3 ways to avoid boring training

How can you make training interesting? Before digital learning, people liked to go to classroom training, mostly because it was nice to be out of the routine and a good way to meet other colleagues and have lunch together! Indeed, I’ve worked in a training company and I can confirm the menu was among the most interesting topics for the delegates (well, maybe because I’m based in France…)

I admit this might be a bit exaggerated, yet how can you be sure of delegates’ involvement? Whether they’re in a classroom, in front of their computer or using a tablet doesn’t make any difference: you need to ensure that learners are focused on the training content to get the most out of it and be able to use what they’ve learned in the workplace.

Therefore, there are some elements that will help ensure your co-workers appreciate training.

• Associate line managers

Offering relevant content seems obvious, doesn’t it? Yet HR and L&D professionals are not operational managers and therefore may have troubles to ensure the chosen training really is the best. Associating line managers to the selection of the training is a good way to guarantee the content is what the company is looking for. If you order a training session from an external company, you may want to ask the manager to speak directly with the provider. Some L&D Managers may not want to have line managers “mingling” into their area, but actually involving operation departments makes HR a real business partner and is a factor of success.

Yet there is another way to ensure the content is perfectly suited to your needs. Companies often forget they have their own specialists in house. Asking a highly experienced employee to structure his/her knowledge (with the help of the training department for a bit of instructional design) brings many benefits to the company: the content is immediately applicable, tailor-made and targeted, and you give recognition to your experts, thus increasing retention. If you want to keep this strategy successful beyond one single training session, you can use Enterprise Social Networks to create topic-related groups. This involves both the trainer and the delegates in the long term and create a real incentive to social learning.

• Adapt the format to your employee’s learning culture

Not everyone learns the same way. Some will ask for classroom learning because they feel the need to have a teacher to whom they can ask questions and request for help. Others will prefer enjoying the flexibility of mobile learning, with short learning nuggets to watch when commuting on public transport. Of course, you won’t have the budget to cover all needs separately, but if you are planning a development plan for a specific group of people you might be able to adapt to their needs.
Even if gamification and serious games are not applicable to any type of content, using multiple sorts of training material gives the opportunity to let delegates use what suits best. At Cornerstone OnDemand, I was privileged enough to follow a Crucial Conversations training where we received additional material on top of the course. I particularly liked the small summary notes in a small plastic box that I now keep with me!

• Match content and format

Now that’s another obvious point: a 50-pages pdf document can be read on a smartphone, but it doesn't make any sense, does it? Yet those technical aspects should not be left aside. For example, if you train remote people, they may need to have access to mobile content offline, so that they can use it even without internet access. If you develop digital content, you must be aware of the quality of the computer material available within the company. I remember one where computers sound card had been taken out, thus strongly limiting the range of digital learning…

Many articles are written on generation-based differences of attitude towards digital learning. This might partly be true as younger millenials were born with a smartphone in hands. Nonetheless, I am convinced that some technologies such as tablets can really be used by anyone and make digital learning appealing to the most traditional of delegates! Experienced learning & development professional are now convinced of all the advantages brought by mobile and social learning and very much aware of the challenges in terms of content design and distribution. Isn’t that what makes such jobs fascinating?

I believe training should be purposeful, interesting and – as much as possible – fun!

What do you think about this?