In the event that more corporate training isn't enough, more corporate training
It's true that corporate training can sometimes feel like something that's a burden. If a program of training isn't directly related to the employee's job it may be hard to comprehend the significance as well as difficult to successfully complete the program.
In an recent survey, half of employees who are unsatisfied with their learning experience claim it's because they wish they had more relevance to the material. Further, 37% of employees believe they would like more control over what they are learning and the way they acquire it. 28% would prefer that the training could be broken down into smaller sessions.
What's the solution? A more targeted, shorter form of education that's tailored to your employee needs, and offered exactly when they need it. This is also known as "just-in-time" training.
In this piece this article, we'll explain how just-in time training is a great way to increase the ROI of employees and their engagement. We'll discuss how various companies have benefited from targeted short-form training, and offer ideas for using video in the creation of tailored, department-specific training materials.
Understanding the concept of just-in-time learning
Just-in-time learning is centered on sharing bite-sized training content that employees look for when they require it. The topics could include knowledge and processes or the knowledge needed by teams in order to complete their jobs.
For example, a new marketer who is creating an email marketing campaign may want to quickly master the art of personalizing their messages. Instead of looking up generic tips you can go to the learning portal of her organization and type in the query, and watch a minute lengthy video sharing tips and guidelines for sending out emails.
The employee in this instance didn't have to:
- Sit through a long video to learn a few simple strategies
- Participate in a live training session or in-person course in a topic that is completely unrelated to yours.
What makes it unique in just-in time learning is that it provides employees greater control over the information they're taking in and how they'll need to study making sure they retain it well.
In a typical scenario, when employees learn something, they forget 50-80% of it in just two days. On day 30 the employees can barely remember a couple of% of the training sessions.
In-time learning can help overcome this natural tendency to forget (called Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve) by:
- Making sure things employees learn are relevant to their job to allow them to begin practicing the skills immediately, so they can better recall them
Learning that is delivered in real-time can help organizations in three different ways:
- It makes sure employees learn more (read the benefits of a higher ROI for your training program).
- It's mostly asynchronous learning. It's not necessary to take employees out of their day-to-day tasks, which spares your time employees could be spending on work (and making money).
- It can help you build an feedback loop (we'll be discussing in a bit) that gives you additional suggestions for developing training materials on topics employees need.
Making use of short-form video to facilitate just-in time learning
Apart from encouraging synchronous learning and offering employees more control on their learning schedule the video-based learning and development (L&D) program is successful in the following ways:
Easy to scale
Emma Wisehart, Senior Sales Enablement Manager for the company, shares the sentiment. "If you're providing the same type of information everyone requires, package it in a video rather than repeating the same information every week to a different audience. It's possible to repeat one video and then you're done. This also increases the consistency of employee experience and allows you to have my time returned."
Replicates face-toface training effectively
The biggest perk of in-office, real-time learning is that employees can take on the role of an instructor -- the term is actually learning through the behavior of modeling.
It isn't easy to replicate in a remote or in a hybrid. However, videos can assist in replicating this type of learning by "showing' the new behavior by demonstrating it.
By posting video recordings of great and excellent discovery calls training and enablement managers can train sales reps using behavior models.
Better message retention
Short videos not only show higher retention rates, but they also lead to greater engagement and lower cognitive burden in comparison to longer-length videos. Short form videos are an efficient vehicle for messaging retention.
In addition, by pairing videos recorded with mini tests and live video sessions for testing what the students learn in the team, you can increase the retention of messages.
Additionally, you can use the questions you get in the training videos and during the live sessions to determine which topics should be covered in more detail.
Improve personalization and interactivity
If you create a basic video that explains the fundamentals, then dividing it into sections that explain specifics according to the various roles' requirements it is possible to provide better personalized content.
For instance, for the onboarding of sales personnel video, the trainer might develop a parent-video that contains all the basics including details on the product, potential buyers, as well as the main pain points.
The video can then be divided into chapters, or break out into different sections for different staff members within the sales department, including accounts executives, sales development reps, and account managers.
