Course: The Art of Emotional Motivation

Title: Emotional Motivation A Practical Course Outline for Program Leaders and Practitioners

Target audience & level
- Audience: developing leaders and front line managers in medium organisations (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
- Level: Early to mid career managers and team leaders with some people management responsibility (5 to 15 team members).

Rationale
These program leaders are the pivot point within many Australian organisations, they translate strategy into the behaviour of their direct reports. What they really want are practical, situationally scalable methods to build emotionally driven teams without turning into a manipulator.

Estimated duration & format (randomised)
- Format: 3×2 hour virtual interactive sessions followed by a 4 week application sprint and one half day face to face consolidation workshop (hybrid delivery).
- Reason for mix: Short live sessions for cognitive input; application sprint to embed behaviour; face to face for roleplay and culture shift. Short bursts grab attention; follow up secures change.

Randomised delivery model
- Hybrid: two synchronistic virtual modules, one synchronous in person consolidation. Pre recorded micro lessons (10 to 12 minutes), and optional self paced workbook hosted on the LMS.
- Access: subtitled videos, printable workbooks and workplace scenarios applicable to retail, professional services or not for profit.

Price point and limitations (e.g. examples)
- Estimated cost per head: $495 inc. GST for the live programme (subsidies & volume price points available with 12+)
- Physical limitations: one cohort to two venues max c25 pax in room, standard Zoom through shared LMS / SCORM compatible; travel only to Sydney metro area for face to face days unless specifically negotiated
- Resource notes: each participant receives pre course workbook, an emotional self assessment tool & a half hour of follow up coaching check in.

Aim of the course (one sentence)
- Provide future leaders with ethically based competencies to discern, elicit and maintain team borne emotional motivation for increasing engagement, performance, and wellbeing.

5 High Level Programme Structure Learning Outcomes (Behavioural + Measurable)

By the end of the programme participants will be able to:

1. It's so easy to point them out in their own teams, but diagnosing the main emotional drivers that are affecting team's behaviour (fear, desire and belonging), which is monitored through pre/post team sentiment surveys.

2. Design and test two brief interventions specifically intended to elicit a positive motivation (e.g., reframe a KPI in purpose language; introduce an easy team ritual), Managers submitting action plans and impact logs.

3. Utilise empathetic communication skills to reduce stress in conversational situations and change resistance to positive engagement. Performance rated with roleplay scoring (rubric).

4. Impose ethical guardrails to prevent persuasion from sliding into manipulation, which case studies and peer review would reveal.

5. Track and report on one metric (engagement, absenteeism, or goal completion rate) that demonstrates improvement within 12 weeks of adoption.

Pre course pre requisites and diagnostics

The participant will be asked to undertake some preparatory work (derived from neuroscience) estimated at 45 to 60 minutes:
- Online Emotional Awareness Self Assessment (we'll give you a validated tool).
- Prepare a short situational brief Current team challenge where motivation is low.
- Read short primer on the neuroscience of motivation (10 minute micro lesson)

Within larger organisations baseline measures collected:
- Brief team pulse (3 questions or less to capture sentiment)
- A personal self report EM style Table as part of individual emotional intelligence ability
- Manager expectations and KPIs for next quarter

Session roadmap and module breakout

Module 0 Orientation (pre work / asynchronous)
- Purpose: Set expectations, collect baseline data; prime the brain
- Deliverables: Three micro lessons (neuroscience basics/fear desire belonging overview/ethics primer); pre course survey, short reflection

Module 1 Foundations: What Emotional Motivation Is (and Isn't) (Virtual, 2 hours)
- Learning objectives:
- Distinguish between cognitive incentives and emotional motivators.
- Recognise the role of the limbic system (basic neuroscience without jargon).
- Agenda highlights:
- Quick icebreaker: "One word that gets you moving", live poll to surface drivers.
- Mini lecture: limbic system, dopamine pathways & behavioural loops, plain English, relevant workplace examples.
- Breakout activity: Map a recent team outcome to emotional drivers.
- Reflection and micro commitment: Participants draft one small experiment run in week #1.
- The Experiment plan as deliverable (1 to 2 paragraphs), employer sign off prompt.

Module 2 Practical Tools for Eliciting Emotion Ethically (Virtual, 2 hours)

Module objectives:
- Practice storytelling frameworks and sensory language to make messages stick.
- Learn go to empathy checks and reframes to have one on one conversations successfully.

Agenda highlights:
- A quick demonstration of crafting a 90 second purpose story about a boring KPI. Participants rewrite and then test.
- Skill practice: Three Empathy Moves (label, mirror, validate), roleplay triads with instructions feedback.
- Visual tools: How to use imagery and metaphor in team comms.
- Ethical checkpoint: Group debate between persuasion vs manipulation (Real examples) with scenarios.
- Deliverables: Two communication templates (one for a team briefing one for difficult conversations).

