We recently took a look at the under-representation of women in leadership and the lack of equality this brings to the global workforce.

As we celebrated and acknowledged International Women’s Day, it was also important to draw attention to the under-representation of women in the areas of science, technology, engineering and maths – known as STEM. Unfortunately, in 2017 women are still significantly outnumbered when it comes to working in STEM-related studies and careers, making up only one in four IT graduates and fewer than one in 10 engineering graduates.

Many organisations are doing their best to address this gender imbalance, yet more work is needed to dismantle the unconscious bias that often exists towards women in these industries. How then, can we accelerate gender parity and move towards a more equal and diverse workforce?

Supporting the Education of Women in STEM 

Championing women’s education is a large part of addressing gender disparity. In support of this, the Australian Government recently announced $3.9 million in funding to 24 organisations to rollout projects that will encourage girls and women to study and pursue careers in STEM.

One of these organisations is Melbourne-based Girl Geek Academy, an Australian startup actively working to inspire and engage more young girls in technology and coding. Through its one-day events, online training and ongoing support, Girl Geek Academy aims to increase early awareness and participation of girls and women in STEM.

We talked to co-founder Tammy Butow about her motivation for creating Girl Geek Academy and her own experience working in the tech industry as an engineer and Site Reliability Engineering Manager at Dropbox.

The Under-Representation of Women at Tech Events

Tammy attended her first hackathon in 2009, flying up to Sydney from Melbourne for the OpenAustralia Hack Weekend at Google. At the event, she noticed there were hardly any women at all.

“I wondered why there were not many women at the event while I was there. I thought it was tons of fun and I was able to learn so much in a compressed weekend. It was awesome having engineers from Google and other companies offer to teach and share their knowledge,” Tammy says.

On returning to Melbourne, she decided to create her own events and workshops for women to learn.

“I went back to Melbourne and in 2011 I started running programming workshops. Over the years, I got more and more practice and met other women who were passionate about improving the world too. I decided to ask them to create a new company with me called Girl Geek Academy, asking Sarah, April, Lisy and Amanda to be my co-founders.”

As Tammy explains, each founder brings their own awesome and unique skills to the company.

Inspiring Girls and Women Across Australia to Learn Coding

Miss Makes Code – the world’s first hackathon for 5-8 year old girls

SheHacksVic – a hackathon for women who are hackers, hustlers and hipsters to get together and launch their own business or build something really innovative

Promoting Gender Equality in the Tech Industry

“Yes certainly. I have also experienced it myself and there is a ton of research to support this. It's important to call things out when they happen. I practice calling out horrible things that happen to me or other women each day. With practice, you will get more comfortable calling things out,” she says.

“If you do not feel safe calling out the person directly then try to tell somebody you trust. Find out if your company has a HRBP (HR Business Partner) or EAP (Employee Assistance Program). Take time to get to know your HR team so you can understand how they can support you. Many companies have a confidential EAP you can use.”

Tammy also believes men must play a role in addressing gender bias in the workplace and becoming better champions for equality. She recommends following the Twitter account Better Male Allies (@betterallies) for great advice on how to support your female colleagues, and taking a few moments to watch the videos on malechampionsofchange.com.

With one last question, we asked Tammy for her top tip for young girls and women who are keen to pursue a career in the tech industry.

“Don't settle for a bad workplace or bad mentors,” she says. “Find amazing people that will support you and help you learn and grow. They are out there.

“Come along to our Girl Geek Academy events to meet amazing people that will help you grow. We are a friendly and welcoming community. We have connections to companies where they do not tolerate harassment or workplace bullying. We can help you be a great engineer.”

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Girl Geek Academy: supporting women in technology

Wednesday 8 March marked International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate the social, political and cultural achievements of women all over the world. The day is also an important time of reflection, an opportunity to look at what’s been achieved in terms of gender equality and what work still needs to be done.

One of the key areas in which we see a lack of gender equality is in the workforce, on a global level. Unfortunately, in 2017 there is still a clear difference between the way women and men are treated in the workplace and the way in which they are valued. In fact, the World Economic Forum has predicted that the gender gap won't close entirely until 2186 – that’s another 170 years of inequality for female employees.

How Are You Supporting Women in Your Organisation? 

Do men and women in your company receive the same level of pay, when doing work of equal or comparable value?

Does your organisation have an equal representation of male and female leaders?

