How to Make Employee Training More Engaging
Staff development and education are an important part of the workplace. Common reasons for training include the introduction of new policies, advancement of skills, and sharing of information.
Unfortunately, employees don’t always find these meetings interesting and often hesitate to get involved.
Audience engagement makes sessions more lively and can help participants retain the presented information more efficiently. But how do you get your staff to be more receptive to the material you’re providing? Take a look at these tips for some ideas.
Keep It Short
While you may have a lot of good information to share, lengthy sessions will likely be counterproductive to your goals.
Your employees won’t be able to reap the benefits of training if their minds are wandering, they’re bored, or simply overwhelmed.
Information is better absorbed in smaller chunks. Plus, participants tend to engage more if they’re feeling alert and energetic.
Once they begin to zone out, you’ve probably lost them for good. Strive for the training of two hours or longer or less if you want to get the maximum impact from your instruction.
Make It Personal
Another way to increase your chances of having interactive training rather than one in which you spend two hours lecturing to a passive audience is to find ways to make the information personal to participants.
Be sure to relate the content relevant to their jobs. You can do this by offering specific examples of how they can put the information to work.
Let them know in what ways it can add value to their workday. You might even ask for their ideas of how to integrate this new knowledge into what they’re currently doing on the job.
When people feel connected to the information at hand, they will be better able to understand novel concepts. They’ll want to pay attention and stay engaged with the material.
Add Interaction
Lecturing to a group with the occasional slide as a visual aid is not an effective educational method for many. Your employees have different learning styles. Some may not be prone to retain or process information through listening.
Finding a way to appeal to participants’ senses will improve engagement and understanding. Using visuals can be effective, but you probably don’t want to rely solely on static Powerpoint slides.
Instead, integrate some video content or consider whiteboard animation UK. Seeing dynamic graphics and visuals allows participants to use more than one type of intelligence. If you want your audience to stay engaged and to retain the knowledge you’re sharing, you absolutely must mix up your presentation techniques.
Give Incentives
Finally, it’s basic human nature to respond well to rewards. Incorporate an incentive into your training as a means to motivate participants as well as to acknowledge them.
Sitting through a training session isn’t usually anyone’s idea of a great time. Your employees will appreciate some type of perk.
Providing something of tangible value to their shows that you believe they are important and you understand their significance to the team.
The reward doesn’t have to be of tremendous monetary value. A small gift card or a half-day of paid time off are almost always well-received. You may even want to provide them with certificates or another type of professional recognition for certain types of training.
These are a few tips to help make your employee training more engaging. Not only will your staff appreciate the efforts to spice things up a bit, everyone will get more out of the experience. Professional development is a necessary part of the job. That doesn’t mean it has to be dull.
Conclusion
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