We've all sat through trainings, workshops and more meetings than we care to remember that didn't deliver. Let's be real... some of them sucked.

If you're an executive, director, manager – or a consultant, coach or trainer – this episode is for you.

James lays out the importance of "setting the table" for a successful event, especially when it comes to the good ideas and 'light bulb' moments during a group activity.

Don't let a thousand good ideas vaporize into thin air the moment your training ends.

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Confidence Covered By Humility is a podcast by James Mayhew for anyone who wants to lead their business, their team and their home with humble confidence.

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And welcome back to the confidence covered by humility podcast.

I'm your host and your business and leadership coach, James Mayhew.

And I just wanted to start out by saying a huge thank you for your comments and your

likes and your shares and your subscribes.

It just, uh, it just means so much to me that you would do that.

Now, today's another short, uh, I'm in this series of doing shorts here.

And a few weeks ago I was At a, at a, uh, new client, actually, this is the first time I was with them, a

company that's been around for multiple generations and really doing some cool things in their industry.

And what I want to talk to you today about is an experience from there.

And, uh, I'm just going to frame it up with this sentence here, set the table for success.

So like I said, a few weeks ago I was invited to speak to a group of leaders at this company.

And, uh, because it was the first time I was with them, I always like them to get an experience,

you know, what is it like to work with me?

I want, you know, to do well.

I want to set the table in a way where they're clear about why are we here today?

What are we going to do?

What is it, you know, how is that work going to look?

And what are we going to do afterwards?

And I just feel like that is a.

The recipe for an effective training session.

So after I did this brief introduction of myself, which I probably pretty poor at those, but I keep it pretty short.

And basically I just tell them, Hey, this is what you should expect today over these next three hours.

The goals for the day are, are these number one, I want you to be able to understand the purpose

behind and the best usage of your core values.

Number two, We are going to discover some communication gaps, but that's also going to show us some opportunities

where we're going to learn how to coach and mentor through your core values to close those communication gaps.

Now the third goal that I have for you today is that we're going to identify ways to utilize your core values

and key areas like how you develop individuals on your team, how you can evaluate someone's progress through

core values and overall we're going to strengthen everything that's already good here by going through this.

Now, I believe that this setting the table is a crucial step to do because it establishes the

value for their time and their monetary investment.

I don't know if they've had good trainers in the past.

I assume they do or have had.

Uh, I want to make sure that when they think back to my time with them, that I've done a good job for them.

It also provides accountability both to them, the people that invited me, and it, and it also

provides that accountability for me when I say, Hey, these are the things that we're going to do.

Well, that keeps us focused.

It keeps us on track.

Now there's another thing that I do.

There's a few other things that I do just in the introduction part in this introduction.

It might take a while to get through this, but I also want them to, to know that it's going to be interactive.

And so I always, I joke with them and I say, okay, here's your two minute warning.

Uh, you're not going to sit on your hands today and uh, you are going to be participating.

It's, that's what brings, uh, the highest quality.

To this type of training is when you are engaged in it and you are sharing your thoughts and then I

offer one final discussion point Which is this it's a story minor you get out of this what you put into it.

And here's why I need to say that Oftentimes when we come in to do a training there are a lot of

distractions that we have to deal with right?

There's a phone call.

There's an urgent email.

There's a fire that needs to put out And so I always just tell them, Hey, we're adults here.

So, you know, you know, to keep your phone silenced and all those, but if you need to

respond to something, get up and take care of it.

But at the same time, I also want them to know that, you know, put, put effort into this, be engaged, be involved in

what's going on and don't daydream or, or don't be worrying about the thing that you think is really important because

what we're doing here is actually really important to you.

And then I also do one final thing to set up what I feel is a, Oh, great way to set the table.

I say, listen, when we're in a room like this, there are going to be ideas.

There are going to be light bulb moments that you have.

There's going to be hundreds of them, if not more.

Okay.

You can start to think about you've got a room of 20 people when they're for three hours, we cover a lot of stuff.

There's a lot of.

Those special little moments that happen.

So I tell them during a meeting like this, when they happen, if you don't write them down, if you don't

discuss them, either, you know, when we do it like a small group or bring it to the large group, there is a

really good chance, pretty much a hundred percent chance.

I would say that they're going to fade away.

They're just going to vaporize.

When that meeting ends, you had good intention.

You were going to remember them, but they don't, that doesn't happen.

So leaders, managers, supervisors, if you're listening to this right now, just don't miss what I'm talking about.

Make sure you set the table with your teams.

You want to prepare their minds.

You want to prepare their hearts also for the purpose behind the trainings.

Meetings are really an essential part of your business.

But meetings should never suck.

Okay.

Meeting shouldn't suck.

You should take ownership to deliver a great experience.

Even when it feels like it's a staff meeting or a recurring meeting, that's how they don't feel recurring.

Or like we just got to show up again.

So set the table, explain the purpose, let them know what's at stake.

And always, always have actionable takeaways.

Even when it's an informational meeting, they're going to come up.

Now, one of the ways, I'm going to give you four steps actually here to ensure that those things happen.

So here's step one, just before the meeting is over, you got to save time for this.

I do this in my trainings, I'll go around the room and we ask each person's, each person for their biggest takeaway.

And it doesn't have to be the biggest.

It's just like, what's a, what's a takeaway from today that landed on you that was important.

What that does is it creates momentum and it reminds people of things that they might've missed.

Step number two, give them time to write down things that they want to implement.

We actually carve that out.

We say, okay, take a few minutes right now.

Go look back through your notes.

What are the things that hit you today that you want to implement and see through that happens after today?

Because when I'm gone, we have to make sure that these things get, get done,

which rolls into then step number three.

And maybe you want to do this one sooner.

It doesn't have to be in this exact order, by the way, but you also want to remind them

of where we've come from through the day.

I find tremendous value in reminding people of where would we start today?

What did we do?

So, so we have now context of, okay, we're seeing the world a little different as a result.

When we remind them of that, it makes those ideas start to come back together.

So maybe you want to do that at step one.

That's cool.

Reorder it.

If you want step number four, give them what the next steps are to ensure that the

techniques and methods will be implemented.

In other words, if the person who's invited me in to do a training has not done that

part, I'm going to make sure that I do that.

But.

What What will happen oftentimes is I'll, I'll get to a statement like that and

they'll say, Hey James, we've got this.

And I say, great.

Take over.

And they walk 'em through.

The accountability and ownership piece of that.

All of this, all of this sets up a great training or it sets up a great meeting.

And the point of this is that you're set the table for success.

I'm James Mayhew, and I work with companies of all sizes, small, medium, and large to do this.

We ensure that they have amazing and talented people doing exceptional work on the most important things.

All right, we'll catch you again on the next episode of Confidence Covered by Humility.