Meeting for Motivational Training

Every team benefits from having a meeting that focuses on leadership development for its training. This provides a motivational lift and increased engagement. These meetings will help employees hone their knowledge and skills while reigniting their passion for their work.

Don’t wait until morale is low to plan a motivational training—hold them regularly, so morale stays high. Consider holding them on a monthly basis to stay on top of training needs and keep employees inspired. By encouraging good habits and clarity about their work, motivational trainings will also help reduce stress. Successful trainings will keep your employees energized and on task, giving them a space to hone their knowledge of their job and feel appreciated as part of their team. To have a successful training, follow these five key steps.

1. Prep Work

   Well in advance, solicit team members’ ideas about how they need to strengthen their performance. You could solicit these ideas during one-on-one performance review meetings, or by simply having employees fill out notecards. Then select a speaker with experience training in your area of need. Share employees’ ideas with the presenter, as they’ll aid in developing the training plan. Ensure that the supervisor of the group communicates closely with the presenter as well.

2. Team-Specific Focus

   Don’t try to pack all employees at your company into one training session. A motivational training that also shares skills and knowledge needs to have a team-specific focus, so trainings should be held for individual work teams. As a bonus, a team-specific training helps employees forge stronger relationships with the people they work with most closely. The training should emphasize the team’s successes and strengths, highlighting recent ones so the team will feel capable and accomplished.

3. Interactive Format

   For your training to be motivational, it needs to be engaging. This means having an interactive format focused on team learning. When no one claims to have all the answers, everyone will feel empowered to seek innovative ways of doing things—and empowerment is an excellent motivation. The presenter should give discussion prompts, solicit input from all group members, and tactfully prompt more vocal members to give others space when needed. A strong presenter will stick to the training agenda while giving all members a chance to share their ideas, showing them that their voice is valued. Using one or two small-group or one-on-one exercises will make the format dynamic and encourage everyone to participate.

4. Leadership Training

   To make employees feel empowered and valued, and help them perform at their best, incorporating leadership training into these sessions is key. Leadership skills will benefit employees at all levels, while also showing them that you want them to advance in their careers. Helping them understand how others perceive them, and how to communicate in a way that garners respect and goodwill from others, are two crucial leadership skills all employees should develop. Finding hidden opportunities for increasing their responsibility is another leadership skill that will leave employees energized and ready for action.

5. Follow-Up

   When closing the training, a “go-around” exercise can be used to solicit employees’ thoughts on how the training has benefited them and how they still need to improve. During one-on-one check-ins with employees in the following weeks, managers should discuss any areas of confusion or difficulty with them. The next time the group is meeting for a motivational training, the team should discuss its progress. Tracking this progress as concretely as possible will help keep morale high.

Choosing a presenter who uses these training techniques will ensure a productive training that flows smoothly and leads to lasting results. Group dynamics will benefit as well, as employees get to know each other better and understand how they each process information and communicate best. Meeting regularly for motivational trainings will empower the group by making everyone feel deeply appreciated.