OJT is usually quite cost-effective, because it focuses on the tasks at hand, and requires no equipment beyond what the company already provides.  It’s also much less disruptive than other forms of training, because employees aren’t removed from their duties, but are instead trained for their work while doing it.

The actual training is usually done by a manager or supervisor who is coaching employees while they work.  Supervisor feedback tends to be immediate, and trainees often improve their job performance quickly.  Employees also feel more confident about their job performance when they are being coached by supervisors, and on-the-job training is a good way for new employees to build relationships with their comrades.

Problems to Avoid

There are, however, potential issues with on-the-job training.  Supervisors and experienced employees may not have the needed skills for training other employees.  Often, supervisors or managers were promoted because they were good at performing or managing their own work, but this doesn’t guarantee that they also possess the skills or ability to coach new employees.  Not everyone is a born teacher.

Time also can be a huge issue! Supervisors and mentors may not have the time to spare to  help new employees. And since on-the-job training usually follows no formal procedure or specified content (other than the task at hand), supervisors and mentors will need still more time, to pass on the extra knowledge, skills, and  business context that employees will need to solve future job problems and respond to business changes. So upper management must give employees who are doing this training the time they need.

During on-the-job training, trainees also need time to practice the skills they must learn.  In turn, supervisors and trainers must prepare adequate drill materials for trainees, and provide feedback early and often in the drilling process, to prevent trainees from acquiring unwanted job behaviors. So again, upper management must make sure that everyone gets the time they need.

An often-overlooked issue that can plague on-the-job training is company lingo. Trainees must receive a clear, consistent understanding of the concepts and terms used in their organizations. And even when an employee says they understand a word or concept, they may not.  They will often say they understand to avoid looking incompetent. So supervisors and mentors must keep this in mind, and constantly repeat and reinforce the terms and concepts that new employees must learn.

And on top of all the above, supervisors and mentors are only human. They can easily pass on their own counter-productive habits to other employees…and must work hard to avoid doing so.

OJT Development Techniques

Usually, OJT employs one or more of the following four techniques:

·         Coaching—This one-on-one interaction is usually done by a supervisor or someone outside the company, and is often prescriptive and corrective in nature.  It helps the trainee understand their strengths, weakness, and areas of improvement, and tends to be applied for a fixed amount of time until the employee is deemed proficient.

·         Mentoring—This too is an ongoing one-on-one technique that’s usually done by a more experienced company executive or supervisor.  The mentor works with the trainee to find their strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement.  The mentor provides feedback and guidance, and points out areas that may have been overlooked.

·         Job Rotation—This approach allows trainees to practice and become proficient in various aspects of the work at hand, or different roles within the company.  It helps employees because they are exposed to different work areas and learn about various company functions.  (It’s also a great opportunity for employees to try out different functions, to see what they like or don’t.)  The company also benefits, because job rotation diversifies worker skill sets in critical areas, and helps the company respond to unforeseen events like vacations, flu epidemics, and catastrophes.  Job rotation also fosters organization-wide goal- and objective-sharing, because employees better understand each other’s job responsibilities.

·         Job Instruction Techniques—There are many great online resources to help you plan, prepare, and implement on-the-job training. But most models ask trainers to plan, present, trial, and follow up.  The plan consists of a written breakdown of the work and of your training objectives.  In the trial stage, the plan is presented to the trainee(s), who are asked to try it out…with regular follow up during the process. There are variants to this method and it can be either streamlined or made more complex, depending upon the business case and the tasks to be learned.

How Can LMS and e-Learning Tools Help?

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and e-Learning authoring tools can help with all parts of on-the-job training.  Depending on your organization’s needs, you can use an LMS to track and manage one or more parts of the OJT process, including:

.

·         Registering trainees

·         Scheduling training

·         Storing and delivering reference materials (such as company procedures, concepts,  and terms)

·         Delivering regular practice drills

·         Testing and evaluating job competencies being learned

·         Collecting and storing training results

·         Delivering and collecting follow-up employee surveys

·         And, more!

About the Author:

Mary Polley-Berte is Director of Customer Support & Training at SyberWorks, Inc., in Waltham, Massachusetts. Mary is a graduate of Boston University and resides with her family in New Hampshire.