Through organizing videos into more bite-sized portions that viewers are able to jump between and feel more confident to find the most relevant content they need to learn or for onboarding.
Easy to make changes
40% of the employees not satisfied with their training programs say that they would prefer the content was more up current.
Fortunately, video of short format is easy to produce to scale, edit, and adapt.
How to reimagine the training experience using video
In the same way, Stellantis' L&D team uses a combination of live and recorded videos for training in sales, board level communication, and everything between.
"In an average week, we have about 350 hours of pre-recorded videos. Each live stream is pre-recorded assets, which will then be relegated to those 350 hours" says Phil Price who heads Stellantis' L&D.
"Business divisions across the business see real value in recording the data once and keep it accessible each day following. The way that we can manage our budget for scale"There is no way to compete."
If you're curious how to get start creating videos for learning take these four steps.
4 steps to build a just-in-time training program
1. Beginning with analysing your options, aligning and preparing.
Before you begin to put together your just-in-time learning curriculum, start with making a plan.
Ask yourself: "What are you trying to accomplish? What kind of change are you hoping to create?" advises Elizabeth Hodos the Senior Sales Enablement Manager.
In line with the vision, analyze any gaps in your program of training. If you find inconsistencies, you can use this information to align stakeholders.
Create a stakeholder-approved plan to address the gap. Make sure each one of your training plans aligns with your objectives.
Additionally, as part of your plan, create a plan around how you'll handle the pushback or resistance that is likely to arise as you modify how things are done.
2. Create a storyboard for your training plan that is just in time.
Once you have your training prepped make a list of the videos you'll need. Emma notes, "Your video content needs to clearly define its goal and be organized."
The best way to arrive there? Storyboarding. That is: create visually a plan that lays out:
- The content you will need to create
- What will each video cover and in what order
- How you'll structure, connect to, and plan trainings
Emma says interactive videos hit both the personalization and scalable nail in the coffin. "You've got that core video that you want everyone to watch and then depending on their preferences or job, they can navigate which path would be the best suited to their needs," she explains.
3. Create and organize bite-sized video lessons categorized by small areas.
The next step is to create your material. You'll need to remember the following things:
Be sure that the videos you upload are not longer than two minutes.
Elizabeth states that people rarely go through longer videos to learn an idea on the spot. Then they don't often return to the videos.
Actually, "Short video is the only way to keep people engaged," Emma adds.
Also, ensure that the content is concise and easily digestible as is possible.
Organise your content to make it more accessible
The majority of your efforts can be wasted If the resources for training aren't easy to find.
"Employees have got to know which websites they can use to access the material they require. If they don't know, they aren't going to use it and then you've lost the knowledge you gained and it's going to suck your time. It's not also practical or reliable," notes Elizabeth.
In fact, improving accessibility makes it easy for you to find the right resources for employees.
As Emma states, "[An organized video library assists us in reducing the tension of a brand new employee and ensure that they're having a good experience with us at the start and leaving an unforgettable impression."
The greatest part? Video Library gives you robust security as well as admin controls so that only those you select have access to the videos.
4. Flip the classroom
Then, you can pair the recorded content with live videos.
This goes against the traditional class setup where the instructor lectures while students complete the exercises (homework) afterward.
But "lecturing is dull," Elizabeth says. It takes employees' time, giving them little practical insight.
A good solution is to utilize on-demand videos to teach and train with a set of 'how to as well as 'how not to examples. You can then use live videos to hold discussions or a workshop around the topic to make a more interactive learning experience.
This method also allows you to get direct feedback from employees about which other training tools they will need to complete more effectively at their job.
Start your training just in time with the help of video
The concept of just-in-time learning helps make training more relevant and impactful to your employees without burden of. Making short, engaging videos, hosting and organizing the videos in one location, and making it easier to find content will help your team to be more productive and motivating.
This is also the way employees wish to educate themselves today at their own pace, as per their specific job demands.
If you're interested in how you can move away from the traditional corporate training model towards more just-in-time learning, explore other methods to use video for the workplace.