Jay Malcom
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Learning doesn’t stop when training ends. One-and-done training isn’t effective. Learning needs to be continuous in order to successfully impart knowledge on an audience and achieve desired behavioral change.
And, if that wasn’t enough, there additional benefits to an ongoing eLearning program. It fosters the kind of environment that employees want to work in.
Motivation: If employees feel supported, if there are opportunities for them to get better at their job, they’ll want to work for the organization. It’s reciprocal. Just like anything, you get out of it what you put into it.
Self-Sufficiency: Ongoing learning and performance support helps employees complete their jobs with a sense of independence and satisfaction. No longer will there be hesitation or concern about asking questions. Errors and missed steps will happen less frequently as there are resources to help guide them to success.
Let’s talk about ways you can keep learning going after the initial training is complete.
- Post-training check-ins – Don’t assume that your audience got everything they needed from one course, whether it’s delivered online or in a face-to-face classroom setting. Check in with them via email or even SMS messaging to conduct additional assessment or deliver supporting content. With the right kind of knowledge sharing platform, this can be set up for automated delivery.
- Leverage social learning – Encourage your audience to collaborate with each other via a social learning platform. They should be able to ask and answer each other’s questions, sharing knowledge and ideas and strengthening the sense of team.
- Make it a game – A little competition never hurt anyone, and whether they’re competing against each other or just themselves, a gaming element not only keeps learners interested, it helps make the subject matter memorable.
- Leaderboards – On a similar note, a little competitions among colleagues can stimulate excitement and motivation around what’s historically been a dreaded aspect of the job…training. Have your audience log scores and successful step completions by posting to a centralized leaderboard.
- Offer rewards – Whether a simple certificate, a badge, something they can put in their email signature or even something of monetary value, incentives keep people engaged.
- Performance Support checklists, videos and job aids – Information doesn’t stick after only being delivered once, so offer your learners refresher material and a checklist to help them remember what they need to do. If how to complete a step is forgotten, no worries. They’ve got a short video or job aid at their fingertips.
Rather than sending your employees through a plodding, ineffective training program, why not instead offer them a set of learning tools that go beyond initial training and are engaging, convenient, useful and effective?
photo credit: Apple iPad Air 2
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