About SyberWorks

SyberWorks, Inc. (http://www.syberworks.com) is a leader in providing Learning Management Systems and custom e-Learning Solutions for Fortune 1000 corporations, higher education, and other organizations. Located in Waltham, Massachusetts, the company serves the multi-billion-dollar e-Learning market.  Since 1995, SyberWorks has developed and delivered unique and economical solutions for creating, managing, measuring, and improving e-Learning programs at companies and organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and other countries.

http://syberworks.com/articles/ojt-article.htm

1. Read a book.
2. Watch a video.
3. Attend a speech or workshop.
4. Enroll in an online course

Now suppose that in addition to being more knowledgeable you wanted to become skillful at something. It could be anything like golf, karate, selling refrigerators, negotiating, making presentations, etc. The point is you want to become truly proficient. Your objective is not just to know something; you want to be able to do something, and do it well. If skill is your objective, then your only option is to practice with an expert coach under realistic working conditions until you achieved fluency.

When you do something repeatedly – trying to perform up to an explicit standard – your mind and body get the “feel” of doing it proficiently. And the “feel” of doing it is the skill. If you don’t acquire the feel, you haven’t acquired the skill. Further, the feel is acquired only by using the skills to produce a real result: A good golf stroke, a sale, a successful negotiation.

Coaching the actual performance shortens the time it takes for an individual to become proficient enough to achieve the desired result repeatedly. Eventually, the new behavior becomes a preferred and self-chosen way of behaving.

Yet, when it comes to interpersonal-skills training in the business world – the teaching of so-called “soft skills” such as listening, leadership and teamwork, practicing with an expert coach under realistic working conditions is the least chosen development method. And that is the real reason behind the endless hand wringing in the corporate training field about how hard it is to get “learned” skills to transfer from the classroom to the job. It is also the reason that in difficult economic times, the training budget is often the first one cut, and it’s our fault

Training vs. Education
There is a great deal of difference between training and education, though the vast majority of trainers are not aware of it. Educating is not the same as training. For most people, there is no causal relationship between education and performance. There is, indeed, a causal relationship between training and performance. Knowledge isn’t power. Competence is power. Power is the ability to create a desired effect and that is performance.

To educate is to increase intellectual awareness of a subject. To train is to assist someone become proficient at the execution of a given task. Many wonderful things can be said about education, but education doesn’t cause competence.

Try making a youngster competent at riding a bicycle by sitting her down at the kitchen table and explaining how to ride a bicycle. Try taking a one-hour golf lesson from someone who uses typical online “training” methods. He’ll meet on your computer screen far from the golf course, talk to you about a golf swing for 30 minutes, show you his swing for 10 minutes, let you take make-believe swings at an imaginary golf ball for 5 minutes, then ask you to write an “action plan” describing how you will apply what you’ve “learned.”

Skeptics will protest that some people who receive education in soft-skills areas actually do turn out higher performance as a result: They do, in fact, get better at selling or influencing or working in a team. And this is true-for maybe 10 percent to 15 percent of the trainees. In fact, that 15 percent were already skillful before they attended the latest online educational offering. If you take anyone who is already competent and add more education, you often will get better performance to some degree.

What about the other 85 percent or 90per cent? It make no sense to pretend that the training department’s job is simply to deliver some information about skills (The Five Key Practices of Famous Leaders, The Ten Fabulous Values of Team Players), and then abdicate responsibility for proficiency to the person’s manager/supervisor. If you accept the title of “trainer,” your task is to make people competent, not just more aware. Blaming managers because the “skills” you supposedly imparted in your educational event failed to transfer to the job site is irresponsible.

Real Training For Real People
Begin by abandoning notions of what people ought to know or what sort of attitudes they ought to have or even how people acquire knowledge. Instead, ask, “How does one acquire skillfulness?” The most efficient and effective way to acquire skillfulness is straight forward: 1) Spend a little time educating about the results to be achieved and the skills to be executed in order to obtain those results. 2) Spend a lot of time practicing, with a coach who can reduce trial and error time, until fluency is achieved.

In the hands of a good trainer or coach, Step 1 takes up 5 percent to 10 percent of the allotted time. Step 2 takes up the other 90 percent to 95 percent. Step 1 is purely education. Step 2 is training.

