How to Provide Training That Employees Will Enjoy — and Remember

Companies that invest in their people are the ones that manage to overcome tough times and attract the best talent. And employee training is one of the best forms of investing in your staff’s future and professional development.

And yet, more than half of the people who participate in training offered by their companies are not too thrilled about it. Also, a large number of people don’t remember most of the information a couple of weeks later. 

So, what is there to do? Training is beneficial, but only if the persons taking it actually like it and learn from it. If you’re worried the same thing happens with your organization or business, here are a few tips to make things a bit more exciting for those involved.

Understand that Learning Doesn’t Happen in One Session

When we were in school, learning was our main occupation. But even so, we had plenty of opportunities to revise past lessons, use the things we learned in practice, and re-learn what we forgot for end-of-year exams. 

So why do businesses think that adult people with lots of responsibilities on their shoulders (besides their job) can learn everything they need to know during their onboarding? Some companies are a bit more generous and offer bi-anual training, but this won’t cut it either.

Learning must happen in well-timed sessions that allow for the information to settle. According to scientific research, one of the methods that help people improve knowledge retention is interval reinforcement. This is when the information is presented in small amounts and then repeated (reinforced) over spaced intervals of time.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Use a Fully Featured Digital Adoption Platform

The modern employee must know how to work with at least a dozen apps in order to be functional in an office job. However, as the technology changes, new apps and software tools appear, which means that employees need to learn new features and understand how one piece of software fits in with the ones they already know and use.

All this leads to a cognitive overload which, in time, can lead to burnout, low productivity, lack of motivation, and more. But a reliable Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) can help reduce the level of knowledge an employee needs to assimilate just to do their job. 

The role of a DAP is to facilitate the adoption and learning of any software through step-by-step guidance that’s easily accessible. One such platform is WalkMe, which is extremely popular among corporate management, but there are lots of Walk me alternatives that provide the same guidance, but in a different manner.

Avoid “Death by PowerPoint” 

Sadly, many training sessions involve a heavy-loaded PowerPoint presentation that simply dumps a bunch of information onto the students. The process in itself is boring and frustrating, since you know you have to pay attention, learn, and retain information that’s poorly presented.

The best thing a business can do to make sure all training sessions are designed to provide maximum benefits is to find a reliable and experienced training provider. Experienced educators know how to put the information into a context that makes sense for your employees by creating real-world scenarios and asking trainees to apply what they just learned.

By shifting the teaching method, you challenge the trainees’ brains and push them to work with the new information. And, by asking them to work with a familiar scenario, it will be easier to recall the lesson whenever a similar situation arises at work.

It Should be Fun

Let’s do an imagination exercise. You had a difficult day at work with lots of fires to put out, but your day isn’t over just yet. There’s still one training session you have to attend. How do you feel about it? 

Most employees would dread the idea of spending another hour at the office after a hard day of work. And yet, some feel refreshed! That’s because they know the following hour is going to be fun, exciting, and motivating. 

We learn best when we feel good about it. And, to feel good, we need a positive environment sprinkled with a bit of lighthearted competition. Many training specialists recommend using gamification elements (leaderboards, quests, scoring, benefits, awards) to motivate students’ fighting spirit.

The idea is to create a friendly competition between trainees and motivate them to improve through positive reinforcements. Furthermore, it’s a fantastic idea to help colleagues know each other better. 

Wrap Up

Small bits of information repeated at short intervals of time, a well-designed DAP that works well with your business, interesting presentations that put information into context, and gamification elements are only a few of the elements that make corporate training fun and exciting. 

People love to learn new things, as long as it’s fun. So, finding the right training system for your company may also require you getting to know your employees. Overall, the experience should benefit everyone, so why not give it a try?