new relationships that result and the wonderful lives of the children who continue to grow and search for love, joy, freedom, and security. Often the best that parents can do is to be aware of their children, but God bless the parents who are able to “be there” for their children throughout that debacle.

In my role as a sponsor in a twelve-step recovery program, I am in relationships with two fathers who are currently in the throes of divorce. To hear the questions that should never be asked is truly heartbreaking. A two-year old girl wants to know, “Why is Mommy not here anymore?”

Similarly, an eleven-year old boy tells his father: “I wish you and Mom could work out your problems. I don’t like going back and forth.”

Parents should exhaust all avenues of psychiatry and counseling, religion, medicine, and ‘personal character building’ before compromising their commitments to their marriages and their children. A child can sense the lack of commitment parents have to each other, and this plays out in her own life. The selfishness and self-centeredness of parents is inversely proportional to a child’s happiness and positive sense of self. That is, the more selfish are the parents, the unhappier will be the children.

Family Dynamics in Flux
The Arrival of a New Baby
There is a profound experience awaiting all new parents who will see, hold, smell, and kiss their newborn baby for the first time. To lift the tiny body in one’s hands, to gently kiss the still-forming crown of her head, or to touch his itty-bitty toes… these are the moments in which we humans experience the full joy of our Creator.

My own children have come into the world in dramatic ways, and their births have been burned into my consciousness. With each new day, the tapestry of their lives unfolds from the single, fragile thread of birth.

When my son Jonathan was born in 1990, he was ten pounds, fourteen ounces. His maternal grandfather called him “Mongo.” Though I was not romantically involved with his mother by then, I was present at the birth and acted as a birthing coach for her. I was frightened, awestruck, and giddy with joy. My finest memories from that time are of bonding with my baby boy and his brother, and experiencing the happiness of being a daddy.

When Emily came along in 1996, she weighed a mere six pounds and was three weeks early. Her lungs were still developing, and she was covered with a fine blond hair called lanugos. My wife had experienced a traumatic pregnancy due to a rare condition called cholestasis of pregnancy in which her gall bladder shut down and backed up bile into her blood, creating a potentially dangerous environment for the developing child. As soon as the little lungs were well enough to process oxygen, the doctors induced labor (a forty-two hour ordeal). Ironically, the only known cure for cholestasis is delivery. Shortly following birth, and before really taking to breastfeeding, Emily’s weight dropped to five pounds eleven ounces. We fed her formula for a few days to keep her healthy, but soon she got the knack of breastfeeding and the rest is history.

Greta’s birth in 1999 was no less scary. She also came early due to cholestasis, and though she was a larger six pounds seven ounces, she spent her first night in neonatal intensive care because of difficulty with breathing on her own. Six months later, she was diagnosed as asthmatic and we began treating her with medication. Interestingly, since we have moved from the Bay Area to northern Oregon, Greta has had significantly fewer incidents of asthma. Greta never had a problem with breastfeeding, and we only recently weaned her from it.

Emotional Growth and Maturity of Parents
Couples who are planning a family, expecting a new arrival, or are already parents will benefit from reading some of the excellent literature on child development. Authors such as Frank and Theresa Caplan, Louise Bates Ames and Francis L. Ilg, and Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish, have given parents a wealth of resources outlining the various ages and stages of childhood, from pregnancy to the teenage years. In Becoming Parents, Sandra Sohn Jaffe and Jack Viertel offer parents-to-be comfort and guidance as the big day approaches. After baby arrives, the various ages and stages are documented in the Your (insert number here)-Year-Old series by Ames and Ilg, of the Gesell Institute of Human Development. In Your Three-Year-Old (Friend or Enemy), Ames and Ilg discuss everything from the way a three-year-old draws a man (with one ear but a full head of hair, for example) to his sense of time and space (Daddy is at his office in Beaverton). These resources can help apprehensive parents understand why their child is acting a certain way, or what to expect when a particular age approaches.

Spirituality and the Development of a World View
Religion and Spirituality
The religion and/or spirituality of parents will shape the framework of children’s world view. A world with God as the all-powerful and loving Creator looks much different to a child than a world that originated out of nowhere, means nothing, and rushes on into nothingness. In a similar fashion, the belief or rejection by parents of a higher power can provide an emotional and spiritual anchor in a child’s psyche as he develops.

Faith and Reason
Logic is one of the building blocks of effective parenting. By it we teach children about decision-making, mathematics, language, geography, and even the consultation of their own consciences. But if there exists a consciousness of a totality of truth underlying all things, then even relatively mundane concepts take on a new dimension of reality. Some will consider this activity pointless, or worse. But for a parent who has struggled long and hard to develop a meaningful relationship with his Creator, there is no greater pleasure than to see children embrace spiritual concepts.
When parents show self-discipline by taking care of themselves, children notice. They will probe this concept by asking, “Do we have to go to church?” or “Why can’t I have more ice cream?”
These are excellent times to talk about spiritual principles, because the underlying concept in the disciplines of church attendance or eating healthy foods is the same if the motive is faith. That is, we are seeking to do the will of our Heavenly Father, as it has been revealed to us, and we trust Him to care for us. Children respond to the spiritual motive with awe and wonder, and a healthy respect for invisible God can translate into respect for Mom and Dad. In this way children learn that reason and faith are compatible. This concept will serve them well when they arrive in school and must think for themselves or be indoctrinated into a wholly secular world view.

