The 2022 LinkedIn Workplace Learning report stated L&D learning “measurement methods are stagnant.” The top measurements used by L&D teams in 2021 and 2022 are:

• Qualitative feedback from employees using online courses
• Satisfaction of employees using online courses
• Employee engagement survey scores
• Manager feedback

However, these methods don’t address one critical issue: can workers perform their jobs correctly? To find out, learning and performance must go hand in hand. Unfortunately, L&D teams often lack tools to measure the effectiveness of training and ensure employees can confidently perform their jobs. 

While virtual instruction delivers many advantages, it doesn’t work for everything. For training to be truly effective, managers often need to physically show employees how to perform certain tasks, then observe employees on the job to be sure they can perform them properly. Some companies refer to this as “observational checklists” or “live trainee evaluations.” Schoox calls it “on-the-job training” (OJT.) It combines learning with practical skills demonstrations and observation. 

Businesses often rely on paper scorecards and manual methods to track OJT training compliance. But these are cumbersome to maintain, make it difficult to share data with other systems, and nearly impossible to analyze at scale through reports. What’s needed is enough flexibility to design training in a way that’s efficient and ideal for a digital workplace. 

Schoox’s On-the-Job Training Tools Go Beyond Observational Checklists

Schoox goes beyond mere observation checklists to encourage effective learning. Schoox offers managers the option to create course-connected OJT tasks as part of a larger course or curriculum, or standalone OJT tasks that are independent from other ongoing training programs, for example: 

• Course or curriculum-connected OJT tasks could be used to observe employees preparing foods after they watched digital content teaching them about a new menu item.

• Standalone OJT tasks can be used as supplemental or ad-hoc training whenever required, for example, to observe an employee preparing a new menu item not covered in the original course. 

Once learners have completed their assigned OJT tasks, training managers can access an at-a-glance view of progress. They can use these insights to determine who is excelling, who needs more support, and what kind of additional supervision might be needed for individual team members. 

Schoox delivers the tools and flexibility that equip organizations to set up their preferred OJT measurement process on four levels:  

1. Track training compliance among workers
2. Confirm knowledge retention among learners
3. Ensure learners can perform the required physical job tasks
4. Evaluate employee performance in real-time via mobile devices

Organizations may also choose to adopt a blended approach to deliver coursework, OJT performance assessments, and additional remediation. Schoox delivers multiple options for various training, task, and assessment styles through a single mobile-friendly and integrated platform. 

Sonesta Hotels Upgrades Customer Experience Training

A perfect real-world example of measuring employees’ OJT performance is Sonesta Hotels. Schoox enables the 7,500+ property hotel chain to connect three major pillars of its business—employees, guest feedback, and training—to measurable goals and business impact. When the hotel receives online reviews, for example, it can easily map complaints to areas where training might be weak and then implement a solution. This helps Sonesta Hotels resolve problems on a case-by-case basis, and when appropriate, roll out standardized process improvements company wide.

According to Derek Fournier, Senior Director of Training, “If reviews for a particular hotel or service are negative, we first check to see if employees have completed the associated training courses for their role. If they haven’t, we address that. If they have, it presents an opportunity for us as leadership to improve the training, because it isn’t translating into a great customer experience.”

Learn more about Sonesta’s success and the power of Schoox to measure employee skills and evaluate performance impact for front-line workers in our new report, Real-world Learning for Frontline Workers: Top 5 Learning & Development Must-haves for Employees Working on the Go.

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These days, mobile connectivity seems to be a prime necessity for most people. We use our mobile phones to do everything—order dinner, watch our favorite movies, manage finances, and keep in touch with friends. Training should be no exception.

As of 2021, the number of unique mobile internet users stood at 4.32 billion; in other words, over 90% of the global population of internet users utilizes a mobile device to get online. And that’s not all—these numbers are expected to increase significantly as tech-native generations enter the workforce.

According to research from The Center of Generational Kinetics, there are already more millennials currently working than any other generation, while Gen Z is the fastest growing generation in the workforce all around the world. These generations not only prefer mobile options, they’d rather have entirely mobile experiences. With these digitally savvy employees joining the mix, businesses can no longer afford to put off mobile-first strategies across operations, especially learning and development programs.

What Makes a Great Mobile Learning Experience?

