Whale Done.

Book Review

Blanchard, Ken. (and several co-authors) Whale Done. The power of positive relationships. The Free Press 2002.

Comment. Henry
Much has been written about what works and what doesn’t work in the area of interpersonal relations. This resource focuses on the power of the positive focus. The principles have actually come from the experiences of trainers working with killer whales. All three co-authors are people whose profession is working with wild animals. There is a lot of practical ‘take-home’ material in this book.

The principle of reinforcing positive performance and/or behavior is studied as it relates to the training of killer whales at the Shamu Stadium at Sea World in Orlando. It is all about building a relationship using the following building blocks, “build trust, accentuate the positive, when mistakes are made redirect the energy”. (19) Progress is a moving target so praise needs to be ongoing. Based on what was learned from the study of the killer whale training program, using praise as a reinforcement tool is labeled as a “whale done response”. (40) This response is focused on catching people doing things right. The more common focus of catching people doing things wrong is labeled the “gotcha’ (42) focus.

The application of this ‘whale done’ approach was tested in the home and workplace. In each case the response(s) was (were) positive. Whatever behavioral response we focus on will be the response that will be reinforced. I.e. if we are into the ‘gotcha’ focus we will reinforce negative behavior. When we choose to focus on the positive (whale done) focus we will reap the rewards of building positive relationships.