Parents as Models of God
Parents represent the first idea of God that a child can subconsciously comprehend. Long before a concept of an all-powerful Creator enters young minds, Mom and Dad are there. In the formative years parents can stretch an emotional canvas for a God who provides unconditional love, direction, and discipline, or they can imprint such a horrible association with authority and a higher power that the child must overcome a very real psychological barrier in order to approach their Heavenly Father. When later the child begins to direct his own life, the model of God that parents provided will make a real difference. The transition from dependence on parents, to self-reliance, to dependence on God can be beautiful. Along the wayt, children often rebel against parents, just as adults rebel against God. The way parents respond to rebellious behavior will set a course for how the child perceives God. If a parent is punishing and demanding when a child rebels, so the child’s subconscious concept of God will follow. If the parent is reasonable and forgiving of rebellious behavior, then the child will feel freer to approach God for forgiveness of sins.

Our two-year old came into the kitchen the other day, singing and rattling off sound bytes from her experience. She suddenly stopped, and with all the authority she could muster, said “Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”

My wife and I looked at each other, did a double-take, and looked back at Greta. We had not taught her to say that. It had come from her Sunday school teacher. Now, of course, I ask her to say it every day. Here is a learned behavior from an outside source that a parent can really reinforce!

Conclusion
The joys and pain of parenting make for some of life’s greatest experiences. Likewise, sound parenting can make a world of difference in a child’s sense of self and the world around her. There are some people who should probably not have children. For those who choose to become parents, a dynamic and possibility-rich future awaits. Nobody will do the job perfectly, but if some basic principles are embraced and followed, the next generation will be better prepared to face the challenges of life.

The world has changed since today’s parents were kids. The family unit has been attacked and all but destroyed. Many of today’s parents are overcoming incredible challenges from their own childhoods. Alcoholism, mental illness, and various forms of child abuse and neglect have colored our society. Different philosophies of parenting will yield a variety of results. But the winds of change again are blowing across this great nation and the world, and the role of parents is now as important as ever. If our children are secure in the knowledge of who they are, who their parents are, and who God is, then we as parents have already accomplished something great.

WORKS CITED
Ames, Louise and Ilg, F. (1985). Your Three-Year-Old: Friend or Enemy. Delacorte Press.
These books (and my wife’s commitment to getting me to read them!) helped me to fully realize that children are people in their own right, and that the more I know about parenting, the more effective will be the time I have with my children.

Caplan, Frank and Theresa. (1977). The Second Twelve Months of Life. Grossett and Dunlap.
The idea that children are creative thinkers and that they will be better served by activities that encourage their own internal processes than by rewards and punishments is a great help to me while my children are young. This learning has been underscored by a series of “Love and Logic” classes at the local elementary school.






Greta and Emily enjoying Kelly dolls in 2002.

The Kimball family at church in 2003.

Supervision (essay)

John C. Kimball
copyright 2013


Supervision


One of the greatest challenges a business owner faces is finding good managers. The supervisors of any staff must reflect the goals of the organization’s owners, and must develop a style that motivates people to positive action. This essay is about the principles and techniques of supervision and will demonstrate the writer’s ability to analyze problems in the supervision of employees, and to apply these principles and techniques in the workplace. It will provide a glimpse of the often dark and backwards supervisory world of the modern copier dealership. It will compare this environment to a football coaching style, and will contrast it with the finest in modern employee supervision and support styles. We shall discuss factors that suggest the need for supervision, current trends influencing ideas about supervision, a short history of supervision in America, characteristics of good or poor supervision, common mistakes supervisors make, the impact of technology on supervision, and the most important lessons I have learned in the field of supervision.

The Purpose of Supervision
The purpose of supervision is to provide workers with the support needed for maximum effectiveness, i.e. productivity. The productivity of American workers and the accompanying culture of middle management speak volumes about the need for supervision. Supervisors allow the corporate vision to infiltrate the collective conscience of the workforce. Varying backgrounds, attitudes, and education levels of employees may undermine the organization’s goals, unless these disparate individuals are brought together as a team. In this way, supervision is about team building. Empowerment and conflict resolution are key components of this formula. The best employees are those who have a sense of belonging and ownership in their positions, projects, and responsibilities. It is the supervisor’s job to make sure the workers are satisfied, productive, and have that sense of belonging and personal ownership vital to the organization’s success.

