Here’s a great post on training your team by Lily Kreitinger. Lily’s specializes in helping companies effectively train their team members. Follow Lily on LinkedIn. You can guest post as well! Read how to here.

In some organizations, people roll their eyes when they are scheduled to attend mandatory training and listen to a “consultant” read a bunch of slides. I think the technical term is “death by Power Point.” But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here’s an example. I was asked by the sales manager of a Fortune 500 company to design a training program for his sales supervisors. Their key performance areas were evaluated, and it was found that the supervisors had poor written and verbal communication skills and poor reading comprehension. After we identified the gaps and needs, we designed a two-year training program for them.

We started with a one-week retreat on leadership skills and followed it up with monthly sessions for the next 24 months. The results were amazing. We did not present it as a remediation class. We explained that they had been selected to participate in this program, so they could improve their skills. They didn’t feel reprimanded. They felt acknowledged.

Those in the program read high-school level books on history, culture and art.  Then, they had to present what they learned from their reading.  Overall, it was really fun. We didn’t expect them to improve their scores by 80%, but they did. We didn’t expect that they would be so excited about learning that they involved their families in their assignments. But they did.

They took it upon themselves to visit the historic sites mentioned in their books and talk to their kids about them. They took one-day trips with their families and had the whole family involved in creating posters for their presentation to the group. A new culture of leadership and learning was born.

When people feel acknowledged, they will respond with enthusiasm. If you’ve planned it well, you will see, like we did, team members comparing notes on their reading during their lunch hour. They may stay a little late at work to read one more chapter. And you can smile and feel proud of them.

Question: How do you plan your vision, budget, time, and resources for training?