Learning and self-development should not be solely aimed at securing better future prospects but as an opportunity to become a better person at work and in one’s personal life. Kathleen Vella, recruitment, training and counselling manager at Express Trailers, talks about the company’s philosophy to invest in its people.
The first training course was for leaders, heads and managers at the company, whereas the second was targeted at those employees who mostly deal with customers and who need to keep developing their interpersonal approach.
The course covered myriad salient topics, ranging from self-management, thought management, positivity and team dynamics to creating successful working environments, behaviour and attitude, motivational strategy, communication skills, active listening and establishing a rapport with practically anyone.
The Training and Coaching Programme we are actioning at Express Trailers is an original one and differentiates from other run-of-the mill training courses. Based on neuro-linguistic programming (mental training and cognitive psychology), these very powerful courses work on mental re-programming, a method that seeks to ensure that the learning process happens in an unconscious way, thus leading to more effective outcomes.
These courses seek to bring a change in the participants’ thinking style and mindset by enhancing their thinking skills and strategic thinking power. The training, in fact, is devised upon a model that seeks to ensure sustainability and continuity of the learning process by incorporating individual presentations by the participants demonstrating how the learning has been taken on board and how it has translated into results both in the participants’ personal lives as well as in their workplace.
The success of the company depends on the output and disposition of each employee
This technique was maintained between sessions, from week to week, with a follow-up session six weeks after. The involvement was across the board and included heads of department, managers and the CEO. Each participant prepared a 20-minute presentation, which served to show how each of the salient topics covered in the training course had translated in terms of results, thus proving assimilation and implementation.
This training programme was considerably extensive and comprehensive. It was composed of 13 sessions of 3.5 hours, each totalling 46-50 hours of training per person. The Coaching and Training Courses also feature a high degree of personal coaching where the trainer can follow each participant through one-to-one meetings to discuss certain topics more in-depth and as the need arises.
These courses have very strong side-effects: they breed a lasting sense of belonging within the organisation and help employees connect better and more profoundly with their colleagues and the company that employs them. This is further augmented by the fact that these courses tackle a lot of personal issues and put these issues in the context of work.
Therefore, during a specific Beliefs Workshop, we tackled aspects such as self-belief and self-confidence, whereby participants were challenged to find out how much they believed in their own potential, to what extent they believe in their team and how much do they believe in the organisation.
Similarly, during a Values Workshop, employees were led to find out what drives them and how to become aware of such drivers, how to be assertive and how to obtain a balance between confidence, humility, authenticity and integrity through behaviour and attitude, earning respect and working on our image.
The courses also had a strong personal dimension, examining the concept of cause and effect – the importance of taking responsibility and onus for results and how individuals, through the law of attraction, can come to create the life they want and thus achieve the results they want through the power of thought and mind.
How to handle stress and converting stress into positive outcomes was another highly interesting topic which helped to highlight the importance of an ultimate work-life balance.
Employees also had the opportunity to sit through an induction training course during which they learnt basic coaching skills for self-development and how to develop others, learning to handle strengths and weaknesses, role setting, how to integrate better at work, how to set reasonable goals and how to deliver in a successful way through a winning strategy. At the end of the course, all employees had to sit for a final test.
Express Trailers is a company that has always valued its people and considered them as its most important asset. The success of the company depends on the output and the disposition of each employee and this explains the constant investment to help employees in their self-development. We do not just expect employees to deliver. We want them to become better people because better and stronger people lead to a better and stronger company.