Corporate training does not have a great reputation. They can be tedious and boring, and they pull employees away from their busy schedules and large workloads. When employees feel this way toward their corporate training materials, they are more likely to lose motivation and interest in their training, lowering knowledge retention. How do we change the preconceived notions around corporate training to make them more effective?

Here are five ways to make your corporate training materials more immersive and impactful for your employees.

1. Deliver Training Based on Skill Gaps

One sure way to get under an employee’s skin is to have them complete corporate training materials on topics they’ve already mastered. For employees, this feels like a waste of time. If they’ve already mastered the information, there’s no need for them to re-learn it. A great way to avoid this is to implement a “pre-test” that quizzes your employees before they begin the training materials to see what they already know. By taking inventory of an employee’s existing skills, you can prescribe training content through your LMS that is more relevant to them—ensuring they get the information they need without using up any more of their time than necessary. A pre-test can also help your organization pin down common skill gaps that exist in your organization so that you can deliver more targeted training to close them.

2. Use Virtual Coaching to Instill a Culture of Learning

One-on-one coaching can become costly and time consuming for organizations to maintain when they have hundreds of employees scattered across several office buildings or even different states. However, there is no doubt that mentorship and coaching is one of the best corporate training tools an organization has to keep employees motivated to continue learning. By utilizing an LMS and other modern training technology, businesses can scale back the cost of coaching by leveraging the power of a virtual coaching platform, such as Rehearsal. Virtual coaching software works by giving employees the opportunity to watch scenarios and prompts, rehearse, and when they feel confident with how they would respond they can record a video response to be graded by a virtual coach or instructor. With this virtual coaching format, employees are given the opportunity to make mistakes in a non-menacing environment and to improve the way they respond to challenges through repetition.

3. Make Training Portable

Besides just allowing your employees to complete training from their desk, you can also let them complete training while they are on the go. By incorporating mobile learning into your training materials, employees will have the option to get the required work done during their commute, or while they are traveling for work. The more options you can give your employee, the less likely that they will see the required training as a burden.

4. Try Gamification

Another great way to give your corporate training materials more of an impact is by turning them into a game. Gamification—or the process of incorporating game mechanics and designs with the goal of motivating people—is a proven method for improving employee engagement. Find ways to turn your training lessons into a game, such as assigning points or badges, or creating a leaderboard to foster competition. Here is a great example of gamification: the Starbucks Rewards Program. Customers are given points whenever they make a purchase at Starbucks, and when they have accumulated enough points, they are given a small reward. This turns shopping into a small game—in which you see how many points you can rack up—and encourages customer loyalty by giving them a reason to keep coming back. You can utilize a similar system for your employees, but rather than purchasing a product, they are completing training materials or performing some other positive action at work.

5. Make Training Bite-sized

Lastly, no matter how you present your training materials, your goal is for the employees to spend as little time on it as possible. Aim to have it be as short as you can. Look for ways to reduce redundant information, and give your employees more ways to access the materials. Employee attention spans are getting shorter and if you make your employee training is too long, they are likely to lose focus during the course of it. A strategy to try is microlearning, the concept of breaking training up into small, bite-sized sections that are easier for employees to digest.

Start Implementing These Strategies Today

Now that you know the best ways to improve your corporate training materials, the next step is to work these items into your training program. Take a look at your existing corporate training materials to see where improvement is needed. If you decide that you need some help sprucing up your corporate training materials, Knowledge Anywhere can help. We specialize in helping companies build engaging, flexible learning and development programs through our Learning Management System, Virtual Reality Training and Content Development Services. Contact us today to learn more!