5 Functions Of Communication: Strengthening Connection in the Philippines
Communication serves various important roles in everyday life, shaping human behavior, relationships, and professional careers. In the context of the Philippines, we can categorize communication into five functions: Control/Regulation, Social Interaction, Motivation, Emotional Expression, and Information Dissemination.
Here’s a concise breakdown of each function and examples I’ve seen as a corporate trainer and resource speaker.
1. Control/Regulation: Managing Behavior and Social Norms
Communication as a tool for control or regulation ensures that people’s behaviors are aligned with rules, specific laws, and norms, whether in formal settings like the workplace or informal ones like family and social gatherings.
Controlling communication shouldn’t be viewed as negative but rather as a pathway to managing certain behaviors that aren’t aligned with either individual or organizational goals.
One good example of using communication for control or regulation in the Philippines is frequently seen in public advisories and government regulations. For instance, during natural disasters like typhoons, the government issues warnings and evacuation orders through mass communication channels, ensuring public safety.
At home, elders use verbal and nonverbal communication to guide younger family members and instill values such as respect and obedience. Using “opo” in conversing with elders is one way to show respect and submission to them.
Business communication also helps establish rules, guidelines, and policies to maintain discipline and productivity. Training managers on communication during regular meetings, memos, and employee handbooks help ensure that everyone in the organization understands expectations and complies with standards.
Another way to use communication for control is through performance management. Managers, supervisors, and directors can check and monitor the performance of their direct reports and control it by recommending solutions or through coaching—asking questions to assist their team members with options and solutions.
At Rainmakers, we conduct various managerial and leadership training programs that focus on communication, team management, problem-solving, and decision-making.
2. Social Interaction: Building and Maintaining Relationships
The social interaction function fosters connections and relationships vital in personal and professional contexts. Effective communication enables individuals to establish rapport, share experiences, and maintain social ties.
In the Philippines, where family and community bonds are central, social interaction is deeply embedded in day-to-day communication. Fiestas, weddings, and other gatherings are typical venues for social interaction, where communication strengthens relationships. The value of “pakikisama” (getting along well with others) is practiced in workplaces and among friends, where open communication helps foster cooperation and teamwork.
The context of social interaction for Filipinos is also visible in the workplace. You’ve seen more traffic on the streets on Fridays, as Filipino workers used to spend more time with their colleagues (i.e., “Friday nights”).
Moreover, with the vast diaspora of Filipinos working abroad, social media platforms like Facebook are crucial for maintaining connections between OFWs and their families. This digital form of social interaction keeps relationships alive despite geographic distances.
Today, we have different digital platforms to communicate with our loved ones anywhere and anytime.
3. Motivation: Inspiring Action and Change
Motivational communication drives people to take action, achieve goals, or change behavior. This function is prominent in leadership, education, and marketing.
Politicians, religious leaders, and motivational speakers use communication to inspire action in the Philippines. Political campaigns, for example, rely heavily on persuasive speeches and advertisements to motivate voters to participate in elections. Similarly, teachers encourage students to work hard and pursue their dreams, often with words of encouragement that inspire effort and determination.
Businesses also use motivational communication to drive performance. Sales targets, performance incentives, and corporate goals are communicated effectively to inspire teams to meet objectives and exceed expectations.
Filipino leaders frequently appeal to the heart—“puso”—as part of their motivational strategy. In fact, we adhere to and respect leaders who are more humane than others (pagiging ‘Makawao’), as we want someone who can understand and empathize with our needs and challenges.
In our leadership training for managers and supervisors, we go deep into the root meaning of motivation - “movere”, which comes from both “move” and “motives.”
4. Emotional Expression: Sharing and Managing Emotions
Communication allows individuals to express their emotions and form deeper emotional connections with others. This function is essential in building empathy and understanding.
In Filipino culture, emotional expression is highly valued in personal relationships. The expression of “kilig” (romantic excitement), “hiya” (modesty), or “lambing” (affection) is common in both verbal and non-verbal communication. Whether through heartfelt conversations or simple gestures, communication serves as a medium for emotional expression.
Emotional communication is also essential in mental health advocacy, which has gained more attention in the Philippines. Encouraging open dialogue about emotions has become a key part of destigmatizing mental health concerns, providing individuals with a safe space to express their feelings.
Developing someone’s emotional intelligence is also crucial in the workplace, as leaders must know how to be sensitive to other people’s feelings. They can also enhance their inspirational skills further to push their direct reports to perform better and integrate their professional lives, which further translates to a healthy culture.
5. Information Dissemination: Sharing Knowledge and Facts
Information dissemination is critical for education, public awareness, and decision-making. Communication ensures that knowledge is effectively spread to large groups of people.
In the Philippines, the media—television, radio, and online platforms—plays a vital role in information dissemination. News programs, public service announcements, and government briefings provide essential information on health advisories, education programs, and national events.
For example, media outlets inform the public about candidates, platforms, and voting procedures during election periods.
Educational institutions are also key players in information dissemination. Teachers and trainers pass on knowledge and skills through structured communication, ensuring that students and employees acquire the information they need for personal and professional development.
I’ve seen government agencies actively searching for corporate training providers who can conduct proper digital public relations and communication training for their staff, particularly the ones handling their social media campaigns and offline public relations. These people must be equipped with the right tools to disseminate information with credibility and authenticity.
Conclusion
The five functions of communication—control/Regulation, Social Interaction, Motivation, Emotional Expression, and Information Dissemination—are essential in shaping behavior, building relationships, inspiring action, expressing emotions, and spreading knowledge.
In the Philippines, these functions are deeply ingrained in cultural practices and everyday life, reflecting the importance of effective communication in maintaining social harmony and progress. Understanding and applying these functions can enhance personal, professional, and societal communication, leading to better outcomes across various contexts.
What is Leadership To You?
Leadership, to me, is about change and movement.
That’s just me. Others have their definitions and points of view about leadership.
Leadership is often one of the most discussed topics, yet different schools of thought exist on what it is about.
Truthfully, the concept and definition of leadership are based on the author’s or person’s point of view, based on his experience, expertise, and observation of others' ways of leadership. In our leadership training, we teach different views and principles of leadership, which we will explore today.
What is Leadership To You?
Leadership is Influence
Dr. John Maxwell, one of the foremost authorities on leadership, once said, "Leadership is influence."
Maxwell’s assertion that “leadership is influence” is a foundation for understanding how leaders create change and movement. Influence is the ability to impact the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of others.
Influence isn’t about wielding the power of authority. Instead, it’s about earning trust, consulting others for insights, demonstrating integrity, and inspiring others to believe in your vision. They don’t display any manipulative actions such as power tripping.
Before you ask for a hand, you first touch the heart—another famous saying from the leadership guru Maxwell.
In his book Five Levels of Leadership, he created a framework for moving from a position-level of leadership to achieving a pinnacle-level of leadership, where a leader is followed by people because of who he is and what he represents.
More than a person’s level of competence and results he achieved for the organization, a great leader, based on Maxwell’s school of thought, is someone who has done great development for the people they lead
One of the classic examples of leaders who gained respect in his organization is Steve Jobs. Jobs didn’t just tell his team what to do; he inspired them to think differently and believe in the impossible. His influence was rooted in his passion, vision, and relentless pursuit of excellence.
Pro Tip: Build and strengthen relationships with direct reports so you can connect from the heart and inspire them to do their best work.
Leadership as Change
As I mentioned earlier, I believe leadership is about driving change. Great leaders recognize that the status quo is never enough; there’s always room for growth, improvement, and innovation.
They have a vision of what could be and work to transform it into reality. This vision-driven change isn’t about making arbitrary shifts; it’s about creating meaningful and sustainable progress.
Leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. epitomize change-driven leadership. They didn't just talk about what needed to change—they lived, breathed, and inspired others to do the same.
For instance, Mandela’s leadership was about dismantling apartheid, Gandhi’s leadership focused on independence through non-violence, and King’s leadership championed civil rights and equality.
