Alin Comsa (Selftrust Academy): What are the innovative courses for the corporate world

This week is also special in the business world. Being a week dedicated to women, companies are always looking for creative ways of engaging their female employees and offer them meaningful gifts, says Alin Comsa,  founder of Selftrust Academy, in an opinion piece.

What was companies` motivation to offer this type of gifts?

The main reason why companies offer these types of gifts is related to a necessity: the need of novelty. Every company needs a strategy to bring the new, a new approach, a new motivation strategy. This idea of offering promotional materials is popular on the Romanian market: calendars, notebooks etc. The employees are already used to receive this type of gifts in these celebration days. The same goes with the parties, dinners and other events that are considered now normal. So, something new is really needed. SELFTRUST Academy brings a solution to this challenge – the idea of asking: what about discussing about what really matters to you personally? This is how workshops and courses like “What men really want”, “What women really want” or “Poetry, a argument to be” appeared. In this period, “What men really want” was a great gift for women, chosen by many companies as an alternative to traditional gifts.

How have these courses been received by the employees?

Many women received this type of course as a surprise gift. It was very interesting to see how, after the workshop, many women came with feedback like: “finally someone explained me why my husband is acting in a certain way and I found out what is important to do to have a happy relationship”. It`s also really wonderful to see how this type of course brings real benefits to the company. Why? Because it brings personal motivation, that is reflected directly in the attitude in the workplace.

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What companies chose to do it and who are they?

We are the only training company on the market that offers this type of courses and many companies chose to offer them as gifts, because they wanted to give something new and special for their employees.
The course has been very well received by companies such as: Scandia Sibiu, Estee Lauder, HP, Flanco.

What other innovative courses have been offered as a gift in companies, from your experience?

All these innovative courses had at their core the interest for employees` personal development. When we say personal development, we don`t just use a shallow phrase – the idea is to offer something really useful to the participants. Here are some examples:
“What men really want” (the next edition is on 7th march) – a course about masculine psychology, that offers valuable insights about the masculine behavior, the result of 600 interviews with men and 300 interviews with women.
“The poetry as an argument to be” – a course where, through examples taken from poetry, we offer to participants strategies and formulas to reach their purposes and be more motivated day by day
“Explanatory Dictionary for Happiness” – we talk about the most simple and impactful solutions to reach success and also about the art of being happy. Generally, people confuse the two concepts – happiness and success. Obviously, they can be obtained simultaneously – but you need to have clarity, understanding and coherence in action.
“7 books that are NOT about personal development” – a course that comes with examples from Romanian and foreign literature. These books can be seen as learning tools on how to become better as a person.
“Leadership in a Romanian vision” – a course on how to lead teams towards goals or how you can lead yourself effectively with practical examples of leadership offered by successful Romanians in science, music, art in general, philosophy, sport etc.
Of course, every of these courses includes some insights from culture, civilization, art, history, psychology, sociology, etc.

Do you see a trend in this regarding employee engagement?

Yes, by all means. People feel appreciated after these courses that touch themselves in a very deep and authentic way. They gain trust in themselves and they are much more dedicated to their work.