Remote Learning/Training

Has there ever been a more relevant time to upskill your people?

Of course, this is something we should always do, but right now it is so much more obvious!

With the global pandemic we have experienced throughout 2020 and now into 2021, businesses have had to adapt their ways of working. We are not able to travel freely to visit people face to face, we aren’t having large groups travel to a central location either. This means we are remotely training our people.

Now, this isn’t new for some people, but it is very new for many.

This year has highlighted the key focuses we, as L&D people, should be doing. I have found that focusing on the following really helps you adapt to any situation, so you are less likely to be caught off-guard:

1 – Resources:

Do you have a resource that tells, demonstrates or describes how to complete each and every activity a staff member has to complete? This is key! Before building all these smart workshops, webinars and meetings, we need to have the basics in place 1st. These resources are the foundations to your learning, without them, your training will collapse when there is a storm going on out there.

These resources should be kept short, to the point and step by step. They are operational guides on how to do your job. The problem we face, when reviewing older style training materials, is that they are very long-winded and the key point is dissolved amongst all the information on that sheet.

The resource doesn’t need to be pretty either, just a simple “How to” guide or video will do the trick. But please, keep it to the point.

Once you have all the resources you need, you can use them in your other training programmes as they are tools they are familiar with.

Not sure where to start? Build a skills matrix. Have virtual meetings with your employees and their line managers to discuss what they do, match it against your job descriptions (This may highlight a need to update them…) and discuss with the senior leaders in the business to make a final decision as to who does what.

2 – Online content:

This doesn’t mean having over 200 “off the shelf” courses to keep people busy, this means having a central point for all of your resources to be stored (Usually a LMS) This reduces the time that people search for a resource and ultimately reduces the risk of people going rogue and doing their own thing.

Use your online platform wisely. Structure your learning on there, use the resources in the business to help you build structured programmes that take people through a journey.

Your online platform is a visual representation of what is available to someone. Having a visual learning path can be hugely engaging to your staff.

Put everything on there. Every e-learning module, every webinar and every course, in the order you’d expect someone to complete it for their development.

For compliance learning, it is probably the opposite. These are the “Must complete” subjects, rather than the ones that are to develop you. These courses are best to be structured in a way that they don’t all show initially, but reveal as the previous one is completed. On most LMS platforms, you can time these to become available after a certain amount of time since the 1st course was registered. Having a list of 8-20, long compliance courses can be a real switch off. Let’s not forget this is usually a new starters 1st engagement with your training offering, we don’t want to overload them from the start and put them off.

3 – Face to face training:

This is where the biggest change has happened. No longer are we able to do classroom training sessions with large groups. Now we’re doing zoom calls or heaping the pressure on management to facilitate.

The 1st thing you need to do is think about the scale of training you need to do now. There are going to be triple the amount of sessions that need to be completed and you won’t have the budget for triple the amount of people to facilitate training. However, there is something you can do.

Develop your managers to facilitate training. Have specialists in your area that can do certain subjects. Think about your “Train the trainer” course. Do they need to know a hundred theories about learning styles and self-awareness? Not really, not at this point. Right now, we need them to be able to train people. Learning styles are fluffy, as long as they know that people all learn in different ways and they should adapt to the learner, that’s all that matters. Let’s not forget, they already know most, if not all of the people they will be training anyway. So focus on the training techniques they need to be able to use. Things like preparing the session, group involvement, reflection time, setting up activities, letting the learners lead the session and don’t be the only voice in the room.

Any group learning you will be facilitating, as well as some key managers in your business, will be via video conference (Zoom/Teams/Skype etc). This takes a slightly different skills set as now you need to keep the group engaged, when you can’t see them all.

4 – Training on Zoom/other video conferencing software:

There needn’t be too much difference between training on Zoom and training face to face. If you focus on the same philosophies, there should be no trouble.

When training face to face, you get the physical contact, this is the only thing you can’t really replicate. But with the way that zoom, and other video conferencing apps are developing and innovating, it won’t be long before you can fist bump a delegate through your screen!

Here’s a few tips for training on Zoom:

1.      As facilitator, sign in with 2 devices or use 2 screens. Why? – This allows you to use one device/screen to share screen and facilitate, and another to show all delegates showing on your screen, so you can see the body language and whether people need help. It also helps you not forget anyone in the group when you are interacting!

