How to Overcome Employee Training Barriers

Designing Digitally

04/18/2019

elearning Training

It would be a perfect world if all your employees were highly motivated to learn, had endless attention spans and enough free time to dedicate to learning; however, that is an ambitious fantasy. Learning designers have several barriers to overcome to ensure that the content is really adding value to the learners. Here are just a few barriers, along with tips on how to overcome them.

#1: The target audience has limited technological experience.

The modern workforce is being taken over by the millennial generation. But there are other generations too, including the Baby Boomers, which may not be as tech savvy as the millennials. This is a challenging barrier. They may not feel comfortable jumping on to a training platform that is totally new to them. You need to ease them into the new technology. Other than limited tech knowledge, there can be various other tech constraints that need to be taken care of. For example, employees who access training on the go should have the necessary hardware and software resources to be able to take full advantage of online training.

#2: The elearning material is not engaging.

When your online learning is lengthy and boring, then you have lost your audience as soon as they start. The trick here is to make the content relevant and interactive. When the learners are convinced that they will benefit from the content, they will willingly invest time in it. You can keep your learners engaged and motivated by including gamified elements and peer competition. Also, by balancing the level of challenges keeps your learners interested in the game. When the content is too easy, your learners may lose interest and quit. If the content is over complex, then they may get demotivated and simply give up. The objective is to provide them with a sense of accomplishment without making them struggle too much.

#3: The organization lacks a learning culture.

It is important that learners learn in a supportive environment. The organization’s values must support learning. It is not feasible to improve skills and knowledge of the employees without sufficient support from the organization. Make various learning opportunities available to the employees – both optional and compulsory ones. A learning organization emphasizes and publicizes learning in its regular communication on organizational values.

#4: The learners have a rigid mindset.

Many adult learners feel that they are too old for learning new things on a new platform. This can result from past experience or low self-esteem. The resistance to online training makes them feel disengaged from the beginning. To overcome the past experience, you need to ensure that the learners are given enough opportunity to discuss their concerns. Offer them live or face-to-face support and make them comfortable.

#5: The learners have limited attention span.

Learners have very short attention spans. On top of that, they are multitasking on various tasks. If you want to fight this barrier, make sure that you give them bite-sized modules that do not take up too much time at one time. Make every word count. Use real-life scenarios as much as possible so that your audience can relate to the situation.

At Designing Digitally, Inc., our custom elearning keeps your learners engaged and involved throughout their training experiences with the help of unique themes, gamification elements, interesting interactions, and more. Elearning is a great solution for your learners to escape their mundane training routines.

To learn more about how we can help you overcome your employee training barries, contact our team today and receive a free quote.

Related Resources: Overcoming Business Barriers with Elearning Article and Common Corporate Training Challenges Infographic