I’ve been in the martial arts for a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of ideas tossed around. There are a few much discussed concepts lately that I think are really worth taking a good close look at. Take for instance retention. You hear that word used a lot among instructors, school owners, and gurus who want to help you make more money. Why is retention a good thing? Well, unless you’re talking about pms, retention means students learn more, develop more, and it could even be argued, become more. If you’re a school owner or working on commission, retention also means more to your bottom line. So retention gets talked about a lot, and lots of people have ideas on what to do about it.
Obviously, if your students like what they’re doing they’ll stick with it. All you have to do is make your classes fun, right? Sounds simple enough, but like so many such simple ideas it lacks applicability to a broad group of students. What works for Susie won’t necessarily work for Joseph. We have to look for something a little more fundamental; something that makes people want to do the work to reap the rewards. Sounds like we’re talking about motivation, another much discussed topic these days.
People are motivated by many things, so it seems like we have no chance of finding something that will work for everyone. But if you’d pick up any decent text on psychology, you’d find that rewarding desired behavior is an almost universal motivator. The trick we have to pull out of our proverbial hats is a reward that will be considered a reward by almost everyone. One of the best ideas I’ve seen that is actually commonly known and used already in the martial arts is the use of colored tape.
Many of you already know that a simple piece of tape applied to the student’s belt can be a very inexpensive and easy way to reward those who achieve. Whether it be for good grades or good side kicks, students like to be told they are doing a good job. And few things work better to increase motivation than to recognize achievement with a tangible reward. This is one reason for the existence of the colored belt system in use today. Aside from keeping track of your students’ progress, they provide tangible evidence to the students that progress is being made. The progression through belt levels may be too slow for some students, however, particularly younger students.
So I propose that you reward them more often by recognizing achievement at virtually any opportunity. Even if it’s not directly related to their formal training, rewarding a student for accomplishment goes a long way toward motivating them to do more. Which brings us back to where we started; motivated students mean better retention. So my advice for you today is to try using stripes of tape to reward your students. They stick on the belt well and stay with the student as clear evidence of success, and this is a strong motivator for almost anyone. It’s a very simple and inexpensive way to solve some of these hotly debated issues.
“We all know that retention is the name of the game in martial arts training. Consider this: if you could afford to give your students more rewards or recognition for progress and achievement, do you think they will be further motivated to continue with your program? Study after study has shown that praise and recognition builds confidence and commitment, so you will surely agree that the answer is a resounding yes! You also know that committed students are your best source for new students. How can you go wrong? For only a few pennies you can give your students a stripe on their belt for all to see that will look great for many weeks. Once you try these you’ll never go back to electrical tape again!”
– John R., Austin, Tx
Achievement Stripes 