One challenge human resource professionals and managers struggle with is making training programs fun and engaging. It seems that no matter how creative they get, people don’t seem to get excited about training seminars and coaching events.
That said, there are a few ways to make employee coaching more enjoyable for everyone. What’s more, effective coaching is essential for a company to operate smoothly.
Below are a few tips to make employee training more fun and successful.
1. Invest in Your Employee Training Program
Effective training begins when you invest resources in the program itself, and sometimes, that investment means hiring outside help.
Today, various third-party companies specialize in making employee training more effective. They typically provide company managers with informative content, strategies, and other resources to make the sessions more engaging.
Learn to Win, a company that provides solutions for managers and athletic coaches, utilizes technology to create better-performing teams. That’s just one example of how you can allocate just a bit of the company’s resources to your training program.
If you’re feeling stuck with your current coaching methods, don’t hesitate to reach out to other companies to see if they can lend a hand.
2. Inspire Productive Competition
Humans are inherently competitive. We love the feeling of improving and climbing the ranks, especially if others notice our accomplishments. Managers can take advantage of this natural sensation by incorporating some friendly competition.
You don’t have to make employees directly compete with one another. Instead, try having some form of a leaderboard that showcases accomplishments. It will be far more motivating to participate if people know others will see how quickly they improve.
Furthermore, this helps the management team track results to make appropriate adjustments to their training methods. They can spot who’s learning quickly and which team members need some extra help.
3. Form Learning Groups
While new information may be valuable for all team members, other exercises may be redundant if an employee has mastered that skill. Some people naturally learn faster than others. So, you’ll need to adjust your training to suit everyone’s pace.
It may help streamline your training sessions if you can form groups based on experience so that everyone can learn more seamlessly.
You can implement this with a simple exam that showcases whether or not an employee is qualified to move on from that portion of the training.
What’s more, you can encourage other slightly more advanced employees to assist with teaching others. Most people enjoy a leadership opportunity, and it may help with staff bonding. It will also give you more time to focus on developing better training programs.
Conclusion
While many employees and managers look at training exercises as mundane and boring, there are ways you can make them more engaging so that more people will enjoy them and retain the information.
Try all the tips above to see if you notice any improvements in your training sessions. Remember, humans are complex and sometimes require unique solutions when it comes to learning. Take time to audit your sessions and see where you can make better developments.
Interesting related article: “What is a Skill?“