If the student isn’t doing it, it isn’t training. A day spent talking about skills will not make anyone skillful. Nobody gets the “feel” for real execution, done to a specific standard of competence, and if they don’t acquire the “feel,” they don’t acquire the skill.

Even if you agree with these points you may say: “Fine, but all of that would have to be done in the field. It can’t be done in a classroom. And even if it weren’t too expensive and difficult to put that many expert coaches in the field, we don’t want our trainees practicing on real customers. So how we do make them proficient before we send them into the real job environment?”

There is a way.

How to Do It

To do real training in soft skills, start by taking a tip from advocates of “action learning”: Invite people to a meeting room for a genuine working session—into which some coaching will be added. You can provide some online pre-meeting assignments and education to maximize your work session time.

The purpose of this working session is to evaluate and make decisions about ideas for improving the business: Real ideas for real improvement that will make a real difference to the company. Ask participants to bring their own ideas to the meeting. Stipulate that these ideas must meet two criteria. First, the people in the meeting must be capable of implementing them; that is, someone in the room must have the authority to give a real yes or no to the idea. Second, if adopted, the improvement must be both measurable and capable of producing financial consequences for the business within 90 days.

In other words, you don’t want ideas such as, “Let’s change the cafeteria’s vending machines.” That might be an improvement, all right, but it’s unlikely to produce a measurable ROI within three months. Your online pre-work gave them a quick educational overview of the skills that would most likely help them gain the commitment and support they’ll need to implement their ideas.

Next you must also clearly define what “skillful” means – not just what the skills are. For instance, you are skillful at “showing respect” if you can acknowledge another person’s point of view so well that the person begins to feel they are being taken seriously within 15 seconds.

Make this introduction as succinct as possible. Then put everyone to work on the task of trying to gain commitment and support from one another. Coach them while they do so. Make them do it over and over again, until at least 85 percent of them have become proficient at the skills and have achieved concrete desirable results.

An obvious “desirable result” is that a participant gains the needed support and approval for a good idea. A less obvious but no-less acceptable result is that the participant becomes persuaded that his idea is flawed, but accepts this with no hard feelings; that is, the participant and his “adversary” agree that the idea is a nonstarter, and emerge with their relationship undamaged or even strengthened.

You can stop worrying about “reinforcement.” Why? Because we all naturally keep doing what works. We only need the goading or encouragement or reminding of managers when we can’t produce the results we want.

Online “training” is acceptable and even preferred when the desired outcome is to educate.

Doing the real training is required and perfectly feasible, even with large groups of people when the desired outcome is acquiring skill and proficiency. This approach – Educate briefly, then train at length – is the method of martial arts trainers. It’s the method of sports teams. It’s the method of coaches in the performing arts. It works.

This formula almost always achieves measurable success, regardless of the skills you’re trying to develop: Selling, leadership, teamwork customer service, problem-solving and so on. Instead of seeing slight improvements in the performance of those 15 percent of trainees who were already capable, you’ll send 85 percent out the door with genuine skillfulness instead of mere awareness.

The group is producing real initiatives that will make or save money, your company can expect a very healthy return on investment within three months. These outcomes are critical in these difficult economic times. And nobody will have to ask you again if your training actually makes a difference.

G. Thomas Herrington and Patrick T. Malone are co-authors of the new book Cracking the Code to Leadership and Senior Partners at The PAR Group, an international training firm headquartered in Atlanta. They may be contacted at info@thepargroup.com.

Learn and Save launches with more than 15,000 online tutorials for consumers. Along with the tutorials, consumers will have access to related information and coupons so they can save money if and when they need to purchase related products. Learn and Save corporate sponsors benefit because the Web site provides them with a new and enhanced way to engage directly with their customers.

“Our vision is to provide tutorials on a wide range of topics where each tutorial is matched to savings opportunities that also match the subject and content of the tutorial,” explained Charlie Gillette, chief executive officer of Learn and Save. “We have designed the site so it is simple, safe and convenient to use. We recognized that as economic conditions continue to tighten, people are looking for ways to save money. Tutorials married with coupons help meet that need by allowing consumers to get instructions in a safe online environment while taking advantage of savings and connecting with other experts to maximize the use of their products.”

