What if employees had access to the monthly training material on an organization-owned portable device? What if monthly training material were easily accessible by frontline employees? What if employees can complete a self-assessment before diving into the monthly training? What if employees can pick their own method of lesson assessment? What if the training process was fun?
Let’s be honest, delivering monthly training can be a chore and for employees it is a huge disruption to their day. I am taking you through a transformation on how employees can receive their Monthly Training that is meaningful.
https://sites.google.com/view/etec523-a3-empowering-training/home/the-problem
Let me know what you think!
Hi Sarah, I love the idea of making training more enjoyable for the front-line employees of office spaces, but I’m a little confused about the incentive for workspaces to implement this change. If training is mandatory anyways, why would a company have any desire to give rewards for doing what was mandatory anyways? Under the current system, if an employee “completed” the training and signs that they did so, the company can just fire them if it’s proven that they don’t know the required content. I also question whether or not a workplace would want to buy new devices for employees to use for the training when most training can be done in a similar capacity except on a desktop. I instead think there could have been more of a focus on the new training design that maintained incentives for workplaces, because I thought the ideas on that front were quite nicely presented in your OER.
Hi Liam, thank you for your feedback. My OER was more catered towards a workplace that is more heavy task oriented, such as places like housekeeping or food services in healthcare, and even in factories. When I managed these facilities, employees are so heavily focused in their tasks that they would only want to come in for their shift and do their only task. These training sessions are facilitated by the management team, but that would mean employees are being taken away from their tasks. If a platform was given to employees where they find themselves a couple of minutes of down time, they can squeeze in a short chunk of training, that would be the most ideal. Yes, training is mandatory, but it also should be fun and enticing for employees to do. And most of these facilities are union governed, so there are sticky rules before I can fire someone for not completing their monthly training. In these work environments, because employees are on the floor working, computers are not available to them; however, most commonly, you will find a tablet lying around. These employees are highly mobile throughout the facility, so a tablet is often used alongside their work.
Hi Sarah,
This is a very interesting idea and has excellent real world applications. You identified the different challenges with ‘training’ for employees and also for management who are responsible for ensuring that training takes place on a set schedule. I think one of the challenges would be in introducing this concept to staff in a way that ensures they understand their own personal ownership and accountability for the training or it would become another aspect that management would have to look after. It is a current challenge in all workplaces so I think it is a very relevant problem, you have a very user-friendly and logical process that you’ve outlined to address it and also thought about how to help employees stay engaged. Some elements of gamification are very motivational to most users but I would also think about how to navigate this with older employees or those who are not tech savvy and may have never used online training or apps as it could present challenges. I agree with the other comments that a micro-learning approach would work well and keep people engaged. The research you presented supports your ideas and they are referenced thoroughly. It is a great idea that could be presented to a manager and used in the workplace. I would think about any of the potential technical challenges it may present and how to solve those such as, unreliable wifi, difficulty with devices, systems being overloaded with all users accessing training simultaneously, how to train employees to use it, who would support it (questions/issues) and how to track it. Also, I would consider getting feedback from users prior to bringing to an entire staff for improvements or modifications. Very cool idea and great possibilities!
Thank you Asha! I think when using technology in the workplace or even personally will always have the adjustment period. When I first started this program, I was very worried about introducing new technology to a group of older employees. However, when I paid attend to my group of more seasoned employees, they were very proficient on their smartphones and even when we introduced a new time clock that they have to use on a daily basis. The pattern that I saw was there was a short period of panic, but they became more comfortable with new technology. Then they started teaching new employees how to use this new technology. When management is introducing new technology, we just need to be prepared to spend more time on training and ensuring that all employees know how to use it proficiently. We will definitely have to explain the same concept over and over again, but we just have to know that they will eventually get it and be good at using it. Feedback will definitely be collected and with projects like this, the organization will want to know how employees are using this and see what the actual rate of return is. The last thing that the organization wants is to spend a lot of money on a new application and employees are not benefiting from this process.
Hi Sarah. Thank you for touching upon a very important subject and tackling it in a well-organized way. I think corporate training is the cornerstone of business growth and efficiency. I like how you analyzed why employees are not too enthusiastic about training sessions, and I would like to add some points here. I think that training materials are usually valuable in the eyes of the employer while it makes less sense to the workers. This is mainly because corporates often tend to overlook the fact that the challenges of the management are of different nature than those of the employees. Therefore, a few trainees find the content relevant and essential. I am intrigued by the module you are presenting. One of the main advantages is activating some of the gamification principles such as progress bars, rewards, incentives, badges, timed tasks, and analytics. Another strong feature is the use of the microlearning/microcontent approach to present bite-sized training topics as a substitute for lengthy training materials. In addition, the self-paced progress gives the trainee a sense of ownership and progression without being told to finish the courses at an inconvenient time. But would not that disrupt the big picture of training on the macro level as not all trainees will be on the same page all the time? One of the techniques that could be applied is to allow the employee who receives the most badges in one field to render a presentation to summarize what he/she has learned through the Upward App and perhaps relate to the real challenges that they face on regular basis. This offers the opportunity to gain training experience and create a learning community of narratives and experience share. Moreover, I wonder if the employees could use their smartphones to download the app and use it effectively as you mentioned that the corporate should provide “tablets” for all the employees. Thank you, Sarah.
