There has been an increasing trend in organizing soft skills or corporate training to infuse motivation, leadership qualities in order to make the teams work effectively. Many of the times, training with external support are held for 1-2 days that aims at instilling a lot of positive elements in the team members right away. Let's see why it is not very effective.
"Ever tried adding perfume to garbage? More the foul smell, more perfume is to be added to overcome the foul smell. The perfume might help cover the smell, but only for a few minutes. Sometimes, in spite of adding perfume, the resultant is still filthy. So, first cleaning the garbage to remove the filth and then adding perfume to it is effective."
The same analogy is applicable to corporate culture. If a company is filled with negativity, infusing positivity directly does not work. Many times, the employees attend the training with a closed mindset, which does not bring any change in their attitude, in spite of instilling positivity through training. Sometimes, the positivity is reflected only temporarily, but the effect subsides gradually with time and negativity prevails again. It is just like perfume dominating the garbage's foul smell for some time.
Further, due to limited time and being an external one, the trainers may not understand the team’s negativity. As a result, the points discussed in the training don’t address the prevailing negative elements in the team.
Hence, the management should come up with a comprehensive solution to organize a full-fledged training session. Such a team development or corporate training should include a series of events:
a) The company has to understand the core elements leading to the negativity. Also, people who are very negative needs to be observed.
b) Assess the need for external help. If external mentorship is required, make sure they are well aware of the negativity.
c) The company’s core team and the external mentors need to develop a blueprint of various training, addressing various negative elements.
d) The first set of training needs to focus on making everyone realize the negativity in the team. If required, one-to-one sessions need to be organized for a few candidates. A dialogue to understand their issues needs to be initiated. At the same time, the reasons for the negativity need to be well explained and the resultant effect of those issues on the team should be clarified. Overall, by the end of the training, the employees should have the mindset of overcoming these negatives, to make everyone’s life better.
e) Once everyone is aligned and comes to training with an open mind, the team members can be boosted with positivity. Providing suggestions and explaining the strategies for better teamwork and co-ordination lets everyone have the impetus to move in the right direction.
So, as a company, do not jump right away into organizing a short training session and expect wonders in the team. This only serves as a talking point in the townhalls, that we have been organizing training for the betterment of the team. Instead, be proactive, understand the core elements of the problem, and plan accordingly. In the end, if the team is positive, they will work with greater enthusiasm and synergy, bringing in more creativity and productivity ultimately leading the company’s revenues, better employee retention, and most importantly, propelling growth.
It is a win-win situation, for which companies should really give a thought to!
Take Away: You cannot make garbage pleasant by simply adding perfume. Instead, we need to clean it first and then add perfume. Same works in a team filled with negativity.