I have secretly always wanted to be a Broadway star and I grew up with a love of theater. I remember reading William Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage” and cherished the imagery his words brought to my mind. I took acting lessons and drama classes in high school. We worked on improvisation and character development. 

And there you have that key word that jumped out to me in the TRP training… CHARACTER.  I gravitated towards that concept in the TRP training and would spend a great deal of time focusing on this idea with my TRP classes. The words choice and character together, with all of my acting background, have brought me to realize that each and every day we choose the character we would like to portray.
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What do we want people to say about us when we leave a room? How do we want people to feel after an interaction with us? Do our actions help others become their best as they continue on with their day? A kind smile to someone who is having a rough day can make all the difference to that one person. A single, simple action can help reshape our character and who we are for the rest of the day.

When you wake up in the morning (or if you are not a morning person, before you go to bed the night before LOL), look at the character trait listing on page 67 of the TRP book and decide how you might want to approach the world that day. One of the only things we can truly control in life is ourselves, and how we choose to respond to a situation.

Thanks for reminding me of this, TRP staff, this training has truly changed the way I approach my life. 

Perhaps one of the most rewarding things that I do as a facilitator, is prepare other trainers to deliver the Totally Responsible Person training programs. Just last month I conducted a train the trainer program for a client in California, and next month my team will do it again from our home offices in Winston-Salem, NC. We run train the trainer programs several times a year and I cannot sleep in the days leading up to it - I have so much energy!

For me, as a lifelong practitioner of TRP, my practice is to "walk the talk," and demonstrate what being a Totally Responsible Person is all about. I do this in my daily routine both at work and at home. While I'm far from perfect, the effort to take personal responsibility for ALL my actions, words, and thoughts is such a good challenge. I find that both my "misses" and my successes on this journey give me great stories that I often weave into my delivery of TRP programs.

Likewise, the incredible people who come to our train the trainer program to get certified to teach TRP have great stories. Helping them discover the power in those stories is like mining for gold. It's usually just under the surface and with a little effort, we uncover something of value that they can pass along in ways that have meaning and impact for others.

Stories become teaching tools
For example, a recently certified trainer from one of our programs shared a powerful story from his first career as a young supervisor. Rather than coach a struggling employee, he protected her. He didn't want to hurt her feelings by pointing out her performance issues. He ended up protecting her to the point of a crisis and ultimately needing to terminate her. It pains him to this day that he could have helped her, but he didn't. He learned from that lesson and became a great manager, never making that same mistake again. After going through the train the trainer program, he will use that story as a powerful, cautionary tale, when he trains other young supervisors in TRP. His story is now serving a purpose and helping others.

The stories that TRP trainers tell are windows into their potential. The stories are about both their mistakes and their successes. TRP training gives them a platform for those stories to come to life in ways that others can learn from.

What's your story?
I'm gearing up for our March 12 - 14 TRP train the trainer program in Winston-Salem and cannot wait to help a new group of trainers shape their stories into the powerful teaching tools they will be.