Are you doing enough to support the professional development of women in your workplace?

Is There an Under-Representation of Women in Leadership?

In Australia, women account for 34% of senior managers and 16% of chief executives in the private sector; in large publicly listed companies, only 5% of ASX 200 CEOs are women.

Recent research from three separate organisations shows senior female managers earn, on average, $93,000 less per year than their male equivalents.

High-level female managers earn an average of 5% less than male managers, as reported by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, in collaboration with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

Women are twice as likely to be told they need more confidence when applying for a promotion or leadership role, compared to their male colleagues. Yet at the same time, many female employees are criticised for being overly assertive.

It’s vital that business leaders take action to address this inequality and encourage a higher representation of female leadership throughout the workforce. Your organisation will also benefit from having more women in leadership roles, as you’ll be encouraging greater diversity of thought and experience – something that is highly valuable in any industry. Alison Kay, global Vice-Chair of Industry at EY, says that after speaking to 350 business leaders, there is "overwhelming agreement that gender diversity is essential to business performance." These leaders also agreed that "more needs to be done to attract, retain and promote women into leadership."

What Can You Do to Promote Gender Equality in Your Workplace?

If you’re a CEO, employer or manager, you’re in a strong position to take action on this issue. There are many things you can do to accelerate gender equality within your organisation, creating positive change on a higher level in the process.

Aim for an equal target of representation of each gender in employment and leadership roles.

Make sure that women and men who are doing the same role (for example, two engineers or two senior leaders) are paid the same amount of money.

Ensure female employees are involved in policy and decision-making processes.

Always be inclusive, making sure women are equally represented in delegations, speaking panels and boards.

For individuals, particularly within the context of the current political climate, reading these figures might feel quite depressing. But it’s not just CEOs and employers who can help to create positive change in the workplace. You also have a voice and the right to speak up about gender inequality and bias when you see it. Use International Women’s Day as a reminder to celebrate women’s achievements across the world and advocate for a more gender inclusive world – every day of the year.

Promoting equality for women in leadership

In today’s competitive workforce, it’s vital to stay ahead of the game when it comes to employee training. Many companies, both small businesses and large organizations, have switched to eLearning for staff training, as an alternative to traditional teaching methods.

eLearning tools and online courses bring a number of benefits to your business, being flexible, engaging and cost-effective. A good learning management system will also allow you to create custom content, specific to your business and learning audience.

Interested to learn more? Here are 5 benefits of using eLearning for staff training.

The best thing about eLearning is that training is no longer confined to the classroom or conference. With eLearning, individuals can log into online training courses and modules whenever they like, wherever they like.

This offers employees a form of training that is far more flexible and convenient, and that works with their busy schedules, not against it. With many modern workers operating remotely or across different time zones, training materials that are available 24/7 provide employers with an effective solution for accessible staff training.

Many online courses are also able to be accessed through mobile-friendly apps and devices, making eLearning even more convenient for users.


2. Better knowledge retention for learners

Whatever the reasons, these employees will inevitably fail to apply what they’ve learned in training sessions to their role back in the office or worksite. In contrast, eLearning offers a very effective method that improves employee knowledge retention. In fact, studies have shown that using apps for training can greatly improve knowledge retention, with students reaching a competent level nearly four times faster than by using traditional training methods.

Through short, engaging and goal-oriented content, staff will be able to move through training modules at their own pace, and in an environment that’s conducive to learning. As we’ve said before, the freedom and flexibility of eLearning also encourages full focus, helping individuals to become more engaged with the materials and retain more of what they’re absorbing.


3. Custom content for more effective learning

Using Go1’s course creation tools, for example, you can quickly and easily compile your own custom content for staff training. The eLearning tool also allows you to upload existing training materials, supporting a wide range of files and making course creation even easier.

With such easy-to-use online course creation, you can have fully branded, customized training materials ready to roll out to your staff in no time.


4. Consistent, high quality training materials

In addition to this, eLearning content can easily be updated at any time. You’ll save time and money on updates to training content, as you simply make any changes online and publish immediately across the system.


5. Cost-effective training for your business

As well as removing the need for printing, eLearning will save you considerable amounts of money in comparison to traditional training methods. By using online materials to train your staff, you’ll eliminate costs such as trainer and speaker rates, conference or room hire, staff transport and catering. When you start saving money on all these costs, you’ll see a significant reduction in your bottom line.

