5 Common Continuous Training Challenges To Overcome
You’ve probably pulled all-nighters to get through important exams. We routinely do it for compliance matters as well, but it’s not healthy or effective. You’ll forget everything the second you leave the exam room. Sometimes, even the moment you enter it, thanks to pre-test nerves. In the corporate space, that means your training budget was wasted. Continuous training will – in theory – ensure your employees retain transferred knowledge longer. This is good because they’re likely to need that information in their everyday work tasks. So how else can LMS and continuous learning help your team perform better at work?
1. Lack Of Motivation
Few of us find the process of education pleasurable. Even when we’re studying subjects we enjoy, the "school" part of it just isn’t fun. When trainees are part of the working population, they have additional barriers to learning. They’re busy with work tasks and personal responsibilities. Working up the energy to train is a chore in itself. A continuous learning LMS can assist in several little ways. It can send reminders when a new topic is uploaded. It can offer rewards for completed course sections. Best of all, it enables your L&D team to present training content in more exciting formats. Offering a course in the form of a playful simulation could raise engagement levels. They’re empowered to take charge of their own online training instead of settling for lackluster performance.
2. Employees Aren't Aware Of Their Gaps
Street lore suggests you should assume everyone on the road is crazy and drive accordingly. This can protect you from road rage – to some extent. However, it doesn’t overtly remind you that "everyone" includes you. So, you’re busy disparaging other people’s bad driving when you could be worse. This is why you get surprised when you report illegal parking to HR. You assume your target will be fined … then end up in a "proper parking" class yourself. Similarly, when a certain course is offered, many staff members won’t sign up. They’re sure they don’t need it. You could open their eyes to their own blind spot through self-assessment. Use quick, basic quizzes to spot skill gaps, then gently nudge trainees to fill them. Or even invite them to participate in simulations and branching scenarios that give them a subtle eye-opener. For instance, they realize that their communication skills may not be as strong as they thought when a virtual customer gets upset.
3. Continuous Training Objectives Change
Some training targets are pretty straightforward. Maybe you want to increase sales numbers or prepare promising employees for a promotion. But sometimes, things change. You may begin your sales course with the aim of moving a promotional line. Partway through the course, you hit your targets. You don’t want to suddenly exit the course. That wastes time and resources. If you built the course in-house, you could assess the strategy. Ask what other skills they might want. Review their progress so far and see which areas need extra attention. Then use the LMS to adjust content. This way, you can pursue new objectives without spending extra cash. Also, you won’t feel the earlier lessons were wasted because you can piggyback into fresh content.
4. Paths Branch Off In Different Directions
Many organizations make the mistake of offering their entire team the same "personal" path. They think that continual learning involves the same skills, topics, and tasks. But they fail to see that every employee requires something unique as they venture through the cycle. Even their personality traits, interests, and professional goals require divergent training paths. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing your top talent because they don’t get the individualized support they need. Offer them the freedom to pave their own path and choose resources that align with their goals and gaps. Don’t assume that every new hire has the same knowledge base. Or that each of your customer service employees is on a level playing field when it comes to task performance.
5. Inadequate Training Time
Managing limited study duration is often described as the key benefit of online learning. But where ongoing learning wins is feedback loops. In ordinary canned courses, you can review performance after every session, but you can’t make wholesale changes until everyone finishes. LMS gives you far more flexibility. You can make edits at will and give every trainee their own path. This means you can literally alter content for one trainee at a time. Because learner engagement is monitored in real-time, you could spot that video people keep navigating away from. You can even see the exact time-stamp where attention falls off. Using that as a guide, you’re able to re-structure your content into cut-outs. Look at bulky courses and break them into smaller portions. The same principle applies to audio clips, text blogs, or visuals. All these can be re-purposed and shrunk down as needed.
How An LMS Can Assist With Continuous Training Challenges
The barriers to ongoing training aren’t necessarily what you’d expect. As with other forms of workforce development, your staff may be too busy to learn. Or they might be so held up between work and life that there’s no mental space left for training. Like many of us, they may lack the self-awareness to recognize their dearth of skill. And they may not respond well to having these weaknesses pointed out. Continuous training and LMS can help. Self-assessment, multimedia options, micro-modules, real-time edits, and customized training paths are all helpful tools. Game your training system and create a valid feedback loop for best results.
Which continuous learning LMS is right for your organization? How can you sort through all the options to find a system that fits your budget? Our online directory can help you select a system that overcomes ongoing training challenges. You can even view the top 20 lists to see which solutions deliver the best UX, CX, and value for money.
Download our eBook Continuous Learning In The Workplace: How To Harness The Power Of An LMS For Your Teams to extend training beyond employee orientation.
