Tips for staff engagement

Tips for Keeping Your Staff Engaged: The Importance of Professional Development Workshops

With many employees working remote – even if some people choose to come in the office – how do we encourage staff engagement and show that we’re supporting their professional advancement? Here at The Hoyt Organization, we developed a three-part workshop dedicated to exploring professional goals and creating positive synergy for the entire THO team. 

We began by hiring a professional corporate trainer who has worked with over 1,000 people over the past 17 years helping to make employees better equipped to succeed not only in the day-to-day functions of their jobs, but in life as well.  Our trainer led each of our three sessions that were designed to inspire employees to set goals for their professional ambitions as well as provide each employee a road map aimed at showing them the way. Each session included tips on how to select the right tools to achieving one’s goals and living a life of purpose. These workshops were held in the office with participants wearing masks and social distancing. A delicious lunch was delivered midway through each session creating an opportunity for connection, team bonding and laughter through this shared experience. 

Workshop 1: Goals vs. Reality  

Happiness is something everyone should attain. THO used a pie chart to score our level of contentment in several categories including career, friendship, romance and finances. Once problematic areas of our lives were recognized, we listed our five-year goals in order of priority and shared the information with the team. We also documented ways in which we could help improve teamwork.

Professional Development Workshops
Dedree Hoyt holds a personal vision board at THO’s 2020 Professional Development Workshop.

Workshop 2: Go Big and Go Hunting

Team building can help employees feel more comfortable and can lead to more effective communication. In this session, THO participated in a scavenger hunt to find popsicle sticks hidden around the office. We were challenged to work as a team to decode the clues concealed in each riddle. With this exercise, we witnessed how each worker approaches a task and how they work with a group.

In addition to the scavenger hunt, we sat down to create professional vision boards that are intended to represent aspirations for a purposeful life.

Tips for Keeping Your Staff Engaged
Kate Artmann (left), Carly Aronson (center) and Amy Mosher (right) create professional vision boards.

Workshop 3: The Cost of Success

The journey to success may not be easy but with resilience and hard work, anyone can achieve their dreams. For the last session, we measured our goals and discovered ways in which we can accomplish them. Each person had a chance to explain his or her vision boards from the previous session.

~hoytorg