Keeping your organization fully compliant is hard. You've heard all the excuses, there's not enough time in the day, the content is boring, people don't think it's necessary, the list goes on. But we're here to help. We have pared it down to the top 4 things you can do to get your compliance training program in great shape!
#1: Make content interesting and engaging
Compliance is important, it should be approached thoughtfully because you want employees to actually learn company laws, procedures and regulations. You’ll want your employees to pay attention to their training, not just go through the motions. Compliance training by nature has a negative connotation. I always think of a high school Hall Monitor leading a class, nagging everyone. “Here’s a list of dos and don’ts.” Borrrrringgggg. So how do you combat the idea of compliance training being a sash and notepad telling learners what they need to do?
By approaching training with effective content types!
Learning doesn’t have to be instructor-led, or even webinar-style. You can leverage gamification to make training more engaging or include modules that promote auditory, kinesthetic and visual learning. Another way to increase engagement is by breaking training up into microlearning sessions. Think about it, four 5-minute modules may be easier to retain than one 20-minute module. (It also may be easier for staff to take 5 minutes out of their busy shift to train instead of 20.) Don’t let the increased number of sessions confuse you, regardless of the number of trainings, intuitive LMS systems can make reporting and tracking completion easy.
#2: Know your facts
Continuing the topic of reporting, it is your job to ensure all compliance requirements are met. There’s nothing more embarrassing than calling out people who haven’t completed their training only to discover they did in fact do their required modules. Disorganized and outdated reports are usually the culprit of compliance confusion. This confusion leads to slowed productivity and manual backtracking to make sure all reports are accurate.
Preemptively building canned reports will help you and managers keep track of individual and team-wide progress.
A piece of advice: learn about your current LMS software’s reporting capabilities.
Does it offer real time updates? As the compliance deadlines approach, you’re going to want to know daily, maybe even hourly who still hasn’t completed training so you can track them down.
#3: Meet learners where they learn
An important consideration when building any training program is to make learning modules easy to complete for any worker, regardless of their location. When it comes to your workforce, where are they? In the field? In an office? Face to face with customers? Working remotely? Consider what their day-to-day tasks look like and try to create a flexible program that can accommodate their schedules.
Cloud-based LMS systems allow for users to access training on multiple devices and most LMS platforms are compatible with a variety of devices; tablets, desktops, laptops and even cellphones. Having the ability to accommodate your staff’s learning needs on-the-go will be a huge help when it comes to ensuring all learners complete their required compliance training in a timely fashion.
#4: Build a training program with variety
Once you’ve thought through your compliance training program it’s time to take a step back and look at it holistically. Ask yourself, would the training program make sense to every learner? Do you offer a variety of content styles and delivery methods? No two learners are the same. You have to think outside of the box when it comes to variety, may we suggest thinking inside the triangle? (See visual below.) Active learning is the best way to ensure learner retention, so you’ll want to include active training modules in your program.
Alright, we’ve done the work to think through your compliance training program success. Now it’s up to you to hold yourself accountable. If you get these four resolutions right, you’ll be in great shape for the year. Oh, and be sure to select an LMS that makes it simple to do them all!
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