Trends Currently Influencing Ideas About Supervision
My recent experience spans 13 years with varying degrees of authority and responsibility, and two different industries: six years in sales promotion and sign copy editing for a major fashion retail chain, and seven years in the printing and document management support side of the copier industry. These very different experiences are demarcated by the overarching concepts in customer service that permeate all supervision. I will demonstrate the difference between the relatively recent employee-support style of supervision popular with high tech manufacturers and forward-thinking retail businesses, and the old-school football coach style still favored by hardware distributors and car dealers.
Case Study #1: The Copier Industry
There exists in our culture a somewhat old-fashioned “football coach” style of supervision. This method is still employed in some sales organizations, on the premise that in order to motivate sales representatives, management must intimidate them into giving their alls for the sake of the deal or risk reprisal or financial ruin. This premise is inherently faulty because it leads to worker burnout and resentment, and because there are a finite number of truly gifted sales representatives in the workforce at any one time. A company that becomes known for abusive, top-heavy micro-management will fail to attract the cream of the crop for its sales force, and will alienate salaried or non-sales personnel.
I twice worked for copier dealerships where the football-coach philosophy of supervision was practiced, to differing degrees. In the first example, Minolta Business Systems (an American subsidiary of the Minolta Corporation, a Japanese company) operated a dealership in Foster City, California. The corporate philosophy of the parent company seemed quite innocuous, even noble: The Japanese word, pronounced “Me-noh-roo-ta,” means literally, “the ripest stalk of rice bends its head the lowest,” that is, the more successful you become, the humbler you should be. The principle works well for Japanese business, where deference and displays of humility are the norm. But something was lost in translation. The Americans acting as supervisors in the Bay Area of California seemed intent on self-aggrandizement and glory grabbing. And indeed, even the Japanese managers seemed to accept that this was the American way, hiring and promoting six-foot-plus white males to manage their branches, and encouraging the gridiron concept wherever possible by hiring famous former coaches as keynote speakers at national dealer meetings.
The second example is from a more recent experience, of a copier dealership that shall remain nameless. At this organization, the owner and president is actually a high school football coach who thinks if he had only stuck it out in college, he could have played professional football (despite his small stature). He promotes and hires managers who are extremely aggressive, and has drafted a consultant who provides a hiring process for finding the hardest-selling sales reps. The result of all this aggressiveness is that when a gentler soul is accidentally hired, capable of selling a great deal of equipment but who operates with a human touch, he is quickly beaten to an emotional pulp in a barrage of verbal abuse disguised as motivation. And though the employee may be a great producer, raking in the cash, trips, and awards with the best of them, he will not last. He is drying up emotionally. His need for belonging; for personal value and supervisory understanding is unmet, and in this dearth of human resources support, he will soon become very unhappy.
On the other hand, the technical services side of this same organization seems at first to be a safe harbor for intelligent, sensitive persons who are willing to work diligently for less cash and prizes, provided their supervisors listen to them and value their ideas. On this side of the house, supervisors have to be more creative in order to motivate employees. Often the application of a promotion, raise or bonus with a kind word of recognition before the peers of the worker will motivate this personality to excel. However, underlying this reasonable exterior is a more desperate and sinister concept. Even though approximately half of the company’s revenue is derived from the sale of service and supply contracts, these technical workers are viewed by the upper echelons of the sales hierarchy as a necessary evil, somewhat undesirable and definitely a money drain. They are almost expected to say the wrong thing to customers, and to complain about wages and working conditions.
I managed a team that sits in the no-man’s land between the sales and service sides of the organization. This virtual battlefield goes by the nondescript title of Network Sales Support. The industry trend that has created the necessity for this division is the advent of digital technology in the formerly analog copier world. Once this technology was updated in the 1990s, these copiers began to connect to computer networks as multi-function devices capable of printing, scanning, and faxing. As a result of that trend, software solutions were developed for electronic document management, archiving and retrieval, cluster printing (connecting multiple copiers for production printing), and electronic forms conversion (printing of digital forms on laser print engines rather than on old-style, noisy line printers with expensive pre-printed forms). Customers’ needs for these technologies have lengthened the sales process and made it more complex. The Network Sales Support team fills in the gaps in the pre-sales technical qualifying of customers, and assists the service department with complex software installations and troubleshooting.
I call the previous trend (and the philosophy of the entire copier industry) reactive. Since almost all of the current copiers are manufactured in Japan, the American presence is primarily a sales and service industry. Taking a page from the car dealerships of the 20th century, they have decided that a “get aggressive and clean up the mess later” philosophy is the best both for managing customer contacts and for supervising employees. I have hired and fired employees in this industry, which is replete with non-compete contracts and mistrust.
Case Study #2: The Fashion Retail Industry
When I worked at Nordstrom, I learned a management philosophy known as “the inverted pyramid,” in which customers are the most important persons, and are supported at the top level. Below them are salespeople, who provide customer service directly to the retail customers. As the inverted pyramid narrows, department managers and store managers uphold salespeople. Buyers and merchandise managers support the store managers and department managers, and regional managers meet the needs of buyers and merchandise managers. Top management is at the bottom (tip) of the pyramid, providing support to all levels of the organization through delegation. When we in the sign shop started to feel neglected or exploited, we sometimes referred to this revered management tool as the “money funnel,” with a nod to its validity all the same. In my post-fashion retail days, I have come to respect this model as a worthy ideal, not too closely followed by those who claim it but still a fine example for all to follow.
All the same, Nordstrom is a good representation of an organization attempting to supervise its staff effectively. Management training is mandatory and ongoing. Diversity and sensitivity training are conducted in the most politically correct of venues. A priority is made of hiring without prejudice. Programs are in place to put mentally challenged people to work in respectable, esteem-building positions. A more willfully cheerful sales staff is not to be found anywhere (except, insidiously, at Disney, where drug-addled twenty-somethings with dress-code hair and mawkish grins serve perfect snow cones and bottomless ten-dollar Cokes).
Indeed, Nordstrom succeeds in supervision because they have infused the culture with a mantra that tortures its victims waking or sleeping. That mantra is its golden goose, driving thousands of shoppers back for more “Quality, Value, and Service.” The mantra is: Go the Extra Mile. Department managers praise outstanding customer service, even though it costs much more than closing a simple sale to drive a customer’s altered skirt 60 miles each way for delivery before the big party or for no reason at all. Employees are recognized as “All-Stars” if they can out-serve one another. All of this deference and assistance is touted over and over by supervisors, with the effect of establishing a true (if false) sense of camaraderie and ownership. Nordstrom is doing something right. They have the highest sales per square foot of store space of any major fashion retailer, and they are opening new stores every year.