They showed that authentic leadership isn’t about maintaining the status quo; it’s about challenging norms and inspiring others to envision a different, often better future.
Pro Tip: Inspire change in your teams by turning the vision into reality.
Leadership as Movement
Aside from reinforcing change, leadership is also about making a movement. It may sound like it’s only applicable to government and non-profit organizations, but creating and pursuing a movement also applies to leaders in the corporate world. The movement represents leaders' dynamic action to steer their teams, organizations, or communities toward a shared objective. It involves setting direction, making decisions, and taking steps that propel everyone forward.
Leaders create momentum by turning ideas into actionable steps. They set the vision and build the pathway to achieving it, ensuring everyone is moving in the same direction.
Leadership is a Journey
For many, leadership is a journey. It involves change, movement, influence, and the ability to serve others. It requires vision, emotional intelligence, integrity, and authenticity.
Consider Elon Musk's example. His leadership isn’t just about dreaming of electric cars or exploring Mars; it’s about mobilizing vast teams of people, resources, and technology to make these seemingly impossible goals a reality.
Musk creates movement, which turns his vision into a tangible, step-by-step journey. This illustrates that leadership is more than having ideas—it’s about generating the energy, enthusiasm, and coordinated action needed to turn those ideas into a reality.
Pro Tip: Love the process as much as you love creating results for your team and organization. By loving the process, you will grow and improve your competence and character as you lead your teams.
Leadership as Service
This may be the last on this list, but it is the most widely known concept of leadership.
Leadership is service. Servant leadership is meeting people's needs and helping them grow. Servant leaders prioritize their team members' well-being, development, and empowerment. They lead by example, demonstrating humility, empathy, and a genuine desire to help others succeed.
Leaders like Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi embodied servant leadership. Their leadership wasn’t about authority or personal gain but about uplifting others and positively impacting them. By putting the needs of others first, they built trust and inspired countless individuals to follow their lead.
Personal Leadership: Cultivating Integrity, Vision, and Self-Awareness
Personal leadership is not about holding a title or position over others—it's about leading by example, living out your values, and inspiring others through your actions.
It is leading people based on calling, character, and competence. Without these, leading oneself effectively, let alone influencing others, is impossible.
In our leadership training, we refer to personal leadership as the Modeling of Leadership. Teams can only perform at the highest level when leaders display the right behaviors, values, and work ethic they expect from others.
This guide will explore essential qualities of personal leadership and how you can embody them in your daily personal and professional lives.
Personal Leadership Qualities
1. Integrity
Integrity is the cornerstone of personal leadership. There are several schools of thought on integrity. Some teach that integrity simply means honesty. Others describe it as accountability. But integrity, based on its original context, refers to wholeness (from the term “integer”).
A person of integrity can gain the trust and respect of those around him or her as he or she aligns all actions with the wholeness of his or her character. Integrity refers to aligning words with actions. You must talk the talk and walk the walk.
Commit to your promises and be consistent with your actions. Increase the power of accountability in your leadership by owning the mistakes you’re accountable for and learning from them.
Strengthen integrity by always doing the right, even when difficult or inconvenient.
2. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand, manage, and navigate one's own emotions and those of others. It is one of the essential qualities for personal leadership, given that it fosters empathy, effective communication, and the ability to handle stress and challenges gracefully under pressure.
Start developing emotional intelligence by recognizing your emotions and how they affect your behavior. Being self-aware of your current triggers for emotional stress can help you reduce the chances of negatively affecting your team members when you speak.
Control impulsive feelings and behaviors by regulating yourself. Assess your emotional health every week to see specific areas for improvement.
Empathize with your direct reports as they face and overcome life challenges. Be an active listener as they share their struggles, even in their personal life, as you’d better understand where they’re coming from.
Create a healthy support group where others can help you grow and give you the opportunity to serve others. This will help you see blindspots you can change or improve and gain feedback and insights from others who know you well.
Develop a stress management coping mechanism by balancing demands and abilities. If possible, decrease demand. If not, increase your abilities to handle the needs of your life—this includes task management, problem-solving and decision-making, planning, and communication.
3. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking and strategic thinking are two essential skills of modern-day leadership. The first type of thinking involves analyzing situations, learning to filter insights and information based on your current context, and making informed decisions.
Involve yourself in strategic planning sessions to get a bigger picture of your organization (not only your teams). During this session, you can ask questions related to your leadership and brainstorm ideas to propel your team training to high performance.
Reflect on different perspectives by leveraging diversity and inclusion in your teams. Before making decisions, ask your direct reports for their insights, especially if you are leading direct reports.
Analyze the consequences of your actions, but be firm when making decisions. No one wants to follow an indecisive leader.
4. Resourcefulness
Resourcefulness is the ability to maximize current resources (time, attention, energy, talent) to the fullest so that one can achieve one's individual or organizational goals.
Personal leadership is being solution-oriented and knowing how to find innovative ways to navigate them.
Cultivate a mindset of possibility within your team. Let their suggestions become a reality (consultative leadership) by trying things out—particularly the ones with valid reasons and supported by data.
Be willing to adapt and change your approach when faced with setbacks. Flexibility aligned with resourcefulness could help your teams achieve greater performance and new heights not previously possible.
5. Values and Ethics
Values and ethics serve as your internal compass, guiding your decisions and actions. A strong sense of personal values helps you remain true to yourself and focus on what matters most.
Ethical leaders are not swayed by external pressures or short-term gains but are guided by principles that align with their beliefs.
Identify your core values. You can invest in a values and mission workshop from a reputable corporate training provider to help you identify your core values.
When you lead with a strong ethical foundation, you create a positive impact on those around you and foster an environment of trust and mutual respect.
6. Vision
A clear vision gives you a sense of direction and purpose. Personal leadership requires a solid vision to lead your team in the right direction of performance and character-building.
Vision casting is about setting goals, developing a plan, and staying committed to your journey, even when the path becomes difficult. Commitment to the goals despite the daily challenges is what makes vision enable good leaders to perform.
Vision also inspires others to work towards a common goal. Without a vision, people don’t feel the passion for the team, cast off restraint, leading to confusion, poor performance, and lack of growth.
7. Self-Awareness
Self-awareness also strengthens personal leadership. Self-aware leaders are more in tune with their thoughts and behaviors, allowing them to make conscious decisions that align with their values.
Here are some pro tips to increase self-awareness:
- Let others speak to your career and life. Surround yourself with growing and trusted people. Allow others to suggest, advise, and give you feedback you need to improve your work.
- Reflect on your professional journey (intrapersonal communication) by setting time to meditate once a day. Write down things you’re grateful for as a leader and things you want to accomplish for the day. By setting things right at the start of the day, you’ll have a strong start, giving you inspiration and energy to accomplish great things for your team.
The Role of Personal Leadership in Daily Life
Personal leadership extends beyond the workplace. It’s about leading yourself in all aspects of life, whether interacting with family, friends, or colleagues. Here’s how you can incorporate personal leadership into your daily routine:
- Lead by example: Be a role model in your actions, whether maintaining a positive attitude, demonstrating empathy, or showing perseverance in difficult times. Develop your character at home to live out the correct values when working.
- Set personal goals: Take time to identify areas for growth and create actionable plans to achieve them. Define specific goals, and let your habits and actions take you where you want to go.
- Cultivate healthy habits: Practice self-discipline in time management, self-care, and continuous learning. Habits with consistent discipline bring you to the success you dream of as a leader. In every spotlight of success, there is a process, and that includes cultivating leadership habits.
Personal leadership involves taking responsibility for your life, actions, and choices. How you see challenges and own them will affect your performance as a leader.
Leadership is a journey that requires dedication, self-reflection, and a commitment to personal growth. By embodying qualities such as integrity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, resourcefulness, values and ethics, vision, and self-awareness, you become a leader who influences others and inspires them to reach their full potential.
