Everyone wants to learn, but no one has the time. According to Bersin, the modern learner is overwhelmed, distracted, and impatient. To make matters worse, only 1% of the typical workweek is time for employees to focus on training and development. That’s not a lot. With limited time, no one wants to sit through soul-sucking, unoriginal training hours.
Here are a few tips on adding some pizazz to your learning and development programs and getting people back for more!
- Make it visible. I know what you’re thinking; this is a no-brainer. However, your jaw would drop if you knew how many employees could not access training courses. You might have a spectacular learning management system (LMS) filled with hundreds of great courses, but if your team doesn’t know it exists, they’ll never use it. Start thinking of ways you can showcase your LMS. Develop a monthly learning newsletter that highlights new, popular content. Share learning news, tips, and insights on your organization’s internal social networking tools. Shamelessly plug your learning and development options whenever and wherever you can. If you want more advice on marketing your learning courses, check out our “Why Learning and Marketing Should be BFFs” whitepaper!
- Make it valuable. Learning gets a bad rap because people think it will be boring. And you can’t blame them. Everyone has had to sit through hours of soul-sucking training. You must create content and development paths beyond traditional onboarding and management training. Learning doesn’t have to be serious. You can make it fun and interactive!
- Make it bite-sized. The fact is, people don’t have enough time in the day to dedicate to learning. Learning and development teams need to accommodate the distracted and impatient workforce. Rethink your content strategy. Create five-minute videos and courses that engage the learners. A short training session will have far more attendance and impact than hour-long courses.
- Make it a game. Gamification is the sexy new trend in the learning scene, and for good reason. Gamification engages learners. Yet, according to Gartner, 80% of gamification initiatives fail. You must apply gamification to the right content in the right context. Identify the problem you’re trying to solve rather than just applying gamification to make learning fun. Explore the idea of creating leaderboards or showcasing the top learner of the month. A little friendly competition in your organization might trick learners into engaging. For some great advice on how to get started, check out the blog post, Game On, from Fistful of Talent.
- Make it a conversation. Ask for feedback! Throwing learning content against the wall and seeing what sticks is a waste. Opening up the lines of communication is the only way to understand what is working and what isn’t truly. Survey and interview your employees to understand what they want to learn and how they want to learn. You will be surprised by the amount of meaningful feedback you receive.
Learning should be celebrated, not ignored. The impacts of strong learning and development programs are profound. Bersin found that organizations that have a strong learning culture do better in their market than those who do not. These organizations are 46% more likely to be the leader in their industry, saw a 34% increase in their ability to respond to the needs of the customer, and are 17% more likely to become the market share leader.