They’re Sitting in Your Training Plan

There’s a line often quoted in military and leadership circles that I think about every January: 

“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.” 

The quote is commonly attributed to Archilochus, a Greek poet and soldier from the 7th century BCE. While the exact phrasing comes to us through later translation and paraphrase, the underlying idea is unmistakable and enduring. When pressure rises, people don’t suddenly perform at their best; they default to what has been practiced, reinforced, and made habitual. 

Nearly 3,000 years later, that insight still applies, whether you’re commanding troops or running a multi-branch equipment dealership. 

Every January, I hear the same refrains from dealer principals across Canada and the U.S. 

• “We need to grow profitability this year.” 
• “We need to improve productivity and drive higher absorption.” 
• “We need better execution.” 

These are reasonable goals. Necessary ones, even. But after years of working alongside heavy-equipment dealers, I’ve come to believe something that makes many leaders uncomfortable: 

Your 2026 results are already largely determined, and they have very little to do with the strategic plan you approved last fall. 

• They’re sitting somewhere else entirely. 
• They’re sitting in your training plan. 
• Or more accurately, in the lack of a deliberate one. 

Why Strategy Rarely Fails on Paper 

Most dealers don’t struggle with strategy. They struggle with execution. 

The plans are thoughtful. The intentions are good. The goals make sense. Yet somehow, by mid-year, momentum slows. Priorities blur. Managers revert to firefighting. The gap between “what we said we’d do” and “what actually happened” widens. 

That gap doesn’t exist because people don’t care. It exists because capability is insufficient to support ambition. 

Strategy doesn’t break in the boardroom. It breaks quietly on the shop floor, at the parts counter, in the service office, and inside leadership meetings where expectations are unclear, and coaching is inconsistent. 

Training Is Treated Like a Cost Because It’s Treated Casually 

One of the reasons training gets deprioritized is simple: it’s rarely treated as a system. 

In strong years, training gets postponed because “we’re too busy.” In softer years, it gets cut because “we need to watch costs.” New hires are expected to learn by osmosis. Managers assume experience will eventually close skill gaps. 

The problem is that capability doesn’t improve by accident. 

When training is reactive, episodic, or disconnected from business outcomes, it feels optional. And when it feels optional, it gets squeezed out by more urgent demands. 

But the most effective dealers I work with see training very differently. They understand that it is not an HR initiative or a calendar event. It is one of the few levers leadership can pull to deliberately shape future performance. 

The Real Cost of Undertraining Is Invisible 

Undertraining rarely shows up as a single, obvious failure. Instead, it creates friction everywhere. 

It shows up in slower turnaround times, inconsistent service advising, managers who avoid coaching because they’re unsure how, salespeople who rely on discounting instead of value-based conversations, and high performers who quietly carry the organization on their backs until they burn out or leave. 

None of this gets labeled as a training issue on a financial statement. It shows up as margin erosion, lost customers, higher turnover, and leadership fatigue. 

By the time the numbers force the conversation, the damage is already done. 

Capability Is the Constraint No One Talks About 

When dealer principals talk about growth, the conversation usually centers on market opportunity, OEM programs, or capital investment. Rarely does it start with a harder question: 

Do we actually have the capability to support the growth we’re chasing? 

One dealer I worked with in 2025 started our first discovery call with this question when I asked them about what their strategic constraints for the year. It rocked me. It forced me to reflect on how really successful dealer principals think and how they approach growth not as the goal, but as the outcome.  

Growth introduces complexity. It adds volume, variability, and pressure. If your people are already stretched, adding growth doesn’t create leverage it exposes weaknesses. 

The strongest dealers understand this intuitively. They invest in capability before capacity. They build leadership depth, technical skill, and execution discipline before pushing hard on expansion. 

Growth then becomes manageable, sustainable, and fun! 

Why So Much Training Fails to Stick 

To be fair, skepticism about training isn’t unfounded. Many dealers have invested heavily in courses, workshops, and programs that produced little lasting change. 

The issue isn’t that training doesn’t work. It’s that random training doesn’t work. 

When learning isn’t connected to real work, reinforced by managers, or followed up through coaching, it fades quickly. People return to their desks, back to old habits, under the same pressures that existed before. 

Without reinforcement, even the best content becomes forgettable. 

What Effective Dealers Do Differently 

High-performing dealers don’t necessarily train more. They train with intention. 

They start by being clear about why they are developing people. Training is directly linked to productivity, customer experience, leadership strength, and execution consistency. Not vague notions of development or simply wanting to sell more for more.  

They focus on roles that create the most leverage, particularly frontline leaders and customer-facing positions where small improvements compound quickly. 

Most importantly, managers are expected to play an active role. Training is reinforced through coaching conversations, real-world application, and ongoing accountability. Learning doesn’t end when the session does. That’s when it starts. 

Training Is a Leadership Choice 

This is where the conversation needs to shift. 

Training is not a people problem. It’s not a cultural initiative. And it’s certainly not something to be delegated and forgotten. 

It is a leadership decision about the kind of organization you’re intentionally building. 

When dealer principals engage personally, by asking about capability gaps, expecting development plans, and holding managers accountable for coaching, training becomes part of how the business runs. 

When they don’t, it becomes optional. No matter how well-designed the program is. 

A Simple Question That Changes the Conversation 

As you think about 2026, here’s a question worth sitting with: 

If we execute our current training plan perfectly, what will our people be capable of doing differently by the end of the year? 

If that answer isn’t clear, or doesn’t directly support your strategic goals, your results won’t surprise you, but they may disappoint you. 

The Bottom Line

The best dealers don’t treat training as an expense to minimize. They treat it as a strategic investment and a signal of what truly matters. 

They know their competitors have access to the same equipment, OEMs, and markets. 

Capability is the differentiator. And capability is built deliberately. 

Your 2026 results are already taking shape. The question is whether you’re shaping them on purpose.