5 Important Steps That You Should Follow
Any organization is only as good as its employees. If you want your company to thrive, you need to make sure that your employees are growing their skills. To facilitate employee development, training programs are important. With remote work becoming the norm, you also need to find ways to conduct these sessions online. The good news is that the internet makes it possible for you to add an element of fun to corporate training sessions. With videos, polls, quizzes, and other such features, you make your sessions more interactive and engaging. If you do it right, it can even make them a lot more fun than in-person training.
5 Steps To Create A Great eLearning Corporate Training Program For Your Organization
If you are looking to adopt an eLearning corporate training program for your organization, here are some strategies that you might want to incorporate:
1. Be Clear About Your Purpose
The first step to creating an effective eLearning corporate training program is to get clarity on your purpose. What is it that you want to accomplish with your training sessions?
Some of the most common purposes for such programs include:
- Bridge a knowledge gap
- Improve efficiency [1] and performance
- Introduce the latest technologies
- Onboard new employees
Once you are clear about the purpose of your employee training program, you can list your goals. However, make sure your goals are not phrased vaguely.
Your goals should be SMART (i.e., specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely). Based on your purpose and goals, you should set a clear budget for the entire eLearning corporate training program.
2. Design The Content Outline
After you are clear about your purpose, goals, and budget, it’s time to start designing your content. Don’t make the mistake of copying your policies into a document for the training program. It’s also a bad idea to simply copy online materials and package them as your own.
Your training materials should be designed keeping in mind the needs of your target audience. You know them the best, so it’s best to create a unique training program. Begin by listing the important sub-points you want to cover.
When you break complex topics into easy-to-digest, simpler segments, it becomes easier for your employees to retain that information. This kind of microlearning experience can also help hold their attention span. Furthermore, you can use mind maps, videos, images, infographics, and audio clips to make your content more engaging. Such multimedia elements can help break the monotony of text. It can also go a long way to hold your audience’s attention.
3. Consider Using Gamification Elements
For better employee engagement, you can also use gamification elements like quizzes and interactive games. Not only can they keep users entertained but they can also make learning more fun.
Not sure where to include them?
You can add these elements after the end of each section. This way, you can also test if your employees have absorbed the information from the training session.
Employees can also assess their own strengths and weaknesses through gamified learning. It is also a great way to provide them with instant feedback and instill a sense of accomplishment in them. Such immersive, memorable experiences can also make training seem less intimidating and more enjoyable.
4. Use Real-World Examples And Case Studies
To illustrate your point and explain a concept in detail, make sure you are using case studies and real-life examples. This can promote a deeper understanding of complex topics and give them a glimpse of those concepts in action.
If your training program is focused on helping employees gain problem-solving and analytical skills, then you should definitely use case studies. By observing real-life scenarios and trends, your employees can relate to the concepts better.
5. Pick The Right Software Solution
Once your content is ready, it’s time to pick the right software solution to conduct your corporate training program. There are multiple cloud-based Learning Management Systems [2] (LMS) available in the market.
The best program will depend on your budget and requirements. While shortlisting options, make sure you keep the following criteria in mind:
- Mobile-friendliness
- User-friendliness
- Scalability
- Customer service
- Content customization options
- Chat functionality
- Collaboration options
- Personalization features
- Reporting and analytics
Not sure if you’ve found the right online learning platform that fits your organization’s needs? Pick a software program that has a free trial. That can help you get a better idea of the functionality that it offers.
Also, check out customer reviews on multiple social media platforms and other sites to get a better understanding of the program’s features.
Conclusion
Designing an effective employee training program isn’t just about curating content and making a few slides. Instead, it’s all about knowing who your audience is and designing a curriculum that is suitable for them. From the onset, you should know your purpose and goal of the training program. This clarity can help you design your content more effectively. To keep users engaged, you should break your content down into multiple sections and subsections. Microlearning ensures that your audience won’t get overwhelmed by too much information. It can go a long way in holding their attention and keeping them engaged.
If you want to test their knowledge, you can also include quizzes and interactive games after each topic. In addition to this, you should include real-life examples so that users can get a better understanding of even complex topics. Lastly, pick a software solution to conduct your corporate training program. Make sure you pick the one that meets all of your requirements.
Now that you know what it takes to create a great eLearning corporate training program, it’s time to design your own. Good luck!
References:
[1] The 45+ Best Productivity Apps of 2020
[2] Top 10 Cloud-Based Learning Management Systems For Corporate Training (2020 Update)
