How do you thrive in hybrid and remote work as a training professional?

To avoid the negatives of remote work, such as it being easy to fall into burnout, set your home office up pronto. Your home office space should be dedicated for work and as far as possible from where you relax outside of work. As someone who went through burnout, moving my desk and avoiding sitting on my couch to do work was a game changer. ??Separate your work space from your relaxation station at home.

Calendar blocking is a very useful tool when planning out what projects you'll work on. Especially when designing content its easy to lose track of time in a remote setting. Use calendar blocking to stay on track and keep yourself from either getting distracted or spending too much time on the wrong things.

It's essential to develop online learning management systems such as success factors, nurture a culture of learning and then scheduling learning programs in a manner that allows participants to balance the focus on their individual deliverables, make a system available within working hours so that particints do not get occupied with learning activities in their hours of rest. Incorporating learning outcomes into staff the performance management system will foster self-led supervision allowing L&D professionals with less follow up times and focus on Continuous improvement of the programme based on the changing needs of the organization and feedback from the users.

Knowing how to use the equipments is fundamental to the success of a hybrid training. Some common mistakes that trainers make is the inability to coordinate the microphones. If several microphones are on, it would create feedback or echo to the audio and that would affect the overall training experience. Knowing when to pin a speaker's video frame is just as important too because sometimes you may be showing slides and if you do not pin the correct frame, the online learners would be left wondering and scrolling. It's also important to do some quick briefing for the virtual learners to know the basic function of the software used and not to assume that all learners are equipped with the technicalities such as the hand raise icon.

Setting up a well-organized workspace and establishing a structured schedule is not just a practical necessity but a cornerstone of productivity and overall well-being, especially in today's evolving work environments. Whether you're working remotely, in a traditional office, or adopting a hybrid approach, here's why I believe that setting up your workspace and schedule is crucial: 1.-Productivity 2.-Consistency 3.- Work-life Balance 4.-Time management 5.-Stress reduction 6. Communication 7.- Self care Setting up your workspace and schedule isn't just about creating an efficient work environment; it's a fundamental strategy for achieving a healthy work-life balance, managing your time effectively, and reducing stress.

In the remote or hybrid work set up people have very few opportunities to learn from each other in an unstructured, unscripted manner and that's what they yearn for at the moment; to have free-flow interactions that allow for that natural transfer of knowledge. As a training professional that's something to tap into - create more free-flow, unscripted, unmonitored learning opportunities. And that could be through learning sprints, peer discussions, and coaching sessions. Give learners a guide to slide back on track in case discussions get derailed, but create opportunities for learners to speak about experiences, learning, mistakes, recognitions, experiments etc. Human interaction has been one of the biggest resources of learning.

Engagement is the heart of training without which the training would be dead in no time. Having engaging training will help the trainer to create interest in the participants. In this way, the participants will feel that they are important and their voice matters. To create engagement, it is very important to appreciate the effort the participant takes to answer and not whether the answer given is right or wrong.

Developing a versatile framework is essential for engagement and equity, especially in hybrid and remote settings. Utilize a mix of materials like videos, interactive exercises, and real-world scenarios to cater to diverse learning styles. Inject conversational elements throughout the training, like storytelling and open-ended questions, to maintain learner interest and relatability. Strategic use of breakout rooms enhances engagement through development activities. Empower teams as co-conversationalists and presenters by encouraging them to share insights, fostering ownership, and creating an engaged learning environment. In a hybrid or remote context, this approach is crucial for successful training.

We have all the tools in the world now to design great digital experiences. In the physical world a lot is done in autopilot mode and it can feel cumbersome to have to spend time designing for the digital experience, but once it is up and done, where you can see engagement between meetings, relationships building and cross pollination between employees, that wouldn′t have happened in a physical environment. With better design and flow of actions, the live discussions become richer as there is more new information shared, as the old information is already reported in digital tools.

