Providing online training for your employees can be a valuable move since it allows your employees to develop themselves without costing much time or money on either side. But how can you make sure that your online training is as effective as you intend it to be? And how can you get more bang for your buck?
Effectiveness in Online Training: Pillars for Success
These are some of the most important fundamentals for increasing the effectiveness of your online training programs:
- Utilize existing tools and services. To start, consider utilizing existing tools or services. For example, if you want to formally certify your employees in aerial lift operation, consider leveraging an online service that’s already available. This has several advantages, some of which you can probably guess. For starters, this spares you the time and effort necessary to create an internal program of your own. It also helps ensure you’ve included all the necessary material to give your employees a suitable understanding of the topic. On top of that, many online tools and services are offered with comprehensive support, so you can get assistance if anything goes wrong.
- Document a consistent process. No matter what, you should have some kind of consistent process documented and in place. Otherwise, you won’t be able to guarantee that all your employees receive the same level of education and training – and you won’t have an established foundation that you can revisit and update as circumstances demand. The more formally documented your process is, the better. It may not be fun to systematically document things, but it is highly effective.
- Understand the strengths and limitations of online training. Online learning offers a number of strengths, but it also comes with some limitations and weaknesses. You’ll need to understand both if you want to take full advantage of any online training system. For example, online learning allows employees to learn and become certified remotely; this is highly flexible, but it also affords more opportunities for distraction and unethical deviations from the intended course structure. Devise a system that allows you to fully harness the brilliant strengths of online training while mitigating some of the weaknesses.
- Prepare your employees. Many of your employees will have experience being educated or trained online, but some of them won’t. Accordingly, you should make at least some effort to prepare your employees for the experience they’re about to undergo. For example, you can teach them lessons about how to better absorb and retain information when presented in an online format. You can also review technological systems to ensure all your employees can access the training materials properly.
- Provide practical experience where relevant or necessary. Sometimes, online training alone just isn’t enough to properly prepare employees for the responsibilities they’ll face in the workplace. Accordingly, you should prepare to provide practical experience wherever relevant or necessary.
- Give opportunities to ask questions. Good questions and answers can make your training much more effective – and help you address potential gaps in your education and training systems. Make sure all your employees have ample opportunities to ask questions and good teachers to answer them.
Making Your Effort More Efficient
How do you make your efforts to polish your online training programs even more efficient?
- Pay close attention to results. One of the most important things you can do is measure and pay attention to your results. Sure, you may have 10 employees who have all completed the training program, but how are they performing now that they have the knowledge? Are there any indications that the training program isn’t as effective as you intended?
- Trim the fat. Be on the lookout for unnecessary modules and training processes that take more time than necessary. Do your employees really need to learn every piece of information in this training system? Simply trimming the fat can almost instantly make your online training program more efficient.
- Find alternative, cheaper solutions. Consider looking for alternative or cheaper solutions. Is there a third-party online training service worth pursuing? Can you train employees in groups to save money?
- Continue optimizing. Never stop optimizing. There will always be new opportunities to make your online training systems more effective and efficient.
The path to better online training and education in your organization may not be a straightforward one. While there are many appreciably valuable online training programs and certification options, there may be a dearth of such options covering specific, niche needs in your industry. Still, if you commit yourself to creating or utilizing better online curricula, and you follow all the tenets of proper instruction and training, your employees will be in a much better position to productively succeed.
Image Source: BigStockPhoto.com (Licensed)
Related Categories: Work, Reviews
