My five-year-old son is learning to play hockey this winter. Every Saturday at the rink, coaches put the kids through sets of drills. They are instilling core competencies in the basics skills. The secret to mastering a skill is constant repetition. Working on a new skill doesn’t start until measurable progress is made on mastering the current one.

The second thing I’ve noted is that these exercises are not easy. The assignments require the kids to get out of their comfort zone and do things they’ve never done before. Learning new stuff can be hard.

My son is not finding this onerous, however. The third thing I’ve noticed, is how much fun the coaches have made the drills and exercises. Skating is done around an obstacle course of pylons. Team mates pull each other across the rink in chairs. My son is learning skills. He’s working hard. But he’s also being entertained and having a load of fun.  

Coaching for energy excellence is the same way. We take organizations outside of their management comfort zones. We instill core competencies with repetitive processes until they are mastered.

Watching my son learn hockey makes me wonder. So how do we adults rediscover the fun of childhood in the work we do? How can we make the controlling energy costs fun? How can the reduction of energy use become a game? A team sport?

Frankly, my son loves hockey school. If my 5 year old son can have fun learning hockey skills, we adults should be able to have some fun cutting energy bills.

What can I, as an energy coach, learn from the hockey coaches teaching my son?

I feel a New Year resolution coming on.