Sunday Mālama Book Review: Know Can Do! ~ Part One

A Book Review: Know Can Do! Put your Know-How into Action
A parable which teaches us “to close the knowing-doing gap, focusing on the inside as well as the outside,” by Ken Blanchard, Paul J. Meyer, and Dick Ruhe

Can you DO all you KNOW about?

Will you reliably draw on all the knowledge you may have gathered,
and use it to perform magnificently when you need to?

For most of us, the answer is likely to be “No, probably not.”

Yet we do wish it were so!

Well, what if I were to tell you that there is a book that offers the “missing link” for this gap we all experience between our learning and our retention and use of our learning?

There is! I LOVE this book, and from now on it will be my perfect thank you gift of “keep this going!” urging I start giving to all my workshop clients. In fact, I have already bought and given away four of them within the last two weeks.

I will be insisting that anyone who takes the train-the-trainer workshops I offer for Managing with Aloha read or listen to Know Can Do! and discuss it with me: Whether you choose to read its quick 104 pages or listen to it for the hour and 48 minutes it takes via audio book, if you are a serious learner, the Know Can Do! parable is one you need to become familiar with.

I knew I wanted to review this book for our first Trackback Sunday within our 2008 A Love Affair With Books at Joyful Jubilant Learning because of its connection to the learning process. However I have been getting so excited about it I haven't been able to wait, and have already mentioned it on my Talking Story site in connection with a tidbit shared within the book on listening: Listening with an Open, Positive Mindset.

Remember that W.H. Murray quote I shared with you a week ago?

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)
There is one elementary truth,
The ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:

That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would have otherwise never occurred.

Know Can Do! Put your Know-How into Action is one of those books which I am convinced fell onto my radar from somewhere in the heavens because Providence was conspiring in my favor. I have been feeling exactly like the author of the Know Can Do! parable. The book starts this way:

The Problem
A short Know Can Do! excerpt;

There once was a successful author who wrote about simple truths. His books were designed to help himself and others manage and motivate people in more effective ways.

Everyone who read his books loved his stories and messages. He sold millions of copies. Yet there was one thing that troubled him.

It usually reared its head when someone told him, “I've read all your books and really love them.”

The author had always been taught that true learning involves a change in your behavior. In fact, he thought that learning was a journey from knowing to doing. So if the person praising his work commented about a particular favorite concept, he usually asked, “How has knowing that changed the way you behave?”

Most people had a hard time answering that question. As a result, they often changed the subject by talking about another concept or some other book they were reading.

A Big Part of the Answer

I have not yet sold a million copies of Managing with Aloha, nowhere close to it. However I have had a terrific amount of sales and business success connected to the MWA programs, and I can sadly, painfully recall a lot of conversations like this one the authors describe. People do get excited about MWA, and they are enthusiastic and sincere in their compliments for the speeches, workshops and classes I deliver, but if they do not opt for some kind of companion coaching to go with them, I know that their retention rate will fall dramatically. Why?

It is a question that has driven me crazy in these last four years since MWA was published, and I have tweaked my teaching model endlessly to find the answer.

In short, Know Can Do! has helped me see that I've been focusing most of my efforts on the wrong part of the process: I now understand that I need to spend significantly more time on follow-up with those I train than I do with designing, organizing, and delivering the training itself. And by significantly, I mean five to ten times as much!

You may be thinking, “I'm not an author, teacher or trainer; what's in this for me?”

If you have read this far, you are a LEARNER, and Know Can Do! is for every learner who wants to improve on converting the knowledge they gain into better usefulness in their lives.

I have been excited since reading this book because it has become clear to me how I can dramatically help my workshop clients put more of Managing with Aloha into better practice in several ways. However the true gifts I have been receiving from Know Can Do! have been more personal; that is, with my own learning retention process.

When you listen to, or read Know Can Do! you will discover

• Your “missing link” in converting knowing to doing
• About the power of “spaced repetition”
• How information overload is tripping you up, and what to do about it
• How and why to apply a “Less is More” philosophy
• Why we all suffer from some “negative filtering” and need to be aware of it
• What “green light thinking” is all about
• Why follow-up plans must include structure, support, and accountability

And if you truly consider yourself a lifelong learner (and a joyful jubilant one :) I guarantee you this; you will be as excited about this book as I am.

You may have noticed that my title says “~ Part One.” There is a goldmine within Know Can Do! we can use within our MWAC Value Your Month, Value Your Life program with the double-whammy of learning the MWA values AND Putting Your Know How into Action as Know Can Do! promises. I plan on writing more about several concepts within this book, and so I hope you decide to pick one up and discuss it with me. (Personally, I am pretty convinced that I got as much out of this book as I did because I listened to it on audio first, then read the hardcover second.)

As it says on page 70:

“Successful People Yearn to Learn and Have a Plan For Learning.”

I do, and I have! Watch for Part Two soon.

Meanwhile, you may want to check out some of the book resources at Ken Blanchard's website: The Know Can Do! page includes a PDF download of the Introduction and first chapter, and you can listen to a keynote by co-author Dick Ruhe (if you register with them).
~ Rosa

Another related posting on Talking Story which may interest you: Business Parable Books: Yay! or Nay?

---

This book review is a contribution to Trackback Sunday on A Love Affair with Books 2008 at Joyful Jubilant Learning.

You must click over and join the Ho‘ohana Community of Learners there… what a great time we are having! Vibrantly rich conversation added daily…

Bookmark the Full Index of Reviews, or for the visual among you, skim the book jackets at the JJL Store ALAWB 2008 page.

More of my Book Reviews can be found here: Mana‘o on a Virtual Bookshelf.

Comments

[GreatManagement]

Just ordered it!

Thanks.