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12.03.2013

Three Ways to Create Learning Experiences Your Employees Love

Create Learning Experiences Your Employees Love!Do your employees groan and roll their eyes at the mere mention of training? Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. When done correctly, workplace learning can and should be meaningful, effective, and yes, even enjoyable. Here are three ways to create learning experiences that will keep your employees coming back for more:

  1. Make it engaging. Telling is not teaching. When people talk non-stop for more than 10 minutes, listeners tend to tune out. Instead, you want to engage the participants in the learning by offering them opportunities to provide input and be active. According to Vicki Halsey, author of Brilliance by Design, workplace learning is successful when it incorporates the 70/30 Principle:

• Allow learners to spend 70% of the time talking and only 30% of the time listening

• Allow learners to spend 70% of the time practicing and only 30% of the time being taught

A great example of this is Faith Technologies’ Business of Faith course. Designed to give new employees an understanding of the different business aspects of the company and its culture, it engages participants immediately by kicking off with an activity that sets the stage for the rest of the learning and then continues to incorporate exercises throughout the course including several large group discussions where the participants – not just the facilitator – are doing the talking.

  1. Vary your instructional methods. Keep the course interesting by introducing a variety of teaching methods. Small group breakout activities, case studies, and role-plays are all great tools to keep the learning interesting and appeal to participants’ different types of learning styles.

For instance, in Faith Technologies’ FPA: Effective Field Management course, participants are exposed to a number of different activities ranging from building a tractor with Superstructs (to understand what can hinder performance and productivity) to breaking out into small groups to analyze reports specific to the work they do.

  1. Tie the learning to the real world. Often boring courses are the result of content not being applicable to the learner. To combat this, discuss the benefits of the training and help them understand how they will be able to perform their jobs better as a result of the training. Additionally, make exercises as realistic and job-like as possible, which will not only help them see the relevancy, but help the transfer of the learning to the job, as well.

For instance, in Faith Technologies’ three-week Wireless-Telecommunications Training Program, the third week of class allows participants to complete a hands-on system installation that not only gives them an opportunity to practice what they’ve learned over the previous two weeks, but also provides them with a real-life simulation that assists with their transition to the field.

Positive learning experiences can take on many forms, but by following these three simple methods, you are sure to create learning experiences your employees will love.