Perhaps not everyone is as into the NBA finals as we are at Litmos HQ (Go Warriors!) but everyone in the L&D industry likely has appreciation over one thing: the art of training when it comes to professional sports.

Whether you’re cheering for the Warriors or Cavaliers in the finals, you have to acknowledge the fact that these guys understand the importance of training when it comes to playing the game. They practice, practice more, and once they are done practicing, they start practicing again. Everyone trains differently. Some athletes are natural born superstars like Lebron James where the game of basketball has always come easy (or at least he makes it look that way.) Other athletes like Stephen Curry have practiced and trained their whole life to get this far. Both athletes are incredibly comparable in skills, but the reality is that both have completely different training styles and tactics. What works for one of them might not work for the other, but they are both arguably just as talented as the other, albeit in different ways. Your training department and Learners aren’t much different, and that’s where this year’s NBA Finals can teach you a few things:

• Persistence gets you places
  You have your LMS, and now you can kick your training into full gear. There is so much involved in creating content, putting it into courses, getting it to your learners, making sure your learners are engaged, measuring results, analyzing those results, and ultimately planning for the next course. This is a never ending process for all those Training Administrators out there and it is incredibly important to have perseverance during this whole cycle or it is easy to lose motivation. The game of basketball isn’t much different. Basketball and training departments have one goal and that is to succeed (or you know — win). Staying persistent in your training efforts can help you get there.
• Teamwork is key
  For a Training Department to be successful, it can’t just rely on one person. Depending on the size of your company, you may have one Trainer or you could have a huge department of Trainers. Either way, your Trainer has to have support from other areas of the company in order to build out and deploy training that is going to help the company grow and drive real results. You hear the Warriors often say “Strength in Numbers”. Steph is a star, and the Splash Brothers together are the team’s magic weapon, but the whole team has gotten them this far. Getting support from others and working together makes your training even stronger.
• Training never stops
  Every company is different, so there’s no surprise that every training department is going to be different, too. For some companies, depending on the time of year and other priorities coming up, things sometimes slow down. Perhaps your training department is in full speed during Fall and Spring, and Summer and Winter is focused on planning, getting feedback and measuring success. However this applies to you, one thing is clear: the training never stops. For your training to be successful, it has to be an ongoing process.

The NBA Finals will be ending in a few weeks and the season will be over, but I can guarantee that the Warriors and Cavaliers won’t be resting until next season begins. They will be training, practicing, and keeping their focus intact so they will be ready for go-time. The training is never over and the success you achieve will only make your training stronger.