When was the last time your organization reviewed its employee training design and development strategies? More companies than ever before have made the transition to a remote workplace. As a result, your corporate training could likely use an update to reflect the new best practices at your organization. It’s always a good time to invest in customized corporate training your workforce – one research article notes that 42% of companies that invest in training see increases in their revenue. Furthermore, KZO Innovations found that every dollar invested into training increased to $30 worth of productivity. Further benefits of looking at how and why you do things as an organization and customizing your corporate training include a stronger sense of brand identity, better employee buy-in and increased revenue.
So, how do you go about creating the right training process for your organization? You’ll want to keep the following in mind as you go about the process.
Developing Customized Corporate Training
Target business specific challenges
Understanding what challenges are unique or specific to your business and incorporating them into your custom eLearning solutions is the first step to customizing your corporate training. Needs to address at your organization may include: crisis management processes, new industry norms, training on daily tasks and use of technology, and/or how to deal with your specific clientele. Taking note of company specific challenges allows you to get in front of them while addressing them with your employees. This adds the benefit of transparency, as well as another layer of training that will be unique to your company and its values.
Capturing this important internal data to determine how you will customize your training can be done in a few different ways. Your learning and development team can interview your executives to measure what they view as the most pressing training issues within the company. You can also survey the employee base to find out what they feel is lacking in any current training and what added information would make their job easier going forward.
Zero in on company needs
Taking time to think about what you need your training to be is an important step in developing custom corporate training that suits your company culture. Things to consider as you start evaluating your needs are company values, goals for training, tools available, and skills you want incorporated. From there it becomes easier to see deficiencies in your current training and where you can improve the overall experience through customization. By keying in on your business needs and taking inventory of the tools you have available to accomplish those goals, you help set the stage for what you need your employees to do.
Design role-based learning paths
As you analyze company needs and identify particular hurdles to overcome, it becomes time to start separating out who needs to know what. Having role-based learning paths within your corporate training adds efficiency to your training because not everyone needs to know everything. This saves time, money and energy, but also leaves the door open for employees to add more to their knowledge base down the road if they want to. You also take an important step in avoiding information overload or employee burnout by narrowing down what each position specifically needs to know to function and cutting back on knowledge that will not be helpful.
Communicate your custom training message
Everyone thinks to communicate about products and services their companies offer to consumers, but often forget to communicate with employees their training options and why they are important. When you communicate and are excited about the customized corporate training you offer, employees are far more willing to not only look at it but complete it. By essentially advertising your efforts to train your employees you are letting them know you see value in them and want to help them succeed by creating training that works specifically for them and their needs while also addressing your own as a company.
Trends in Customized Corporate Training
Gamification
Learning is always more fun and engaging when it does not feel like you are being slammed with a bunch of text followed by a test. Most employees (72%) said they felt like getting training through gamification inspired them to work harder according to Review 42. Using games to engage employees while teaching them specifics of their job or your company is one of the most popular ways to give your corporate training a customized touch to your brand.
Microlearning
Creating modules where only one learning objective is addressed per eLearning activity is another great way to give your corporate training the personal touch it needs, while keeping things fresh and easy to digest.
Video Training
Having a library of custom videos that address various situations and topics specific to your business can be an effective tool in your corporate training arsenal. When done well, videos are highly stimulating and can cover tougher topics better than text or games. Videos are particularly helpful if you work in an industry where teaching processes is your main company objective. That way, your audience can see exactly how a machine works or the steps needed to make an application run.
Learning on the go
Work can now be done remotely, so it only makes sense that your corporate training can be customized for a mobile setting, too. Whether your employees are on the road, at a business conference, in office, or at home, being able to refresh or learn something new on the go is invaluable and kicks your training up a notch.
Personalized Learning
This might be the most effective type of customized corporate training. We all know no single person learns exactly the same way, so making your training flexible enough to adapt to each employee’s individual learning style only makes sense. Whether they are visual learners, verbal learners, hands-on learners, etc. you can create a learning library that has something for everyone on your staff.
Conclusion
By taking the time to really evaluate what makes your company unique you can design a corporate training that is unique to your organization. Customized corporate training allows you to showcase your brand identity and culture to employees at the same time that you’re providing valuable skills training and development. The right training is a valuable tool to communicate with your workforce, and will help you retain talent by making it a place they want to work.
Subscribe
Related Articles
EPISODE 5: GOOD TRAINING BUILDS BRAND CREDIBILITY
In this conversation, Ron Zamir and John Nelson discuss the [...]
EPISODE 6: READINESS FOR THE FUTURE OF L&D
In this episode, Michael Noble and Michael Rochelle discuss the [...]
“I Love Learning”
If you ask any L&D leader about their passion for [...]