According to Gillette, companies also benefit from reaching consumers who are already interested in their specific products and ideas. “Corporate sponsors are really excited about Learn and Save because they can engage with people who have a demonstrated interest in a particular topic or product. They’re presenting ads or savings directly to a consumer who has searched for ‘how-to information’ and this group of people simply has a much higher propensity to buy.”

Consumer and corporate reaction to the site has been overwhelmingly positive as Learn and Save sits at the intersection of the acute need for consumers to save money, businesses looking for improved methods to engage consumers, and the growing use of videos on the Internet.

“As an avid coupon clipper, I’m always on the lookout for ways to spend my dollars more efficiently and appreciate hearing helpful tips about products I’m considering purchasing,” said Kayla Sando, Learn and Save customer. “I love that Learn and Save provides me with a one-stop destination where I can learn about the topics I like while at the same time gain access to relevant coupons.”

Learn and Save tutorials provide consumers with free instructions on activities and topics that best suit their interests – whether its how to taste wine, prepare for a job interview or taking better digital pictures, ­there is likely a how-to tutorial on LearnAndSave.com addressing that topic.

Imagine you are a consumer looking for information on backcountry skiing and snowboarding. By watching the “Basics of Backcountry Travel,” tutorial submitted by REI, the national outdoor retail organization, you can learn helpful tips about the four main modes of backcountry travel and what items you should bring on your trip.

Companies selling to other businesses also will benefit from LearnAndSave.com. Kent Hellebust, general manager with AccessLine explains. “At AccessLine we are committed to helping businesses select the right phone system. We are participating in the Learn and Save community so we can provide business decision makers with information about what they should be looking for when they select a PBX. Our tutorial focuses on how they should approach making this important decision and what features and functionality to consider before committing to a system.”

Learn and Save enables organizations, including manufacturers and service providers, to connect directly with consumers or business decision makers in a value-added way. With sponsored tutorials, organizations can provide a quick and effective way for people to learn about their products and services. These tutorials help organizations reduce product returns as well as consumer calls to customer service contacts. By providing detailed information online, consumers are less likely to pick up the phone to ask a customer care representative for help. In both cases, businesses can improve their bottom line.

“The Learn and Save concept has interesting potential,” said John Montgomery, chief operating officer, North America, GroupM Interaction. “It is evident that consumers value this kind of short form instructional content and combined with the Learn and Save business model, could generate meaningful audience engagement.”

The debut of Learn and Save aligns well with consumers whose New Year’s resolutions are to learn something new and save money. Categories spanning across numerous topics include business and finance as well as health and fitness – both popular picks for achieving New Year resolutions.

The Learn and Save development team is lead by Bill Allocca, a former senior member and technology leader in the e-commerce software division at Amazon. With more than 10 years experience at Amazon, Bill brings a deep understanding of consumer and e-commerce related Web sites to the Learn and Save team. To learn more visit www.Learn and Save.com.

About Learn and Save

Learn and Save (www.Learn and Save.com) was created as a wholly owned subsidiary of Knowledge Anywhere. Knowledge Anywhere started in 1998 and is a leader in the corporate e-learning market. Learn and Save will be headquartered in the greater Seattle area and co-located with Knowledge Anywhere (www.KnowledgeAnywhere.com). Learn and Save will have offices in Bellevue, Wash. and Minneapolis with client business development managers throughout North America.

###

For more information, please contact:

Charlie Gillette, Learn and Save, (425) 454-4454 ext. 3801,

Charlie@LearnandSave.com

Jennifer Gehrt, Communiqué PR, (206) 282-4923 ext 112,

jennifer@communiquepr.com

That’s one of those statements that’s pretty much accepted at face value, and I certainly agree with it. But I would like to take a look at what interactivity really is, or should be, because I think that somewhere along the line we’ve taken an easy path where any mouse click is countered as interactive and if we put enough tabs, or rollovers, or instructions to click on this to see that, we can check the box and say that we’ve developed interactive training.

You’ve seen what I’m talking about: bulleted lists were you roll your mouse over an item to see related text, tab templates, graphics with associated pop-up text. Sometimes when an instructional designer to write an “interactive” course, you get a lot of that. In the worst case the online page becomes a sort of treasure hunt, where you’re clicking this and rolling over that to find all the information.  

But I don’t think that content’s really interactive, because you’re not engaging learners in a meaningful way. Further, the content actually becomes harder to understand.

