Organizations in every industry invest a significant amount of time and money into their corporate training programs, but not every organization gets the same results. How do you maximize training effectiveness and get a high ROI on your L&D programs? Although there are several reasons a training program does not provide favorable results, there are several ways you can strategically maximize the value of your corporate training programs.
Evaluate Whether Your Development Programs Support Business Goals
Has your business changed its goals and objectives in the last year? Covid19 had a dramatic effect on the business world. Digital transformations have increased, business models have shifted; even modern work environments look different today than they did just a year ago. If you have not taken the time to see if your employee development programs still align with your current business needs, it could be negatively impacting the effectiveness of training.
Take time to assess the current state of your corporate training programs. Identify high-priority business goals. Once you identify knowledge and performance gaps, you can adjust your employee training programs to help close them.
Include Social Elements In Your Online Courses
Is your organization struggling with low levels of employee engagement? Today people feel more isolated than ever. Social restrictions are still fluctuating throughout different parts of the world. More than a quarter of employees feel disconnected from their leaders and team members (1). Your online training programs can give employees an opportunity to connect. Integrating social elements into your corporate learning programs can both bring employees together and raise levels of engagement.
Social learning can help your business create, promote a culture of learning, and help learners develop a deeper sense of connectedness. Adding discussions in virtual instructor-led sessions, enabling chat features, and integrating collaborative activities into your programs can improve engagement levels. LinkedIn Learning recently shared in a Workplace Learning Report that learners who use social features watch 30 times more training content than those who do not (2).
Set Up a Process for Regular Measurement and Optimization
There is no denying that the rate of change has accelerated since the pandemic began. The increased pace of change can impact training effectiveness. It has become necessary to have a plan in place for strategic evaluation and optimization. You should also have a process for conducting and tracking learning content updates.
If you have an evaluation plan in place, consider increasing the frequency of your content review process. Accuracy is needed to facilitate change. This will help your business provide the most relevant information to your employees.
Consider Whether Outsourcing Makes Sense for Your Business
Learning has risen to be a top priority for enterprise organizations today. Employee development plays a strategic role in facilitating organizational change. It also plays a critical role in reskilling today’s workforce. Many modern businesses today can benefit from working with outsourced training industry providers.
It is common in today’s current business climate for organizations to have fluctuating training needs. They may need to develop a small-scale project at one point and then later in the year introduce an enterprise-wide program. Working with an outsourced management and training corporation can help your business improve scalability with little effect on your internal teams. A managed learning services provider can also be useful in these scenarios as they provide end-to-end training services allowing you to work with a single provider.
Businesses can also benefit from streamlining L&D tasks that are unrelated to core objectives. For example, many organizations can free up the time of their internal staff by outsourcing their LMS administration needs. An outsourced provider will already have trained professionals who can help maintain and manage your corporate training software. Administrative providers can also help with tasks unrelated to your learning management system, such as scheduling, coordinating, budgeting, and reporting.
An outsourced provider can also help your business quickly identify and resolve performance issues. A performance consultant or an instructional designer will be able to create a learning solution that improves performance at an organizational level and drive business results.
Integrate Learning Into the Flow of Work
Finding time for L&D can be a struggle. 61% of professionals in a recent survey shared that a lack of time prevents their teams from successfully upskilling (3). Integrating learning into the flow of work can help your organization prioritize employee development.
One of the easiest ways you can help employees get the most out of their learning experiences is by providing additional resources and support outside of the classroom environment. Give employees reference materials, guides, refresher videos, or workbooks. These resources make it easier for employees to remember and put what they learn into practice while on the job.
Another way you can integrate learning into the flow of work is by creating courses in shorter formats such as microlearning. Microlearning breaks down training materials into short easy to consume segments. This helps increase knowledge retention and makes it easier for employees to fit into their schedules.
Final Note
In the current disruptive business environment, effective corporate training programs have become a critical part of driving organizational change. An effective program can increase a business’s ability to adapt to change, improve employee performance and increase your revenue. Selecting the right strategy and training modalities can make all the difference. Read the eBook The Guide for Maximizing Corporate Training ROI
