Creating An On Demand Training Program: What You Should Avoid
Digital transformations have led to a rise in demand for instant information and answers. Employees are turning to their devices to get the answers they need and many organizations are finding themselves unable to keep up. On demand training offers a handy solution for businesses.
There are many benefits of on demand training: it’s flexible, easily-accessible, cost-effective, and it suits the habits of the modern learner. So it’s understandable that more organizations are getting on board and switching to on demand training programs.
Unfortunately, there are though many businesses that don't succeed for one reason or another. So it would be interesting to discuss here what is possibly going wrong and that will help you realize how you can also avoid making similar mistakes. Take a look at some common mistakes below:
1. Not Understanding Business Objectives
Before creating any new training program, it’s important to understand why you need it, and how it’s going to help your business and people.
There are many benefits of an on demand training program, for example:
- It’s not limited to one device or location.
- It meets the demands of busy workloads and schedules.
- It’s quick and easy to keep the information up-to-date.
- It provides real-time solutions and answers.
It’s important not to focus on just the benefits, however, and to look at the bigger picture. Consider why you’re implementing the training program in the first place, and how it aligns with what your employees actually need to succeed within your organization, and the ways they’re already ‘learning’ on their own.
Recognize what your people consider to be their key learning goals and the day-to-day challenges they face. By asking for their feedback and ensuring you fully understand the questions they’re asking, your digital resources will prove to be far more useful because they’re job specific and designed to address key capability and performance issues.
2. Still Focusing On Traditional L&D Methods
Many organizations fall into the trap of using the same generic courses and content from their previous LMS and copying and pasting it onto an on demand training program.
Unfortunately, this results in poor engagement rates and wasted time and money spent on training software that is not being utilized properly. By committing to an on demand training program and using it in the best possible way, L&D teams should avoid adding generic content, which is unengaging and counter-productive for your people.
Focus your efforts on creating digital resources that equip your people with organizational context, knowledge, and know-how and support your employees to do the actual work they’re tasked with. By making this information available on demand, you’ll find you address your organization’s real performance and capability problems by supporting your employees in the workflow and giving them the tools they need to do their jobs better and faster.
3. Not Utilizing Data Or Feedback
It’s difficult to understand the value of your on demand training program if you’re not prepared to gather feedback and monitor data.
Many organizations fail to ask their people for feedback or take the time to look at data gaps to see what is or isn’t working and find their training fails to really take off or engage their employees.
You should be looking to continuously improve your training to ensure your on demand training program is helping you align with your organization’s learning goals.
Data has made it easier than ever for L&D teams to understand what their people need and when creating your training materials it’s important to recognize the impact data and feedback will have moving forward. Compare data from the implementation date to a few weeks down the line. Check how certain resources have impacted performance and which resources may be receiving less engagement. Use these insights to start a conversation with your people to further understand what can be used to improve your training. This collaborative approach should be implemented even before creating your on demand training; focus on having conversations before your produce your content. It’s important to really understand what your people need and not assume L&D knows best.
You’ll find by listening to your employees and providing useful resources that meet their motivations to learn, they will be far more likely to engage with your training and wanting to continue using the software moving forward.
4. Not Having Enough Support In Place
Many organizations fall into the trap of believing they only need to worry about the features of their training program and that they can then leave their employees to ‘get on with it’. However, the reality is that your people don’t come to work to ‘learn’ therefore you need to be able to showcase the value of your software.
Your on demand training program is there to support your employees in the long run so it’s important you’re available to answer questions and offer support as your employees get to know the program, so they’re able to utilize it in the best possible way during the rest of their time with the company.
When your staff become more familiar with the software and recognize the positive impact it has on their jobs and performance, they’re far more likely to return on their own and feel comfortable and confident when doing so.
It’s important to consider these mistakes when creating your on demand training program to ensure you don’t spend time on tasks further down the line that could have been avoided. Action our useful tips to make the most of your software and get your people engaged and motivated to perform better.
