The Top 6 Roadblocks to Online Corporate Training Delivery (And How to Overcome Them!)

The first steps to setting up an online corporate training delivery strategy can be difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating. Just when you think you’ve got everything in place, you realize that you’ve forgotten something—or worse, you discover after using the system for several months that somehow, employees throughout the office are failing to learn the material they need from the online system. Acknowledging the most common roadblocks to corporate training delivery—and learning how to overcome them—will allow you to create a much more successful online training program.

1. Your training content isn’t SCORM compliant.

SCORM is the technical standard for eLearning software products that allows the online courses you create to work properly on a Learning Management System (LMS). Just like DVD’s require a DVD player for viewer enjoyment, an LMS requires SCORM-compliant courses for online courses to be accessible to users. 

How to fix it: Make sure that you’ve taken the time to ensure that your training content meets SCORM compliance guidelines. SCORM compliant content is a Sharable Content Object Reference Model—that is, sharable content that can be used across a variety of systems. There are multiple options for SCORM-compliant course development for online learning. Using a course builder, you will be able to transition existing training content to the acceptable format or create new training materials that are sure to work on the LMS of your choice.

2. Corporate training materials are outdated or incomplete.

Technology moves forward at an astonishing rate, and it is common for company policies and procedures to change. Unfortunately, if your online training content isn’t updated as your organization changes and grows, the inaccuracy of your training materials will impact your employees’ ability to perform their duties. This can lead to misunderstandings and complications as your employees attempt to integrate the training they received with a regular work day. 

How to fix it: Update your content on a regular basis to be sure that it matches what employees are expected to do throughout the day. Have members of each department check through the training material regularly to make sure that it’s current and accurate. It’s also important to ensure that each section of the online training modules is complete and not lacking any information that is vital to employees’ regular tasks.

3. You have a system, but no one is using it.

The system might have been in place for a long time, but as far as your employees are concerned, it might as well not be there at all. If online modules could gather dust, yours would be! The problem is, information that is never accessed can’t help anyone. 

How to fix it: Improve education and communication about your online training program. Make sure that you share information about the courses available on your online training platform with your employees on a regular basis. Promote the use of your system with email newsletters and campaigns that provides employees with information on why they should be using it.

4. No one is managing ongoing user progress.

The main goal of your online training program is to share information with employees. If it doesn’t benefit them in any way, or no one is checking up on their progress, employees might not bother to complete online training programs. Having someone in place to keep up with user progress—and share rewards accordingly, from bonuses to promotions—will help keep employees engaged with the system. 

How to fix it: Make sure that someone is in charge of monitoring user progress. Communicate regularly with employees about their progress and reward stellar performers.

5. You aren’t improving your training content.

Your training content isn’t going to be perfect when it’s first released. There are going to be gaps in the process and issues with the way the content is delivered. If you aren’t working to improve and update your training content on a regular basis, employees won’t get the most they can out of the online training process. 

How to fix it: Implement surveys and encourage user comments both throughout the online training courses and after their completion. Then, take the time to read through the comments and course surveys and implement the changes suggested by users. While you don’t have to make every change mentioned in every comment or course survey, taking care of problems and fixing issues that are experienced on a regular basis will improve online training for all of your employees.

6. You don’t use a variety of training methods.

Different employees will naturally learn in a variety of ways. Your training methods need to take that into consideration. By employing blended learning—that is, using both online and offline materials to help each learner acquire the information from the course in the way they can absorb it best—you can offer a wider range of learning that will work for more employees. If you aren’t using blended learning, you will miss out on the opportunity to offer your audience different ways to absorb the material you present. 

How to fix it: Don’t assume that online training will be enough on its own. Instead, offer offline course materials, encourage interaction with real-life elements of the content described in the course, and provide mentoring opportunities so that more experienced members of the staff can walk newer or less experienced members through the course material and answer any questions they have.

Online learning provides an incredible delivery method that makes it easier than ever to coordinate learning across different sites, ensure the reliability of the content that’s being delivered, and makes accessing information easier for every employee in your company. By knocking down the obstacles that might stand in your way to online training success, you can take full advantage of every online training opportunity. If you’re struggling to manage the online training modules offered by your company or want to create a new one, contact Knowledge Anywhere today to learn how we can help you improve your online training program.