Strategies for Successful Compliance Training in the Workplace.

Let’s face it, compliance training is not always the funnest of tasks, whether you are on the trainer or the trainee side of the fence. The word ‘compliance’ alone gives many people goosebumps, leading to eye rolls perhaps – it feels like a burden.

Believe it or not there are many companies out there that, with a good use of the right technologies, are able to turn compliance training on it’s head; delivering engaging, easy to consume content via their workplace LMS.

Through micro-learning modules, short videos, interactive simulations and smart storytelling, compliance courses can become engaging and fun experiences; and a mental break from the usual every day tasks for your staff.

Let’s have a look at some of the strategies you can use to increase the success of compliance training in your company:

Tailor your training to individual needs – keep it relevant.

Don’t dump ‘do it all just in case’ on every staff member because it seems like too much effort to break up your content into separate smaller courses. Focus on specific skills, certifications and requirements for different teams / individuals. Use data analytics to assess and customise training paths for various employee roles. It may sound ‘too hard’ but it isn’t if you have a good LMS where you can easily customise activities for different users.

Storytelling and scenarios.

No one will remember graphs and theories, as much as they will remember stories. Come up with real life examples / scenarios and bring them to life as short animations or videos. Then present your trainees with a similar but different scenario and ask them to explain how they’ll respond , which leads us to the next point…

Make it interactive and mix it up.

Use different formats for quizzes and micro tests during the training. Not everything has to be text and multiple choice. Consider using images – asking people to click on certain things on the image (as relates to the question); or ask them to try and notice certain things (e.g. mistakes) on a video shown; give them a game to play related to the assessment goal. Apply your creative talents to the course and quiz design, or hire a professional course designer; you’ll be amazed at how much you can increase engagement levels from your team.

Make it easy to access.

Is your compliance training available on mobile devices? Some people are more likely to complete small tasks within the LMS on the go, on the train on the way to work for example, before they get sucked into work tasks as they turn their monitor on at their desk. The easier you make it for your people to access the course from various devices the more success and higher completion rate you’re likely to see.

Make it bite-size – easy to consume, easy to measure.

Short paragraphs, punchy sentences, and simple strong calls to actions. Short videos / animations, shorter bursts of questions and quizzes in-between. A bunch of smaller tasks will always look and feel easier to complete and will keep people motivated. Don’t make your team watch a two hour video and do a half hour test at the end. Now, that’s a burden!

Use a learning management system that offers flexibility and variety in terms of course and assessment design, accessibility, interactivity and analytics.

By investing in a good LMS you will achieve efficiencies in your staff training process and greatly improve overall engagement and user experience levels among all stakeholders involved – your HR team, LMS administrators, course creators, learners etc.

Remember, your refresher courses may need to be shorter versions of the original course. Promote the culture of continuous learning by making it easy for your staff – easy to access, easy to complete.

Collect feedback.

When planning and designing your courses, always start with specific goals in mind and collect feedback from all relevant stakeholders (including trainees) on existing processes, challenges and needs. What works, what doesn’t.

Make it fun.

Humour always works to increase engagement from people. Add some humour to your content.

See if there are existing courses out there that you love and can reuse.

Don’t forget the why!

People need to understand the ‘why’ behind the compliance training they have to undertake. Some clever internal marketing / communications always helps. Explain to your staff how their training aligns with your company goals, values, positioning, point of difference. For many businesses their people, how they hire and train their staff, is one of their key strengths and points of difference. Everyone needs to understand what role they play in the bigger picture strategy. This is important for overall staff morale and motivation.

Where to start?

If you don’t have a learning management system, consider getting one. If you have one but have not reviewed it for some time, and whether it still suits your organisation’s needs, review it with your team (include all key stakeholders in your brainstorm session).

We’ve recently developed a Digital Strategy on a Page checklist. While tailored more towards education providers, this is a great checklist to use for any enterprise level or a growing company that wishes to become a learning organisation.

The team at Catalyst has helped many organisations in Health, Government, Not-for-profit and Commercial sectors achieve their workplace learning and development goals.

Speak with your e-learning consultant today.