Hi Feras, Thank you for your comments and feedback. Although each employee may be at a different stage in the training material, but by the end of the month each employee will have completed the section. I think this may give an opportunity for some peer coaching/training. If an employee has gone through a section and they have to apply that skill into their tasks and another employee has not going through the training, the one who has gone through the material can help others along. I really like your idea of gaining a badge when they present a “best practices” moment or train others. The employees keep each other accountable and perhaps develop a sense of mentorship. The idea of employees using their own smartphones vs using corporate tablets is entirely dependent on the organization. I personally have encountered unions where it states that employees should not be doing any work related tasks outside of their shift. So if these unionized employees can access this app on their phone it might cause some trouble for the management and the union. Also for some employees, they want to keep their work separate from their personal lives, so this also helps to create this divide. But if an organization does not have these issues to work around, then this app be installed in employee’s personal phones. Thank you, Feras!
Hi Sarah. I think one of the reasons some unions would prefer the employees to use the company tablets is that personal devices can have notifications or apps that can be very distractive and time-consuming. Thank you for the reply.
Hi Sarah, you’ve identified what is certainly one of the key reasons why “training” elicits so little enthusiasm from employees: lack of ownership. Having had the responsibility to deliver training as an administrator and of receiving the same, I can appreciate the potential value in this app. I liked how you used a scenario to drive this point home in a way we can all relate. As someone who seems to have quite a bit of experience doing this, you might even consider using a funny real-world anecdote here. I loved the user-friendly way you set out, step-by-step, the app features and a program for implementing them. You’ve analyzed the problem and its causes and designed a program that might mitigate the root causes of disengagement. Then you thought through the best way to do training more effectively and came up with a plan to implement it. By including subtle elements of gamification, the app should boost motivation and by breaking the training into 3-5 minute chunks, it leverages the proven principle of micro-learning so good application of course ideas. You’ve done substantial research to support your ideas and referenced these thoroughly. Overall, it’s pragmatic and academically sound and a manager could take this as is and put it to work right away. The logic and clarity of your work shows a lot of careful thought has gone into it. However, although comprehensive and well-considered, it still seems very management driven. Would there be a way to incorporate employee feedback and suggestions into the design at the outset? If boosting “ownership” is the goal this seems like a plausible step. Also, although informative and valuable, the presentation itself was a little text-heavy so I’d recommend more visual and interactive elements to boost viewer engagement.
Hi Gary, Thank you for your comments and feedback! It was very encouraging to hear! When I came up with this Upwards App, I know that there is so much room for improvement. Now working in another organization, I realized that having the front end users provide feedback is very important. I can imagine after implementing this Upwards App, a survey and multiple meetings with employees and even with the developer (myself) will occur. This is valuable to see what the users are seeing and want to see. I want to implement sections and functions into the application that employees want to use and will make their training even more engaging. Thank you for the tip of using more visuals and interactive elements! Thank you, Gary.
Hello Sarah,
It’s good to see how your proposal addresses a specific problem in your workplace. As you said, there are some issues related to corporate adult training. You cover most of them in your presentation. It isn’t easy to decide between training or productivity in a context with a high task load. However, both are profoundly connected. I believe ‘your’ employees will enjoy being more autonomous in learning and having more engaging formats. In this kind of corporate project, involving the direction and all hierarchy levels in the process is essential. Sometimes employees will go training and sign because that is the only thing managers are demanding. I like the idea of providing a salary increase; however, this is an extrinsic motivation that needs to be reflected and may be addressed with other conditions. You don’t want your employees completing your e-learning courses just for the money. That’s a good starting point. Congrats!
Hi Deisy, Thank you for your feedback. Regarding the point about providing the wage increase – Wage increase increases every year, perhaps it would determine how much it would increase from the baseline. Another alternative would have different components that feed to the wage increase and performance on the training would be one of those components. These components would be set dependent on the organization’s values.
Interesting proposal Sarah. I think the application and delivery as you describe could work very well in a number of organizations. It could be integrated not only to include training but internal communications as well in an effort to meld the application into the organization’s culture and workflows more seamlessly.
Why did you target the organization-owned portable device? Seems like the personal device app you shared earlier in the course had a strong user interface and provided employees with more flexibility.
Thank you, Sam! i was debating between organization-owned portable devices and personal devices for a long time. I concluded to using organization-owned portable devices because it helps employees divide work-life and personal-life easier. Depending on the organization and if they are unionized or not, there is a stronger sense of not doing work outside of their shift. I guess it really depends on the type of organization and the group of employees… if employees don’t mind doing work on their personal devices, then the training system may even integrate better.
Hi Sarah,
Sorry to jump in so late here, but I could attest that I often do teaching work off of personal devices (phone, tablet etc; I’d work of my Xbox if it had a convenient enough interface) with Google Classroom integration. I think it could work if the organization set proper app boundaries, such as prescribed time windows when apps will or will not push notifications to employees; this would allow for work-life balance while maximizing flexibility to work on whichever device suits their current circumstance best!