Top Ten Tips... How to Deliver Effective Training Online

Providing training and development opportunities is a big part of any business, whether it’s mandatory training or the added extras which inspire your workforce to continually improve their skills.

You may already deliver a mixture of trainer-led and online courses for colleagues but, especially in the current climate with hundreds of thousands of people being forced to work from home, there is a definite need amongst employers to offer more virtual, computer-based e-learning.

Global pandemics aside, online training can be a great investment for your company – it can reduce training costs, you can inform more people quickly, employees can learn at their own pace and at different times and it can provide immediate access to resources and information.

Here are our Top Ten Tips for delivering effective online training:

1. Provide the right technology

Providing access to the right technology is important to allow your employees to get their training done promptly and easily. No one wants technical hiccups to get in the way of their training time. You will need to provide access to a bank of computers, whether laptops or desktops, as well as the appropriate software and licences to use it. Your colleagues will need login details and support to navigate the programmes they need to use.

2. Provide the time to train

All good employees should offer training and development opportunities for their staff but there’s little point if you don’t provide the time to do it. If it’s mandatory training your requesting from your colleagues, you must provide time to do it. If it’s additional training, then discuss with the employee how much time they will need, what resources they require and what they hope to achieve from it once it’s completed.

3. Communicate why it’s important

Communication is a big part of training and development planning, especially if it’s mandatory training you’re requesting your employees to complete. There won’t be any appetite to complete it if your colleagues don’t understand why it’s so important. For example, do you have targets to meet in order to retain professional accreditation?

4. Create a content library

If your online learning schedule is mandatory for your employees annually, there’s no point reinventing the wheel every year and creating a new course. Organise and store reusable content, such as training materials, tests, poll questions and session guidance notes for colleagues carrying out the training.

5. Provide IT support

Online learning is essential but if technology isn’t on your side, it can be incredibly frustrating too! To help make the process easier for employees, make sure you provide access to your IT support or Learning and Development teams who can advise your colleagues about how to overcome any glitches.

6. Keep your learners engaged

Not everyone will be enthusiastic about completing online learning courses, particularly if they are mandatory. But it doesn’t mean the courses can’t be interactive and surprisingly fun and informative. Try using tests to evaluate knowledge retention during the session and get immediate feedback with polls. Encourage small-group interaction with breakout sessions. Or you could broadcast an image of your whiteboard to attendees and share your updates in real time.

7. Deliver training through a webinar

A webinar is a live, web-based video conference that uses the internet to connect the individual, or a group of people, to a joint session. Hosts can show themselves speaking, invite multiple people to share the hosting role or switch to their computer screens for presentations or demonstrations. You can introduce a Q&A session with questions submitted online. The joint learning method is an engaging way to learn something new because it feels more like an event.

8. Tailor your training to individuals

If you are introducing extra-curricular development opportunities then no two employees will necessarily require the same training. A blanket approach to employee training and development simply won’t do the trick. If you are unsure about what kind of training everyone needs, then why not ask them? This could be part of your annual PDR sessions or one-to-one’s. You can then look into how best to provide the training needed.

9. Evaluate what your employees have learned

Once your employees have completed their learning, you also need to evaluate how they got on by finding out, for example, what the pass rate is, what questions proved tricky or if there are any outstanding colleagues who need to complete their learning. Look into whether your software allows you to get detailed reports on session attendance, test results and evaluations.

10. Reward your colleagues

Just because the learning schedule you set is online, it doesn’t mean you can’t reward your colleagues in other ways to thank or congratulate them on completing the training. For example, perhaps you could present certificates at team meetings or reward the highest scorer.

Will you be considering online training for your organisation in the future?

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cHRysos HR Solutions are a UK wide HR training and consultancy company offering CIPD accredited qualifications, Apprenticeships, Training and HR Services to SMEs. For more information about how cHRysos HR can help you or your teams successfully achieve further qualifications, contact us on info@chrysos.org.uk or call 03300 562443.