Problems And Challenges Supervisors Face
Supervisors must be able to promote and support the goals of the organization, while staying human toward the employees. This balance is difficult if the supervisor has an emotional connection to the employees, because the human relationships are of less concern to the organization than is productivity. This struggle can be characterized in a number of ways (a guide leading a team up a mountain, a juggler, etc.). But one of the best ways to look at this balance of humanity and productivity is to imagine the supervisor standing in the middle of a stream. Goals and orders are flowing from upstream, and must be intercepted and passed via communication to all points downstream. With proper tools and skills, the supervisor can keep all of this organized, but without those utilities, the department or team can quickly deteriorate into chaos and be swept away. Imagine the supervisor intercepting a project request. He repackages it to make sure it will float, and then carefully puts it back into the stream, calculating the trajectory as best he can. Once it leaves his hands, the project begins to bobble and spin. The supervisor will be tempted to chase after it and redirect it. But look! There in the stream are the employees. They can pick up the package and drop it back in the stream where it needs to be. Meanwhile, the supervisor is working on Communications. Time management. Review schedules. Details. Updates and meetings. Reports. Project management. Tardiness. Dishonesty. Team building and ownership. The hardest thing for supervisors to do is to keep all of this organized, without losing the human touch. A poem by Rudyard Kipling (1909) says it best:
If—
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about; don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim:
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can trust your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

One of the best organizers I know is also one of the worst supervisors. Sadly, the “whole” person is all too rare in middle management.

Historical views on supervision in America
150 years ago, slavery was still a legally acceptable practice. Child labor laws have been enacted and enforced to reasonable levels within the past 100 years. Some supervisors have had noble values throughout history, and the same holds true today. American society as a whole has embraced good labor practices, even if not all employers have. Unreasonable, unjust, and overbearing supervisors exist now even as they always have, but there is more support from the legal system for employees than there has been in the past. A big reason for this is the labor/management disputes of the 20th century. Organizations have come to realize that they can’t treat people like machines and get away with it.
I was surprised to discover, after years of working for supportive Nordstrom in liberal California, that there existed an entire industry of professional people, acting as if they were upright business people, who actually were almost exclusively selfish and dishonest. The copier world offered higher pay, at the price of your soul. Quality was less significant than money to supervisors (a sacrilege at customer-focused Nordstrom), the effect of which was a desperate craving for money among all employees, and a bitter rivalry for the “deal” rather than for the customer’s satisfaction.

Characteristics of good or poor (effective or ineffective) supervisory practices
Good supervisory practice values the individual, and manages the position. It documents both positive and negative worker activity, and is consistent and non-discriminatory. Effective supervisors are reasonable and merciful. They assign corresponding authority and responsibility. Good supervisors are good leaders. They lead by example, taking the bull by the horns and inspiring trust and loyalty in individuals. The best supervisors will embody sensitive application of the following principle: there should be a balance between spontaneity and process. That is, spontaneity is good so far as it goes, but within the boundaries of process.
Poor supervisory practice manages the individual, and values the position. By this I mean that the supervisor is more concerned with the minutiae of process than with overall results, and that the strict guidelines set up for each position are more important than conscious thought and decision-making. This may seem like a remote distinction, but in practice it is a clear contrast to good process. This supervisor documents nothing, is inconsistent, unreasonable and merciless, and assigns responsibility without authority.
Good supervisors are aware of the principles of empowerment. Matching authority with responsibility means everyone who is given a job is granted access to the tools needed to complete that job. And creating “ownership” or personal responsibility in employees is a process of trusting people, within pre-determined limitations.
“Never sacrifice the important on the altar of the urgent.” An experienced supervisor would be able to prioritize the important matters, while dealing with the urgent ones. A new or poorly trained supervisor would tend to become overwhelmed by urgent matters and neglect the truly important ones. An experienced supervisor should understand the need to communicate regularly with every person who reports directly to him or her.
The ultimate goal of supervisory practice is to further the health of the organization. That is, to make a validated contribution to efficiency, growth, and profitability. Good supervisory practice recognizes that the best way to establish the organization’s health is to pay attention to the individuals doing the work. A supervisor who is aware of this principle will look for ways to motivate the individual while monitoring the work that is being done. Consistent documentation will reveal that there is no favoritism in the department, and that everything is being done fairly. If the supervisor is inconsistent with documentation, he or she will constantly monitor some individuals and neglect or reward others unjustly, and people will begin to feel singled out and harassed.
A good supervisor will understand the various needs of employees with and without children, and will also make an effort to grant reasonable requests for time off. This attitude will give the organization a human touch, and will motivate employees both to produce at a higher level and to meet their organizational goals. A poor supervisor will attempt to force people to work harder, without consideration for their outside lives. This attitude breeds bitterness and contempt among employees, and has the opposite effect on their performance. Regarding expectations and performance, a reasonable and merciful supervisor will have both minimum expectations (high enough to meet company goals) and award-level expectations (for those who are able to perform above and beyond company goals). Meeting minimum expectations is acceptable, and meeting higher expectations allows for employees to receive additional money, time off, etc. For this system to work, the various levels of expectation must be clearly spelled out to everyone on the team at all times.