In such a digitally connected world, mobile workers arguably have an even greater need for reliable technology for everything they do—especially training. Here are some hallmarks of a strong mobile learning experience:

• Intuitive User Experience: A mobile app is only as good as the experience it provides. For training, businesses should ensure they’re choosing a platform that offers an equally smooth experience via mobile.
• Accessibility: Learners should have training available at their fingertips in moments of need no matter where they perform their jobs. Within a few taps on their phones, they should be able to access content to help them perform their jobs better right as questions present themselves. They should also have access to important information about their progress, user profiles, course completions, and more when out in the field or on the go.
• Microlearning Opportunities: Since people already spend so much time consuming media on their phones, learning through small, bite-sized pieces of content on their smartphones often feels more natural to learners than sitting through hours upon hours of training in-person or on a computer. If training content is delivered in a way that resonates with employees, they’re more likely to engage with it—and most importantly, they’re more likely to recall the information when it’s time to perform their skills in real-time

What Makes the Schoox Mobile App Different?

Not all learning management systems are equal. Some don’t offer a mobile app at all, while others charge a premium for it. Here’s how Schoox is different:

On-the-Job Training

A major benefit of Schoox is the ability to manage and track all kinds of learning within a single platform, including on-the-job training (sometimes called in-person instruction or observational learning). This enables L&D teams to create hybrid learning programs which incorporate both virtual elements, such as videos or online seminars, as well as in-person training and assessments to ensure knowledge retention. The Schoox mobile app is particularly useful for businesses which need to teach their employees physical skills where work actually happens—whether that’s in a kitchen, out at a construction site, or inside a hotel room at a sprawling resort.

Social Collaboration and Gamification Tools

Learners can chat with colleagues, share knowledge with one another, collaborate on group tasks, join private group discussions, and post on the company newsfeed all via the Schoox app. Gamification features like badges, rewards, and leaderboards help foster healthy competition between individuals or teams and encourage continued engagement with learning content. These kinds of features can help foster a greater sense of community and belonging, especially among remote or distributed teams who may not get the chance to connect with colleagues in-person.

Training Program Management

Trainees aren’t the only employees on the frontlines—there are plenty of managers there, too. The Schoox mobile app allows managers to manage training, assign coursework and assessments, track in-person instruction, and more—empowering them with everything they need to stay on top of their employees’ training in the palm of their hands.

A Powerful Mobile App at No Additional Cost

Regardless of age or technology proficiency levels, the bottom line is that most people prefer using mobile devices over desktop computers. That’s why we include the Schoox mobile app at no additional cost, helping businesses ensure all learners have access to training content whenever they need it, through a device they already know how to use.

How Mobile Learning Helped Phillips 66 Lubricants Transform Field Training

For an example of mobile learning in action, consider Phillips 66 Lubricants. As one of the largest finished lubricants suppliers in the U.S., it needed a better way to ensure field marketing and sales representatives have the information they need to sell both its new and existing product lines when out in the field. A team of one at the time, Bill Brown, former Director of Marketing Operations, was looking for an LMS that could help him deliver training materials from corporate to a network of more than 430 distributors in 76 countries, where assigned unit managers can manage training within their own businesses. Most importantly, he had to find a solution that was mobile-ready.

Schoox transformed learning and development at Phillips 66, empowering each part of the company to leverage the LMS to work toward common goals. What was once incomprehensible, password-protected product information in text-heavy powerpoint slides is now a robust library of engaging, bite-sized microlearning opportunities complete with hundreds of courses and content assets—all accessible through whichever mobile device field operators already have on hand.

Want to learn more about how Phillips 66 was able to achieve this stellar mobile learning experience? Check out this case study and others in our report: Real-world Learning for Frontline Workers. 

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While attending the funeral of a transgender woman who had been a victim of violence, the Resource Center advocate recounted this quote from the woman’s eulogy: prejudice rarely survives experience. This poignant message of hope says that engaging people of diverse backgrounds, and sometimes with vehement differences, will one day help us overcome what divides us.

American women were in crisis before the U.S. supreme court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. According to research from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), women lost 12.2 million jobs between February and April 2020, reversing an entire decade of job gains. And in its June 2022 fact sheet on labor statistics, the NWLC reported that, while May marked 17 consecutive months of job growth, women are still down almost one million jobs since the start of the pandemic two years ago.

The decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization created even more disparity for women in the workforce by eliminating protection for abortion, resulting in its criminalization, depending on the state. So, how should companies with U.S. operations react? Some would ask, is it wise for companies to comment on such a divisive issue?