·         If important information is hidden, content becomes difficult to skim, and we all know that online readers skim.

·         It becomes difficult to compare information contained in different pop-ups. I recently saw a table that showed only column headings; you would roll your mouse over a heading to see the entire column, and only one column showed at a time. That defeats one of the main reasons to put information in a table – tables allow you to compare information.

·         You run the risk of annoying learners by forcing them to click and hunt for information.

This may be a simplification, but I like to think of interactivity as being synonymous with engagement, and try to do things that I think will engage the learner. Things like narrated animations, role plays, and quizzes where learners really have to apply knowledge and solve problems are great techniques for engagement. Audio can also be good (so long as it doesn’t simply read the text!). If you have the money and the bandwidth, video can be great. Content should also be engaging. Emphasize what’s in it for the learner, why they should care. Remind them of the consequences of not knowing the information. Tell a story. Respect their time and keep the training concise.

Then I try to think of the all the rollovers, etc., as techniques for layering information, and apply those techniques  to secondary information, stuff that’s nice to know but not essential, detailed technical information, definitions, things like that. Rollovers and tabs are also useful when you need to include a lot of information on the page and want to avoid scrolling. (But when you think about, indiscriminately hiding information isn’t very different from scrolling, because in both cases you’re forcing people to click to see information they need to see. They’re just clicking on some kind of pop-up rather than a scroll bar.)

So think about what types of interactivity will really be useful, and realize that mouse clicks don’t necessarily equate to interactions.

In our series about the business aspects of training management, the first article looked at things to consider when creating a learning management system (LMS) hierarchy for your company or organization. This second article examines the use of competency management and job-role hierarchies, as an organization strives to develop training plans with their LMS.

What are competencies? What is competency management?

Competencies are personal capabilities that are demonstrated through measurable knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal attributes, which can contribute to enhanced employee performance and, ultimately, to the individual’s and organization’s success. In a learning management system, competency management is the system’s ability to connect various competencies/skill sets, job roles, and learning events, to build employee training plans and monitor each individual’s learning progress.

How does competency management help your organization to develop training plans?

Competency management hierarchies let you define employee job roles that are specific, complete, and consistent across the affected organization. This allows you to certify that employees possess required skills or competencies, and that they qualify for their job roles. It also gives users clear, specific, easily followed paths to advancement. At any time, users can see what they still need to progress, request or access training that improves their skills, and stay on a clear training track centered on company needs. The company also benefits in improved employee retention.

Defined training plans also show employees how they can improve and gain new job skills. In this way, training becomes important to the employee, easily accessible, and necessary. This certification is also a path to promotion. If all necessary training is completed for a job role, the employee can print a certificate, and offer physical proof that they have completed all requirements for the role.

Many industries must also meet federal, or other, requirements (such as government regulations) that force them to require corresponding employee certifications. Employees must meet related competencies, and execute tasks and responsibilities in ways that support the company’s mandated performance. Tracking and managing the employee-certification process is critical to the success of these types of organizations.

Where does a training manager begin, given such laudable (but broad) business goals?

A good starting point is a survey. What job roles do people possess? How are these roles defined? What is common among the roles? What skills or competencies support each role? What learning events (courses, meetings, demonstrations, on-the-job training, etc.) support and build these competencies? How does a new hire begin their training? This may seem daunting, but defining existing job roles is worthwhile, and brings many insights into the company’s needs for competent performance. The data from such surveys also helps to build measurable ways to determine when employees attain needed skills, and conversely, may identify training needs that are not yet met.

Usually, a common set of competencies runs throughout most organizations, which comes from the human resources department. Most HR organizations require an orientation, which may include courses and handouts about time clocks, harassment, benefits, and other important company-wide topics. On top of these, most organizations have sales personnel that require both technical and sales training. And specific application roles, be they cooks, cleaners, or airplane mechanics, will need to attain both HR-required competencies and their own job-specific competencies. Food-service organizations, for example, may define food-related competencies for every job role, as well as non-food competencies for hosts, servers and maintenance/repair personnel.

How do you link learning events to certification requirements?

