Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder was awarded the NBA’s 2016-17 Most Valuable Player after a truly historic season. Westbrook etched his name in NBA history and was crowned “The Triple-Double King” after being only the second player to average a season triple-double, and then finishing the season with 42 triple-doubles, the most to be scored in league history.

How does a player who has been in the league since his first round, fourth pick in 2008, manage to continuously improve to the point of being awarded the most prestigious honor in the NBA? It’s never-ending, highly-devoted training.

For training to be effective, it has to be comprised of three elements: Education, Simulation, and Accountability, and Westbrook knows this well.

Like in the automotive industry, many great training tools are made available that salespeople and managers make arguments that they “don’t have time for” or they purchase the tools and then don’t bother to use them and then they wonder why they aren’t working. The same is true with the NBA. The NBA provides educational tools to all of its players in order to improve performance. But, you have to use these tools for them to be effective and Westbrook takes full advantage.

Games and performances of players are recorded. This footage is available for review. Westbrook is known for meticulously combing the footage of his play following every game. This is how he stays educated. He makes a notation of what he does well, what he does poorly, and what he could change. But it doesn’t stop there! After this, he takes this education and puts it to practice.

Many times we send our guys to a pump up session at the Marriott and call this training, this is simply education. Westbrook doesn’t just review his game footage and then assume that his play will automatically improve, he simulates what he learns from his review.

Simulation isn’t a one-day thing; it is a never-ending process that is derived from daily education paired with simulation, and these two elements together are what makes an unstoppable NBA player. But, then Westbrook has one final component that sets him apart from all of the other unstoppable, talented players in the league. This final component, paired with education and simulation, is what makes him the league MVP.

It’s not enough to simply educate and simulate, you have to hold yourself and your people accountable. Westbrook takes what he learns from the review of his footage, he simulates it during hours and hours of repeated, never-ending practice, and he holds himself accountable in his play. This is how he accomplished an MVP worthy and record-breaking season. By holding himself accountable, each game, Westbrook was able to improve performance, to continuously build on what he had previously learned and practiced. This then translated into performance that outdid his previous seasons, other notable players’ previous seasons, and then ended the season by breaking a league record! Westbrook understands that training has to consist of education, simulation, and accountability for it to truly be effective and to provide winning results!

At Alan Ram’s Proactive Training Solutions, we have a complete and guaranteed training system that will provide your dealership with the tools that you need to train for real results. Beginning with my Management By Fire event paired with my innovative ADAPT Virtual Training platform, this easy to implement system will push your dealership to MVP worthy status. Call us today for more information: (866) 996-4665!