We believe companies are responsible for fostering a fair and equitable work environment. As an organization that places the utmost value on supporting our people, Schoox has decided to provide financial assistance to U.S. employees who need to travel to a different state for abortion access. The benefit is available to all employees, including team members who are not enrolled in the company medical plan, and serves to bridge the healthcare gap created by the Dobbs ruling.

Beyond resolving the disparity in the company health plan, Schoox remains committed to the principle of bringing your whole self to work—whatever that looks like. For this reason, we do not shy away from tough topics. We find a way to listen, learn, and engage – with the hope that our shared stories will one day overcome our differences. 

Resources:

Resource Center – Nonprofit providing education and services to the LGBTQIA+ community

National Women’s Law Center – Nonprofit advocating for women’s rights and LGBTQ rights 

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Managers control and direct people according to the values that have been established. Leaders set new direction or vision for their group. They also act as the spearhead for that new direction.

Management without leadership

Managers without leadership characteristics serve to control resources to maintain a status quo. They work to ensure that all things are happening according to the already established plans. A good example of a manager is a referee. Referees exist to make sure that all players abide by the rules that are set for a certain sport. However, a referee would not provide any leadership because there is no change or new direction required.

Managers who don’t have effective leadership skills can actually cause losses to your business. By demotivating the people who report to them, it restricts employees’ ability to demonstrate the valuable skillset they were hired for in the first place.

In addition to not being able to motivate employees, some managers have a difficult time placing trust in them. Instead, they prefer to handle the key tasks themselves instead of delegating them. This also causes employees to lose confidence and become disengaged.

What makes a good leader?

It is well-known that good leadership is crucial to the success of any business. But, to become a leader is not a task that can be accomplished overnight. There are many factors that contribute to good leadership. Over time, anyone can become a good leader regardless of whether the person possesses natural leadership traits or not.

Here are three critical components to being a good leader:

1. Effective communication skills—especially about burnout

Communication is the most important element of leadership. With the COVID-19 pandemic came an increase in remote workers. I’m not sure anyone expected this new way of remote management to last as long as it has. Additionally, the concern of employee mental health and well-being became more important as people became more isolated.

Every good leader must learn effective communication skills, but the pandemic has introduced the need to place an extra focus on burnout.

A recent Software Advice article found that burnout is, in fact, the biggest threat to employees’ well-being. A whopping 77% of employees who transitioned to working from home due to the pandemic are experiencing at least some burnout (alarmingly high among younger workers) where 41% said they haven’t discussed mental well-being with their manager lately.

When you are open to communication, you are able to clearly convey your ideas and thoughts to employees so they have better direction. At the same time, you can more effectively listen to your employees’ feedback to find out what problems they may be facing, and how you can address them.

2. Collaboration and teamwork

It goes without saying that two heads are better than one. Teamwork is always something to consider when you are determined to become a good leader. This means providing opportunities for employees to work together and collaborate on projects. But it also means becoming part of the team yourself.

The purpose of teambuilding is to achieve a task that would be difficult or impossible for a single individual to perform in the given conditions. Team members need to be clear on the purpose the team is willing to achieve.

When teamwork and collaboration are effective, productivity and engagement increases.

3. Motivation and engagement

Motivation is another trait that is vital for good leadership. Employees tend to stagnate when their motivation goes down. They start becoming less engaged. The reason for this is the lack of motivation from leaders.

There are still managers who tend to motivate employees with a “do what I say or something bad will happen” mindset. This may get results, but only for a short period.

Leaders, on the other hand, use positive motivation to engage their employees, such as providing opportunities to challenge themselves and grow. This style proves to be more effective over the long term.

To learn more about becoming a better leader or gaining new leadership skills, browse through our course marketplace.

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When employees look at learning and development professionals, they may think of us as superhuman in a way. Perhaps not on the level of Superman, but they may assume L&D professionals have all the answers and don’t make mistakes. This just isn’t true, though.

Learners are not really expecting perfection. Neither are the companies themselves; yet, L&D professionals can fall into the trap of overanalyzing everything they do. All that does is create a tremendous amount of pressure.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Matthew Brown, Schoox’s VP of Learning and Brand Success, discusses how to be your authentic self as an L&D professional and why it’s okay to not be perfect.

