Microsoft 365 Adoption Training

The Importance of Microsoft 365 Adoption Training

Did your company recently adopt Microsoft 365?? If so, you may have found that your team members are struggling with the new technology. But don’t worry, you’re not alone.?

Many companies adopt Microsoft 365 in order to encourage improved productivity, simplified and more efficient processes, and increased job satisfaction among their employees. It’s important to note, however, that Microsoft 365 is home to a wide variety of applications, each serving many functions and offering a diverse range of features. Microsoft 365 requires adequate training in order to extract all of the efficiencies it has to offer.?

It’s critical to approach Microsoft 365 training with a well-rounded mindset in order for your employees to see success in their adoption of the technology.? While it may be tempting to turn to pre-recorded training videos for the convenience and low-cost, we recommend a different approach to employee development. In this blog post, we will explain exactly what and why that is.?

We built our Microsoft 365 adoption training program with the success of your employees in mind.? Through years of experience helping companies like yours, we have fine-tuned our training program in order to help employees maximize their productivity and fully leverage the power of the Microsoft 365 suite of tools.??

Below we have outlined our approach to training, the advantages of the two components in our training program, and the benefits of effective Microsoft 365 training (both for you and for your team!)

The Benefits of Effective Microsoft 365 Training

Let’s start with the good stuff.?

When you invest in technology training for your employees, you can expect:?

• Reduced staff time spent experimenting with Microsoft 365 to try and understand how the suite of tools works
• Increased productivity:? Effective training increases your employees’ proficiency in the tools they use on a daily basis
• Reduced stress levels among your staff members in the face of adopting a new technology
• Improved communication, collaboration, and organization across your company
• Increased familiarity with Microsoft 365’s numerous applications, leading to added ideas for future efficiency
• Streamlined workflow by leveraging the integrations within Microsoft 365
• Peace of mind among leadership knowing that your team is working more efficiently?
• Increased time and energy directed toward improving revenue and growing the business?

CTC’s Approach to Training

With the above listed benefits in mind as our end goal, CTC’s approach to Microsoft 365 adoption training involves two major components. We find that the combination of these two forms of training result in positive outcomes and employee engagement with the Microsoft 365 platform.

• Live Virtual Group Training: ?Virtual group training with audience participation and interaction is a great way to cover the overall concepts with a large number of employees, allows team members to have a “group-think”, and also allows for cross training as group members ask questions about the material.
• 1:1 Adoption Training:? In addition to the group training, we encourage 1:1 training for team members who may want or need additional attention in order to fully grasp the technology and maximize their productivity with it.? 1:1 training is the perfect way to round out your employees’ education and ensure they feel confident and comfortable with Microsoft 365.

Why Live Training is More Effective Than Video Tutorials

There are several reasons why our strategy involves live training over pre-recorded video tutorials, however this statistic from Research.com’s Video Training Statistics article sums it up nicely, and offers powerful insight into the effectiveness of video tutorials:??

“Employees are distracted when watching a training video. In a survey published by Kaltura in 2019, 67% of employees said they do not give a training video their full attention. They skim through videos, watch videos without sound, or listen to it while doing something else.” - Imed Bouchrika, PhD

Our extensive experience with training has shown that live training sessions are more effective and impactful than pre-recorded tutorials. Live sessions are efficient, they encourage engagement, and they offer opportunities to cater the technology to your specific business needs.?

The Benefits of Live Training:

Customization:?

• Our trainers will assess your company’s/departments’ specific challenges, as well as the skill level of participants, and customize the training to your specific needs.?
• Wherever possible, the trainer will use your business environment to increase the understanding and adoption of Microsoft 365.

Engagement:?

• Our live sessions encourage participants to ask questions and get involved in the discussion, ensuring that they are fully focused on the training and the technology.?

Efficient:??

• When your employees have questions about the technology and how to use it for their specific needs, their questions are answered right away. They’ll leave the session with real-time answers, examples, and feedback.?
• Conversely, pre-recorded video tutorials often require you to resort to a Google search in hopes of getting your questions answered, and those answers will more than likely not be specific to your company’s needs.?

Flexible:?

• We schedule your training sessions when it’s most convenient for your team members, so you’re still getting the flexibility of a pre-recorded video tutorial.??

The Benefits of Group Training

Group training offers a host of benefits to both the participants and leadership.? It’s a great way for employees to learn in a collaborative environment, and it is a cost effective way to cover the majority of the training topics.

The Benefits of Group Training:?

• Collaborative environment:? It creates a “we’re in this together” attitude for all employees (and especially those struggling with the adoption of the new technology.)
• Cross-training:? Some employees will be naturally inclined to ask questions, giving the others in the group the opportunity to learn from their questions.
• Cost effective:? Training a larger number of employees on the overall concepts at the same time will ensure a good base understanding of the concepts within Microsoft 365.

The Benefits of 1:1 Training

1:1 training offers additional, more personalized opportunities for employees who may need to dive further into a specific feature, who learn by doing, and who may not feel comfortable asking questions during the group session.?

The Benefits of 1:1 Training to Supplement Group Training:

• We find that many employees are embarrassed to ask questions in a group setting if they don’t understand a specific feature or aspect of the technology.?For example, it’s not uncommon for us to get the question: “What do you mean the data is in the cloud? That makes me nervous...”??Most employees would never show this level of vulnerability in front of their peers, so 1:1 training allows them the opportunity to get their questions answered without fear of embarrassment or judgment.
• There are many different ways to learn and absorb new information. You’ve likely found that many of your team members are Kinesthetic learners and need the opportunity to learn something hands-on. They can’t learn by just watching others. 1:1 training allows them the opportunity to learn in the way that works best for them, so they’re more likely to retain the information presented to them.
• Due to differences in individual roles, not everyone in your organization will need to know everything about every single feature available in Microsoft 365. And conversely, they may need to go deeper into some of the features than other team members. 1:1 training allows your employees to personalize their experience with Microsoft 365 to their specific needs for their role.

Why Hire CTC Productivity Consultants?

Our trainers are experts in the many features of the Microsoft 365 business applications. They are also productivity consultants that coach our clients to leverage their technology to solve everyday productivity challenges. We call this “connecting the dots” between the business issue and how to solve it using technology. (You can learn more about our Microsoft 365 Consulting Service here.)

Our trainers can answer questions about how to leverage the software to solve specific business/productivity challenges. They can also help ensure that your team members feel confident and comfortable using Microsoft 365 to solve those issues, and improve processes on a daily basis.

CTC productivity consultants also help participants understand the why behind learning and adopting a new approach and a new technology. We find that it’s crucial to get buy-in from your team members in order for Microsoft 365 to be a success and for you to see real improvement in your output.? Our trainers help your employees see the benefits the new technology will bring them, which we feel is very important to motivate long-term change.

Interested in Learning More About CTC’s Training Programs?

We are passionate about bringing Microsoft 365 education to your organization because we believe that the job isn’t done until your team members are confident and comfortable with the new technology.?

If you’re interested in offering training to your employees in order to help fully leverage the tools within Microsoft 365, you can click this link for more information on some of our training topics. You can also contact us directly to discuss your needs and how we can help.

We look forward to helping you make the most of your technology and promote positive productivity changes within your organization.