Under normal circumstances we would never, ever try to freak you out. Of course not; we’re too busy making learning easy and trying to reduce your stress level in any way possible. In fact, we even tried to allay your Friday the 13th jitters this month. But… come on…

IT’S HALLOWEEN, so let’s get spooky!

Reach into the bright orange, plastic jack-o-lantern in the break room, grab a handful of your favorite mini-treats, and read on to make sure that you avoid these super scary corporate training no-nos.

A list that should send chills down the spine of any learner —
The Seven Worst Scary-Bad Corporate Training Mistakes:

1. Death by slideshow. Nooooo…. Just don’t do it. Your learners fear from the bottoms of their hearts that they’ll have to click through another creaky, old set of slides to complete yet another required training with their eyelids propped open. Retention levels on this type of passive learning are shockingly low, as well, so why even bother. Your learners deserve a more enlivening experience and so does your company, if you’re tracking to performance and/or compliance goals. But, simply upgrading to video training doesn’t necessarily solve the problem because, if done poorly, these can be notoriously scary, too. Instead of a horror movie tonight, grab a bag of popcorn and check out this old Blockbuster Video training video. Yikes!
2. Training in stark isolation. As referenced in the point above, learners forget a staggering amount of the information they’re taught in a very short period of time — roughly 70% within the first 24 hours according to Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve. So, aim to create continuous learning programs that reinforce education via a blended learning model, across modalities and activities, such as social learning and coaching.
3. Dull, dreary courses. Similar to “death by slideshow,” but a bit broader, the days of boring learning are numbered! To breathe new life into existing courses and/or to create better new ones, consider applying some tips from this recent webinar on how to engage learners. Also, let’s not forget common sense practices like asking learners what type of training they need and how they’d like it delivered (e.g. video, mobile, social, gamified, etc.). Some small wins can go a long way to get learners re-engaged with the benefits of training to perform better, complete tasks more easily, and further their careers.
4. Content with cobwebs. If your content library looks more like the content graveyard, then it’s time to think about new off-the-shelf options, like those we offer via Litmos Heroes. If you’re a Litmos customer, you have access to a huge, ever-growing library of SCORM learning modules and blended resources that you can plug right into the LMS. You don’t need to worry about updating outdated courses; it’s done automatically. Plus, new modules are added all the time, so you can continually grow the course library that you offer your employees, customers, and partners.
5. Lost in the LMS labyrinth. If your LMS is difficult to navigate, use, and integrate with other apps, you’re walking among the zombies when you really don’t need to be. Today’s cutting-edge LMS platforms, like Litmos of course, should make everything (yes, everything) easy. Whether we’re talking implementation, course creation, course and user management, administration, app integration, or reporting — it should all be accessible to be simply performed by non-technical users. There’s no time to wander the baffling UI of a poorly designed LMS. Send up a distress signal and we’ll get you out of that labyrinth in a hurry!
6. Slashing learner experience. This one is the outcome of any and all of the no-nos above. If you’re subjecting your learners to lame content, forcing them to learn in odd, isolated ways, or making them work within the confines of a clunky LMS, it’s time to stop the madness. As we’ll address in the next and final point, the value of great L&D is too important to your workers and to your business to make it an unpleasant and ineffective undertaking. Similar to how the customer experience movement has changed (i.e. dramatically improved) how companies approach service, sales, support, and marketing, the learner experience movement is changing how companies approach training and education. It’s time to start with the learner in mind and work backward.
7. Bleeding from the bottom line. The financial effects of insufficient corporate training are tremendous. Not only are poorly trained people less effective at their jobs, they’re also proven to be less satisfied, which translates directly to higher employee churn. We all know the cost of replacing workers versus retaining them and in a word, it’s expensive. Also, companies with strong training programs generate returns in productivity that positively impact the bottom line. In fact, a study of more than 3,100 U.S. workplaces by the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce (EQW) found that on average, a 10 percent increase in workforce education level led to an 8.6 percent gain in total productivity. There’s one very good reason to stop the bleeding!

We know that Halloween certainly isn’t the main topic on the minds of L&D professionals as we approach the end of the calendar year. You’ve got bigger things to worry about, such as analyzing and reporting on 2017 and setting plans for 2018. Is there more budget or less to work with? Additional headcount to help carry the load? New training content that needs to be created or purchased by the time next year begins?

We’re happy to work with you to answer any of those questions, but in the meantime, we wish you a very happy Halloween and hope you can get out, grab some treats, and have some fun!