To learn more, keep reading or press play on the podcast below:

The truth about perfection

The truth about perfection is that it’s OK to not be perfect. There are some scenarios in the world where perfection is important, for example, performing surgery, but for the most part, perfection isn’t essential.

In fact, it’s in our imperfections that we really display our humanity. And in our humanity is where we become much more approachable and personable. This is key to developing deep, trusting relationships.

This isn’t just about L&D professionals either. It’s crucial that we help employees feel able to be authentic at work.

To do this, learning and development professionals can show their true colors and show learners and employees that it’s okay to do so. There may, of course, be some restrictions on that. For example, turning your hair blue in a customer-facing role. But there are other ways to work around that and still bring your authentic self to the workplace.

You can do this in a number of ways. It’s all about finding what works for you, but here are some ideas:

1. Bring things you love into the office

The trick here is not to overthink it too much. It could be as simple as bringing in a picture, figurines, or colorful office equipment. If you’re primarily a remote worker, think about placing things in the background that reflect your personality on Zoom calls. This could be pictures on the wall, ornaments, trinkets, etc. It doesn’t have to be anything huge, just small hints of your personality will do.

2. Show off your sense of humor

We could all use a bit more fun and humor in the office. A lot of people, especially in corporate environments, are afraid to show their sense of humor. However, making an effort here can help to reveal the real you.

3. Tap into empathy and compassion

When delivering learning sessions, try to make an effort to emphasize the content you’re delivering with things like personal anecdotes and humor to really lighten the conversation.

For example, if you’re going through slides, don’t be afraid to inject a little personality, color, jokes, or even memes to keep people engaged and also show your learners that you’re human too.

4. Be an open book

When sharing anecdotes and stories, don’t be afraid to talk about the not-so-glamorous stories. Mention the mistakes and failures as well as the successes. This highlights that you’re not perfect, and no one else is either.  This can really open up the topic and help people feel understood and supported.

Don’t wait for perfection

A lot of us put too much pressure on ourselves to be perfect, but this can cause problems. A common example of this is not asking for help when we really should because we don’t want to appear incapable. This causes all sorts of problems down the line when you end up really needing help later.

If you’d have opened the conversation earlier, got some help, some feedback, or support, things may have been different.

Remember, it’s okay to invite people into the process when you’re still mixing the cake. It doesn’t have to be fully baked. In fact, involving others helps to foster a sense of inclusion in your workplace. It gives others a chance to share their opinion and feel heard and valued for their contributions.

Accept that no one has all the answers

The final thing to think about here is the fact that neither you nor anyone else has all the answers. It can be especially difficult for L&D professionals to accept this because of their position as the person delivering the learning. However, L&D professionals are people too, people who are still learning and growing.

Acknowledge that and emphasize it to your learners because the learning never truly stops. Instead of trying to present yourself as perfect, why not use this opportunity to inspire and motivate your learners to reach their potential.

Demonstrate that you are a real person. You have pains, struggles, successes, failures, and you are not afraid to continue learning. This will help you connect with your learners and foster a more productive, collaborative environment.

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What kind of system would you need to develop each frontline employee according to their individual skills, knowledge, and experience to help them continuously grow? How would you keep them engaged, informed, and compliant? 

This can pose a challenge for learning and development teams at large, global businesses. Especially when they’re responsible for leading and managing such an undertaking.

Global businesses have complex structures that require a learning solution that is equipped to handle their unique set of needs. For example, communicating information to various levels. They may need to reach a single employee, a specific business unit, or every employee in every division. Or, they may want to deliver personalized training to both frontline and other employees, across multiple regions and cultures. 

If you are in the market for a learning solution and you have a complex organizational structure with specific talent development needs, be on the lookout for these must-haves.

Global businesses with complex organizational structures should look for a learning solution that:

1. Simplifies global learning initiatives

First, the platform should be easy to access across the entire company and on all devices. A good question to ask a learning solution provider is how much down time their cloud-based system experiences annually. Additionally, ask if their solution is optimized for PCs, cell phones, and tablets.

Second, the platform should be able to translate learning content and the user interface text to many languages. This enables employees to choose their default language.

Geotargeting comes into play here as well. By having a learning solution with geotargeting capabilities, the system can prompt the employee to choose the language depending on where they’re located. Or, it can automatically reset to the default language if needed.

Finally, the system should allow you to measure learning adoption rates. It should also enable you to create reports for specific regions and geographies throughout your company.