If you’ve enjoyed reading about the benefits of eLearning, you’ll find many more articles about this topic here on the Go1 Blog.

Learn how to build an effective eLearning course

Find out more about how eLearning improves knowledge retention

Read up on informal learning and why it’s so important for staff

The benefits of using eLearning for staff training

Many people use the words education and training somewhat interchangeably when referring to the process of knowledge sharing. Because the terms have become so closely linked, it’s easy to assume that there aren’t any differences between the two. But there are some very real differences between education and training that you should know, especially if you’re new to the eLearning industry.

How do you think of education and training? And how do these learning experiences differ?

One of the best explanations of the differences between the two comes from Jay Cross:

“If your sixteen-year-old daughter told you that she was going to take a sex education course at high school, you might be pleased. What if she announced she was going to take part in some sex training at school?”

With this example, we can see that these terms are not at all interchangeable – they can create very different versions of the event indeed! Let’s look closer at the meaning of both education and training, to help you get a clear idea of the exact nature of these terms.

Chris Barnes, Business Development Manager at Can Studios, provides some helpful insight into the real meaning of education.

“Education is all about learning the theory. Traditionally, an education may reinforce knowledge in which that you already have a foundation,” he says, using the example of learning English at school. Even though students already know how to speak English, they must still take the subject at school to understand the theory behind it and reinforce their grammar and spelling skills.

When talking about education, it’s common to refer to qualification and institutions, that deal with systematic processes and passing of specific levels. The word often applies to learning that occurs in the classroom, rather than the workplace – although education is certainly not confined to the physical classroom these days, with many institutions successfully using tools such as eLearning.

In contrast, training is more skills-based – it’s about learning by doing. In this way, training helps you to acquire the skills you need to perform certain tasks or work duties, rather than simply knowing in theory how to do them. Whether it’s developing new skills, or building upon existing skills, the objective of training is to allow you to apply your knowledge practically.

Barnes illustrates this point with another helpful example: in physics class, you learn about splitting the atom – but you don’t do it. This is education. Training to split the atom would be a very different thing. While obviously, no training can occur without education, the word does have its own different connotation. Starting to get a clearer idea of the two now?

Training is also usually used in a workplace context, as opposed to classroom, and can generally be tested or assessed. This is to see how effective the learning experience has been and to make sure employees will be able to perform their tasks correctly and efficiently.

Education and training produce different results

Daniel Burrus, renowned business guru and speaker, considers the difference between education and training in his article Teach a Man to Fish: Training vs. Education. For Burrus, the key difference between the two is that “they both produce different results.”

As Burrus explains, “it is possible to be educated but poorly trained, just as it is possible to be well trained and poorly educated.” He uses a fishing analogy to further illustrate this point.

“An ancient truism says that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, and if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life. I’d go a step further: Don’t just teach him how to catch a fish. Educate him about the art and science of fishing. Go beyond the mechanics of catching a fish and enlighten the man by explaining the biological forces underlying the key elements of fishing. Give him the big picture.”

With this, we can see the importance of combining education with training, for the best results. When training new hires or current employees, are you providing them with a big picture understanding, as well as the skills they need to do the job?

It’s important for employers and managers to provide both. With the combination of proper training and education you can expect to see improved skills, increased performance and higher productivity from your staff, leading to better business results for your organization.

Do you know the difference between education and training?

In January 2015, Californian lawmakers introduced a change to their current legislation regarding workplace harassment. The AB2053 amendment means it is now mandatory for companies with over 50 employees to provide training, not just for sexual harassment in the workplace, but also anti-bullying in relation to this type of misconduct.

This training is specifically intended for supervisors and managers so that it now includes anti-bullying when discussing potential forms of sexual harassment. The amendment also states that bullying isn’t constituted by a single offense, unless extreme in nature, but rather by a series of events that occur.

Although California already had laws relating to mandatory sexual harassment training in place, there was nothing stipulated about bullying. Those who supported the law stated that sexual harassment in the workplace was a growing epidemic in America which needed to be addressed before it got out of hand.

The main purpose of the amendment was to ensure that harassment was stopped before it begins, which is where the focus on anti-bullying measures comes in. Proponents of this law found that abusive work environments led to a range of issues in the workplace such as low morale, absenteeism, and high turnover of staff, among other issues.