As I always say in my leadership training, “Leadership starts with you, but never about you.” It’s the way you show up, the example you set, and the values you live by daily. By mastering these qualities, you can lead yourself more effectively and positively impact the lives of those around you.
Strategic Thinking and Intuitive Thinking
Strategic thinking and intuitive thinking are two essential cognitive skills any leader must possess and master in problem-solving, decision-making, and leadership.
While they operate on opposite ends of the spectrum, understanding them to leverage their strengths can lead to better outcomes in your professional line of work.
In this guide, we’ll explore the differences between strategic thinking and intuitive thinking, the factors that shape them, and actionable tips to improve both. Let’s begin.
The Difference Between Strategic Thinking and Intuitive Thinking
Strategic thinking is a structured and systematic approach to analyzing complex situations, considering long-term goals, and planning the most effective path to achieve them.
Conversely, intuitive thinking is an instinctive, gut-felling approach to decision-making. It is spontaneous and relies on experience, emotions, and immediate recognition of patterns without extensive analysis.
Two famous experts describe strategic thinking and intuitive thinking. Dr. Jeanne Liedtka, a University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business professor, describes strategic thinking as discovering key insights that shape your future choices and actions.
In his book Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, describes intuitive thinking as "fast thinking” that is automatic and effortless.
Key Characteristics of Strategic Thinking:
- Analytical and methodical
- Involves careful planning and forecasting
- Focuses on long-term goals
- Considers risks, opportunities, and external factors
Key Characteristics of Intuitive Thinking:
- Spontaneous and quick
- Relies on experience and past patterns
- Emotion-driven
- Lacks formal analysis
Factors That Shape Strategic and Intuitive Thinking
Many factors shape one’s strategic and intuitive thinking. Over time, these skills are developed as people mature and their environment nurtures them. A few vital factors that influence both of these thinking models include:
A. Experience and Expertise
Experience is one of the most significant factors shaping intuitive thinking. On the other hand, exposure shapes strategic thinking when exposed to complex problem-solving situations and deliberate practice.
As a trainer and speaker, I’ve seen this happen in my career. The more I step into the next level of challenges, training new groups of professionals, the more it develops my strategic thinking. Seeing through the lens of their needs and challenges, aligning it with the programs I was tasked to deliver.
Exposure to different levels of environment, audiences, and challenges is necessary to practice our strategic thinking skills more.
For leaders and managers like me, strategic thinking gets its honing phase when we make decisions for the team. As teams become more complex as they go through the different levels of team development—which I shared in my team training guide—you’ll find yourself applying strategic thinking skills in handling teams at their different stages—managing conflicts to allocating resources to increase work performance.
B. Cognitive Style
Cognitive style refers to an individual’s preferred way of processing information. People with an analytical cognitive style tend to favor strategic thinking, while those with a holistic cognitive style are more inclined to use intuitive thinking.
C. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Emotional intelligence plays a critical role in both strategic and intuitive thinking. People with high EQ are better at sensing emotions, which helps improve their intuitive thinking. Conversely, emotional intelligence aids strategic thinking by allowing individuals to assess situations objectively and control impulsive reactions.
I’ve seen leaders with high EQ who realistically assess situations not based on how they feel but on what they think is right. Emotional intelligence translates to better decision-making and problem-solving skills based on facts and data, not just gut feelings.
D. Environment and Context
Based on context, the environment can dictate which thinking style is more effective. High-pressure situations with limited time for analysis often favor intuitive thinking, while complex scenarios requiring a detailed plan benefit from strategic thinking.
I observed this during our corporate training sessions: the moment we change the vibe or environment style of the training, it enables them to change their thinking style, which translates to better behavior and skill enhancement.
How to Improve Strategic Thinking and Intuitive Thinking
Given that strategic thinking and intuition are critical cognitive skills that require deliberate practice, self-awareness, and proper utilization of the right tools. Here’s how to improve both skills:
1. Engage in Long-Term Planning Exercises
Be involved in as many strategic thinking or planning exercises as possible. Whether you’re an employee participating in a strategic planning exercise for managers and directors or running your own business strategies and scenario analysis, all these exercises can help strengthen your ability to think systematically.
2. Practice Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the foundation of strategic thinking. Consider different root cause analysis tools, such as “5 Whys” techniques, “RCA,” “Fishbone Diagram,” and 5Ms of Management frameworks—all these have their own advantages that can help you get to the root cause of the problem.
3. Use Strategic Frameworks
If you’re engaging heavily in strategic planning, strategic management, and critical thinking exercises to find opportunities, both internal and external, in your organization, familiarize yourself with strategic frameworks. These include SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), PESTLE Analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental), or the Balanced Scorecard to guide your strategic thinking.
Utilizing strategic frameworks is best because it helps you improve your strategic thinking skills, along with other colleagues, during thinking exercises.
4. Seek Diverse Perspectives
Strategic thinkers broaden their viewpoints by engaging with people from different industries, contexts, cultures, or backgrounds. This kind of exposure to diverse perspectives provides fresh insights and helps anticipate challenges from various angles.
There are many trainings that help teams instill collaboration and diversity. Here in the Philippines, we have diversity and inclusion training and team collaboration training, both of which include exercises on gaining diverse perspectives from others.
5. Reflect on Past Experiences
Reflect regularly on your past decisions and experiences to identify patterns, construct new lessons, and develop yourself both personally and professionally. This habit strengthens your ability to draw on intuition when faced with similar situations in the future.
6. Trust Your Gut Feelings
Intuition is often underrated by many. While it’s true that you cannot base all your decisions on gut feelings alone. If the situation has low-risk and isn’t major enough that it will dictate the trajectory in one area of your life, it is best to refine your intuitive thinking based on intuition. You’ll then find yourself improving your confidence in your instincts.
7. Develop Mindfulness Practices
Another way to get the most out of your thinking exercises is through mindfulness meditation. It can enhance intuitive thinking by improving awareness of thoughts and emotions.
A study published in Psychological Science found that mindfulness practices increase the ability to recognize intuitive insights.
8. Embrace New Experiences
Expose yourself to new situations and challenges to increase the range, depth, and width of your experiences stored in your memory. This diversity provides more reference points that can help you make better decisions in the future.
Balancing Strategic and Intuitive Thinking
While strategic and intuitive thinking have distinct differences, they are not mutually exclusive.
The most influential decision-makers leverage both skills, depending on the situation. A Harvard Business Review study suggests that blending strategic and intuitive thinking leads to better outcomes, especially in dynamic environments.
Cultivate the right balance between strategic and intuitive thinking to ensure a well-rounded approach, which will allow you to navigate challenges confidently and clearly.
Benefits of Strategic Management
In today’s VUCA and BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear, and Incomprehensible) environments, strategic management has emerged as a critical skill and function for organizations striving for long-term success.
Founded on the five management functions (and the five Ms of management), strategic management hinges on a systematic approach to planning, decision-making, resource allocation, and the ability of every team and business to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities focused on their core vision.
All of these are critical to sustaining the growth of any organization.
In this guide, we will explore the key benefits of strategic management and my own takeaway as CEO of three companies: an SEO agency, a coffee shop franchising company, and a corporate training company.
The benefits of strategic management are broadly categorized into financial and non-financial, both of which are indispensable for sustaining a company’s success.
1. Financial Benefits of Strategic Management
A. Improved Profitability and Revenue Growth
One of the primary financial benefits of strategic management is its positive impact on profitability. Companies with well-defined strategic plans are better equipped to identify and capitalize on revenue-generating opportunities.
Directors and managers ensure that they pinpoint necessary opportunities (becoming purposeful and opportunistic) as part of their directing in management. This proactive approach to market trends and consumer demands leads to consistent revenue growth, mainly when proper execution occurs.
One study published in the Strategic Management Journal found that companies engaged in strategic planning experienced a 12% higher profitability than those that didn’t.
