Train First, Engage Next: Why Skill-Building Is the Start of Motivation
You have to train people properly before you can expect them to engage. It sounds obvious, I know, but so many “motivation problems” are really “training problems” wearing a disguise. If you’ve ever started a job without the right guidance, you know the feeling—I don’t want to mess up, I want to do this well, but no one has actually shown me how.
One of the shortest jobs I ever had was at a very nice restaurant. I was hired as a hostess and trained to seat people, track the rotation, hand out menus and silverware, and smile big. Simple enough. A few weeks in, they asked me to help with to-go orders and bar support, yay, sounds fun! Except no one ever trained me on the menu beyond what a customer could read, and no one showed me how to use the ordering system. I spent more time wrestling the computer than helping guests. When I asked for help, the answers were some version of “you should know this by now,” and the manager was too busy to teach. The result wasn’t mysterious: I disengaged and soon left. It wasn’t because I didn’t care; it’s because I was set up to fail.
That’s the heart of it. Engagement follows ability. If people don’t feel competent, they can’t relax into the role, make good judgments, or bring their personality to the work. They’re too busy feeling anxious, double-checking every keystroke, worrying about doing it wrong, and bracing for the next correction. We sometimes call this “availability.” It’s that sense that an employee can be fully present and themselves at work. Without adequate training, employees simply aren’t available. They’re surviving, not contributing.
And training isn’t a one-and-done orientation. It’s cyclical. Every time you move someone to a new team, a new tool, or a new responsibility, you start a fresh training cycle, new workflow, new personalities, new systems, new metrics. Don’t assume that success in Role A automatically transfers to Role B. It might, but usually not without thoughtful onboarding. When leaders forget this, they interpret normal learning curves as attitude problems, when the truth is the person just needs time, structure, and support.
This connects to a pattern we all see in organizations: people get promoted to their level of incompetence. You’re great in one job, you’re rewarded with the next job, and on it goes until you land in a role that requires a completely different skill set. A dear friend of mine was a phenomenal pharma salesperson. He was so good they “rewarded” him with a manager role. Different muscles entirely. He never got the leadership training he needed, struggled, and hated it. Thankfully, the company let him move back into sales, where he thrived again. That wasn’t a motivation failure; it was a development gap. Leadership and management are learnable skills, not a prize you automatically inherit when you excel at something else.
People are far more willing to stretch when they feel safe, seen, and supported. Training is not just a transfer of instructions, it’s a transfer of confidence. When you invest up front, you’re telling employees, “I expect you to succeed here.” Most will rise to that expectation.
If you’re a manager or team lead, I’ll leave you with this gentle nudge: before you chase a new motivation program, audit your training. Where are the gaps when people transition roles? Which tools still feel like a maze? Who needs a patient, practical walk-through and a couple of dry runs? Fix those, and you’ll be amazed how many “engagement issues” melt away.
You deserve teams who are confident and present. Your people deserve leaders who equip them to get there. Train first. Engagement will follow.
I’m here to help!
-Dr. Lean (July 2025)