2.      Mute all delegates – This may seem dramatic, but actually, there is nothing worse than hearing background noise from 7 or 8 different locations distracting everyone. You can mute all as facilitator and unmute individually. Demonstrate how to use the reactions function for them to put their hand up if they have a question, use the chat function, or get them to wave at the screen if they don’t get it. It gives you control over the “room” to keep it flowing smoothly.

3.      Don’t forget that this is for the delegates! – It is very easy to slip into “instructor” mode on Zoom. Talking all the way through, simply giving information. If this is what your training session is like, then maybe it should be a recorded video or info sheet. This session needs to be interactive, involving the delegates as much as possible.

4.      Break your session into smaller sessions – It may sound obvious to those experienced folks out there, but you don’t want to have really long periods talking about the same thing. On zoom, sometimes it’s better to keep it short and sweet and follow up with a resource with full detail. Think about how you are structuring your sections. I like to split them all into 3 sections – Intro – Activity – Reflect. 5 mins intro; introduce subject, a little theory or background about the subject and why we are doing this session. Activity; this should take up most of the time in your session. Get the delegates to complete an activity in the session. Make sure it is relevant. Use scenarios, not just random scenarios, but scenarios that have actually happened in the business that haven’t necessarily been handled correctly in the past. This is usually the reason we have the session right? Use tools that are already available in the business, this will help them be able to use them back in the workplace. Reflect; this time is vital. Everyone takes on information differently. This allows the time for people to absorb what they have just done. Personally, I would give 5 mins Q&A/note taking time then follow it up with an interactive quiz to check knowledge retention. Using that data to follow up the session with people that may have struggled with that point.

5.      Regular breaks – “What’s that? Breaks on Zoom?!”

Yes, breaks on zoom. When designing your zoom training, think about the experience. Just because people are sat down on video, doesn’t mean they can handle hours of information. In fact, they will probably need more frequent breaks.. Don’t let a single session go over an hour without a break, it is really important for their focus. They will be staring at a 15” screen for the entire time, probably not in the most comfortable seat either… Do you really want to be responsible for people having headaches and not being able to focus on the rest of the session. Ideally, aim for a break every 45 minutes for a 10-15 minute break. Ideally, you will have planned your sessions into 45 minute intervals which helps with timings.

6.      Get people on their feet – Try and create activities that involve people getting out of their seats. Sitting down for too long will become uncomfortable. There will be people that will choose to do work during the breaks, you can’t stop that as you probably won’t be aware of it, so have activities where people need to stand up and get active will really help keep the focus of people.

7.      Explore the features your video conferencing software has – I speak about zoom a lot, this is what I use most frequently. You can now use break out rooms in zoom. This is a great feature! You can separate your delegates into groups to workshop together and set specific tasks. This is particularly good for role play where they will be in a safe place without the whole group listening to them. It makes it more comfortable and less nerve-wracking for the shyer people in the group. You can dip in and out of each room as you please to check on progress.

8.      PowerPoint? – Yes, PowerPoint is the go to app for many people. Using it on zoom is fine. I like to use PowerPoint in zoom, but not always in presentation mode. I’ll just have the title and a bit of branding, but use it as a white board. This helps with interaction and noting down ideas. It also doubles as a great follow up to the session. You can send out the completed presentation as a PDF to the delegates and/or their managers as a resource to recap the session in the future. When I do use in presentation mode, it’s usually because I’ve gamified the session and it requires certain animations or sounds for the experience to work.

9.      Follow it up! – End your training session with something you want them to work on. A project or activity where they will need to physically put their knowledge into practice. It is vital that you, or someone, follows this up. If it is not followed up, the natural thing to happen is people forget. Following it up keeps the learning live and performance improving.

5 – Lastly, Wellbeing:

Wellbeing is huge right now. People are struggling, it’s been a tough year. Your business or company are probably trying to do wellbeing events but not getting much take up. This is where training can support with wellbeing. We can create a short piece of bitesize learning that ties into a wellbeing event that is happening. This bitesize learning is to provide the “why” for the activity.

Wellbeing can be hugely impactful to your staff’s mindset. If their wellbeing is being looked after well, they are going to be more engaged and willing to take on more knowledge or new skills. I think this gets overlooked sometimes. How many companies say they put the customer 1st? In order to put the customer 1st, you need to put your teams 1st. If you don’t look after your staff, how can you expect them to look after your customers? Happy team = Happy customers.