Strategic management helps businesses set financial goals, monitor performance, and execute against those goals while implementing corrective measures, if necessary, when deviations occur—all these ensure sustained profitability.
Apple Inc. has consistently used strategic management to innovate and enter new markets, now driving higher profitability year over year. They maintained high net income growth from $48 billion in 2018 to over $55 billion in 2020.
B. Efficient Resource Allocation
Strategic management allows organizations to optimize resources by identifying the most profitable ventures and prioritizing investments accordingly. In leadership training, we teach that we must utilize and maximize five resources daily. Failure to do so will result in disorder and inefficiency.
These five resources include:
- Treasure (Money)
- Attention
- Energy
- Time
- Talent
Efficient resource allocation helps minimize waste and ensures that capital, human talent, and all allocated resources toward initiatives can achieve the highest potential for returns.
According to a report by McKinsey & Company, firms that implemented strategic management practices achieved a 25% increase in resource productivity, leading to significant cost savings and improved financial performance.
It is through leaders starting to see things from a top-down perspective —we call this “big-picture thinking” or “strategic thinking”—that the team must focus on, whether it is a high-return project or daily task. Companies must avoid unnecessary expenditures to free up resources for other critical business areas.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) strategically focuses on high-growth categories like beauty and personal care, allowing it to allocate resources more effectively. It has focused on a market where it knows it can, which has resulted in improving its operating margins and steady financial growth, as reported in its annual financial statements.
C. Enhanced Risk Management
Strategic management involves identifying potential risks and developing plans to mitigate them. This proactive approach helps businesses avoid costly financial setbacks and ensures that they can withstand market fluctuations. According to a PwC survey, 73% of CEOs actively engaged in strategic risk management reported fewer financial losses than those who did not.
Risk management constitutes solid training for mid-line managers and directors. It is a critical skill in today’s rapidly changing market, as each organization and individual faces different types of risks in leading their teams.
For instance, we managed to take calculated risks when we opened our coffee shop in Bulacan and our franchise in Lower Bicutan. Given the product-market fit, we saw every pattern and readability in operations to ensure it would catch a good market share once we launched our products.
Another example is companies like Zoom, which, with strategic risk management plans in place, were able to quickly adapt to the surge in demand for virtual communication tools. As a result, Zoom’s revenue increased by over 300% in 2020, demonstrating how strategic planning can lead to significant financial gains even during uncertain times.
D. Improved Financial Planning and Budgeting
Strategic management enables businesses to create more accurate financial projections and budgets by aligning them with long-term goals. This alignment ensures that economic resources are allocated to support strategic objectives, leading to better financial outcomes.
A recent study by Deloitte revealed that organizations with strategic management frameworks experienced a 15% increase in financial planning accuracy, leading to more efficient budgeting and cost control.
Financial planning is directly related to strategic goals. Businesses can avoid overspending by focusing on critical projects that require significant available funds.
2. Non-Financial Benefits
Beyond monetary gains, strategic management offers a plethora of non-financial advantages that any leader can overlook without thinking. These benefits contribute to the organization’s overall success, sustainability, and competitiveness.
A. Clear Organizational Direction and Vision
Having a clear sense of direction and vision is part of the directing stage of the PLOC framework in management, which determines the destination of any organization. Strengthening strategic management initiatives ensures that all stakeholders understand the organization’s goals and the action steps needed to achieve them.
According to research conducted by Bain & Company, 90% of high-performing organizations attribute their success to having a clear strategic vision that guides their specific actions and decisions. This sense of purpose assists them in aligning efforts and ensures that every department and employee works toward the same goals.
For instance, Tesla, Inc. has a clear vision to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” This strategic focus enables them to develop more products and marketing strategies while inspiring employees and stakeholders to contribute to the same vision within the electric vehicle market.
We covered how to create vision statements in our Visioneering module in our team training and management training programs.
B. Improved Decision-Making
Strategic management provides a structured framework for decision-making by analyzing internal and external factors that impact the business. This systematic approach ensures that decisions are made based on data, market trends, organizational changes, and capabilities, reducing the risks of costly mistakes.
A study conducted by Harvard Business Review found that organizations with strategic management processes are 60% more likely to make decisions that lead to positive outcomes. Different strategic management initiatives, such as data analytics, scenario planning, and forecasting, can further result in informed and effective choices.
Johnson & Johnson, a global leader in healthcare, employs strategic management to make informed decisions regarding product development and market expansion. They use data-driven insights to launch new products that align with market demands.
C. Adaptability and Resilience
Without adaptability, you can’t contribute to your organization's success. Strategic management equips organizations with the tools to anticipate changes and respond to any market disruption so they can adjust their strategies accordingly.
A report by the Boston Consulting Group found that organizations with robust strategic management practices are 50% more likely to adapt to market changes, ensuring long-term sustainability.
Netflix is a prime example of adaptability through strategic management. Initially a DVD rental service, Netflix anticipated the shift toward digital streaming and strategically pivoted its business model. This adaptability approach has positioned Netflix as a market leader in the streaming industry, with over 200 million subscribers worldwide.
D. Enhanced Employee Engagement and Motivation
Involving employees in the strategic planning process fosters a sense of ownership and commitment, leading to increased engagement and productivity. Employees who understand their role in achieving the organization's goals are more likely to be motivated and perform at their best.
A Gallup study found that organizations with high employee engagement experience 21% higher productivity and 22% greater profitability than those with low engagement. Strategic management helps create a culture where employees feel valued and connected to the company's mission, which in turn drives better performance.
Example: Google employs strategic management practices that encourage employee involvement in decision-making, leading to high levels of engagement and innovation. This approach has contributed to Google’s reputation as one of the best places to work while driving its success as a global tech giant.
E. Strengthened Organizational Culture and Values
Strategic management helps to establish a strong organizational culture by aligning the company’s values, beliefs, and behaviors with its strategic objectives. A strong culture fosters unity, collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose, vital for achieving long-term success.
Research from the Journal of Organizational Behavior indicates that companies with a well-defined culture aligned with their strategy outperform their competitors by up to 30%.
One of the best examples is Southwest Airlines' strategic management approach, which emphasizes employee empowerment and customer service. This culture has led to high employee satisfaction, low turnover rates, and a loyal customer base, making it one of the most profitable airlines in the industry.
Incorporating strategic management is not just an option but necessary for organizations aiming to thrive in today's dynamic and competitive business landscape.
Directing in Management: Key Elements and Importance for Success
Directing falls under the leading component of the PLOC framework of management. In this management function, a manager or supervisor is focused on guiding, inspiring, and leading employees towards achieving both their individual goals and organizational goals.
Directing bridges the planning and execution phases. It ensures that all strategies are transformed into concrete actions through continuous guidance, feedback, and combined efforts in motivation and inspiration.
The lack of it as a component in managing processes will lead to plans remaining flat on paper and needing fulfillment in results.
Importance of Directing
Directing is essential for several reasons, including:
Implements The Vision
Directing provides more concrete steps to the vision. When the founders and/or management team have set the organization's vision and mission, directing helps break down plans into manageable actions. Vision, therefore, becomes a reality for the organization.
Enhances Motivation and Morale
When team morale is high, it inspires employees to achieve peak performance in their work, increasing productivity and organizational growth. Conversely, when team morale is low, the drive to perform at its best is not visible.
Through their directing functions, managers establish clear communication channels by increasing the frequency of communication and ensuring that information flows freely between different levels of the organization.
Ensures Coordination
Directing brings together the efforts of all employees, aligning their individual objections with the company’s overall goals. This type of alignment ensures a smooth transition and operations for projects to be completed by teams.
Key Elements in Directing
Directing may seem like a sole component, but it has various parts underneath. Let’s review some of the key elements of directing.
Supervision
Supervisors are called such because they are responsible for maintaining accountability. This involves closely monitoring employee performance and guiding them through their tasks.
Adequate supervision enables employees to remain on track and align their current actions with the organizational goals.