Common Mistakes Supervisors Make, And the Effects
One of the common mistakes supervisors make is neglecting to maintain consistent organization over the long haul. They allow people to slip into a rut, or perform below expectations, without making proper adjustments. The effect is less ownership than before, and ultimately a less cohesive, far less effective team. Another common supervisory mistake is allowing personalities to rise above principles in the administration of reward and discipline. This is one I have been guilty of; simply put, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. A person who hints that they would like recognition or particular days off may be less likely to receive what he requests than the person who demands or repeatedly asks for it. I confess that this is NOT what I learned in my Saint Mary’s management training, but there it is. I have allowed my mind to be corrupted by the lack of consistency or principle-driven action at the place where I work. It’s not difficult to manage in this fashion; neither is it appropriate or respectful to the employees. It assumes that they are nuisances to be endured, rather than individuals to be acknowledged and treated as equals.

Good Supervision: The Same In Every Setting Or Situation?
The principles of supervision are the same for any situation, but the application of these principles may vary from one scenario to another without violating the governing principle. It is when the manager compromises the principle that supervision begins to slide. For example, one supervision principle that is nearly universal is that superiors should not engage in romantic behavior with the employees they oversee, and similarly, that favoritism between employees is to be avoided at all costs. This principle governs supervisor/employee relationships in the negative sense, and protects organizations from harassment lawsuits.

The Impact Of Technology On Supervision
Supervisors can communicate with more people instantaneously because of advances in communication media. However, this efficiency tends to define relationships, rather than building them. For example, a conference call is more efficient than calls to several individuals, but group dynamics dominate and there is no true personal interaction between individuals. A “cc:” email is a great way to create a communication with an audit trail, but the wording must be carefully chosen with a view toward motivating people without offending them. This requires awareness of individuals, professional language standards, and common yet innocuous sayings. I have, since becoming a supervisor, made the closing statement “All the Best” in all of my professional emails. I have also, within the last couple of years, begun closing my voicemail greeting with the words “…and I hope you have a great day.”

Conclusion
The Most Important Lessons I've Learned in the Field of Supervision
1. Treat others the way you would want to be treated. When a supervisor comes in late, finishes getting dressed at the office, and leaves early, it sets a poor example to the employees. And when the employees are expected to be on time, fully prepared to work, and work a full day, the double standard is painfully obvious.
2. Remember always that the family is the basic building block of our society. If employees know their families are valued by their supervisors, they will be more secure, less likely to look elsewhere for work, and more likely to work hard for their employer.
3. Manage performance, and value people. This concept cannot be overstated. When a supervisor calls a team meeting to review performance, there should be no shame, no finger-pointing, no singling out individuals for ridicule. The results of everyone’s performance should be measured against realistic and objective goals, and let the emotional chips fall where they may. The emotional reactions of individuals to healthy competition is not the supervisor’s concern. The supervisor merely provides an environment where the competitive spirit can flourish. And that thought leads to perhaps the best tool in the supervisor’s toolbox.
4. Healthy competition with real rewards can be a great motivator. It has been known for centuries that sales contests and “performance blitzes” are successful. One of the best things my current employer does, is to compete for the same customer base with multiple, independent branches within a few miles of one another. This allows supervisors to motivate staff on diverse teams, doing similar work, to raise performance to best practice standards without compromising the corporate culture.

Training and Development (Essay)

John Kimball
copyright 2013


Employee Training and Development

The training and development of support and sales personnel who will have a great deal of contact with customers (internal and external to the hosting organization) presents a remarkable set of challenges. These technicians, support engineers, and sales reps have been hired partly for an attitude of customer service; of “going the extra mile.” So why is it so tricky to train them into new skills or behaviors, and how does the new knowledge benefit the organization? This essay will look at factors influencing the success of a training session or class, individual versus group dynamics and interaction, current trends relating to training and development (including the impact of technology), and some techniques an experienced trainer might use. The essay will also describe some of the most important lessons I have learned relative to employee training and development. For documentation, I have included the master schedule of classes from one of the Software Summits I have organized.

Importance of Employee Training and Development, and How It Benefits the Organization
Better educated employees are happier, more confident, and more efficient than their less-skilled counterparts. This makes them more productive and less prone to causing personnel-related problems. Training also gives employees a sense of pride, of being involved in the process and product of the organization. Perhaps most important (and this intangible is often missed because it is so difficult to grasp), training and development gives employees options. They sense that they are skilled enough to work elsewhere, and so they do not feel trapped. The employees can enjoy a true sense of ownership and responsibility, because they choose to work at the particular organization. This dichotomy leads to employee loyalty; to highly skilled personnel with sensible motives for coming to work.

In the copier industry, training is ongoing and highly technical. Technology constantly outpaces the skill level of employees. Efficiency suffers as a direct result of lack of skills. Newcomers are overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge that veteran technicians, sales reps, and support engineers seem to naturally possess. The new man doesn’t easily grasp the idea that these highly-skilled people got where they are today with a good deal of trial and error, and by paying their dues over a period of years. He senses there must be a shortcut, and in fact there often is. We call it ongoing professional education, or training and development.


Factors Influencing the Success of a Training Session or Class

Skill Sets of Students

The previous experience of students can weigh heavily on the outcome of a particular class or informal training. Let’s consider a class on diesel mechanics repair. A young lady with experience driving a log truck, or even with a summer of pulling chain to fasten the load of stripped tree trunks to the trailer, will be better at picking up the subtleties of the subject matter than will a professional ice skater. The trainer must be somewhat aware of the differences in students’ professional histories, if the class is to be a success.