Not all online training needs to be asynchronous eLearning. But not all instructor-led training should continue to follow the script it followed when it was done in a room. In general, people engaged in live instructor-led training remotely need to be engaged much more frequently than if they were in a room. This means giving them an opportunity to interact with the content every 5-7 minutes, and more frequent breaks. Interaction can take the form of a chat message, a reaction, a spoken response, engaging in an interactive tool like Mentimeter or Padlet, or going to a breakout room to discuss. The point is what worked in person may not work in a virtual or hybrid setting, so try new things and new ways to engage your learners.

It's very easy for the participants to be distracted during online training. Hence, it is very critical to create an engaging environment during the training. It will ensure participation, learning and a lot of wisdom sharing which will add value for each and every participant.

It is essential to have a hold on one's delivery and online monitoring. If the participants of the training are not paying attention or disabling the video then it is always good to pause and restrategize accordingly. In the absence of this, it will take away the interest of the audience very quickly and the learning possibility will be very low.

Every skill comes with practice. Have a colleague or a friend open enter a 1-2-1 training space with you. They don't necessarily have to participate, it allows you to 'practice in your space' Particularly target the areas you are not fully competent with. This could be sharing video's, whiteboards, polls for example. The practice here is as important as the content you write and deliver. Loss of confidence in the tech lowers your inner confidence and this will show to your delegates.

In traditional offline training, capturing the impressions of the audience might be more straightforward. You can see their facial expressions, read body language, and hear their immediate responses. In contrast, the online environment lacks these cues, making it imperative to employ different methods to gauge audience engagement. So it it is very much important to use online tools and methods like live polling, chat box for answers during the training and breakout groups for fun quizzes. Use every opportunity to engage the participants.

Distractions caused by tech can be like unexpected detours, especially during online training presentations. It's crucial to anticipate and have strategies to refocus. Creating a structured roadmap for your presentation is the key to unlock confidence. It not only keeps you on track but also informs your audience about what to expect. Delivering an impactful presentation demands soft skills often overlooked like effective communication, active listening, enthusiasm & situational awareness. Reading the virtual room, especially on platforms like Zoom, is vital. Adaptation is key to conveying your message while motivating learners to take action & pivoting if you see a problem.

In rapidly changing environment people always prefer to live in their comfort zone and resistance to change but i think Adaptability is key to thriving in a rapidly changing environment as a trainer and as part of resilience is essential. Embrace challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.

When I was training remotely the most important thing I could do was to stay incredibly close to the business itself. I constantly stayed in touch with sales and recruiting leadership to understand latest trends and best practices which I could then incorporate into my trainings. It was also important to keep in touch with learners after they completed trainings to see if there were common issues that impacted them and look for opportunities to address them in future trainings.

I agree that it is very important to take care of one's well-being. In the case of online meetings/training, it is very critical to take breaks in between. Creating an engaging environment will definitely allow the trainer to take pauses in between and help the trainer to be a good listener.

To further this, you absolutely must set work hours and then move away from the space where you do your work when those hours are over. Preferably have a space where you do work that is different than a space you use to do anything else, even if it's just a chair you never sit in except when you are working.

Use your time when you are not training (but still working!) to your advantage. Don’t forget or rush the tasks around training- planning, designing, promoting, marketing, administrating, researching, monitoring, evaluating, updating, celebrating, invoicing. Let people know on social media that you are delivering training, busy, in demand. Capture compelling testimonials. Also be mindful of your own learning and development and networking … these could be relevant to the skills of training itself or to running your business/bringing in work if you are a business owner or freelance. Make sure the people who provide you with services and support - e.g. designer, tech support, accountant are working out well for you. No person is an island! :)

To make the most out of training and development in a remote/hybrid world HR professionals need to embrace technology. It creates the opportunity to continue to deliver effective interventions in the real world and virtually. Importantly, technology will help HR professionals measure the effectiveness of training and development of virtual vs. face-to-face. This will help make the business case for future initiatives.