Supervisors must provide clarity and support to ensure tasks are understood, well-planned, and executed correctly. Feedback giving becomes an essential element for team training, as it helps employees improve their individual
Supervision also covers accountability, as it maintains oversight by giving leaders a bigger picture of what’s happening on their teams. Leaders must know how to foster a disciplined yet healthy work environment that addresses pressing issues and challenges their subordinates face.
Identifying areas where employees need to grow is part of the core of supervision. Leaders here become mentors as they help their direct reports meet their daily job demands. Continuous use of appropriate learning and intervention, such as corporate training programs and leadership development, unleashes the mentorship potential of managers and supervisors.
All these we teach in our basic supervisory training.
Motivation
Motivation is pivotal in driving employee performance and aligning with management's direction. Motivating one of the five pillars of management (5 M’s of Management)—manpower—lays the foundation for sound business operations.
People aren’t just the best assets - they are the inputs for every other Ms of management - money, machines, materials, and methods, putting all these together in
Motivation involves looking at both intrinsic and extrinsic “motivators” of people in giving their best efforts for the company. Here are the top science-based motivational techniques:
- Recognitions and rewards - whether through monetary incentives or verbal acknowledgment of efforts, can significantly boost morale and productivity.
- Determining One’s Personality Styles - in our DISC personality training, we let our participants assess themselves based on the four unique personalities: Dominant, Influential, Steady, and Corrective. All these have significant strengths and weaknesses that every professional manifests at work. Knowing the personality styles of your direct reports can help you motivate them based on what makes them tick.
- Creating a Positive Work Environment—This may involve promoting psychological safety among your teams, where you empower others to share their pressing concerns, ideas, and challenges so you can address them as a leader. A consultative leader who asks questions is more likely to become proactive in solving problems within their scope of influence.
- Aligning Personal Goals with Organizational Goals—Employees become effective when they clearly see a connection between work and their personal aspirations. As more organizations are leading towards holistic growth for their employees, tapping this motivator or alignment of work with their personal life elevates their performance and how they bring value to the organization.
- Leadership
The leadership component within directing is about influencing, guiding, and inspiring employees to achieve organizational objectives. It may be similar to motivation, but it deals with influencing others through various methods.
In our leadership training, we teach the three Hs of Leadership: Heart, Hand, and Head. Every manager or supervisor must develop and grow in these three areas of leadership. They must grow in their head—intellect, knowledge, and know-how of their people. They should acquire skills (“Hands”) and master them as they lead their people. Lastly, they must lead from the Heart—integrity.
All these encompass a strong, characterized, competent leader any direct report would want to follow their ways.
Here are more useful resources I’ve written in the past to help you grow in leadership:
- How to Be a Passionate Leader
- How to Be a Good Leader
- Leadership in Virtual Teams
- Leadership and Employee Engagement
To dig deeper, let me share with you actionable tips to grow in your leadership based on my over a decade of experience leading people and organizations:
- Know your vision. Vision brings you into places you never thought possible as you take action to make it a reality. Communicate this vision to your teams so you can achieve objectives.
- Adjust your leadership style based on your people’s motivation and behaviors.
- Recognize your emotions and develop your emotional intelligence. Increase awareness of your feelings and emotions, as well as be sensitive to others’ emotions—all these will guide you in interactions.
Communication
Effective communication is central to directing. Every workday, you communicate messages and tasks to your colleagues and direct reports, so developing strong communication skills ensures you’re bringing your team to the vision.
Here are some useful tips to improve communication:
- Be true to yourself to enhance intrapersonal communication. Authenticity unleashes the power and truth in yourself, helping build more trust with your team members.
- Communicate clearly and transparently. Clear communication helps prevent misunderstandings and ensures your direct reports know precisely what is expected.
- Foster an environment where employees feel comfortable providing feedback and concerns, as I mentioned earlier about psychological safety.
- Be consistent in your messaging. This will help align your team members' efforts toward one goal: expecting the ideal output.
- Increase the frequency of meetings and one-on-one sessions with your direct reports, especially for virtual teams, as you need to emphasize as a leader the key messages and goals of the company.
Coordination
Coordination refers to aligning and integrating the efforts of individuals and departments to achieve common organizational goals. This is where the need to allocate resources effectively for smoother operations.
Here are some valuable tips to better coordinate with your team members:
- Avoid redundancies in processes. Determine minor details that overlap in tasks and roles so you can ensure resources are used efficiently and promptly.
- Integrate the efforts of different departments by conducting regular, sequential meetings to align all action plans set during strategic planning and goal-setting activities.
- Facilitate smooth interactions and transitions when changes are happening in the organization.
- Learn to manage change internally from top management down to frontline employees. See every possible result of change and communicate them across your teams.
The Essential Role of Directing in Organizational Success
Directing is a core management function that bridges the gap between planning and execution.
By integrating supervision, leadership, motivation, communication, and coordination, managers and supervisors can ensure that organizational goals are translated into vacation plans.
If you want to conduct training programs in your organization on management, succession planning, business development, communication, and culture building, contact us, and we’ll schedule a training needs analysis session with your learning and development team.
Advanced Presentation Skills: Master Techniques to Captivate and Influence
As a trainer and speaker, I’ve seen the importance of developing advanced presentation skills for leaders and those starting their careers. Whether you’re pitching a potential investor, conducting a meeting with your team, or publicly speaking at a conference, mastering the basics and being aware of the nitty-gritty details of a high-impact presentation is an essential skill anyone can undoubtedly benefit from.
This guide will examine strategies and techniques for improving your presentation skills. I will also share my takeaways as a professional speaker and corporate trainer.
1. Understand Your Audience
One of the fundamental aspects of any presentation is understanding your audience. You can craft a talk that addresses their current challenges and context by determining their needs, wants, and expectations. Thus, it helps them see themselves better if it’s an inspirational presentation or if they are participants in a specific competence training session.
If it is a training or speaking session, conduct a training needs analysis with the organizer and HR representative so you can ask relevant questions to better understand their audience. In a much more comprehensive manner, trainers conduct focus group discussions with a few of the participants to directly gain insights into their current experiences and expectations.
By getting answers to those questions, you can customize your message to better resonate with your audience, making it more relevant and impactful.
It is also best to understand the context of the organization, the company's context within the industry, and how your topic should be discussed in the event—all these can help you speak on point when delivering your presentation.
2. Structure Your Presentation for Maximum Impact
A well-structured presentation is important in capturing and maintaining your audience’s attention, allowing them to experience your message's journey.
In my presentation skills training, I shared a three-step process for structuring a presentation:
- Launch (Introduction)
- Fly (Body of Content)
- Land (Closing)
Let’s have a quick look at each part.
During the Launch stage of the presentation, you start with a solid opening to grab your audience's attention. There is a First 30 to 60-second rule in public speaking that you have to maximize in opening an impactful speech.
During the first 30 seconds, you could use a relevant quote, ask questions, and let your participants engage with each other (left-hand and right-hand tap - like what I do during my training and talks).
The goal is to set the stage for your presentation and provide a good impression at the start of your talk. Remember that at the beginning, your audience will decide whether to listen, trust, and like you based on your opening lines. So, if you’re delivering a perfect punch, you will likely get remembered and maintain their attention throughout your presentation.
At the Fly stage, you present your key points, solutions, or simply the content itself. This is where you tackle the three most important points of your talk—we call them the Big Three.
Simplify your talk by only covering three essential points, then direct towards the finer details from each main point. This way, you can summarize it by discussing those three main points at the end of your speech.
Lastly, the Land stage is where you conclude your presentation. Here, you summarize your key points and end with a strong punch—or closing statement. It could be a challenge they have to do or apply from your talk, a call to action, a powerful quote, or a forward-looking statement that can leave an impactful and lasting impression.
3. Master Non-Verbal Communication
Nonverbal communication, including body language, eye contact, and gestures, plays a significant role in conveying your message and increasing the perceived value of your presentation.