Consider an L&D leader of a large restaurant franchise. To determine the completion rates for one of their key training courses on salad prepping, they run a report. Upon review, they realize that the rates vary greatly across geographic locations.

By leveraging a reporting tool that drills down to various levels, including by region, they can immediately address the issue. For example, they can leverage the system’s built-in communication tools to share information. Or, they can employ gaming elements to build friendly competition and boost completion rates.

2. Helps drive engagement across the entire workforce

Global organizations have many factors to consider when it comes to employee engagement beyond the number of employees. They also have to take into account what motivates employees across different regions and cultures. Therefore, global organizations need learning solutions with a robust set of tools that can help them drive engagement. For example:

• Surveys
• Communication and feedback mechanisms (groups, one-to-one, or one-to-many messaging)
• Progress tracking in order to regularly review and iterate programs
• Learning tailored by role or need
• Relevant, interactive content
  

3. Eases companywide change

From shifting to virtual and blended learning due to the pandemic, to implementing new policies, procedures, or programs, learning solutions can help large complex organizations manage large-scale change more easily.

Continuing with the previous example, consider how COVID-19 affected the way large restaurant franchises conducted franchisee training. Typically, franchisees would visit corporate headquarters for training. The pandemic forced restaurants to change that. Learning solutions equipped to handle that change were able to shine during the pandemic. Why? Because they helped many companies transition to a virtual learning environment. 

Large businesses were able to take things that could be done online and create virtual training, both instructor-led and self-paced. And for those unable to attend, employers simply enrolled them in the recorded on-demand training instead.

Mobile optimization was also key during the pandemic. Companies were able to leverage technology to make learning available in the flow of work. For example, a restaurant employee could pick up their phone to view a microlearning session. Minutes later, they can wash their and get right back to work to apply what they learned. 

4. Comes with a reputation for excellent customer service and product improvement

Finally, look for learning solution providers that are known to be “customer-obsessed.” Your relationship should feel like a true partnership, including having access to leadership. 

Companies grow and change over time, and you deserve a learning provider whose success depends upon your own success. They should be there for you as you grow to monitor your needs. And they should improve their product and features to address those needs along the way. 

A chat with Subway

Subway, a global business with more than 40,000 locations, spoke with us to share the impact Schoox has had on their organization over the years. Subway’s VP of Global L&D and Operating Systems Sunil Sudhakar discusses the successes and lessons learned during their training and development journey as a complex global business.

Watch on demand to learn more: Driving Engagement at Scale: A Fireside Chat with Subway

The post Global Businesses: 4 Learning Solution Must-Haves appeared first on Schoox - A Learning Management System.

Therefore, now is the perfect time for hotel staff members to participate in sexual harassment prevention training. Training can go a long way to ensure guests and employees have a safe, welcoming experience.

Why now is the right time for hotel staff training

The latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to lift mask and distancing requirements for vaccinated individuals has companies accelerating their business travel plans.

Many hotel operators are already experiencing stronger corporate travel bookings in markets where the pandemic situation has improved. Likewise, there is an increase in business meeting, conference, and convention planning.

GoldSpring Consulting, a business travel and meetings consulting firm, recently released the results from its Business Traveler Sentiment Survey. The survey found that 63% of business travelers want to travel by Oct. 1, putting the industry on track for 70% of travelers saying “yes” to travel by the end of 2021. It also found that 89% of business travelers preferred to stay in hotels over shared lodging, such as Airbnb.

The return of business travelers is great news for hoteliers. As business people begin traveling for meetings and events again, hotels need to ramp up their re-staffing plans. They need to move quickly to bring furloughed employees and new hires on board without skipping important steps like training.

Having spent more than a year in isolation due to the pandemic, guests and employees are likely return to the hospitality industry with pent-up energy. Therefore, it will be important to maintain a respectful hotel environment, free of discrimination and harassment.

Sexual harassment prevention training requirements and recommendations

Seven states currently require sexual harassment training for employees: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New York, and Washington.

The following 10 states recommend voluntary training: Vermont, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Utah.

We’ve got your training needs covered

We’ve partnered with Traliant, the industry leader in compliance training, to provide you with the Hotel Edition of its award-winning training course, Preventing Discrimination and Harassment.

The course is presented in a modern and interactive format. It is designed for the way busy hotel staff learn—with bite-sized episodes, broadcast quality videos depicting real-world situations, and knowledge checks to drive retention.

