Need Suggestions On Effective Meetings And Outcomes

Hi All,

I need help with conducting a meeting with departmental trainers of my organization. My organization does not have a very training-savvy culture, and I have to take care of the training here. I have already implemented many modules and sessions, and today I have called for this meeting to understand the needs of various departments.

It'll be great if you could suggest some ideas on how to enlist these people in the idea of training and make them understand the need for the same. It is indeed important for me to get positive outcomes from this meeting. All ideas are welcome.

Thanks and Regards, Puneet Kaur

Hi there,

It would have helped if you could have shared some more inputs on the type of training that you have organized. Was it soft skills, technical training, or functional training?

Training gets priority only if:

- Top management commits to it
- Departmental heads recognize its importance
- The trainees value it
- The training is well-organized, efficiently coordinated, and found effective

As a passionate training coordinator, I am sure you will convey your passion during the meeting. The best way to get things going is to express your appreciation for supporting your training endeavors. The group could also be enlightened with some statistics on the type of training, duration, and feedback received. Your focus must be to get agreement that the training input is important and acceptable.

To get the audience commitment, circulate a list of various training modules that you believe are useful for your corporation. Enlist the audience's support to identify in writing the modules they find most relevant. Allow them to also debate, share, and criticize the training programs held.

Conclude the meeting seeking their support and announcing a couple of programs and dates. After the meeting, circulate the minutes and, if possible, ensure that the names of participants and their suggestions are briefly mentioned in the minutes, making them feel important and subtly implying their commitment.

Best Wishes

Dear Puneet,

Training is always a two-way affair. As you have introduced a number of training modules, you may want to inquire from your HODs about the outcomes of the same based on their observations.

Secondly, you may have encountered some issues regarding personnel of a specific category. In the meeting, impartially highlight these issues and encourage the HODs to provide their own observations. Then, suggest the training modules you have envisioned (with relevant improvements) that will yield the necessary benefits for the management.

Regards,
S.K. Johri

Dear Puneet,

It would have been beneficial if you had clearly stated what outcome you were seeking, when you were going to hold the meeting, and the numbers involved. Jacob and Johri have given you some sound ideas. Kindly take a look at Conducting Effective Business Meetings - For Dummies and see if the content there is of any use.