Start mastering nonverbal communication by making eye contact with different participants in your audience. If you speak to a crowd of 50 people for one hour, you can aim to see them once eye-to-eye for at least the duration of your speech.
Use purposeful gestures to emphasize key points. Be careful not to be overly conscious of your hand gestures. Avoid nervous gestures that can distract your audience from your message.
Stand confidently, hands-free, and do not look back or sideways. Smile. Smiling can help remove barriers to your connection with your audience and promote a welcoming experience. You can also utilize a serious expression when emphasizing essential points.
4. Use Visual Aids Effectively
Visual aids can enhance your presence, making it more engaging and appealing to the senses of your participants.
One of the best ways to add effective visuals is to keep your slides simple and uncluttered. Avoid too much text and use bullet points and images more often to highlight data, key points, and information. Instead of overcrowding slides with text, visuals can reinforce points that can hook your audience's attention even more.
Utilize animations and transitions sparingly. These can enhance the flow of your presentation, not distract from it.
I use visual aids in my corporate training programs to remind me of my next point and message. I simply place my laptop in front of me so I do not need to turn back to see my screen and make unnecessary moves that would only distract my audience.
5. Leverage Storytelling For Emotional Engagement
Storytelling is one of the most potent ways to connect with your audience. Facts tell, but stories sell. Stories can make complex concepts relatable and memorable.
When incorporating stories into your presentation, be authentic. Share only personal experiences and anecdotes relevant to your topic. Authenticity in storytelling helps build trust and rapport with your audience.
I usually start my presentation with a story. This is my way of capturing my audience's attention and allowing me to connect the context of my topic with my personal experiences.
Always connect your stories to your message. A well-told story can illuminate the main points and make the message even more practical and relatable.
6. Handle Questions and Challenges Effectively
You must face challenges in every speaking or training session to better engage your audience.
The key to handling all these obstacles is the power of preparation. Prepare yourself by practicing your speech and internalizing the message and its impact on your audience. This will also allow you to anticipate the types of questions and even objections your audience might have and prepare your responses in advance.
Remain calm and composed when answering questions. Take a moment to think before responding. If the question seems unclear, clarify it. This ensures you address their concern accurately.
In some rare cases when you don’t know the answer, admit it or say, “I’ll get back to you on this one”. Be respectful and genuine, as you don’t have to answer everything's scope outside your subject of expertise.
7. Work Hard on the Preparation
Even the most seasoned presenters practice extensively. It is what makes their presentations successful and captivating, as preparation builds your self-confidence and improves your delivery.
One of the best ways to practice is to get feedback from a trusted colleague or mentor. Through constructive feedback, you’ll be able to see your flaws and areas for improvement so you can deliver the presentation better next time.
8. Use the Power of Pausing
Pauses are powerful tools in presentations. They give your audience time to absorb information, emphasize key points, and make you appear more confident.
Utilize pauses strategically before delivering a critical point. You can pause after asking rhetorical questions to allow your audience to reflect and engage with you and your content.
Deliver Your Best Presentation Every Time
Mastering advanced presentation skills isn’t just about what you say but how you say it.
By understanding your audience, structuring your presentation effectively, utilizing visual aids wisely, and practicing diligently, you’ll transform your presentation from mediocre to a successful session your audience would love to engage with. This can eventually translate to more sales, more income, and expanded influence on you as a professional.
The strategies mentioned above have been proven to work for both newbie and seasoned speakers and trainers, both locally (Philippines) and internationally.
Team Training - Comprehensive Guide to Improving Team Performance and Collaboration
Team training is a structured learning approach that aims to improve team performance and collaboration within an organization. It helps enhance communication, trust, and coordination among team participants, leading to higher productivity and better outcomes.
Differences Between Team Training and Team Building
In the local learning and development scene in the Philippines, team training is often intertwined with team building, as both require team participation.
The primary focus of team training is to enhance the specific skills and competencies of team members, particularly team leaders (managers, supervisors, directors, etc.), so that they can perform their jobs effectively in handling their teams, addressing conflicts and issues, and assessing team dynamics day to day.
Conversely, team building helps to strengthen relationships, trust, and collaboration among team members using various activities and methodologies.
Team training enhances competencies, while the latter promotes healthy relationships.
Another way to look at the differences between team training and team building is the content and methodology.
Team training content is usually specific to the job or industry, including technical skills, soft skills, or process improvements, but it is more often contextualized in team settings. It is often structured with a clear outline, objectives, and assessments similar to corporate training programs.
Conversely, team-building activities are less structured, sometimes informal, and experiential in nature. They focus on interpersonal dynamics and are often interactive and fun, designed to engage participants in a way that fosters collaboration.
Why Team Training is Important For Team Dynamics?
Teams face different challenges, whether they’re newly built or flexible enough to exchange members with other teams. The truth is that, more often than not, our fast-pacing environment and technology could affect every team's dynamics.
As such, team training is needed to enhance communication and collaboration. It helps address any issues and conflicts within the team, which is essential for the culture building process.
Team training also develops team cohesion and trust. Given that trust is the glue that binds team members, understanding what makes a high-performing, high-relationships core team can foster a more supportive work environment.
Another upside of team training is that it boosts productivity and efficiency. It aids in equipping team members with the right skills to work more effectively together (not just produce individual output). As team members learn team dynamics and the right delegation and management, they’ll also reduce redundancy and enhance workflow.
Types of Team Training
Different types of team training exist, such as in-house learning and development, or a corporate trainer can help the company or client grow their people. Let me give you the most-applied types of training:
Skill-Based Training
This type of team training focuses on enhancing specific skills necessary for every team member to perform their roles effectively. For instance, technical skills training that help employees master the use of new tools and technological platforms, while leadership could be leadership training to help them prepare team members for management roles.
Soft Skills Training
Soft skills, such as personality development, communication, problem-solving, and presentation skills, are essential for effective teamwork. These soft skills training programs help team members enhance their skills and master specific competencies, leading to better collaboration and conflict resolution.
Cross-Training
Cross-training involves teaching team members to be flexible and adaptive to the ever-changing internal changes of the organization, as it typically happens for companies with multiple projects and juggling client management. Everyone must know how to perform their roles effectively from one team to the next. This doesn’t just help them be more flexible as individuals but helps team members understand each other’s responsibilities - creating a more cohesive team.
Team-Alignment Exercises
Team alignment exercises are designed to strengthen relationships and align everyone to the team's or the entire organization's vision, mission, and goals. These exercises range from simple icebreakers to more complex mental or physical challenges requiring teamwork and collaboration.
The 5 Dynamics of Team Development
The five dynamics of team development were pioneered by a renowned psychologist, Bruce Tuckman, in 1965. Tuckman’s model includes Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. It is a comprehensive framework to help trainers and learning and development practitioners understand the dynamics of team development.
Each stage represents a different level of team maturity, collaboration, and productivity.
Forming
The forming stage is the initial phase of team development, where members come together and get acquainted. During this stage, individuals are more often than not cautious as they’re still trying to build harmony with others, trying to understand their roles and their team’s objectives and goals, and assessing themselves and how they can fit into the group.
At this stage, you’ll notice a high degree of uncertainty, and team members may look to the leader for guidance and direction. The challenge is building trust and clarifying roles and expectations.
Storming
The storming stage is often the most challenging phase, as this is where conflict and power struggles occur. As team members become more comfortable working with each other, differences in opinions, working styles, beliefs, attitudes, and personalities may lead to tension and disagreements.
This stage is critical for growth, as managers and supervisors must develop early leadership skills to address certain issues and develop ways of working together.
The top challenge during this stage is managing conflicts and finding common ground among individuals. The leader must then know how to facilitate open communication, resolve conflicts, and guide the team towards better collaboration.
Norming
In the norming stage, the team begins to resolve its conflicts and gains a sense of cohesion. Roles and responsibilities become clearer, and team members start to work more collaboratively. The team establishes norms and processes that can help it function more effectively. Here, you’ll see a growing sense of camaraderie and trust.