Skills (or lack thereof) gained in similar educational or practical endeavors may lend a certain egoism or embarrassment to the personality of an individual or group. Practical wisdom on the part of the instructor will help to move the training along, as will reasonable intelligence. When students ask a lot of questions directly related to the subject matter of the class, the tendency will be toward a lengthier class. The flip side of that tendency comes when the instructor senses that the students asking the questions are “tracking” most effectively. A series of intelligent, if almost irrelevant, questions is usually better than a blank stare on the face of the students. If an instructor is skillful and aware of the pitfalls of getting too far off track, he or she can take the meanderings of the students and redirect them back to the subject at hand in a manner that both satisfies the question and brings back into the consciousness of everyone else the true point.

As a student, I have been guilty of asking questions that interest and fascinate me, but leave everyone else wondering what the heck I am talking about. And as an instructor… well, I just don’t think it’s possible to conduct a class without someone trying to zero in on an insignificant point or take an intellectual detour. Instructors should rehearse this scenario, in order to know how to handle this situation when it comes up.

An Example from Church

I have recently given up teaching an adult Sunday school class at our local church. I was one of three teachers in the class, and we rotated the teaching responsibilities. With spiritual matters, it is quite obvious when a controversial subject has captured the attention of one of the members of the class. One Sunday, I had been teaching from Romans about forgiveness, tolerance, and the subject of confronting fellow believers in their sins. The class focuses on marriage and family issues, so a casual discussion of adultery came up. Playing to the minority position, I suggested that perhaps the adulterer’s sin was to be reconciled between the individual and God. I might as well have claimed that the Aryan Nation was presenting at church the following week, so vitreous was the reaction from one individual. It also seemed the brotherhood of accountable, supportive men were not about to consider letting one another fall into such an abominable sin, and they would have eaten up an entire 40 minutes with energetic discussion if I had not interjected with the concept of the universality of sin in our thought lives, and the necessity of “judging not.” Still, some were unconvinced, but on we moved, for Romans is a weighty book and time is no respecter of opinions.

Style and Skill Level of Instructor

The communication style and skill level of the instructor is another factor influencing the success of any training session. Just as there are learning styles for different students, there are teaching styles that well represent the forté of a particular instructor. Some instructors prefer to present slide after slide of PowerPoint images, leading to a common colloquialism known as “death by PowerPoint.” Others clack and screech on a chalkboard, or squeak and stink on a whiteboard. My personal style is a mix of whiteboard lecture, hands-on lab exercises, and candy. The contemporary software training class is one of the last places where an instructor can walk in with a big bag of candy bars and still excite 20 mature adults. In an informal office environment this might be considered insulting, but in the formal class snacks mean both survival and competition. The instructor must also be able to sense and respond to the mood, expectations, and interest level of the individual or group. If a student becomes sullen or bored, a laugh or change in subject may either bring him back in, or send him off the deep end of exhaustion for the rest of the afternoon.

Expectations are Important

Expectations play a large part in the success of a particular training or development exercise. One of the more successful and common methods instructors employ to ensure success in a skills development class is to gauge the students’ expertise by asking them what they expect to get out of the class. The interchange might go something like this:

INSTRUCTOR. Please tell us your name, what your favorite animal is, and what you expect to get out of the class.

STUDENT 1. My name is Carla, I like cats, and I hope to learn how to install and demonstrate the software so I can make more money!

STUDENT 2. Jeff, rats, certification.

STUDENT 3. Hi, I’m George, I love mountain goats, and I just want to soak in all this wonderful knowledge so I can teach it to my friends at parties.

It’s a sneaky bit of innocent data gathering, but this exercise exposes most of the behavioral energy and interactivity readiness of the students. Inherent in their responses is the glimmer or glare of sincerity, apathy, or sarcasm. Sincere learners bring satisfaction to the instructor, but sarcastic ones bring laughs and lighten the mood for everyone – so long as the instructor can see through the joker’s eyes, and the comments are not too hurtful or inappropriate.

Student Preparation

As we have briefly seen, the quantity of sleep students have under their belts seems to directly impact their ability to function the following afternoon. As often happens with offsite training classes, the group goes out to dinner the first night, and returns to the hotel in the wee hours of the morning, having drunk all they can stand and often more. The resultant condition, identified at around 1:30 the following afternoon, can be characterized as “fading.” The consciousness of these students, let alone their attention, will be difficult to hold (especially if the temperature in the room is anywhere above downright chilly).

Factors such as whether information is presented before or after lunch, the frequency and length of breaks (5-10 minutes per hour during intense data dumping is recommended), and the temperature in the room can all work together to influence whether a training effort will be successful.

Subject Matter: An Example from Professional Life

It also helps to have a naturally engaging subject. If the instructor has to make the class more interesting in order to engage the students, the likelihood that the information will be retained goes down. I several times have taught classes on basic computer networking to groups of dealership-level sales reps. It was as if I was presenting the keys to the kingdom, so engaged were they. It seems that they had long been baffled and stymied by many of the concepts we discussed, and I was at last teaching them a language they longed to learn; giving them tools they desperately needed. It was a very rewarding experience personally, and I have continued to seek out situations where I have the opportunity to do sales related technical training classes. In fact, the company I now work for has an annual “Software Summit” in which the top 15 software vendors, as well as the entire cadre of over 100 sales reps, are invited (attendance mandatory) to a remote resort for two days. This event is mine to plan and execute. Software vendors fly in from around the continent and set up shop the night before. Day One is an intense, 10-hour training session with sales reps lurching from one session to another, and Day Two is free time (golf, spa, go home.)