By targeting the problem before it turns into abusive conduct, which is often the case, the AB2053 amendment will hopefully lead to a reduced rate of workplace sexual harassment. Although it took many years to have this bill introduced, the steady rates of sexual harassment in the workplace had been signaling a need for change for a long time coming.

What constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace?

Not only is it important for workplace managers and supervisors to be aware of the signs of sexual harassment, so too should all employees. In some cases, the perpetrator may not even be aware that they have made someone uncomfortable so it’s important to understand exactly what constitutes sexual harassment.

Workplace sexual harassment doesn’t even need to occur in the workplace necessarily; it can be outside of work and between colleagues or at a work related function.

This harassment can come in the form of verbal, physical, or written abuse or misconduct, and includes incidents such as:

Inappropriate physical contact such as hugging, grabbing, or touching in a way that makes someone uncomfortable;

Asking intrusive questions about someone’s appearance, sexuality, or personal life;

Staring or leering at someone to a point that makes them uncomfortable.

Although it might seem unlikely to witness any of these events taking place in the workplace, the number or incidents of sexual harassment are still quite astonishing, thus making it even more important than ever to increase training and prevention.

The importance of sexual harassment training in the workplace

So, what did the state of sexual harassment incidences in the workplace look like up until now? An article published by contemporary women’s magazine Cosmopolitan highlighted that a staggering one in three women has reportedly been victims of workplace sexual harassment.

Interestingly enough, just a third of those women claim to have reported it to their superiors, meaning many of these cases aren’t even highlighted. These also don’t include the male victims, which although are even less reported than the women, are still extremely prevalent in the workplace.

As workplaces evolve and shift towards a more digital landscape, the ways in which harassment is experienced is also changing. Emails with inappropriate jokes, a link in the group chat to something explicit, or an instant message that makes the receiver feel uncomfortable are all the new and scary ways that sexual harassment can be felt in the workplace.

How these changes could help your workplace

Ensures employees are aware of expectations – when laws are reexamined in this way it gives everyone in the workplace, not just supervisors, a chance to brush up on what is expected of their conduct.

Keeps you protected if things were to go wrong – without educating your managers and supervisors on amendments such as these, you have no legal leg to stand on in a court of law as it can be argued that the education of sexual harassment was your responsibility.

Workplace bullying and harassment lead to reduced productivity – studies have found that victims of workplace bullying have decreased productivity and experience feelings of stress and anxiety on a daily basis.

What this law means for future workplaces

When implemented with a standard training and orientation package for all new employees, training on harassment and workplace conduct is the easiest way to ensure everyone is educated on the subject. Even if your workplace doesn’t meet the set requirements by law for mandatory training, there are far too many benefits not to make it a condition in your workplace.

With a huge focus on bullying and its prevention, not just in the workplace but also in schools and other environments, small amendments such as AB2053 will hopefully lead the way to a reduced rate of these incidents in all areas of society.

What Californian businesses need to know about AB2053

Storytelling has always been a very powerful tool for classrooms and training environments, helping students to build an emotional connection to content and aiding in memory retention. Using digital storytelling in modern training sessions is just as important, being a very effective combination of technology and learning and building engagement between teachers and students.

As digital media technology becomes more affordable and available to consumers, learners have increasingly more access to tools for digital storytelling. With a noticeable rise in digital storytelling across the learning industry, individuals are creating and sharing more digital content than ever.

Want to know how you can incorporate this modern form of storytelling into your training sessions? Read on to learn more about digital storytelling, how it helps with learning and what websites and apps you can use to get started in this area.

Bernard R. Robin, from University of Houston’s College of Education, describes digital storytelling as “the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component.”

“People tell stories to teach beliefs and values to others. The oral tradition of knowledge transfer and exchange has served as the basis for education since humans began teaching one another, and digital stories build on this model by incorporating rich, dynamic media,” Robin says.

These days, through digital media and a little creativity, anyone can become a storyteller, by using the traditional processes of choosing a topic, carrying out research and developing an engaging story.

How digital storytelling helps with learning

Storytelling can be applied to almost any subject, making it a very useful tool for teachers and trainers. Whether you’re teaching students or running training sessions for company employees, you can use digital stories to introduce new topics and get participants interested in and involved with new content.

Technology allows trainers to play around with different ways of presenting content, making it more fun and engaging to consume. Always consider the relevance of the story to your audience, when creating any narrative for training purposes.