One challenge at this stage is maintaining momentum built from solid progress in results and achievements and reinforcing positive behaviors so that they encourage continued collaboration and ensure the team stays focused on its goals and objectives.
Performing
As the name suggests, the performing stage represents the peak of team development, where the team operates at high efficiency and effectiveness. Team members are confident in their roles and work together seamlessly to achieve their goals.
Communication is open, and the team can handle challenges and make decisions autonomously. This stage is mostly marked by high productivity, innovation, and satisfaction.
The challenge here is sustaining performance, continuous improvement, and adapting to new challenges. You don’t want your team to stay stagnant; instead, it should remain flexible and adaptive to the ever-changing needs of your organization and customers.
The leaders must empower the team to take ownership of their work, create a succession plan for emerging leaders, provide support as needed, and focus on the company's strategic goals.
Adjourning
The adjourning stage, also known as the “mourning” stage is when the team has completed all its objectives and the project or task ends. The adjourning stage typically happens to the team in many companies with multiple projects.
At this stage, team members may feel a sense of accomplishment while feeling sad or uncertain about which team they’ll join next. This stage is an opportunity for reflection and celebration of the team's achievements.
The top challenges here are managing emotions and ensuring a smooth transition. Leaders should know how to facilitate reflection and debriefing so they can continuously support their team members as they transition to new roles or projects.
The five dynamics of team development are valuable for anyone trying to understand how their teams can evolve from mediocre to high-performing ones. Understanding these stages can allow teams to navigate conflicts, strengthen relationships, and ultimately achieve their team goals.
Implementing an Effective Team Training Program
Every in-house L&D practitioner or corporate trainer must take a structured approach to implementing an effective team training program. Let me share with you how we structure our team training programs as a corporate training provider.
Needs Assessment
The first step in implementing a team training program is to assess the team's specific needs. We call this training needs analysis. This involves identifying areas where the team (and its leaders) must improve or develop skills.
A practical training needs assessment can help customize the team training program to address the issues observed and uncovered during the analysis phase.
Set Clear Goals
Once the training needs assessment is complete, it’s essential to set clear, measurable goals for the training. Practical goal setting using tools like SMARTER goals can help align with the organization's overall objectives and provide a clear direction for the training.
Choose Appropriate Training Methods
Many training methodologies include lectures, interactive discussions, workshops, role-plays, online courses (self-paced learning courses), and hands-on activities based on the team training program outline.
The key to implementing the correct methodology is to match it to the current learning styles and needs.
Measure Training Effectiveness
Ultimately, you want to see if your team training program has a real impact on your audience. You can use the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model framework to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the team training programs. It includes four levels:
- Level 1: Reaction—This is where you can measure whether the learners have found the training relevant to their role, engaging, and useful using feedback forms and template surveys after the training program.
- Level 2: Learning—Measure whether or not the learner has acquired the knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment that the training program is focused on.
- Level 3: Behavior - measure behavioral changes after learning and see if the learners have applied them in their daily work.
- Level 4: Results - measure whether or not the target objectives have been achieved due to the training program.
Team Training Resources
If you’re interested in exploring team training, several resources are available. For books, you can purchase "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni and "Team of Teams" by General Stanley McChrystal.
Invest in Team Training and Development
It is not enough to just have stock knowledge after reading this guide; invest in team training for your employees. Contact one of our teams to set up a training needs analysis session so we can start developing team training programs for your organization.
How Will Your Learning From Today's Training Impact Your Work?
How will your learning from today’s training impact your work?
Four tangible results you’ll achieve when you apply your learnings from today’s training:
1. Build Competencies
By gaining knowledge, reflecting on and changing attitudes, and applying skills discussed in the training sessions, you’ll build the right competence for work application.
Competencies include leadership communication, sales management, basic customer service, and people handling.
2. Increased Productivity
By applying the skills you’ve practiced during simulations or role-plays during training sessions, you can increase the quality of your output in less time (efficiency).
3. Enhanced Collaboration
If you’ve participated well with your teammates during training sessions, you could improve your communication, which is essential to better teamwork in real work.
4. Boosted Morale
Feeling valued and inspired after the training helps create new personal growth opportunities. By boosting your personal morale after the training, you can enjoy your work, leading to better performance.
5. Career Advancement
By leveling up your competence, you prepare for promotions. As you acquire and master new skills for future leadership roles, you prepare for career advancement.
Why Training Matters?
Corporate training programs matter to modern businesses. As industry and internal organizations change, so must employees. They need to be equipped with the right tools, strategies, and competencies to perform better at work and achieve individual and organizational goals.
With talent development and identified learning and development interventions, an organization can bring its employees to the next performance level, directly impacting revenue and profits.
Immediate Benefits of Today's Training
After the training, participants (employees) can gain benefits, to name a few:
Skill Enhancement
Acquiring new technical and soft skills takes time and can only be done with the help of a facilitator who has a proven track record in the subject matter he or she is teaching and training about.
Skills enhancement could be observed more during simulations and role-plays, making the training programs a place for skill practice.
By immediately applying what they have learned, they will retain their knowledge in a deeper way, which will enhance their competence.
Knowledge Application
The best corporate trainers in the Philippines must provide practical examples from real-life case studies of individuals and organizations to help participants view the actual application of knowledge.
It is also best to share relevant experiences about topics they share. For instance, if he is sharing about overcoming rejections in sales, he may share lessons and strategies during sales meetings he actually experiences to build up his self-confidence.
Applying theoretical knowledge to practical tasks helps participants appreciate the training even more, as they will have actionable takeaways that can directly impact their daily work (once used).
Behavioral Changes
Apart from knowledge and skills, training also addresses behavioral changes. By adopting new attitudes and behaviors, participants can embody them as part of their personal values and culture, which can later collectively impact the workplace culture and environment they’re in.
Long-Term Impact on Work and Career
Training programs as they run can have long-term effects on the work and career of individuals who participate in them.
Improved Performance
Effects on achieving KPIs and hitting them with specific metrics could be derived from days of training programs. As participants have gone through the sessions, they now have the necessary skills to be more efficient and effective at work, leading to more real-life success stories.
Career Growth and Opportunities
Corporate training programs that are holistic in nature (they touch both heart, hand, and heart) can help establish a growth mindset for employees, giving them an edge over other employees in competing companies.
For instance, conducting effective communication skills training for employees can help them become more aware of their internal dialogue and daily conversations with their colleagues. This would benefit them in many ways, addressing the team's concerns and serving their stakeholders and clients.
Increased Job Satisfaction and Retention
Generally, investing in corporate training programs helps increase job satisfaction and talent retention. Employees fulfill their roles better and provide their best service to the company. In L&D practice, it’s important to have the data available to support claims of this kind of long-term impact on your organization.
Hire an L&D consultant who can help you design organizational interventions that produce results for the company. This will also help you see the ROI benefits of training.
Organizational Benefits
Ultimately, the organization should benefit from training programs. If you have your talent development (L&D) team, you could effectively strategize which competencies to focus on in every year’s training calendar.
Training benefits the entire organization in many ways, including:
Enhanced Overall Productivity
If you’re doing training in batches and targeting specific competencies, you could see the real impact of training on every team’s productivity. Achieving KPIs, removing inefficiencies, and driving the business forward are some of the results of effective learning training programs.
Fostering Innovation
Innovation is necessary to sustain the organization's growth, as it allows employees to think of new ways and means to improve customer experience, create new products/services that satisfy more customers, and develop a healthy culture inside the organization.
Include programs like strategic thinking and problem solving in your learning sessions to produce more success stories of innovation inside the organization.
Strengthened Team Dynamics
Team dynamics drive high performance for the organization. By discovering the current state of teams and applying necessary tools and strategies to enhance collaboration and team dynamics, you’ll find that the organization will acquire flexibility and agility to create extraordinary business results.
