Creating the on-demand training mentality for your team

Being in an on-demand service-based industry presents a number of unique challenges, especially when it comes to training your team. If you are still clinging to old models of classroom-based training then you are missing out on key opportunities for growth within your organization. The truth is that the nature of training and instructing employees has changed over the past decade or so, and some companies are simply slow to adapt to it.

If you want to stay ahead of the curve then you’ll want to factor in these new technologies and strategies for training your team.

Here are a few key considerations:

Provide an environment for comparison.

The matter how you slice it, competition helps your employees strive for bigger things. If you are looking to train up your talent then you’ll want to find ways to emphasize comparison and healthy competition within your groups.

Those who are motivated to achieve more will strive to be frontrunners. It isn’t just the “Type A Personality” who responds to this sort of tactic, either. We all compare ourselves to our peers in social environments and when it comes to a competitive workforce this instinct is even more pronounced.

Provide training that is easy to access.

The “old model” made training a mandatory affair that was typically inefficient and hard to access. Employees had to set aside whatever they were doing to complete the training, often in a remote location or in a classroom environment. They were forced to go at the same pace as the rest of the class and it was easy to become distracted or unmotivated.

However, we are in a new age of learning and eLearning gives you the opportunity to engage your employees in new and exciting ways. You can present your content in an easy to digest format by providing smaller chunks of information, for example. You can also create multimedia presentations and interactive videos and allow your team members to complete the training when they can fit it in.

Mobile learning gives your staff access to your best training material from anywhere in the world. Now, rather than stuffing everyone in a classroom for an extended period of time, your team members can complete the training from home, on the road, or anywhere else that is convenient for them.

The key is to embrace this technology and strategically create or adopt a platform that works for your culture.

Give your employees the ability to properly assess and measure their performance.

It’s easy to be mistaken about how effective or efficient we are at any given task without being given the proper method to measure the efficacy of our actions. The on-demand training mentality means embracing systems that can give your people the feedback they need to improve their performance. It also means having the ability to identify and measure the most important areas that drive results within your organization.

It’s no secret that the new generations entering the workforce are more responsive to feedback than those who have come before them. The Millennials, for example, grew up with a higher degree of communication from their peers and leaders in school. So if you provide them with a means to measure their success and they identify that they have room for improvement, then they will naturally access the on-demand training you provide them.

Provide a framework for them to excel.

On-demand learning is not simply providing a buffet of information and crossing your fingers in hopes that your team members will access it when they need it.  You also need to provide a framework for them to adopt—a model for success.

Luckily, you can easily “bake” something like this into your eLearning systems if you start from the desired goal and work backward as you design your curriculum. What do the most successful people in that position do? How have they adopted a model of success and how can you translate that model to one that is easily adapted to?

If you can answer these questions then you will be able to create a framework that allows your people to thrive.

The Times Are Changing!

The on-demand training mentality is the complete opposite of what we have embraced in the past. It’s a continuous optimization of the things that work and a process of discarding the things that don’t. It means being quick on your feet and able to roll with the punches—two characteristics that are absolutely necessary for our global economy.

Human Resources departments have a huge opportunity to create a learning environment that is tremendously more effective than any we have ever seen before. And it simply could not have come at a better time. Part of the friction and resistance we are experiencing right now in the global workforce is directly related to a lack of flexibility and a reluctance to embrace change.

If you want to maintain your competitive edge then one of the first places to start looking for opportunities will be your training strategy. The on-demand mentality gives everyone access to the training they need when they need it—something that has never really existed before.

Some critics may preemptively assume that the on-demand training model is more expensive than the traditional model—and this could not be further from the truth. In the vast majority of cases, it’s actually much more cost-effective to implement an on-demand learning system than it is to try to retrofit something that’s outdated and only marginally effective to begin with.

To learn more about on-demand training options for your organization, have a look at the Go1 Marketplace have a look at the Go1 Marketplace!