5 digital storytelling tools for trainers

There are many digital storytelling tools that can offer creative, engaging ways to help your learners. Here are some websites and apps to get you started, as recommended by Christopher Pappas in his round up of 18 Free Digital Storytelling Tools For Teachers And Students.

ACMI Generator, from the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is a great creative studio space where you can create and share moving images with the Generator community. You can use the Storyboard Generator to either build your own storyboard, or simply choose one of the available scripts, and you’ll be an expert digital storyteller in no time!

The ACMI website also has plenty of useful information on digital storytelling, that will help trainers gain a more comprehensive understanding of this practice.

This second website, Slidestory, is a practical tool that allows users to add voice narration to image slideshows – which can be extremely handing for training sessions. You’ll learn how to work with voice narrated mp3 audio files and text caption, helping you expand your skill set and make effective, engaging presentations.

Moving into apps, Adobe Slate is top of the list for digital storytelling, being named as App Store Editors’ Choice #1 Best New App. Adobe Slate helps you turn your existing training materials into captivating visual stories for learners.

You can access the app from any device to create your story and simply paste the link anywhere you need to share with your audience. As Pappas observes, with Slate you “simply tap to select a unique look; beautiful fonts, color, and magazine-style design are automatically incorporated. Fluid movement and elegant motion are applied instantly.”

Another app, ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard does exactly what it says – allowing you to show and share work on your device as though it’s an interactive whiteboard.

You can also add your own voice recordings to the whiteboard, to create handy tutorials you can share online with students or staff. This app is easy and intuitive to use and can help you easily bring digital media into your training room.

WeVideo is an online video editing software that allows you to create and share videos. It’s a cloud-based tool, meaning it’s great for collaboration and easy to save across your various devices.

With advanced video editing features, this app is powerful, yet surprisingly easy to use! Whether you’re a complete beginner, or video editing professional, you’ll have everything you need to create great video content for your learners.

Hopefully this has given you some good places to start out on your digital storytelling journey. Creating fun and engaging content for your audience, while also building your skills in this area, will make any learning experience far more rewarding and effective for both parties.

How you can use digital storytelling for better training

When it’s time to expand your business and you’ve done the hard work of finding yourself the ideal recruit, you might wonder…where to next?

They’ve had a successful interview, their references check out, and they’re happy to accept the salary and conditions of the role. Providing every new team member with an orientation and training schedule is a must-have for any fresh employee to a company, and failure to do so correctly can have serious consequences.

Starting at a new workplace can be daunting enough, so providing your new employees with some basic information and safety guidelines about your company can help ease them into the role a little better. Not only is it beneficial for your new recruit, but it saves you time and headaches in the future if issues ever arise.

Why Is New Employee Orientation and Training So Important?

Although not a legal requirement for all companies, most workplaces offer their new employees a training and orientation day before beginning their new job so they can cover the basics about working for the organization.

This training can cover everything from background information about the company and enter into the more serious territory of occupational health and safety procedures too.

If the statistics are anything to go by, injuries and deaths occurring in the workplace are still alarmingly high. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 4,836 workers were killed at their workplace or on a work related task in 2015.

That equals more than 13 deaths a day, as a result of a number of different injuries.

Having a plan in place that covers the health and safety information relating to the job and the workplace environment is a must-have for any company.

What Should Be Covered In Your Business’ Orientation and Training Plan?

How to perform their job, including all tasks and responsibilities required of them;

A thorough guide on how to use machinery, materials, and other equipment safely and efficiently;

Work schedules of the organization, including information about meal breaks, start and finish times, and requesting leave;

Background information on the company such as their history, the mission statement, goals, services, customers, and products they offer;

All health and safety requirements, including safe procedures for operation and how to report an issue;

Employee rights and responsibilities, as well as information about the human resources department and how to discuss any issues regarding their employment;

How to access information such as the intranet, web and email, and the different departments and benefits that might be of use to them.

But, what other benefits are there to the employee and employer? 

The Benefits of New Employee Orientation Training Programs

Having an employee training and orientation plan in place at your company might seem like a lot of work and effort, but it’s one of those tasks that will pay off tenfold in the long term.