Training Methodology: Engaging Techniques for Effective Learning
To create a fully immersive learning experience in corporate training programs, one has to use training methodology to facilitate the entire training, touching different levels and types of learning.
As a corporate trainer and consultant, I’ve seen speakers and trainers jump into training without much thought on training methodology.
While anyone can speak, share their experiences, and create content based on this, without applying training methodologies, it could just be a transfer of knowledge that does not help participants gain actual competence in this learning and development intervention.
In today’s article, we’ll examine what defines training methodology, its importance to training and training participants, and specific methodologies we can apply directly to our programs.
Training Methodology At Its Core
Training methodology refers to the structured approach and techniques for designing and delivering training programs. It encompasses various methods and strategies to facilitate learning to ensure every participant acquires the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitude (KSA).
As mentioned earlier, a training methodology aims to create engaging and impactful learning expertise that meets learners' diverse needs and achieves the desired training outcomes.
Whether you’re an in-house trainer and L&D practitioner or someone providing outsourced training programs for clients, the training methodology examples below will give you insights.
1. Interactive Discussions
Interactive discussions are a cornerstone of effective training programs. While a trainer can start sharing his content, experience, and expertise, it wouldn’t solidify the learning experience without encouraging participants to share their personal experiences and thoughts.
The beauty of doing so is that you allow learners to share their challenges and difficulties related to the topics. This helps you, as a corporate trainer, address their needs and provide relatable examples to help them put theories into practice.
Encourage active participation and engagement at the start of the training program. You can share this openly and/or put it on your presentation slide so they can see you’re open to interactive discussions.
The best way to start interactive discussions is to ask open-ended questions. Compared to yes/no questions, open-ended questions can spark insights and conversations that help participants answer with their own experiences. Experiences make the topic more relatable to other participants, which activates their learning experience.
2. Video and Audio Support
A good diversity of the learning experience includes video and audio related to the training topics. It caters directly to visual and auditory learners who want to see or hear the application of the subject.
Providing varied stimuli makes the content more memorable and engaging to the audience.
Appeal to different learning styles. Simplify complex concepts and make them easy to understand.
Use high-quality, relevant videos and audio clips into your presentations. Prepare this multimedia content and practice transitioning from discussion to playing these clips for a seamless training session.
3. Pen/Marker and Paperwork Activities
Incorporating flipchart papers, multi-colored Post-it pads, and permanent/whiteboard markers in training activities helps reinforce knowledge through hands-on exercises.
During group and individual work, participants unleash their creativity and help foster collaboration among their co-learners. They learn not only from their own experiences but also by observing how other participants do the activities.
I’ve found it very effective to include processing moments after every paperwork activity. This means asking specific questions about what the audience has learned from the activity. Then, you ask more follow-up questions to get more answers and experiences from the audience that they can share with the group.
4. Participant Handouts
Providing handouts to supplement the training sessions is the best way to increase the participants' memory and content retention rate.
The handouts serve as reference materials that participants can revisit to reinforce their knowledge and record more ideas during the training.
Part of my introduction for my corporate training programs involves asking participants to take notes, as I’ll be sharing ideas not included in the handouts but relevant to the topics we’re teaching.
Prepare handouts and ensure that they are clear, concise, and well-organized. Make modules systematic enough to understand so learners can revisit it even after the program.
5. Facilitator and Participant Sharing of Best Practices
Sharing best practices between facilitators and participants fosters a collaborative learning environment.
Providing an environment for meaningful discussions among participants makes the audience interactive and relatable. It will enable participants to reflect upon themselves as they learn from one another.
Allocating time to share best practices is an excellent way to manage time for corporate training programs. As participants share, you can highlight specific insights and expound on them.
6. Role Plays and Simulations
Role plays and simulations are powerful tools to acquire new skills and achieve experiential learning.
By acting out scenarios, participants can practice and develop their skills in a controlled environment, gaining confidence and competence in handling real-life situations.
For instance, we create role plays in our High Impact Selling, our sales training where participants are divided into groups. Each group must sell a new product/idea (that is derived from another group activity). This tests their ability to sell, approach prospects, and negotiate deals.
Another example is in our High-Impact Presentations, our public speaking and presentation skills training, where we ask our participants to prepare a 3-minute pop talk using our developed framework for creating outlines in presentations. As soon as they finished delivering their individual talks, they gained confidence in presenting to an audience and received constructive feedback from me (as their main facilitator).
If you’re a corporate trainer or L&D, think of ways to leverage role plays and simulations, particularly skills requiring confidence and practice. Examples include leadership conversations like mentoring and coaching and data storytelling.
Debrief after each role play to discuss key takeaways and improvements. Participants appreciate this part as they become self-aware of things they need to change or improve - which will eventually develop as they apply it in real-life work scenarios.
7. Objectives-Related Application Exercises and Games
Application exercises and games aligned with training objectives make learning programs fun and engaging.
Corporate training programs don’t have to be boring. If facilitators are wise enough to input exercises that participants would enjoy while learning concepts and their applications, it could enhance the entire learning experience.
Design exercises and games that align with your program’s objectives. Don’t include any game just for fun; it won’t help you achieve the desired results for your participants. Like other training methodologies, take time to debrief after each activity to highlight learning points.
8. Case Studies
Case studies bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and practical applications. Using this training methodology, participants can see the exact big picture of your ideas and help them properly apply their newly founded knowledge, skills, and attitudes in a structured manner.
Remember to provide case studies based on the context of the organization and its industry. For instance, when providing examples about how certain principles and strategies help increase organizations' sales, use case studies within the industry or within the local region. Find examples from local companies who’ve made it.
9. Blended Learning
Blended learning combines traditional face-to-face classroom methods with online and digital media.
Most organizations today prefer blended learning, given its flexibility and personalized learning, which can help them cater to every multinational participant for a specific program.
For instance, we have one inquiry on data storytelling, for which participants will come from different parts of the world—the Philippines, India, and Australia. With blended learning, participants can learn from the comfort of their homes.
10. Virtual Learning
Virtual learning involves using simulated environments to deliver training. This method can be instructor-led or self-paced, providing a versatile and scalable solution for modern training needs.
Virtual learning has many drawbacks, including limitations in engagement and interactions. You won’t see much reaction to your facilitation and sharing of topics.
That’s why in virtual learning, you need to ensure accessibility and user-friendliness are top priorities, as you want to bring the same learning experiences for physical attendees to your online participants.
Use a mix of interactive elements and leverage tools to keep learners engaged. Tools like Mentimer, which help you conduct real-time surveys of your participants, enable you to see their current state of challenges and needs.
11. Self-Paced Training
Self-paced training is a more advanced way of conducting training programs. In this method, technology is used to enable participants to fit their learning around other commitments and revisit content as needed for better comprehension.
Each module, exercise, and downloadable material can be uploaded to a website to which participants can access. They can watch or listen to each module at their convenience.
A good approach is to have a de-brief activity where all participants can gather, even if it is just virtual, so there would be interactions with the group, and each participant can learn from one another.
To enhance the learning experience, use a variety of content formats, such as videos, readings, templates, and even multimedia formats.
You may offer support through forums, email, or occasional live sessions so learners can freely ask questions in a given timeline.
Incorporate assessments to gauge understanding. Have it designed after every module so you can test your participants' knowledge in line with your topics?
Ensure all resources are accessible and user-friendly for a seamless, positive experience for your target beneficiaries.
Apply Training Methodology For A Holistic Learning Experience
Effective training methodologies are essential for comprehensively developing participants' knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
Trainers can create an engaging and impactful learning experience by incorporating interactive discussions, multimedia support, paperwork activities, participant handouts, sharing best practices, role plays, application exercises, case studies, blended learning, and virtual learning.
These methodologies cater to different learning styles and promote active participation, practical application, and continuous improvement. As trainers, it is crucial to continuously refine and adapt these methods to meet the evolving needs of learners and ensure the success of training programs.