Training is an important driver of both employee and organisational success. Not only will training help enhance employees’ skill sets and knowledge, it also helps employers improve retention, engagement, and productivity. When trained properly, employees will be better equipped to manage risk, cope with change, grow their careers, and enhance the bottom line of the organisations.
As the Covid-19 infections spread globally, workplace learning and development will be affected as well. As people are encouraged to stay at home, employers might have to cancel any on-site events and schedule, including employee training. The truth is, those activities do not have to be cancelled.
Training and development programs remain crucial to keep employees updated and engaged in their job, especially in times of economic tumult like today. However, you might want to cut or pending non-essential training that is not urgent, such as training that does not help your company handle this crisis.
See also: 7 Ways to Successful Employee Development Survey (with an example)
One of the best ways to conduct employee training during coronavirus pandemic is by hosting online training and learning. According to a Training Industry survey, online training has been on the rise since the Covid-19 cases emerged and lockdown implemented, with approximately 8.1 percent increase in topics related to remote learning, virtual instructor-led training, and leading through adversity and change. There is also an elevated interest in virtual training through an increase in registrations and attendance for online webinars, virtual conferences and podcasts.
In brief, virtual development for employees can consist of one or all of these training:
Virtual meetings can be delivered every week or month, depending on your L&D program. This could include daily-stand-ups, all-hands meetings, discussions and many more. Specific goals for each session and clear communication should be your number one concern in these meetings.
Workshops would need special techniques and methodologies in its practice. A well-designed workshop, based on Community Tool Box review, should have a goal to help remote teams align, generate ideas and solutions, build trust and relationships, and strengthen remote team culture. Online sessions would be necessary for teams who desire productive days. In addition, remember that asynchronous communication and collaboration tools are key factors of any remote team.
A webinar is an interactive approach to help employees scale up their hard and soft skills. There can be one or more speakers to deliver instructional material to attendees and conduct discussions, pools, and participation over online software. Like any other development program, the L&D team should design carefully the webinar inline with its audience and purpose.
You need to choose the right webinar software that has a design to facilitate discussion and participation. According to Adam Enfroy survey, here is editors’ choice of webinar software:
This session can help add value to your offering in the online course marketplace. Your training should be aligned with each employees’ goal, hence, it can result in the most effective online training for your employees. It is important that your live components of any training session are well facilitated and well designed, with a limited amount of face-to-face time. The opportunity should focus on developing employees.
Read also: Job Rotation: Achieving Successful Employee Development