Learning events allow employees to gain competencies, and need to be defined, along with related recertification dates. It would be useless to have job roles that did not periodically require updating, as the business needs for these roles change. You may not want to specify recertification dates at first, but you will later need to identify and inform employees, who possess certain job roles, that they must meet new needs and requirements. Thinking through these tasks requires determination of business needs, so the training department must work with all other departments that require competent personnel, to gain insights into their important job roles, competencies, and learning events.

It’s not surprising that some organizations have no idea what “makes the job” in their business. Surveying successful, competent employees is usually the best way to analyze such situations. Communicating those results, and comparing them with the department head’s own ideas, may give you a great starting point. Good luck!

About the Author:

Dave Boggs is the founder and CEO of SyberWorks, Inc. (http://www.syberworks.com). He has been involved with computer-based and web-based training for more than twelve years. Before founding SyberWorks, Dave was the VP of Sales and Business Development for Relational Courseware. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Union College in Schenectady, NY, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, in Evanston, IL.

Dave also writes two blogs in the e-Learning space. The first blog, the Boggs e-Learning Chronicle (http://www.boggse-learningchronicle.typepad.com/) covers news, trends, and observations about the e-Learning and web-based-training industries. His second blog, the Online Training Content Journal (http://www.boggse-learningchronicle.typepad.com/the_online_training_conte/) discusses best practices, techniques, and trends in online training development and e-Learning instructional design.

http://www.syberworks.com/articles/comp_manage.htm

With custom e-learning design, you can offer your trainees the information they need, in a format that will help them to pick up the new techniques or processes quickly and easily. With this type of learning program, there is no time spent on unnecessary information or on exercises that do not really help to solidify new concepts. Custom e-learning design creatively uses technology to produce effective training programs and helps create noticeable new behaviors and skills in participants.

Be Efficient With The Learner’s Time

When teaching new skills, it is important to have training materials that do not take up unnecessary time from the learner, or even from the sponsor of the course. Custom e-learning design can help you hit all the target learning goals in the most efficient and educational manner possible.

This way, the learner only needs to spend the minimal amount of time to get the maximum amount of results. The learner will also retain more of the information because they are not upset or stressed out by expending too much time or processing too much information at one sitting.

Use A Creative Approach

A creative approach to learning is also essential if you want to produce an effective training program. Tools, like custom e-learning software, add creativity to the latest technology to provide performance based training programs that go beyond the usual methods and exercises to maximize a trainee’s benefit from the course.

Creative training programs, like those produced with the help of e-learning software, are also able to help participants have fun with the learning process. This is an essential part of any successful learning or training program.

Make The Presentation Engaging

An effective training process must also engage the participant. Custom e-learning design is able to convey information that engages the learner in a special way and helps the new information truly become an integral and natural part of them. Participants get to experience the training process in a way that is fun and exciting. This draws learners in where they effectively change behaviors and master true skills, ensuring the success of the training program.

In addition, with the use of engaging and attention focusing materials developed with resources like custom e-learning software, the new skills learned will stay with participants long after they have completed the training, the ultimate goal of any educational process.

Streamlining your training while putting creativity to work and presenting the information in an engaging way will help to produce effective training and will help your trainees get the most out of the process. With custom e-learning software, these goals are met easily and the results will be quickly visible.

Many financial realities are changing around us these days, but two things that won’t go away in the forseeable future are taxes and compliance training. You can ignore them, but they won’t go away.  Compliance training, however, doesn’t have to be as painful as the others.  In fact, depending on the topic, it can be one of the easiest things to take care of using new technology.

The problem is that few employees actually want to take training on things like ethics, diversity, harassment or Sarbanes-Oxley.  They put it off as long as possible.  Also, if you educated your entire labor force on all required topics with instructor-led classes, you’d never get any work done.  So it makes sense to use new delivery methods whenever possible, to make training faster and more cost-effective.

Save Time and Money

Online learning is a natural solution for most compliance topics.  It provides consistency, a reliable paper trail, and considerable cost savings.  Employees can take the training any time, anywhere, without travel.  This explains why most leading businesses across the nation have discontinued classroom compliance training, and rely completely on e-learning.

Unfortunately, many online training companies do a grave disservice to both learners and their subject matter.  The majority simply take classroom curriculum and paste it online.  The result is a purely text-based course that is too long and boring to be effective.  Although poor e-training is more economical than poor instructor-led classes, it fails to take advantage of the interactive opportunities available with technology.