When considering the benefits of implementing such a program for new recruits, there are benefits to be had by both employees and employers:

According to a study discussed in Forbes, new employees who receive adequate and well thought out orientation and training are more likely to perform better at their jobs. This study showed that when the orientation focused more on the employee and how their strengths could be of use, this gave them an instant feeling of satisfaction about the workplace.

When new employees are schooled on everything there is to know about their role, the company, and what’s expected of them, there’s less room for them to make errors. They can also feel more relaxed and comfortable in their role than if they had been thrown in the deep end.

Having one set training and orientation plan for all new employees can save the company a lot of time and resources in the long run as there’s less chance of a health and safety incident, and less need for employees to ask questions.

With every employee on the same page having received a set training and orientation, a company can be assured that their values and goals have been expressed to all staff so that they can work on building their vision together. Today, most training and orientation is done in a boardroom or other similar classroom setup, but what does the future of employee training look like?

How Workplace Orientation and Training Will Evolve 

Just like all other areas of workplace training, the trend for new employee recruitment and orientation is leaning towards the digital sphere. Both employers and their staff can benefit from this mode of teaching, as it not only ensures the staff are retaining information better but saves the company precious time and money on training each staff member individually.

With an e-learning approach to orientation, staff can enjoy an interactive and educational orientation process that they can refer back to at any time of their employment. This type of training means all new employees are receiving the same information, and that it’s kept relevant and up to date. As we look to the future of training and education processes, this digital approach is just the start of what’s to come.

Is your new employee orientation and training OSHA compliant?

If you’ve just landed a new job as a training manager, you might need some help as you settle into your new role. Like most sectors, the learning industry has its own language, terminology and jargon, that can seem overwhelming if you’re not familiar with this work environment.

For seasoned training managers, moving to a new company is obviously an easier transition. You’ll be used to the many different eLearning and EdTech acronyms that appear in day-to-day discussions. But for anyone new to training management, you’ll want to start at the very basics.

To help you out, we’ve put together some of the most common acronyms and terms that are used by learning and development professionals.

Acronyms you need to know in the learning industry

Monica Grimsley, in her article Diary of a New Training Manager: My First Days of Alphabet Soup suggests new training managers familiarize themselves with certain abbreviations.

“Naturally, we can’t use simple words like “classroom” or “webinar” or “online” to describe types of training,” Grimsley says. To get started, she recommends becoming familiar with these top three commonly used acronyms:

ILT is another term for traditional classroom training, such as you’d see in schools, universities or corporate workshops.

There is no need for technology to be used in these kinds of training sessions, as both trainer and participants will be together in one physical location.

In contrast to ILT, or traditional training, vILT relies on technology or software to connect trainers with students in real time. It is delivered in a virtual or simulated environment, such as a webinar or remote lab, that has been designed to replicate the traditional classroom learning experience.

With this form of eLearning, participants can be in any geographical location, connected to their trainer and other students by the internet. vILT can occur synchronously (meaning students are learning from a trainer at the same time) or asynchronously (as students learning from a pre-recorded video by their trainer).

As its name suggests, WBT is training that is web-based – that is, online. Developed through special software, students can log in and learn at a time and place that is convenient to them.

Unlike vILT, WBT is usually available to students 24/7, as there is no virtual trainer or need to connect in real time. This makes web-based training self-paced and flexible, which makes it a very effective learning method.

With some research, you’ll start to feel more comfortable hearing and using these kinds of terms, which certainly abound in the eLearning industry.

Grimsley also outlines a common mnemonic that’s used in the learning industry. Many companies use these four steps, known as ADDIE, when discussing the four steps of the training process.

A&D, is the first step taken at the start of any training process. Through the analysis and design stage, training managers can define and analyze the areas that need to be solved through training. A plan than then be designed to solve any identified problems.

In the learning industry, training managers commonly refer to the plan that is produced as a ‘design document.’

In this second step, the training process is created, reviewed and validated. This development occurs in line with the plan outlined in the design document above.

The third step, whether it’s implement or instruct, is where training is delivered to the student. Training is implemented, or content is instructed, depending on the format of the learning experience.

Evaluation is the last step of the training process and should never be overlooked. It’s important to take stock of your training methods to determine whether they were effective for your audience.

There are many different ways to evaluate training and you may like to do further research in this area. Simply asking for feedback at the end of any course or session is a good place to start.

Hopefully this information will prove useful as you start your journey as training manager. Taking the time to get your head around these basic terms might save you a lot of time and confusion in meetings or discussions with colleagues.

