By: Helton Haddad 

The called "motivation techniques" applied in sales trainings are even more used at the companies day-to-day. The repertory is large: games, sportive practices and even radical activities like rafting, hiking and jungle survival...

Today seems to be almost mandatory a team reunion, or just a sales convention, counting with some activity to motivate and create a team spirit, highlights leaders and push people to their "limits", 

Our question here must be practical. If many companies are using these techniques in their trainings, they must be working. Who has organized or participated in trainings with this kind of activities know that it is exciting to see when people surpass their difficulties, the quiet secretary that reveals to be a great sailor, the fat guy from accountancy climbing a wall, everybody laughing and smilling together. Finally everybody returns to work very excited and motivated.

Recently, I was doing a business training diagnostic that I would give. The company, a multinacional of the service branch, has hired a new commercial team with high level. The salesperson should receive a complete training about the market, the company and the products sold by them. My job would be give a importnat part of the training, related to the company's strategy and stablished goals. Until that, nothing new. But after some hours of discussion and data studing has came that known request... The commercial Director, experient professional, hasn't resisted and ordered: " Don't forget to motivate the people. I don't know, what about doing some rafting, or that walking on fire stuff?"

Well, let's slow down a little. Before anything, personally, I don't have anything against "motivating techniques" applied to business training. But I should confess that I doubt a little about its practical results.

The thought here is simple: motivation is something that belongs to people. You just have it, or not.

But why the insistence to make motivation activities and dynamics?
First of all, because of the security of the event's success. People get out happy, screaming, with friendship and team spirit. Besides, it's much more easy to face a whole day of funny training activities than dealing with a though and not funny reunion to discuss strategies, moves, goals, etc... 

And we have to face it: in short term, the imediate impact of the "ädrenaline team" at work can be positive. But this efect tend to straw with some rapidity. Coming back the routine, at the same business structure, with its old addictions and virtues, the tendency is obvious: everybody turns to be as always. From the event, rest some funny memories or facts... 

Even so, it's good to remember that not always the "motivating techniques" applied result in excitement/involviment of the participants of the event. A curious fact was related by a client. Training its operational team, a "guru" was hired to work with the "ïnterior me" of the employees. By the kind of work developed, can be said that the major part of the team were men, with 40 years. The day has started bad, the participants should give eachother a massage at their shoulders.
que maior parte da equipe era formada por homens, na casa dos seus 40 anos de idade. And it wasn't an emotion created when one of the dynamics was to walk above each other with people forming a human bridge on the floor. The "guru"was almost sent away. Total failure of the training!

The change in behavior desired, obviously has always connection with the search of team integration, raising individual performance, etc... The improvement of people's relations is always a desired effect. 

The caution to take is with the changing considered by individual aspect. People can modify aspects from their behavior through times, but it's quite naive to imagine that a complete behavioral change could be possible through a training program or by a "motivating technique" applied.
I've even heard about the search of personal "metanóia". The word "metanóia" can be explained y any ways, but I like to understand it as it is being used to assign the life change that happens at " a sinner conversion": a radical change of values, behavior and world's vision. I've never seen this happen in any business training. Even because to achieve this "metanóia", we follow the mistic/religious path of converting our colaborators hearts, or will rest just the hard application of good years of psychoanalysis.

But what solves this problem? How can we achieve better performance developing and involving people in our business? 

Important is to align people, with their personal goals, to the companies goals. But this can't be just a retoric. It has to exist a serious, structures, commited, strategically well planned and well implanted. There begins the change. Really.

And what about the rafting? After the changes in structure, a little bit of fun is welcome, to reliese the routine...