A while back, our family watched “Karate Kid” together (the old skool version). In the movie, Mr. Miyagi said something that has stuck with me since:

I have applied this quote to myself as a mother and teacher to my children.  When they don’t do a chore well, I only have myself to blame. I know that I need to train them better. Oftentimes we say “Clean your room” and then expect our children to do it like we would do it but we never really taught them how.  When I was a kid, I found cleaning my room SO overwhelming. I think that was because my Mom never really taught me how so I didn’t know what I was doing. I read somewhere that it takes children 7 times of practice before they get something right. That means that you have to sit with your child at least 7 times to show them how to clean their room or tie their shoe.

Same goes with employees, if my Assistant isn’t doing something the way I like it, I know that it’s not her fault. I just have to take the time to show her what I expect and work with her until she gets it right.  Of course, we can’t take all the blame for our children’s actions because if we take all the credit for all the good they do, then we also have to take the credit for anything negative they do too…no thank you. BUT taking a good look at ourselves as teachers and the example we are setting, helps us to remember that if we want something a certain way, we should properly train our children to do so many times.  That’s why I love using checklists for my kids and my employees.  You can’t argue with a checklist.