Whale Done

Whale done is about improving your relationships at work, and at home following the training methodology imparted to killer whales. We all know how life-threatening a whale can be. Yet there is a group of whale trainers who play with whales and make them perform breathtaking feats on a daily basis. Ken Blanchard( the author) takes cues from the whale trainers and depicts in this book as to how these techniques can be used to better human relationships.
Lets navigate and absorb the essence of this killer shark training techniques.
Two lovers at a dining table – enraptured in each other’s company, lost in each other’s eyes and ignorant of what’s happening around. – Undivided attention is whats present in this case. As relationships mature, most of us get into ‘Gotcha’ mode. The gotcha mode according to Ken is about catching people doing things wrong. This is the root cause of deterioration in relatioships. The final demise of a relationship begins when you do something right but you are still yelled at for not doing it right enough. You had to ask me...You should have done it earlier blah blah blah..So how do we avoid this Gotcha thing and move ahead? – Whale Done techniques.
I shall in the next few pages walk you through these techniques:

T1: Accentuate the Positive
T2: Redirect the energy when mistakes occur

What do these thing mean? T1 essentially is the opposite of Gotcha mode- the Whale Done mode. T1 is about focussing on the things done right( however small or even if it is slightly irrelevant to the task at hand).
How do we do T1?
a. Wake up and say something positive when everything is going well
b. Praise progress (don’t wait for the end result)
c. Praise immediately
d. Be specific about what they did right or almost right
e. Share your positive feelings about what they did
f. Encourage them to keep up the good work
g. Never assume you know what motivates a person (It is avoidable to motivate people with money and animals with food). There are very many other things to motivate people/ animals with. Eg. One thing animals like is a rub on their stomach or a pat on their head or a long ride in a car.
T2: is avoiding the gotcha. In case mistakes occur, redirect the energy and build trust.
How do we T2?
a. Describe the error or problem as soon as possible , clearly and without blame
b. Show its negative impact
c. If appropriate take the blame for not making the task clear
d. Go over the task and ensure that it is clearly understood
e. Express your continuing trust and confidence in the person.
You’ve gotta read the book, for some examples on using Whale Done!!!!

Whale Done, everybody.