Learning Deteriorates 20% per Year

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Most of my great ideas come from my clients, and today’s is no exception.  One CEO that I work with mentioned to me that, in his view, skills and learning depreciate at a rate of 20% per year.

What that means for you is that the great training you took and the skill you learned five years ago is now table stakes; if you want to belly up to the bar in your profession and have a seat at the table, those five-year-old skills are now required by everyone.  They no longer give you an edge or make you special; you’re just one of the herd again.

Of all the times in the past century that a person could choose to coast into a cozy retirement at work, this is surely the worst.  Our world is going through immense upheaval that is going to affect millions of jobs.

People that will prosper through this time are those who upgrade their skills and work to get a little bit better at them each year.

Don’t let these changes paralyze you.  What’s required from you is actually tiny.

Better yourself this year in just one way.   Choose from this list:

  • Take a course
  • Sign up for a webinar
  • Learn a skill relevant to your job that people around you don’t have
  • Add one person per month to your network
  • Say yes to a job in your company that no one else wants to do
  • Download a podcast to listen to during your commute
  • Read 1 (good!) book and implement its ideas.  One.
  • Seek out a mentor
  • Develop a skill that a computer can’t do (i.e. something related to interacting with and helping another human being)

The people who will struggle are those who have done nothing for years.  They’ve just turned off the personal growth switch and switched on to autopilot.  They’re all around you.  Don’t be one of them!

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Written by Trevor Throness
Trevor is a veteran coach, keynote speaker, and the author of the book “The Power of People Skills” released by Career Press NY in 2017. He’s also written for or been featured in places like Forbes, Inc, The NY Post, The Globe and Mail, Entrepreneur, CEO Magazine, and numerous podcasts and interviews.

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The range of topics delivered, the open dialogue, experience, and examples that PLI brought to each session were outstanding and provided a path for our Franchisees and Managers to look at leadership, coaching, and connecting with their teams in a new light. Many have implemented these strategies in their bakeries and have seen immediate results.
Michelle C.
COBS Bread
Highly recommend to help your team move forward
We have locations around BC and Alberta, so getting people on the same page can be very difficult... Until now. Our entire management team and location managers take the same great courses and then meet monthly online with our coach to apply it to our situation. People are engaged, the courses are excellent, we love our coach, and we are all learning together!
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President, Kelson Group
The result has been a transformation of our culture. 
We decided to implement PLI's strategies across the country in over 150 locations and over 3500 employees.  The result has been a transformation of our culture.  People's lives have been positively impacted - professionally and personally.  Morale is high and sales and profits are up as a result.
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Daryl Verbeek
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Satisfied Client
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In less than 18 months of working with Trevor, he has transformed my business from being average to exceptional, where mediocrity is not acceptable, where being great is standard.  Working with PLI has allowed me to realize my dream of not simply owning a job, but owning a business.
Justin Bontkes
Principal, Caliber Projects
Our culture has taken major steps forward this year
Our culture has taken major steps forward this year with Trevor’s help.  He is funny, relatable, and his tools are very very practical and have helped us focus and upgrade our teams throughout our retail network. Trevor recently spoke to an employee group, and one person remarked, “I could listen to Trevor all day.”   We would highly recommend Trevor.
Stan Pridham
Founder, KMS Tools
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Partner, RDM Lawyers
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Brian Antenbring
Founder, TEEMA
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Trevor was incredibly well-received by the entire organization. He was able to articulate people issues that many of our franchisees were experiencing and provided them with practical ways to make positive changes. We have implemented the Star Chart tool across the organization and see it as vital to building happy, effective teams.
Aaron Gillespie
President, COBS Bread
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