What Role Does Personality Development Play In One’s Career?

Personality development training is essential for one and all. And that I could see while delivering a Sales Training session last week.

The Sales session we were delivering for a group of Sales Executives and Managers was no ordinary session. It was what we call a ‘Sales Workout.’ We call it so because it’s a 4-day intensive corporate training workshop where you are taken through the various nuances of Sales. And yes, Personality Development training most definitely forms an important part of it. After all, its difficult to sell a product or service when people are not impressed by your personality!

So, during the course of the 4-days, we covered various personality development program topics. This included understanding the strengths and areas of development of our personalities, maintaining a positive attitude and handling negative emotions and keeping ourselves motivated, etc. These were the aspects that a salesperson would typically require working on when it came to their internal personality. And then there was personal hygiene and grooming, face to face etiquette, telephone and e-mail etiquette which covered the external personality.

To tell you the truth, we were rather surprised to see Managers attending this session. We would have thought that the Managers, with their years of experience, would prefer attending a session on how to manage their teams of Sales Executives. And were actually apprehensive of covering aspects of Personality Development training as it would most probably be something that they already know.

However, the feedback we received was quite contrary to our belief! The Managers actually benefitted from the various aspects of Personality Development training that we covered during the session and some were eager to even pass on their learning to their teams.

Some of them loved gaining insights on their own personality and how they could adapt themselves to smoothen the flow of communication with other personality types around them. Others, on the other hand, found the tools we shared with them on handling emotions and maintaining a positive attitude useful. Yet there were others who gained from the discussions on Grooming and Etiquette. We realised there was something there for everybody no matter what level they were at!

So, there you have it. Personality development training is for everyone. People at all levels and in all domains. Why? Because we all have a personality which can always be further groomed. And we are all forming impressions on others in various scenarios all the time, whether it’s in a Restaurant with a client or in an Interview for a coveted job! We are always being watched by others and can always do with creating a great impression on them

INTERDEPENDENCY OF TEAM BUILDING & LEADERSHIP SKILLS

We, at The Yellow Spot have delivered a large number of team building trainings and events in the past 11 years. It’s our favourite offering and we are so good at it now, that we can conduct a team building training without any preparation at all!

Surprised? I was just kidding. Well, not the part where I said it is our favourite offering and we are good at it. I was kidding when I said we can do it without any preparation. In fact, we don’t do any corporate training programme without proper planning and preparation well in advance. But yes, we thoroughly enjoy doing team building trainings. Why? Let me tell you.

We love it because team building training is one such training programme where we can touch base upon many skills at a time. Team building activities can bring out multiple learnings like;

1. Collaborating with our internal and external stakeholders
2. Communicating effectively within the team
3. Identifying team members’ skills and making use of them
4. Managing resources and time effectively
5. Planning and prioritisation of tasks
6. Being open to each other’s suggestions and feedback
7. Keeping the end goal in mind at all points of time
8. Increasing team bonding and trust
9. Building a positive culture, etc.

One of most important learning from team building training is the importance of having a leader and leadership skills.

I am sure some of you will say a leader needs to have separate leadership skills trainings where they learn leadership concepts. But trust me, team building trainings are great occasions to bring out the importance of leadership skills and what they entail. And why is that? Because a leader is nothing without his or her team. And there is no better ground to learn than with your team. After all, a leader is only a leader when he has followers! And so, learning about leadership is best done in the presence of one’s followers.

Always remember, a team will be well bonded if they have a good leader who binds them well and provides direction. Similarly, a leader can only be successful if he has a team who believes in him and draws inspiration from him. Now that’s called true interdependency!