The course is available in English, Spanish and other languages. You can access the mobile-optimized course 24/7 on laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

To see this and other related courses, check out our Course Marketplace.

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Often the learning and development teams feel somewhat separate from the rest of the organization and are brought into the conversation way later than they would like.

This is a common problem in companies and can lead to a gap in understanding, which can have a significant impact on the training content that L&D professionals come up with.

If this sounds familiar, the best solution is to go from being just an order taker to becoming a strategic business partner instead.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Schoox’s Matthew Brown (VP of Learning and Brand success) takes you through ways to help you shift from being an order taker to a business partner. He shares his insights into how to get to know the rest of the organization and use that information to improve your training content.

Listen to the podcast below or keep reading.

Questions to ask to become a business partner

The best way to start becoming a business partner is to ask two key questions.

1. Does the business know what your team is responsible for?

What we mean by this is, does the business associate you only with the output, for example, a learning result or a training program. Maybe they don’t know everything that goes on behind the scenes.

2. Do you and your team know what each of the business leaders and departments are responsible for?

More specifically, do you know what their objectives and KPIs are? As a learning and development team is somewhat separate from the rest of the business, it can be easy for this disconnect to occur.

The result is that the learning team builds its own agenda based on what it thinks the business needs.

If, we nurture closer relationships with the departments and business leaders, we can start to really understand all the different perspectives and needs.

One department leader might have an entirely different perspective on what needs work. That’s why it’s such a worthwhile investment of your time to get to know the business, leaders, and employees’ needs.

By doing so, you can become less of an order taker and more of a trusted and proactive strategic business partner.

There are numerous benefits to becoming more of a partner, but the main one is understanding the business at all levels. This enables the learning and development team and the business as a whole to build proactive paths for career development and progression.

With more of an understanding of the rest of the business, it helps everyone give more informed and honest feedback to expose what is needed. This allows the L&D team to build only the most relevant training.  

Build engagement

When we shift into that role of a trusted business partner, it can dramatically impact engagement in training sessions. When engagement has improved, we start to see participation increase.

This means that the knowledge transfer and knowledge gained throughout the organization also increases.

If we can get to this place where the learning and development team is viewed as a trusted business partner, we have much more visibility to achieve what people really need and want.

There’s often a preconceived idea of what every department wants to focus on. However, the reality could be further from that. They may already have the skills and experience they need in their department, but what about beyond that? What about the next step in their career or business objectives?

Having visibility and feedback from engaged learners allows the L&D team to take that into consideration. This can lead to much better productivity, performance, retention, and a healthy working culture.

What can you do to switch from order taker to business partner?

There are plenty of little things you can do to make that shift. Here are the three key steps to start with.

1. Develop the relationships

The first thing to think about is how you develop the relationships. It’s not a case of showing up with an agenda and trying to fit that into the team. Instead, it’s about building a solid working relationship, getting to know the team, what they need and want.

One way you can do this is to request that someone from your team attends leadership or department meetings. This would help you get a better understanding of what’s important to that team.

When we can get into these face-to-face meetings, it allows us to earn trust, and we can see what our learners actually need.

2. Use surveys and polls

Once you have started to build that trust and credibility, a great way to get more understanding is to use surveys or polls. These surveys and polls get much better engagement if the respondent knows that the person behind the survey cares and understands them.

3. Follow up and create action plans

Once you have a deeper understanding of all the different teams and they’re in a position where they can give you honest feedback, don’t just leave it there.

Whenever you can piece together information like this, the next step is to follow up and create a plan of action.

One way to do this is to split it into three touchpoints.

Three touchpoints to becoming a business partner

Touchpoint one is a summary or recap of the main takeaways. For example, “When I joined your team meeting today, I learned lots of great stuff. The takeaways were 1, 2, 3, and here’s what the next steps look like.”

Touchpoint two is when you make an action plan. This is where you lay out everything for the team and make suggestions based on what you’ve learned. Show them what the next steps could look like and invite discussion.

Touchpoint three is where you express and acknowledge the team’s contributions. Let them know that they’ve contributed valuable and helpful information.

It also highlights their responsibilities in training. It’s not solely down to the learning and development team to come up with all the training ideas for the whole company. An L&D team needs input and feedback so it can do its job.

Highlighting your learners’ contribution is a nice way to round off a discussion that started with building trust and engagement.

This final piece of the puzzle helps to solidify the learning and development team as a strategic business partner. Not just an order taker on the sidelines.