Everyone appreciates the experience of a condensed training session followed by a night of partying, and then extreme relaxation. It’s like an intellectual workout, a highly focused conference where the topic of every class is custom tailored to the small group.

The psychology of teacher and pupil is a subject to fill books, so I will suffice to say that the environment of the training exercise, preparation of teacher and students, and a simple awareness of the dynamics in the room (or on the ski slope, or 15,000 feet in the air, or on the ocean floor) will go far to ensure the success of the training.

Individual Vs Group Dynamics And Interaction

Individual Dynamics and Interaction

The best training happens when the instructor and student are one-on-one, face to face across the kitchen table, as it were. This environment sets the student at ease, and allows for the uninterrupted transfer of knowledge. However, as a teacher will soon find, this is a two-way street. For in teaching, the teacher becomes a student. And as the student grows in knowledge, he begins to teach the teacher. The best gift a teacher can receive is having a student surpass him in understanding. One-on-one instruction is the quickest way to teacher Utopia. If the teacher discovers that the student is not well-matched to the material, he can adjust the instructional level to meet the needs or demands of the student, and will have a high rate of retention.

Group Dynamics and Interaction

Somewhere between a single gifted student and a lecture hall full of half-witted sots there lies a phenomenon known as the Training Room. Here thirty- and forty-something has-beens gather to improve their professional skills and sniff around the room for a one-night mate. Nowhere like on a training trip do currently chaste (if not by choice) men and women find one another so attractive. The testimonies of many will confirm this. The maddening phenomenon is common enough to be mentioned here as a matter of course. These normally dull people might work side by side for months or years, but let one hear the genius of the other in answer to the instructor’s questions, and the light of lust is kindled. This does not happen beyond the awareness of the other students. And in a group, they will be bold to point out perceived vagaries on both sides of the coupling equation. Make the students men, with only one or two women in the group, and the collective consciousness of the class dwindles to the basest level as the majority jockeys for position with the minority.

Each group has its own personality, but it often reflects the personality of the instructor. If an instructor is serious about the material, the class will take on a somber tone. Conversely, a few jokes and light-hearted ribbing can go a long way toward lightening the mood in the room. A highly skilled teacher will be able to sense the level of engagement from the class and tailor his or her presentation to make the group more responsive if necessary. An instructor who travels to various sites will find that a group in Atlanta responds differently than a group in Minneapolis or San Francisco. Local social customs creep into the group dynamic, and can be quite distracting for an inexperienced teacher. Conversely, a well-known or respected instructor will have a better opportunity to drive the atmosphere where he or she wants it to go than will a novice.

I once taught a class on basic networking to a room full of copier dealer principals and sales support managers. I was representing the company most respected in their industry, so my words were like gospel truth to them. I received such respect and courtesy that I began to feel self-conscious. But I think I could have told them a white wall was red, and they would have cocked their heads and squinted to see it that way. That sort of experience can be heady and exciting to an instructor, so it behooves him to remember that the organization itself lends the air of exclusivity and superiority to the training class, and not the little-known instructor.

Current Trends Relating to Training and Development, Including the Impact of Technology

Current Trends

Trends currently influencing employee training and development include remote site training, remote training via videoconference or web conference, and a more thorough hiring selection process that limits the need for expensive training programs being wasted on employees who are just going to quit as soon as they receive the benefit of company-sponsored training.

Remote Site – Sequestering

Training sales representatives is like herding cats. Sales reps are notorious for answering the ringing cell phone, and getting up to go respond to an urgent call. Then, they will forget all about the training and leave, going to respond to some customer service issue. This appears to be a productive use of their time, but renders the training session worthless. It is a common perception that training time is of less value than selling time. However, the goal of sales training is to give the students knowledge that they can then use to achieve an objective, such as solution selling or closing deals. So the best plan of action, when looking to distribute and assimilate a large amount of data to an under-interested sales force, is to get ‘em out of here. A remote training site provides much-needed relief, interest, and keeps them from running off (for the most part). The Software Summit I have described above is a good example of this principle.

Web Conferences

With the widespread advent of the Internet, common technology has advanced to the point of allowing real-time access to events happening in another part of the country or the world. Organizations are using high-speed computers and internet connections to train sales and technical personnel in several locations at once. The trainer or presenter usually sends out an e-mail notification with a link to an online class or software demonstration. Attendees click a link on their computers to access the online meeting, and voice transmission is handled by telephone or online “Voice Over IP” (a subject for another discussion). My own work has encompassed this technology with aplomb, as the hectic schedules dictated by heavy travel have lent credence to a sometimes impersonal format.

For example, one of the software vendors I work with is located in Indianapolis, and my office is in Portland, Oregon. The vendor is planning a Reseller Conference at which they will roll out the latest version of their software. Being present physically is usually preferable for the employees involved, because they will usually retain more information from a “skin” class (physical presence; the ability to shake hands). Because of travel costs and the need to cover the home front, not all of the staff who should see this presentation will be allowed to go. So the vendor has planned a web conference to cover the high points of the material. In this way not everyone is directly involved, but everyone has a chance to hear and see the material at some level.