Good e-learning, on the other hand, is short, interesting and challenging. Here’s why.

Brief is best.  Most compliance topics are fairly complex.  But not every mid-level employee needs to know every last detail on Sarbanes-Oxley.  If you cram too much information into training, nothing is retained.  Think back to the last sermon or political speech you heard.  You probably remember one or two points at most.  The last thing you want is a similar retention record for compliance training.

Good online curriculum designers understand the retention issue, and strive for longer lasting results.  So they typically limit curriculum to the must-learn material, and then offer additional documents that can be downloaded as resources.  Learners can hit the key points and get the big picture.  They can also drill down for more elaboration on concepts that they either don’t understand, or have a particular interest in. 

Boring is bad.  The human mind shuts off when it’s bored, leaving the learner feeling resentful and frustrated.  That’s why good educational material, whether presented online or in a classroom, is based on lively and interesting content.  Even dry topics can be explained with stories, illustrations, games or other interactive devices that engage the learner.

When reviewing an online training package, ask whether you’d be willing to sit through it yourself.  Is the reading level aimed at the correct audience – neither too high nor too low?  Do colors, images and perhaps flash animations draw your eye?  If you sense a feeling of fun when interviewing the development team, chances are that retention numbers will rise.

Choose a Challenge.   Scenarios are a wonderful way to teach ethics and other compliance-related topics.  All too frequently, though, they’re too black and white.  In real life, people don’t come up to you and say, “Want to take this bribe to tell me your corporation’s secrets?”  Instead, we all grapple with situations in shades of gray, where we’re uncertain what is right or wrong — which is why corporations need ethics training in the first place.

A quality online compliance class will present the learner with complex situations that could be viewed from several different perspectives.  Any trainee who studied the material carefully will be able to select the right answer.  But the answer should never be obvious.  By evaluating an issue that might be borderline, the learner has to think – always a good thing in education.

Real-World Results

Lawson Products Inc., an international distributor of fastening systems, chemicals, welding and automotive products, uses online education for all of its new sales agents.  “We save thousands of dollars each month by not bringing agents in to corporate headquarters for orientation,” said Ron Beckstrom, vice president of knowledge management.  
 
“By understanding our corporate ethics from day one, every employee knows how we expect them to behave with customers and colleagues,” he continued. “Before we went to online education, a sales agent could be working with customers for quite some time without knowing our policies, opening up possibilities for making mistakes.  Agents completing our initial online module are selling more and finding success faster than agents who never took it.  Furthermore, any sales organization faces a lot of turnover, and with online orientation we haven’t invested too heavily in an agent if he leaves us early in his career.”

Legal Coverage

Shanti Atkins, an attorney and CEO of ELT, a corporate compliance training firm, sees other benefits from e-training.  “The single largest predictor of employment lawsuit filings is the national employment rate.   Average damage awards to successful plaintiffs also rise in a weak economy.  During lawsuits, compliance is scrutinized.  So more so than ever, corporations must pay very close attention to compliance training – ensuring that it is consistent, accurate and complete,” she says.

“E-learning helps organizations on all three of these fronts.  With instructor-led courses, you lose consistency, and can’t guarantee in a legal proceeding that everyone heard exactly the same message.  Similarly, you have no way of knowing if one employee signed in for his buddy, or slipped out early during a classroom session.  Online learning, on the other hand, provides irrefutable proof of attendance and understanding of key principles and workplace policies through mandatory interactive exercises.  The records act as insurance in the event of litigation.”

If you’re considering e-learning for compliance, make a firm deadline for course development, and pick a contractor who can deliver on time.  If you do get sued, it will look very bad to have a stalled compliance program that was never rolled out – particularly if you’ve spent large sums on a national sales meeting or PR campaign.

Then demand employee compliance with your compliance training agenda.  Set an aggressive cut-off date to show that you mean business.  Start training with senior leadership, to model desired behavior.  Then discuss the program in your internal newsletter or magazine, so employees get the message that e-training can be fast, effective and fun.

Biographical Note:  Charlie Gillette is Managing Director of Knowledge Anywhere, an online training company in Bellevue, WA:  www.knowledgeanywhere.com.  email: charlie@knowledgeanywhere.com