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Ongoing learning and development (L&D) are cornerstones of all successful organisations and contribute to keeping employees happy, fulfilled, and productive. As more organisations are looking to e-learning to meet their L&D goals, they're also looking for methods to keep their employees engaged and committed to meeting their learning objectives.
“For e-learning to succeed, it requires executives and employees to buy in. Executives need to invest in the right solution to drive their business forward, and employees need to invest their energy and time,” said Michael Gullan, CEO of G&G Advocacy, an e-learning consultancy that assists corporates with high-impact learning solutions. Gullan shares some practical methods to stoke employee interest, keep them engaged for the long term and build a learning culture in your organisation.
1. Stay relevant
Assign only relevant courses to employees and teams, and include courses that benefit the whole employee, such as wellness, mental resilience, stress reduction, fitness, and growth mindset. This will help employees bring their best selves to work.
2. Acknowledge top learners
This helps build learning advocates and demonstrates how much your organisation values learning.
3. Company-wide learning time
Assist time-sliced employees to make time for learning. Get managers to encourage their teams to set aside their daily tasks for learning.
4. Special learning occasions
Ignite course discussions with monthly course clubs, lunch-and-learns, breakfast-of-learners, and learning-power-hours. Encourage employees to review the material independently, share their learnings, and gain insights from colleagues.
5. Shout-out new and popular courses
An ideal e-learning programme should release new courses regularly to keep up with industry trends and maintain employee interest. Your analytics will tell you which courses are popular. Share them with as many employees as relevant.
6. Dedicated learning channel
Your company’s messaging apps or channels are great for employees to chat about their latest learnings. Schedule weekly prompts to encourage employees to share what they’re currently learning and how it’s helping at work. Use it to acknowledge learning champions and stoke excitement about new courses.
7. Reinforce your learning culture
Remind managers to identify learning opportunities during the workday and in meetings. Whether you’re learning a skill, refining a process, or examining competitors, there are many ways to learn and grow daily.
8. Use gamification
Offer rewards and badges and stoke competition amongst employees and departments. Acknowledge leaders and tap into employees inherent reluctance to be left out.
9. Be flexible, personal and use bite sized information
These strategies assist employees to fit learning into their work day, as they can switch between their desktop and phone and learn whenever they have a few minutes to spare.
10. Link to performance appraisals
Use learning paths to target employees’ personal objectives and make completion part of their quarterly performance metrics.
For learners struggling to meet their learning targets, Gullan suggests you reserve five minutes a day for learning. “As you get to work, before you check your email, get your daily learning done. Do it for a few days, and it will become a habit,” Gullan said. “Five minutes a day is 25 minutes a week and 100 minutes a month.”
Engaging e-learning programmes are enticing for employees and critical to closing your organisation’s skills gaps, boosting productivity, and retaining staff. “Every organisation is unique, which is why some engagement tactics will work and others not,” concludes Gullan. “Adapt, combine and tailor yours, and make sure you give as much thought to your learner engagement strategies as you do to your e-learning programme.”