Application sprint Four weeks (participant led, coach supported)
- Activities:
- Week 1 to 2: Run the small experiment; daily 5 minute check ins with a peer buddy.
- Week 3: Mid program clinic optional group coaching session to troubleshoot; Measure impact with simple metrics (engagement pulse, check in notes) and prepare case reflection for workshop.

Module 3: Consolidation and Advanced Practice (Half day face to face)
- Purpose: Deep practice & cultural Calibration
- Learning objectives:
- Run high fidelity roleplays to embed skills with real world authenticity.
- Co design a team level emotional motivation plan fitted to organisational values.
- Agenda highlights:
- Rapid scenario relay, participants rotate through roleplay stations (conflict de escalation, performance conversation, team kickoff).
- Peer review using standard rubric, empathy, clarity, integrity adherence, outcome focus
- Design sprint, small groups present a three month team motivation plan including rituals recognition systems visual cues
- Leadership commitments, each makes one measurable change they will own
- Deliverables: Team plan Roleplays videoed for feedback peer ratings.

Assessment & measurement method

Multi modal assessment:
- Pre/post participant self assessments (emotional awareness, confidence in motivating), quantitative scales
- Roleplay rubric scoring behavioural observation of empathy, clarity, ethical boundary and getting the behaviour. Rubric scored 1 to 5.
- Team pulse: 3 question survey to be used pre program and at 6, and 12 weeks post implementation.
- Business metric(s): participants will choose one (e.g., on time delivery rate, customer satisfaction/ rating, absenteeism), should be aggregated at a cohort level if possible.

Success criteria (example):
- 20% lift in self reported confidence using emotional motivation tools
- 10% positive shift in team pulse within the first six weeks
- At least 70% of participants implement at least one tested intervention within four weeks.

0 MODULES CORE CONTENT (module by module detail)

Module 1 content bullets:
- Brain Basics Primer for Leaders: limbic system, amygdala, dopamine, why emotions feel immediate.
- Distinctions short lived fear based urgency vs sustainable purpose driven motivation. (Both have their place.)
- Group exercise: quick mapping of common workplace triggers to emotions.
- Homework: Choose and log 2 emotional triggers you see in your team this week.

Module 2: What you'll learn bullets:
- The storycrafting framework that makes your story stand out and fall into place "context → conflict → choice → connection". What to squeeze into 90 seconds.
- Language lab: Verbs, sensory adjectives and the "pause for effect" trick.
- Persuasion toolkit: framing, anchoring, scarcity, and moral boundaries for all, plus empathy micro skills like reflective listening, summarise and check and micro affirmations.

Module 3 content bullets:
- Roleplay bank of tailored scenarios: service recovery, low performer coaching, change announcement, wellbeing check in.
- Ritual design: simple, repeatable team rituals that reinforce belonging (two minute gratitude at daily stand ups).
- Visual systems: using brief, consistent imagery in comms to cue emotions (recognition boards and progress rings).
- Sustainability planning: embedding measurement peer coaching manager checkpoints.

Exercises and templates (samples)
- 2' purpose story template: headline, human detail, why it matters, single call to action.
- Empathy conversation script: three opening lines, two validating phrases, one paraphrase + one forward step.
- Experiment log: hypothesis action > observation evidence > adaptation. Try using this as a basic A/B test.
- Roleplay rubric (summary): Emotional recognition (1 to 5); Clarity of ask (1 to 5) Ethical adherence (1 to 5); Impact orientation (1 to 5).

Facilitation guidance (for trainers)

Tone: firm, not patronising. Blend evidence with street level examples.
- Group sizing: keep workshop roleplay groups small (3 to 4) for psychological safety.
- Timing of in person time: preserve at least 40% of in person time for practice; theory lives best in micro lessons.
- Managing risk: Establish a mental health triage protocol (we recommend partnering with HR on such, prior to any disclosures).

Measurement Examples and Templates
- Pre/Post pulse sample (3 items): "I feel my manager knows what inspires me"; "I derive energy from our team practices"; "I have a clear, emotionally connecting objective for the quarter." 5 point Likert
- Simple ROI tracker: Baseline absenteeism and engagement vs 12 week post measures; track one cost impacting measure (time on rework)
- Story based evidence participant case study template to capture qualitative impact, challenge, intervention, result, lesson.

