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Essential Motivators Public Course

A framework for understanding people’s strengths and needs

There’s no universal truth when it comes to inspiring people to do their best work. One person’s top motivator can be someone else’s biggest demotivator. Individuals must uncover their own motivations to bring their best skills and talents to their work and communicate their needs to their leaders.

Blanchard’s Essential Motivators™ public course applies a framework developed by author and expert Linda Berens, who has over forty years of experience teaching people to recognize their strengths, transcend their weaknesses, and work together better. The course teaches a four-pattern framework that is simple, effective, and fun to apply and benefits managers and front-line employees alike.

Course Outcomes

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Enhance Organizational Effectiveness

Recognizing individual strengths and uncovering what drives individual achievement leads to better business outcomes.

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Build Employee Engagement

Aligning core needs and motivators to the work people do each day creates a renewed sense of purpose and increased employee satisfaction.

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Increase Collaboration

Understanding each other's perspectives and needs improves teamwork and collaboration.

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Encourage Empathy

Increased self-awareness builds appreciation for workplace diversity and a willingness to accept others for who they are.

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Learning Objectives

Participants will:

  • Understand how core needs influence workplace relationships and interactions
  • Discover and manage unique stressors and shadows
  • Identify Essential Motivators patterns in others
  • Appreciate others for who they are and what they need


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Course Details

The Essential Motivators course is an instructor-led virtual course with three two-hour sessions. The course includes pre-course work, engaging materials, videos, and interactive learning activities that explore a system of four patterns that help people become more collaborative and effective:

  • Air — Strategic, theoretical, and focused on designing solutions
  • Earth — Hungry for responsibility, accountability, and predictability
  • Fire — Want the freedom to choose the next action and respond to the needs of the moment
  • Water — Want to be authentic and caring and develop meaningful relationships
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Who Should Attend

This course is ideal for anyone who wants to become an active proponent of inclusion in their workplace:

  • Managers will learn to uncover the core motivators and needs of the people they lead and become more effective and empathetic leaders
  • Individuals will gain insight into themselves and learn a vocabulary to express their needs to their managers and colleagues in a way that fosters an inclusive workplace
We found that Blanchard’s evidence-based, extensively researched models and frameworks provided the fundamental skills we needed to develop.
Amanda Broadnax, director talent development

Upcoming Essential Motivators Public Courses

  • United States | Virtual

    March 4, 11, and 18, 2025
    English
    Virtual
    $425 USD/$595 CAD + tax
    Register

  • United States | Virtual

    July 9, 16, and 23, 2025
    English
    Virtual
    $425 USD/$595 CAD + tax
    Register

  • United States | Virtual

    October 16, 23, and 30, 2025
    English
    Virtual
    $425 USD/$595 CAD + tax
    Register
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