Custom eLearning Resonates With Employees
Over 80% of employers have used online learning since 2011 to help their workers improve their capabilities [1]. But this type of employee development never lost its influence and has become more prominent in the past ten years.
Nowadays, around 40% of Fortune 500 companies use online training, as this learning form takes up to 60% less time than traditional education [1]. Moreover, a recent survey has shown that 72% of organizations believe that eLearning helps them increase their competitive edge by keeping up with the industry-related changes. No wonder the global corporate eLearning market size will be worth $50 billion by 2026 [2]. Many companies recognize the importance of implementing these training solutions to grow their employees.
But eLearning still has a long way to go, as the number of employers that opt for custom options still hasn’t taken the full swing. Instead, many choose default solutions, although these may not make the same impact.
However, programs tailored to employees’ unique needs, ambitions, and struggles are the future of eLearning. Companies are still discovering how these can benefit them and make a difference in their business.
Here’s why custom eLearning matters and how it can be the fuel for employee development.
Why Is Custom eLearning Important?
Happiness at work will likely not be sustainable if employees have no access to continuous learning and growth opportunities. These options signal that employers care about their staff and their future. However, companies often wonder what’s in it for them. Although implementing custom eLearning should be the reflection of genuine concern for workers’ progress, it also benefits revenues and profits.
The business world is often relentless and requires leaders to continuously find innovative solutions to address the emerging challenges and technology transformations. If they fail to do it, their fierce competition likely won’t. But companies must stay ahead of their rivals because the talent shortage makes it hard to attract and retain qualified employees.
Accompanied by the impending global financial crisis and fast tech transformation, business leaders today face more unforgiving hardships than a few decades ago. That’s why they need knowledgeable employees with relevant skills and hunger to grow even further. Skilled workers can help companies be more innovative, progressive, and productive. Moreover, people with the latest training and workshops at their disposal can generate solutions others wouldn’t. Employees gain invaluable insights into Learning and Development (L&D) programs, necessary for understanding industry trends and tech changes.
However, it’s also wise to minimize training costs by offering online lessons and sessions. That way, companies can provide relevant knowledge and skills development to employees without spending a fortune.
Nevertheless, L&D is an investment with a stellar ROI and drives continuous growth in the workplace. But business leaders should make the most of these programs by offering custom solutions. Custom eLearning might require higher initial investments, but it also has a higher return because it targets unique employees’ capabilities and needs.
Here’s how.
Balance Between Your Teaching Style And Employees’ Learning Style
Most companies implement generic training because it’s cheaper, faster, and takes less effort to roll out. Although that may sound like a perfect idea, it’s far from it. Regardless of how tempting it is to opt for an off-the-shelf solution that requires no hassle, it’s not likely this option will resonate with your business and employees. Every company should strive to create its own intellectual property and share it with its staff.
Introducing default training programs means that you would pay for someone else’s intellectual property, which may not appeal to your workers. The goal should be to teach your employees your own way and share lessons and concepts unique to your company.
Customer eLearning programs are specific and reflect your business branding, values, regulations, policies, context, and culture. They also resonate with your employees’ job roles, responsibilities, and professional goals.
Target Unique Business Pain Points And Employees’ Potential
Every training and workshop has an objective and targets different pain points and needs. For instance, a company may want to address skills gaps and help its employees adopt the missing abilities through a reskilling program.
On the other hand, they might want to ensure their workers are exploring their non-job-related affinities and can reach their full potential. However, generic training rarely makes this happen, because it’s made to appeal to everyone and no one in particular.
That’s why it’s always a better approach to create unique programs that align with your business and employees’ needs. Although these require more time and effort, they’re more effective and result in lasting positive changes. Moreover, custom eLearning can help you create a culture of continuous growth and inspire workers to adopt new capabilities and reinforce the existing ones.
eLearning Helps Instill A Culture That Drives Ongoing Skills Development
The best way to inspire employees to seek new career advancement opportunities is to express interest in their unique interests and nurture their potential. Besides that, you should offer platforms where they can pursue their passions and grow their knowledge. That rarely happens with generic training programs because the creators didn’t have your employees’ objectives and job roles in mind. Instead, they had a broader goal and made the content applicable to everyone in a similar industry or business.
If you continuously provide a one-size-fits-all formula, that could discourage your employees from participating and looking forward to future opportunities. After all, they want to see you care about their authenticity and help them become better professionals.
Employees will be more passionate about participating in training programs if the content is tailored to their job roles, future objectives, and affinities. They will also be more likely to learn and memorize information if it’s relevant and makes a difference in their careers. Most people will not be excited about learning about the trends and changes that don’t directly affect their jobs unless they participate in reskilling workshops. Instead, they want to discover how to be better in their niches and advance their careers.
Some employees might be interested in expanding their knowledge and transitioning into different job roles. In that case, they’d likely be eager to learn about other departments and whether they could be equally efficient there. Because of that, it’s necessary to talk with your staff and keep in touch with their interests, skills, and doubts. Otherwise, you could miss out on exceptional talents that would perform their jobs just as well if they shifted their careers.
These efforts would help you develop a more rounded eLearning program and tailor it to your company and employees. Moreover, it would ensure everyone is learning the content that resonates with them instead of being forced to join training with zero connections to their jobs.
Finally, customized learning options are essential to establish a culture of continuous growth and improvement. It reminds employees they can expect personalized content and lessons that address their strengths and weakness, making them more excited about the learning process.
How To Make Custom eLearning More Efficient
Focus On Your Employees’ Unique Learning Needs
Discover what makes your workers unique and learn about their passions, interests, and needs. Understand whether they’re interested in advancing in their current job roles, shifting to different ones, or exploring one of the skills they don’t use at work.
Ensure that your custom eLearning encompasses their broad affinities and speaks to their capabilities. Provide lessons that resonate with their learning styles and expectations to maximize the program’s efficacy.
Provide The Tools That Enable Your Employees To Succeed In Your Company
Research the tools your workers need to be more efficient in the workplace, perform their jobs with more ease, and get the most out of their tasks. Also, ensure these appliances correspond to the latest industry trends.
You will inspire your staff to seek more and be more engaged by providing the necessary help and enabling them to be more effective at work. You can also introduce activities and scenarios that imitate their daily assignments to boost their creativity and solution-oriented approach.
Highlight The Real-World Advantages And Applications Of The Learning Content
People are more engaged in their assignments and learning programs when they know how the outcomes benefit them. Your employees would also like to know how they can use the skills they’ll obtain in the custom eLearning training inside and outside the office.
Clarify what makes the content relevant and how they can apply it in the real world. Workers will be happy to understand how training benefits them and what parts of their work or life it helps to improve.
Conclusion
Custom eLearning is more efficient than traditional training because it resonates with employees’ unique needs, objectives, and struggles. It also helps the business perform better and increase revenues.
However, one of the most significant parts of implementing custom eLearning is that it helps establish a culture of continuous learning. As a result, employees become more motivated, inspired, and eager to seek L&D opportunities.
References:
[1] The Ultimate List of eLearning Statistics for 2022
[2] 62 eLearning Stats and Facts That You Need to Know Now
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