Confidence, happiness, and engagement all go together, and training can play a significant role in contributing to all of those. Building skills for employees to feel confident in performing their job, regardless of whether it is a specific task for an hourly worker or strategic training for a leader, contributes to their happiness and engagement. Training also ensures consistency across an organization and increases innovation and creativity.
As far back as I can remember, I have been providing training and living for the ‘aha’ look on someone’s face or watching them develop in an area and seeing their confidence grow. I remember being a junior camp counselor watching people afraid to go in the water who, by the end of camp, were swimming with confidence, enjoying the water with others, or rowing a canoe. Hours or days before they had never experienced nor did they know how to row!
Fast forward many years and I still thrive on that aha moment, typically in the corporate arena. Working with leaders through our facilitation training lets us see progression in confidence; from holding a wall for security to running productive meetings and dealing with difficult behavior. This is exciting to watch and causes a ripple effect in the organization. A leader’s confidence impacts the people they lead when followers witness new behaviors applied. Helping people at all levels understand their personality and others’ helps them interact more effectively. That in turn positively impacts each person’s confidence on an interaction by interaction basis.
In today’s world many people are either “essential” and dealing with all new situations or working at home with numerous new challenges. We are hearing on a regular basis that training is more critical than ever. Unfortunately, when budgets are tight or times are uncertain, training is the first place that organizations cut when it should be one of the last since it keeps employees happy, confident, and engaged. We could provide hundreds of testimonies highlighting this point. Here are just a couple:
“This helped me understand where I can improve with dealing with conflicts; so, this will help me be able to improve my contribution to the organization and communication going forward.” County Court employee following training recently
“Learning different tools for facilitation including storytelling, the right/best kinds of questions to ask, how to deal with difficult participants, how to handle tech issues and time issues without losing professionalism have all increased my confidence in facilitating an engaging course and knowing how to prepare smarter in the future. I also go into meetings with more energy knowing I can contribute more in a meaningful way.” EY employee who recently participated in two corporate training courses
Companies should prioritize training efforts to equip employees and leaders with necessary skills especially those that will help them remain grounded and confident in this “new normal”. For more information on how we can assist your organization, reach out to info@berkshiregroupinc.com or directly to Janet at 800-556-5549.
