Recently, a client said “come quick? After some less than stellar presentations, we need some presentation skills training, fast.” (actually, I paraphrase a little, but the “less than stellar” part is a direct quote. And, I suspect, the presentations were a pretty far cry from stellar).

So, I started thinking. Dan Weston, business consultant par excellence!, says that his job is usually pretty clear – help the leader of the company get rid of his/her pain. So, why do people wait for the pain? Why can’t people see that they need to upgrade their presentation skills before they make a “less-than-stellar” presentation? Why do we wait until our health is threatened before we lose the weight? Why do we wait until the last minute, and the pain is great, before we tackle the upgrade or change?

Maybe we are lazy. Maybe we are borderline foolish. Or, maybe, we are so busy doing our current tasks that we don’t ever get to stop and identify weak spots and get to work at preventative training and upgrading.

Whatever the reason, I think this should be our new approach:

Get the training you need before you mess things up!