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If so, you’re not alone. Let’s face it, compliance training often carries with it a stigma of being “boring” or “dry.” Regardless, it is still an important and necessary aspect of business—one that can come with significant consequences if you fall out of compliance.

Naturally, it begs the question: If employees view compliance training as boring, and HR and L&D teams see it as a one-time, annual event, how can employees retain what they learn? Likewise, how can their behaviors change if the information isn’t enforced? And how can businesses continue to avoid risk?

Organizations can address all of these issues with a shift in mindset about how they create and deliver their compliance programs. How? By treating compliance training the same way they treat continuous learning.

What is continuous compliance training?

Continuous compliance training is about building a culture and strategy within your organization through learning to continuously manage and address risk more effectively. It ensures that you meet regulatory requirements while upholding the safety of your employees, customers, and systems.

While people often link continuous compliance training solely to data security, it can cover all areas of compliance risk, from cyberattacks and workplace safety, to sexual harassment and discrimination. 

It is also important to note that being able to continuously evaluate and manage your level of compliance does not mean running a report or viewing a dashboard to monitor course completions. Completion rates are not evidence of the effectiveness of your compliance.

Qualitative information, on the other hand, is helpful in determining the effectiveness of your compliance programs. For example, post-course exams, evaluation surveys, and conversations to determine the level of information the employee retained from the course. Role playing or on-the-job observation could also be helpful to determine an employees’ ability to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

Why does it matter?

Continuous compliance training matters more than ever. Companies are functioning in a much riskier environment as compared to even just a few years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic and remote work adjustments have made certain data risks more pronounced. 

And as mentioned previously, not just data risks. The George Floyd incident and Black Lives Matter movement put a glaring spotlight on employee behavior risk. And social responsibility risk, too. This prompted organizations across the country to develop or improve their diversity, equity, inclusion programs. It also revealed the need to implement or revamp their corporate social responsibility initiatives to regain public trust.

Additionally, the #MeToo movement caused employers to rethink their sexual harassment prevention strategy. Several states have passed laws to expand their sexual harassment compliance training. Some states even call for the training to be more meaningful and relatable.

Thus, it might be easier to consider what could happen when companies think continuous compliance training doesn’t matter. By underestimating the need to implement these programs, organizations could be faced with:

• Disengaged and complacent employees
• Harsh fines and penalties from auditors and regulators
• Increased susceptibility to discrimination lawsuits or security attacks
• Exposing their systems, employees, and customers (and their data) to risk

How can my organization make the shift to continuous compliance training?

Transitioning from your one-time annual approach to compliance training to a fully-fledged continuous strategy will take some planning. Here are ideas to consider before you start:

• It might go without saying these days, but for optimal results, you’ll need a trusted learning management system (LMS). You’ll also need online learning courses, whether you buy them, design your own, or both.
• Select a trusted content vendor that regularly updates their compliance courses to meet changing industry, state, and federal requirements.
• Speaking of content, it must be engaging and relevant to remain top of mind for your employees. Select content that includes scenario-based learning. Include checkpoints throughout the course to assess knowledge retention, or add an interactive “choose your own adventure” type of course.
• Incorporate points, badges, or leaderboards to boost friendly competition among individual employees, teams, or departments.
• Training doesn’t only have to be online. It could be on-the-job training or other in-person activities that you can still track in the LMS. 
• Find an LMS that makes it easy for you to track and report on your compliance training.
• Align your continuous compliance training strategy with your company’s overall risk management strategy.
• Finally, measure the true effectiveness—not completion rates—of your program.

For more information on how Schoox simplifies compliance training, download our free eBook: Take the Complicated out of Compliance.

The post Continuous Compliance Training: A Better Approach to Workplace Behavior Change appeared first on Schoox - A Learning Management System.

One of the first decisions to make is: will you buy a solution from a third party or design your own? There are pros and cons to either option, and your choice will likely depend on budget, time available, and your existing skills and resources.

A common solution is to use a mixture of both by purchasing training and then adding your own context on top to connect the dots.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Schoox’s Matthew Brown (VP of Learning and Brand Success) delves into the topic of bought versus built training content. Matthew shares his tips for making bought training solutions more effective and relevant for your team.

Listen to the podcast episode below to learn more or keep reading.

Buying versus building

Those who have been in the learning and development space for a while may remember the switch between bought and built content. Back in the 2000s and before, there was a great emphasis on buying content from third-party providers.

