Interactive videos for enhanced employee engagement
Written by Alex Popovich | 23rd August 2023
For me, the most interesting way to describe employee empowerment is to say it’s the antidote for micromanagement. The goal is to stop hovering over your employees’ – remote or in-person – workstations and giving feedback or criticizing every single thing they do. Let them innovate and explore. Perhaps this will lead to them creating a new process that makes work for the entire team more efficient.
Sounds ideal, right? But how do we get there?
To help your employees achieve this mindset and feel the freedom they need to feel to become more bold and autonomous you need to empower them. There are different strategies to do so, some of them quite outdated. Bar those, many modern businesses focus on newer technologies and use interactive videos for enhanced employee engagement.
Sounds ideal, right? But how do we get there?
To help your employees achieve this mindset and feel the freedom they need to feel to become more bold and autonomous you need to empower them. There are different strategies to do so, some of them quite outdated. Bar those, many modern businesses focus on newer technologies and use interactive videos for enhanced employee engagement.
What are interactive videos?
I dare to assume everyone reading this knows what regular videos are, so we’ll jump right into interactive videos and how they work.
As the name suggests, interactive videos are videos that you can interact with. The interactive functionalities are most often employed in an educational manner, but can also be implemented for purely entertainment purposes. Let’s focus on the educational side of things and enhancing employee learning and development.
An interactive video that explains an operating procedure to your employees could potentially have the following features:
These, and other available features, can help turn a regular monotonous instructional video into a piece of content your employees will enjoy interacting with over and over again.
As the name suggests, interactive videos are videos that you can interact with. The interactive functionalities are most often employed in an educational manner, but can also be implemented for purely entertainment purposes. Let’s focus on the educational side of things and enhancing employee learning and development.
An interactive video that explains an operating procedure to your employees could potentially have the following features:
- Hotspots the user can click on to gain additional information on the topic that’s currently discussed in the video
- Branches that would allow them to move the video forward in a different direction or access a specific timestamp that they need
- Input fields which the user could utilize to get more contextual relevance from what they are watching
- Quizzes or tests that help them recap on the information that was presented to them throughout the video
- 360 view options to better understand the topic if it’s somehow related to the environment displayed in the video
These, and other available features, can help turn a regular monotonous instructional video into a piece of content your employees will enjoy interacting with over and over again.
Benefits of using interactive videos for employee training
Traditional employee training videos are often as uninteresting as they can get. You probably had to watch a couple of those throughout your career so you know what I’m talking about. In truth, most employees just check it off their task list with none the wiser.
Interactive videos can change this.
The aforementioned elements such as informational hotspots, branches, and quizzes will help you create an interactive employee training video that your team members want to watch. This results in more autonomous employees and less micromanagement.
Furthermore, you can personalize your interactive videos for enhanced employee engagement. Let’s say you have the resources to dedicate an entire video to a single process that only a few employees will benefit from. Those employees will recognize and value the effort you put into creating an interactive video for them and not only gain new knowledge but also feel motivated enough to contribute more. Now make a video for each employee group you have.
That’s the definition of employee empowerment.
Finally, quizzes at the end of your interactive videos will provide immediate feedback to the employee. By allowing them to assess their own performance, you will let them know you trust them enough to do so. Then they can rewatch the video until they properly understand the information passed on to them.
Interactive videos can change this.
The aforementioned elements such as informational hotspots, branches, and quizzes will help you create an interactive employee training video that your team members want to watch. This results in more autonomous employees and less micromanagement.
Furthermore, you can personalize your interactive videos for enhanced employee engagement. Let’s say you have the resources to dedicate an entire video to a single process that only a few employees will benefit from. Those employees will recognize and value the effort you put into creating an interactive video for them and not only gain new knowledge but also feel motivated enough to contribute more. Now make a video for each employee group you have.
That’s the definition of employee empowerment.
Finally, quizzes at the end of your interactive videos will provide immediate feedback to the employee. By allowing them to assess their own performance, you will let them know you trust them enough to do so. Then they can rewatch the video until they properly understand the information passed on to them.
Implementing interactive videos for enhanced employee engagement
To start off, you need to have a clear understanding of what your objectives are. What do you want to achieve with the explainer video? Do you want to teach existing processes to new employees? Do you want to introduce existing employees to a new process? Do you want to do a refresher training course for everyone currently employed?
Interactive videos can also be used as an effective team building strategy.
Once you decide on the goal, the next step is to make a clear outline including the information your video should contain. It’s usually best to write it all down without particular order and then split your draft into sections that are more clearly defined.
Next, make sure that your production quality is top-notch. A blurry recording and unclear audio can drive anyone away from your content, no matter the importance of the information you’re relaying.
Now for the fun part, it’s time to make your video interactive. The best practice here is to include hotspots for employees to click on whenever the video is discussing a complex subject. That way, they can click on it and read the explanation at their own pace. Another thing to do is to introduce branches so employees from different departments can skip straight away to the section of your video that’s relevant to them.
Finally, you need to test your video. Don’t share it with the entire company right away. Choose a few employees you trust and tell them to give you honest feedback on whether the video was helpful to them. If not, you can refine the script or add more interactive elements based on their comments. This is another form of employee empowerment, as the employees you include in this process will feel valued as leaders and make decisions on their own more often.
Interactive videos can also be used as an effective team building strategy.
Once you decide on the goal, the next step is to make a clear outline including the information your video should contain. It’s usually best to write it all down without particular order and then split your draft into sections that are more clearly defined.
Next, make sure that your production quality is top-notch. A blurry recording and unclear audio can drive anyone away from your content, no matter the importance of the information you’re relaying.
Now for the fun part, it’s time to make your video interactive. The best practice here is to include hotspots for employees to click on whenever the video is discussing a complex subject. That way, they can click on it and read the explanation at their own pace. Another thing to do is to introduce branches so employees from different departments can skip straight away to the section of your video that’s relevant to them.
Finally, you need to test your video. Don’t share it with the entire company right away. Choose a few employees you trust and tell them to give you honest feedback on whether the video was helpful to them. If not, you can refine the script or add more interactive elements based on their comments. This is another form of employee empowerment, as the employees you include in this process will feel valued as leaders and make decisions on their own more often.
Future perspectives: the evolving landscape of interactive training
The potential of interactive videos for enhanced employee engagement is sky high. A new idea is introduced to the mainstream way of thinking on a regular basis and with each passing year videos only grow more engaging and beneficial.
In the context of employee empowerment, this means it was never simpler to onboard new employees, retrain existing ones, or simply advance someone’s potential by giving them a proper platform to learn. With the advancements in AI, some companies are already combining machine learning and interactive video to develop more efficient hiring processes.
In the context of employee empowerment, this means it was never simpler to onboard new employees, retrain existing ones, or simply advance someone’s potential by giving them a proper platform to learn. With the advancements in AI, some companies are already combining machine learning and interactive video to develop more efficient hiring processes.
Summary
Empowering your employees should be on the top of your priority list as a company owner. Employees who are capable of making their own decisions and are growing together with the company will stay loyal and productive without requiring huge incentives and benefits.
For you, this means less micromanagement and more time to focus on strategic choices. Every manager will tell you that having a team that can make good decisions on their own is invaluable for any company.
For you, this means less micromanagement and more time to focus on strategic choices. Every manager will tell you that having a team that can make good decisions on their own is invaluable for any company.
Author's Bio
Before founding Balkan Based, Alex spent a decade working for cutting-edge digital marketing
and finance companies spearheading multiple remote teams. SEO is his specialty and fancies himself a writer, although his first novel is yet to be published.