If you’d like to learn more eLearning acronyms, Sam Weston has written a helpful list of acronyms for training managers in his Ultimate EdTech & eLearning Jargon Buster. Look through Weston’s full list of acronyms to become more accustomed with these common eLearning abbreviations.

What you need to know as a new training manager

When you think of a compliance officer in any industry, it’s easy to imagine someone ticking off boxes on a checklist as they make their way around the organization.

While this stereotype may still be the norm for many industries, the insurance compliance officer and those in other neighboring financial industries have recently seen a few changes to their role which makes them more accountable and involved than ever before.

Although relatively young when compared to other industries, the compliance officer in an insurance company still holds a vast amount of responsibility for the company. Changes in technology, in particular, have signaled a huge shift in how this role is to now be carried out.

Gone are the days when the compliance office would offer a simple tick on a piece of paper before moving onto the next point, as the changing needs in documentation, regulations, external influences, and other arising issues make this job more complicated than ever. However, with all of this responsibility, the insurance compliance officer role is also receiving more respect at the management table than ever before.

Where once an insurance compliance officer might have access to a range of resources to complete their job, most of these are shifting towards technology based systems. The Accenture 2016 Compliance Risk Study interviewed more than 150 compliance professionals and found that 84% of their employers now relied on digital resources for their compliance.

This shift towards technology could also indicate a decrease in the physical role of the insurance compliance officer, where machines and computers may now be able to provide these checks directly with staff and cut out the middleman, effectively. Many companies which now use elearning can generally keep track of their staff’s completion of training and education which keeps their competencies up to date, further eliminating the need for a compliance officer to perform checks for themselves. 

With this movement towards technology comes a stronger need to document everything that an insurance company does. As the insurance industry is heavily regulated both internally and externally, it’s never been more important to have a clear and accurate record of a company’s activities.

By further using these digital systems, most insurance companies can keep track of every single process and procedure carried out within the organization so that senior management know exactly where possible risks may lie.

The National Association of Insurance Companies can at any time request data from a business, so the insurance compliance officer must know exactly where and how to gather this. The NAIC has even stated that any insurance company with more than $500million in direct premium must submit an Own Risk and Solvency Assessment each year to ensure everything is running above board. These new needs to report to external bodies has given the insurance compliance officer, even more, to be responsible for than before.

Along with the new reporting responsibilities, there are other issues that the insurance compliance officer must be aware of. Depending on who the compliance officer has to report to, they may find that communication needs to be more effective than ever to ensure that their findings and recommendations don’t become lost through the ranks.

According to a study, less than half of insurance companies have a dedicated compliance officer within the organization, however, this number seems to be increasing.

As the role is still being developed as such, an insurance compliance officer must be flexible and adaptable to grow with their position. This includes embracing any digital and technological processes that might become part of the role, as discussed earlier. Along with the processes and procedures that come with the role, the ever-changing regulations that govern the insurance industry also make this job particularly tricky.

One thing that hasn’t changed within a compliance officer’s role is that the rules and regulations which govern the insurance industry continually transform. What has changed, though, is the amount of new regulations to be adhered to. Where traditionally most auditing and reporting was sent directly to management, there are now many external bodies that require this information too.

The compliance officer must stay on top of any advancements in the industry to ensure that their company is protected legally and financially, and this is where a digital training plan might come in handy. By implementing eLearning and other digital systems, insurance compliance officers can be guaranteed they are receiving the most up to date information relevant to their industry so that they can stay on top of the changing regulations.

What the Future Holds For the Insurance Compliance Officer

Although the role may be expanding and the scope of responsibility becoming even greater, the shift in this position isn’t without its reward. A study conducted by Accenture in their 2016 Compliance Risk Study has shown that the changing roles of compliance officers in insurance and other related industries mean that these positions are now able to influence higher levels of management than before.

Trends are indicating that insurance compliance officers in the future will come from backgrounds in other financial sectors so that they can have a greater understanding of every aspect of the role. This deeper knowledge will give them an even further respected position within the company.

As valued members of the management team, insurance compliance officers are able to give direct and fair input on where the company should be heading as determined by these many changing regulations and issues. This role can be particularly crucial in growing a business and keeping it competitive in such a volatile market as we will likely see in the future.

Find out how technology has shifted the insurance compliance officer role and why they are more accountable and involved than ever before