Videoconferencing

The company I now work for has videoconferencing equipment, which allows the Director of Sales to strut his stuff at a dozen branches in three states at the same time, while training the sales reps to go after bad debt risk customers with creative leasing options. The technology utilizes video cameras, microphones, projectors, screens, software, and high-speed internet connections to create a virtual meeting with live interaction. This technology is painfully expensive and at present, less than perfect. However, the savings in travel costs and repetitive training tasks far outweigh the small inconveniences.

The most impressive videoconferencing system I have seen uses a screen in two locations, with half of a long conference table in each location, butting right up to the screen. Cameras are rigged in such a way that the screen in both locations lights up with the life-size image of the table and the people at the other location, creating the illusion that all the participants of the meeting are in the same large conference room.

Both web conferencing and videoconferencing use technology that was unavailable 50, or even 20 years ago. However, organizations need to be aware that some training (and this decision-making process requires wisdom and insight) is better conducted in person. Proceed with caution.

Hiring the Right People

The best training in the world will be of no value to the organization if the individuals who receive and absorb the training quit their jobs. I have first-hand knowledge of this fact, having hired two employees in the past two years who received a good deal of training (absorbing a great deal of company expense) who are no longer working at the company. Though it is possible to develop and retain many individuals, these situations arose out of incomplete hiring methods. Ironically, I didn’t use the proper procedure when selecting these individuals for hire, because I hadn’t received the right training! One of the employees quit to take a job with less stress and interaction with people, and the other was fired for insubordination and unexcused absences.

In recruiting for their replacements, I am using a three-legged stool consisting of “can-do, will-do, and team fit” concepts, the weakest of which determines whether the hire will be made. This simple formula will save the company tens of thousands of dollars, if it works like the trainer says it will. I’ve had enough of hiring hotshots who don’t have the behavioral energy to perform over time, or the cultural flexibility to “go with the flow.”

Some Techniques an Experienced Trainer Might Use

Sometimes the training is over the collective head of the group. Other times it’s too basic. An individual might be in the wrong class for his or her skill level. The trainer might be out of touch with the industry or organization to which he or she is presenting. Students can be hung over, on drugs, or preoccupied with other matters. But when a trainer is experienced and skilled, these issues fade as the class materializes and the glorious material rises in the consciousness of the students.
An experienced trainer will want to know what are the expectations of the organization. What type of training is it? Training is typically broken into three categories: educate, persuade, and motivate. Being conscious of this will help an experienced trainer to stay on track and gauge the success level of the learners.

Tardiness

What does an experienced trainer do when certain people show up late for every session? One of the best techniques I have seen is to reward the people who show up on time, and ignore the latecomers. Sarcastic applause or comments such as “glad you could join us” tend to reward tardiness for individuals starved for attention. This is employee training, not kindergarten. I have been tardy much of my life, and having one trainer notice and try to correct me will not change my patterns. That change must come from within the individual, and perhaps the only good rewards are for good behavior.

Lack of Interest or Motivation

An experienced trainer will look for ways to engage the group. This is important because the individual who is disconnected can suck the life out of the trainer, and even the whole class. But if the rest of the class is actively engaged in the training, the individual will often re-join the group consciousness because of his drive to be part of the group.

Language or Communication Barriers

One of the most difficult challenges a trainer faces is the student who appears to understand, and tries to keep up, but becomes hopelessly lost because of differences in native language or learning style. In these cases, the experienced trainer may put the group into a lab (practice) setting, and even the playing field by having one of the more astute respondents help the person with less comprehension. This benefits both students, because the best way to retain information is to teach it to someone else. I have been engaged in this informal type of tutoring, and it has proved both enjoyable and profitable.

Some of the Most Important Lessons I Have Learned

Prepare Thoroughly

There is nothing worse for a trainer than showing up under-prepared to teach. This has been the bane of my training existence, because of the incredible demands on my time. However, over time I have begun to spend the time necessary, and prioritize this time as crucial, to have a good presentation. As with many trainers, I am often my own worst critic, but being fully prepared is the best advice I can give. Too bad I didn’t learn it in Boy Scouts, when I thought the motto was “Be Aware.” (Also good advice, but it’s “Be Prepared.”)
Go With the Flow, Except When It Changes Course
I have learned to tune into the level of the group, and to teach to that level. And often, active questioners can move the class along its designated path. But when the people receiving the training try to reroute the course of the class and subjugate the entire process to their own agenda, it’s time for the trainer to step in and re-establish control. This can be done in a variety of ways, but one of the most effective is simply to say, “Let’s get back to the subject at hand.”
Focus On Individuals and Their Development
There is a temptation to think the material is so important, and the time so valuable, that all the data must be disseminated or the world will end. It won’t. I have learned to prioritize the key points of the training material, and to teach in such a way that I know the class comprehends these points. However, I don’t like the phrase “if you take nothing else from this training…” I think it is insulting and invalidates the investment that students have made in the class.

Concluding Remarks

Organizations benefit from having well-trained workers who are capable of doing their jobs well. The best managers, trainers, and training programs will have an eye toward the goals of the organization in mind at all times. Many challenges are presented which a wise trainer will be flexible enough to accommodate or resolve. And training is still the shortest path to employee development, satisfaction, and productivity.


Documentation

For documentation, I attached the master schedule of classes from one of the Software Summits I have organized. (Not publicly available)