Maybe you have launched a training programme but it is not reaching its goals, or you are looking at launching a training programme, you are aware of some significant challenges and you don’t want it to fail.
Whichever group you fall into, this blog is written to help you understand what can make your training programme fail and the steps you can take to make sure it doesn’t happen to you.
Let’s look at the factors that contribute to a failing training programme and what you can do to overcome them.
Inefficient Launch
Without launching effectively and selling the benefits of your training programme, it’s unlikely that you will get your audience on board. A launch plan should form part of the programme development stages. It is at this point that audiences should be consulted to discover pain points and goals. This information will help you to create an engaging training programme.
How to launch successfully
- Whether internal or external, find out what drives your audiences in the planning stages
- Listen to your department heads, as they have a clearer idea of what your learning objectives are.
- Work with marketing to create an outreach strategy and accompanying campaigns that continually communicate the benefits of your courses.
- Get managers on board early. Once they’re sold, ask them to discuss it in person with their teams. They can also use the key messages created by the marketing team.
- Create a buzz– use email and social channels to get people excited about it.
- Develop a launch plan that clearly and concisely communicates the benefits of your training programme.
- Offer incentives for compliance and high scores achieved through gamification.
Related resource: How to successfully implement training for external partners
Training Programme And Content Is Not Engaging
There’s no doubt that providing engaging content encourages learners to learn. Boring, unengaging course content will result in a slow uptake, lessened knowledge retention and low course completion rates. In addition, unsupported learners will often lose patience and not see the training through if they come across issues that are not quickly resolved.
How to keep learners engaged
- Ensure content is relevant to them and their organisation’s goals.
- Include interactive elements in courses to encourage engagement
- Use rich media, for instance, audio and video (even AR and VR if budget allows), to liven up courses and break up content.
- Create detailed course descriptions that include length, outline, qualifications and technical requirements to manage learners’ expectations.
- Implement microlearning to allow learners to absorb as much information as possible.
- Use gamification to help motivate learners and encourage competitiveness between learners.
- Provide incentives for completion to achieve higher course completion rates. This can be in the form of learning resources, or even perks and bonuses.
- Ask your learners for feedback to enable you to continually improve your training offering.
- Adopt a learner-centric LMS that has been specifically built for purpose. There’s no one size fits all when it comes to an LMS.
Learner Pathways Are Not Clear
Learner pathways are structurally set for individual learners and should be relevant to their role and learning objectives. If the pathway is not clear for the learner, you will face problems with course completion and learner progression. Learners are unlikely to continue their learning journey if the next step is not always clear.
How to keep your learners on the right path
- For each learner (or set of learners), focus on the overall learning goals and build a pathway to achieving them.
- Invest in a learner-centric LMS that puts the learner front and centre. It should be clear to the learner which courses form part of their journey and will help to keep them engaged.
- Create periodic milestones with quizzes, assessments and badges enabling progress to be assessed by the learner and managers.
- Ensure you have professional learner support in place to allow your learners to log issues and receive a timely response and stay on track with their learning.
Course Bookings And Payment Don’t Appear To Be Secure
Like any online purchases, consumers are only likely to enter their details and confirm the purchase if the site is using a secure payment portal. If people don’t feel secure adding their payment details, they are unlikely to continue with their purchases.
How to set up secure payment portals
A good LMS will have an integral shop that allows learners to purchase courses without leaving the learning platform. This offers security and a greater likelihood that purchases are completed. It’s important to use reputable, recognised payment portals that learners are comfortable using. The likes of Worldpay, Stripe and PayPal are good places to start.
No Learner Support
What happens when a learner forgets log in details? Or isn’t clear on which course to book themself onto? Many businesses do not consider how these issues will be resolved, which leads to frustrated learners, low course completion rates and a lack of engagement with your brand and training programmes. Giving your audience’s confidence in knowing there is support available to them is crucial for continuous learning.
What support do you need to offer?
The quicker you can respond to your learners, the better. Offering them a variety of ways to contact your support team is key. It is also vital to ensure your support channels are multilingual to cater for global audiences. Where possible, you can also encourage learners to ‘self-support’ by providing them with a comprehensive knowledge base. Some of the most common support requests.
No Internal Team to Continually Optimise the Programme
Training programmes are not a ‘set and forget’ function. As well as keeping the learning platform working as it should, it’s imperative to consider course content and the constant flow of new learners and learning material. If you leave your programme to go stale, programme objectives won’t be met and you could see a drop in reputation and more importantly, revenue.
Outsource to the professionals
While running a training programme internally is possible, there are aspects of programme management that will often be overlooked. It also involves employing a dedicated team which can be time-consuming and costly. Using a managed learning service provider ensures your training programme is continually optimised and maximises your ROI.
By outsourcing this function, you can be certain that learners are supported, content is kept fresh and up to date and the training programme remains fit for purpose. It also means your internal teams can focus on core business objectives.
No Promotion of the Programme to Your Audience
So, you’ve developed a training programme, but you’re not seeing the volume of learners you need for it to be a resounding success. Getting people on board with your programme is a key component of overall effectiveness. Without learners using the programme,
Ideas for getting learners on board
- Use website-based locators that offer end-users the tools to view training statuses.
- Offer learners the opportunity for self-promotion with certifications, badges and partner accreditations.
- Use incentives to reward the completion of training goals and KPIs.
- Link certifications achievement with tiers and statuses to encourage participation in additional training.
- Offer discounts for increased engagement with your training and brand.
- Create internal competitiveness by including gamification within your training courses.
- Promote and support communication within partners and with the wider community.
Summary
There are several ways you can improve your training programme’s effectiveness. The more you understand about increasing engagement, the easier it will be for you to get your programme on the path to success and for it to start meeting its objectives.
Talk to us about how we can work in partnership with you to develop, run and manage a successful training programme for you. Contact us today to get started.
