It’s not easy being an L&D professional.
As companies want employees trained for skills they should have had
yesterday, it is upto L&D teams to satisfy the learning and development goals
at the speed of innovation.
Besides, every learning initiative has to get a resounding endorsement
from senior management, steady involvement from managers, and engagement from
learners. While all this is already challenging, the pandemic hasn’t made life
any easier!
As an L&D professional, you may be putting your best foot forward to
survive in a rapid-growth climate, but it’s easy to lose sight of the
priorities. In this blog, we bring to you 5 of the best tips to overcome the recurring
obstacles and create an impactful eLearning program:
1.Offer Personalized
Learning Experiences
In the era of Netflix and personalized content suggestions for
everything from food to shopping, modern learners no more want a “one size fits
all approach” in anything and that includes training and development. As L&D
professionals, you can get a lowdown on the unique expectations and needs of
learners and create employee training courses that are personalized for them and
are centered around their goals. Today’s workforce is also well aware of the
skills they need to advance and are eager to take up the courses that will help
them get there.
How
to do it: You need to focus upon
creating on-demand courses in engaging formats like video to help employees
meet their professional goals.
2.Leverage Social
Learning and Knowledge Collaboration
Learners these days often depend on social media for garnering
knowledge. While formal training is important, it also helps to bring in
informal learning initiatives that encourage sharing of knowledge. You can
leverage social learning tools that enable learners to interact with their
peers and colleagues to get direct answers which will create a culture of
learning and knowledge sharing across the organization.
How
to do it: Tools like
discussion forums, social networks, internal podcasts and other interactive
ways are what can set your courses apart from the non-engaging content.
3.Explore Mobile
Learning
Mobile learning is increasingly becoming a popular way to deliver and
access employee training initiatives through mobile devices like smartphones
and tablets. Employees are a busy lot today and mobile learning offers a host
of benefits, particularly to remote workers. Giving learners the ability to
access learning content anytime, anywhere allows them the chance to engage with
flexible learning as per their convenience in a location and time that suits
them. People can complete their training on-the-go, at home, while travelling
or any other time they think is suitable. Learning via mobile devices helps
people learn at their own pace and in their own style.
How
to do it: You canleverage the benefits
of mobile learning that allows to incorporate diverse media like videos,
visuals, podcasts, quizzes etc in training and development programs which can
help create content to suit different learning styles.
4.Incorporate Gamification
in Learning
One of the more preferred employee engagement strategies that has
emerged in recent years is the gamification of learning. Since most people love
playing games, gamification aims to use game-like modules in learning
initiatives to achieve learning outcomes with some fun formats. Applying
gamification techniques to learning solutions can touch different emotions in
learners like engagement, sense of achievement, improvement and perhaps a bit
of healthy competition. Employees who dislike training and development programs
that are slow and boring will find gamified learning much more fun.
How
to do it: Gamified learning allows an efficient combination of storytelling,
exploration and investigation to spark the interest of learners.
5.Deploy Microlearning
videos
Using videos to create learning content is nothing new in today’s
L&D world. But it’s pointless to include long, boring and bland videos that
hardly generate any interest among learners. The key is to use Microlearning by
deploying short, crisp videos that are far more effective than longer ones. Microlearning
is a strategic learning and development approach that moves away from
traditional, long-drawn training sessions and instead focusses on specific
learner content delivered through short bursts.
How
to do it: Less than one to 10-minute
videos that are easy-to-digest work great for learners whose attention spans
are short.
In Conclusion
When done right, an L&D strategy has the potential to fetch good
ROI, increased engagement, and enhanced employee productivity. You can consider
incorporating the above-mentioned tips into your learning strategy to
accomplish key business goals and drive organizational change through learning.
