By Dr. Donald L. Green, 19 April 2022
In the words of Rita Lybek Murphy, everything relates to the Basic RiderCourse©. As I discussed several professional topics with a colleague recently, we touched upon how the depth and breadth of being a RiderCoach would take enough commitment and desire to improve continually. Without the intrinsic motivation for improvement, we become only minimally competent, ergo, only as good as we will ever be.
To frame this differently, compare ourselves to the students we as RiderCoaches are trying to help in their quest to ride. When they arrive at the course, we expect they must attempt to listen, learn, and continually focus, so the content and information allow them to ride a motorcycle safely. Without enough commitment, we also begin to expect their success will be negligible.
Similar to our students, the sophisticated practice requires increasing dedication to improve our performance abilities as RiderCoaches. This is very analogous to our students attempting to be new motorcycle riders. Our efforts can be fruitless without constant attempts at learning, continual practice, and achieving a higher understanding. Being better takes purposeful work. To expand our capabilities, we must practice being better, focusing on learning to be better, and receiving regular feedback to know appropriate change is happening.
Unfortunately, there are some misconceptions about how many of us practice and how it can help us achieve betterment at something. Experience does not equate to better performance. For the most part, repeating what we know is called naïve practice. We develop automaticity of action by doing what is currently known without focusing on improvement without receiving important corrective feedback. Just like a student practicing the wrong motor skill sequence, it automatically causes us to repeat the wrong things. This naïve practice causes a plateau to be accepted as satisfactory; the problem is our performance degrades over time, becoming worse. Continued experiences of this kind are not purposeful nor beneficial to raising the bar.
Purposeful or more sophisticated practice changes the betterment process. By defining the goal and identifying the incremental steps it takes to achieve the result, we can measure our progress. This method allows us to move from gross to fine in developing the skill, taking baby steps along the way, and receiving necessary feedback to measure our progress. The progress must be specified because it essentially focuses our attention on the small details providing input to the process. It gives us the essential feedback that a small goal is accomplished and where an adjustment should be made.
The specificity and focus of the event create a cognitive method to make the learning conscious and measurable. Learning then becomes easy to be excited about achieving the small and more significant steps, providing an intrinsic way of self-reward. These internal or external pep talks allow us to direct our attention, concentrate on achievement and receive that immediate and essential feedback.
To some, this may feel unpleasant because we are extending ourselves outside of typical comfort zones. Putting ourselves in this position of potential failure challenges our capacity to be better. The exciting result is it also exposes our persistence and resiliency to accept unsuccessful attempts as part of the learning process. At the same time, positive feedback from self or peers allows us to push outside what we know. The doors open to something better that wasn’t available to us before. That is why even coaches need coaching to be better. It helps us also understand how to approach our students with a different perspective, one of how novice riders may feel and think. We are then able to use a beginner’s mind.
Sophisticated “deliberate” practice is necessary for every level of our community. The depth and breadth of our profession rely on the continual improvement of those within and for every newcomer to the community. Everything relates to the Basic RiderCourse©. We advocate for and must model the lifelong learning system we share with others, approaching every student and, more importantly, each other with the necessary feedback and support required to better ourselves. We then become sophisticated in our professional practice.
