What's The Most Suitable Social Learning Approach For Onboarding Training?
New hires experience a spectrum of emotions, from anxiety and worry, to excitement and determination. Wouldn’t it be great if experienced staffers could impart their wisdom and help new recruits de-stress and balance their state of mind? The key is to find the best social learning approach for your onboarding training. Preferably, a strategy that makes the most of in-house talent and gives employee training participants all the support they need to succeed. Such a thing might involve social media platforms, peer coaching, moment of need resources, and a variety of other collaborative online training tools. Here are some tips to help you create a holistic social learning program for new hire training.
1. Survey Experienced Employees Regarding Their Onboarding Experience
Employees who’ve come before can tell you what works and what needs to be improved. Thus, you’re able to find a social learning approach that’s best for your new team members based on experienced employees’ feedback. Conduct surveys, polls, and focus groups that center on the onboarding experience. For example, was there enough peer-based support or collaboration? Did you provide them with demos and real-world examples so that they could mimic those behaviors? Were there certain social learning techniques that worked better than others? For example, they might prefer Facebook live events or more private discussion forums for peer-based support.
2. Ask For Peer Mentoring Volunteers
Those experienced employees can also become peer mentors or coaches in onboarding online training, to help their newest co-workers fine-tune performance behaviors and point out personal points, discreetly, of course. Their role is to showcase tasks, habits, and skills that new hires need to get the job done. They also field questions and are always on-hand to guide employee training participants during their moment of need. Live chat, video conferencing, and PM platforms are ideal for peer mentoring. You should also put some godliness in place to keep everyone on track and avoid conflicts. Everyone must be on the same page and willing to step into the coaching role when the time comes. A great way to pair up new hire with experienced staffers is questionnaires. You can get a feel for their interests, goals, and aspirations, as well as the strengths they bring to the table.
3. Assess Your Current JIT Library For New Hires
Never underestimate the importance of JIT support for new employees. Does your current library feature social learning tools to help them resolve common problems? Such as task demo videos, simulations, and tutorials. Does it give them all the essentials they need to ease into their new job roles without asking a manager for help every hour? Your social learning approach should involve collaboration to a certain degree. However, there must also be self-guided activities new employees can access on their own, to save face. For instance, bite-size clips from a recorded live event that show the right or wrong way to follow company policy.
4. Evaluate Social Media Platform Engagement Stats
Social media is a crucial part of modern social learning strategies. It’s free, easily accessible, and most of your employees already spend half their day on these platforms. The key is to evaluate your current social media stats to see which gets the most activity. Then customize your social learning approach based on the most popular tools, as well as the level of interactivity and engagement. For example, Facebook allows you to post quick polls for feedback and daily prompts to get employees actively involved. Moreover, your most recent posts have a high amount of internal views and comments. Discussion forums, blogs, and video sharing site stats are also worth a look.
5. Analyze LMS Metrics For Structured Social Learning Activities
A common misconception regarding social learning is that it’s all impromptu and informal. Thus, the only way to track it is through those social media stats I mentioned earlier. However, you can also deploy more structured activities in your LMS. For instance, group collab projects, simulations, and interactive demo videos with follow-up assessments. All these resources produce measurable metrics you can use to personalize your social learning approach. As an example, those safety training videos don’t get much love these days. So, it may be time to rethink your strategy and incorporate fresh resources to bring new hires up to speed and keep them safe on the job.
6. Hire An eLearning Content Provider
An eLearning content provider doesn’t just create content, as the name implies. There’s a broad range of services they offer, including Training Needs Analysis defining online training objectives. They can help you identify gaps and then fill them with social learning activities. The caveat is that you need a provider who specializes in your industry and use case. They should also work well with your team and have similar business practices or work habits. Make them aware of your expectations and budget in advance so there’s no surprises or hidden fees.
Prepare new employees for the obstacles ahead and break the ice so that they feel like they’re part of the team. The social learning theory enables you to get experienced staffers on board and contribute to the new hire training experience. You’ll probably find that the best social learning approach is a mix of social media, live events, peer coaching, and other engaging elements. Every objective, gap, and outcome calls for a unique plan of action to meet everyone’s needs. So, make it personal and draw on in-house talents to personalize your onboarding online training program.
Wondering what social learning is and how you can implement it in the workplace to motivate employees, facilitate knowledge sharing and talent development? Download our eBook Social Learning In The Workplace: How To Cultivate A Collaborative Online Training Culture and get to expose all the common myths around social learning!