Ethics and governance (compulsory module threads):
- Ethical checklist for communicators: transparency, consent, proportionality, privacy.
- Red flags: fear without mitigation, exploitation of personal vulnerabilities; withholding of information in a 'nudge' to action.
- Leadership role: modelling authenticity; removing incentives for manipulative behaviour.
- Immediate governance tool: a 5 question ethical screen to run before any motivational campaign.

Cultural adaptation and localisation notes, Australian workplace considerations: you must get to the point; fixing the robes; go easy on the strine, direct communication (getting straight to what's important), mateship and fair play valued, very few idioms!
- sector adaptations retail (short "rituals" and cues at p.o.s.) professional services (stories of why tied more closely to client benefit) not for profit (belonging stories & mission connection/stories = always frontman here)
- case examples anonymised transformations from similar organisations we've worked with, focus on results in steps that can be replicated 1 to 4 (we run these regularly).

General objections and specific responses (here are two positive views that detractors might disagree with)
- So here we go: Opinion 1: Short, repetitive "micro interventions" beat long one off workshops. Some will disagree. I think it is true of most operational teams, trials lead to faster changes in behaviour.
- Opinion 2: "There's a valid place for fear, used sparingly, it spurs rapid action." Controversial. Yet when supplemented with ethical framing and safety nets, it works for crisis response.

Risks, mitigation and troubleshooting

Risk: There is the risk that participants mistake persuasion as manipulation.
Mitigation: replication of ethical checkpoints, peer review and self reflection
- Risk: Leaders pull emotional triggers without structural change (cheap theatre).
Mitigation: Demand one process or policy tweak with every team plan.
- Risk: Emotional fatigue and burnout. War stories abound of broken teams that used this up, then burned out scared down operators.
Intervention: allocation of workload and wellbeing.

Follow up, coaching and sustainability

Post program support:
- 1 x 30 minute coaching check in for each participant (4 to 6 weeks following the program)
- Optional monthly peer to peer group accountability peer communities (facilitated for first three months)
- Access to library of micro learning and downloadable templates

How to scale: Train the trainer strand for HR or internal L&D team will cascade modules across regions (we recommend a shadowing model).

Timeline of evaluation (examples)
- T0: Pre program baseline (self assessment, team pulse).
- T1: Immediate post program (confidence, roleplay scores).
- T2: 6 weeks (team pulse, intervention metrics, qualitative case studies).
- T3: 12 weeks (sustained behaviour measures, business metric analysis, cohort retrospective).

Materials and resources
- Participant pack: manual, scenarios, experiment log, templates.
- Facilitator kit: slides, roleplay scripts, rubric, debrief guides.
- Micro content: 8 mini vids (max 12 mins each.) in neuroscience basics, story craft essentials; empathy moves; ethical frameworks; ritual design; visual cues training videos showing off practical engagement and measurement, troubleshooting important areas.

Sample schedule (1 cohort)
- Week 0: Pre work and diagnostics.
- Week 1: Virtual Module 1 (2 h).
- Week 2: Virtual Module 2 (2 h)+ start of experiment.
- Weeks 3 to 6: Application sprint with coach check in and peer buddy check in.
- Week 7: Half day, face to face consolidation workshop.
- Week 11 to 12: Follow up measures and coaching

Customisation and optional extras
- Industry scenario packs added, example areas: 1) Healthcare, series of scenarios; 2) hospitality; 3 Logistic pack or airport theme.
- Executive Briefing module + role play session (60 min to align sponsor);
- Extended Coaching package (3×1 hour executive coaching experience).
- Accreditation: micro credential badge for evidence requirements completion as an extra option feature.

Why this works (in brief)

Our view: Because leaders who can name and shape team emotions build clearer, longer buy in than those who govern mainly by rule or incentive. Behaviour follows felt experience. It's practical. It's also human. And it does scale when there's a moral firmer grip and an ability to measure. We have observed small rituals to change culture in a way long classroom hours couldn't. One last true story: A Sydney based operations team reduced rework by 15 percent in two weeks by following a simple purpose story and passing the hat at morning rituals. It happens.

Key success metrics at the organisational level to monitor
- Increase in a team pulse (target +10% over 6 to 12 weeks).
- Rate of implementation (multiple target: 70% of participants implement one intervention within 4 weeks).
- Business relevant change (example: 10% reduction in task rework; 8% uplift in Customer satisfaction scores, where applicable).
- Qualitative successes captured and shared stories (metrics infographic) aspect academy

Closing notes (short)

This takes into account hands on, ethical guardrails and what to measure. Brief, to the point learning + real world practice. Not a feel good fluff course. Real work; measurable outcomes. And if you would prefer a version customised to senior executives or frontline retail teams, we can customise the scenarios and metrics with speed.