In the 2010s, people started to focus on building content instead because they wanted it to sound like them. Businesses placed more value on content that was in keeping with the brand and employee culture.

Then 2020 happened and created a massive wave of changes in the learning and development world. It brought businesses closer to the middle ground as they began to consider a hybrid approach.

People started to ask, can we make bought and built content work together?

The simple answer is yes, but how do you do this in a way that makes sense? The last thing anyone wants is a convoluted training system that requires employees to log into a dozen different systems. That’s not good for the employee, nor is it good for you in terms of tracking progress and effectiveness.

Start with an anchor

When weighing up which type of solutions to apply to your organization, the very first step is to start with an anchor based on the existing skills, competencies, and resources available. Assess what your business needs, what it already has, and what the focus of your training will be.

Don’t skip this step. If you invest a little time in this, you can progress with your training solutions much faster in the future. It enables you to learn and understand what your knowledge is today, where the gaps are, and how you can fill those gaps quickly.

It also helps you identify where your resources should be split. In this stage, it’s good to figure out how long it takes for you to build a training course. With that information, you can make a more informed decision on whether to buy or build content.

Reserving your energy and resources

There’s no harm in buying content for your organization. Not everything needs to be built according to your exact requirements. There are plenty of fantastic training resources out there.

It doesn’t even have to look or feel the same in terms of company culture or when compared to your other training resources. All it needs to do is articulate a message to the learner.

Particularly in this trying year, perhaps we should be reserving our energy and resources that we would usually spend on building our own content.

Here’s an example of what you could do with pre-built content.

Let’s say you buy customer service training for your workforce. This could be content that many successful businesses use. It could have great methodology.

However, maybe the look and feel of the content don’t quite fit with your business. Maybe the people in the training videos wear suits and ties, and your organization is much more laid back. You might worry that the content won’t have the same effect on your employees.

The goods news is that if the methodology and the content are good, you can work with that. Buy it, then spend some time and energy on building additional content that connects the dots for people.

Using that pre-built customer service course to teach all the basic mechanics and foundational elements saves you from spending hours building that course yourself. Rather than starting from scratch, you could focus on additional content such as a course or presentation that brings that pre-built content into the context of your business.

Internal communication about buying new content is key

For this to work, you need to have a well-thought-out internal communication and marketing plan. By this, we mean a way to help everyone understand what you’re trying to do with the learning content and why.

This could be a good spot to just go ahead and talk about the elephant in the room. When talking to your employees, give them a warning that you’re launching a bunch of new content, and not all of it will be what they’re used to. It may feel out of context for the business, but it’s also really valuable content.

Being transparent about this can help to set expectations and trust that the content isn’t just a random course.

Think about the user experience

Another consideration when buying content is to look at the user experience. No one likes the idea of buying a bunch of content that simply doesn’t work in your system, forcing you to direct employees to multiple sources. Without a central way to keep everything together and track the learning progress, it can become a big headache.

There are solutions out there, integrations that you can use to make things seamless for your users. The problem is that those integrations and tools cost money and time. Sometimes they can even overcomplicate the journey.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t try to make the experience seamless. Instead, start with the end in mind.

Consider what solution you need, speak with different providers, and get an understanding of the possible technical limitations before you jump in headfirst and purchase the content. Get a clear picture of what you want to achieve first, and then work backward to find a solution that works for everyone.

Setting clear expectations when you buy new content

One of the most important things to do when you buy content is to set clear expectations with your employees. They need to know what to expect.

For example, if you were looking to purchase a house and a realtor showed you around a home with holes in the wall and an unfinished floor, you probably think, “this isn’t for me.” However, if, before you went in, the realtor gave you a rundown of what needed to be done and when it’d be done, this would be completely different. You would walk inside with clear expectations.

The same applies to training courses that aren’t 100% perfect or tailored for your organization. They may not reflect your company culture or cover everything you need them to cover, but you can put the finishing touches on them. You can let employees know what to expect and why.

Instead of spending time and energy building bespoke solutions from the ground up, you can simply fill in the gaps, set clear expectations, and ensure that your learners are prepared and open to learning.

When you buy training solutions, it isn’t just about the cost or the content itself. It’s about how you present it to your learners. When we get the communication right, we can help people understand what you’re doing and why. That will go a long way in making the learning experience smoother and more effective.

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