On November 25, Leopoldo Rojas and David Nath, both digital transformation experts at Speexx, held a webinar called “Engagement in Digital Learning? Let’s increase in 2021“ in conjunction with the Corporate Learning 2020 event program, a large event in Madrid organized by Equipos y Talento.
Now more than ever we hear about “digital engagement” when we talk about digital training plans. Companies need to keep their employees engaged in these plans to achieve clear objectives and verify their ROI.
Back to the basics: Where engagement originates in digital learning
In their webinar, participants learned about the main techniques needed to achieve high engagement in digital learning and training plans. Before starting with the main techniques to achieve this level of participation and engagement, we must start with three basic concepts.
- We are forced to start with the basics because the pandemic has forced many companies to reinvent themselves. New needs are being created and it has become necessary to understand them and to prioritize them. For example, understanding how online training is no longer a “nice to have”, but rather that it will play the role of the protagonist of many HR and L&D team’s digital learning plan for this year.
- When we refer to online training, we are not only talking about adapting traditional training to an online platform, but also about integrating a native digital training, that which is digital by nature and not a forced transfer due to the new situation.
- Finally, it is necessary to understand that we must not leave anyone behind. All our collaborators and contributors in learning must be aware of the training plan. For this to happen, it is necessary for the digital content to be personalized and adapted to individual tastes and preferences.
Techniques to improve engagement
What companies are looking for today is the commitment of employees to the company. The same is sought when launching a training plan. In order to reap the benefits of your learning program, you will need to facilitate engagement. The experts at Speexx revealed the main key points to achieve the motivation and commitment of employees.
1. Identify engagement needs with a Needs Assessment
Before starting, you have to identify the needs of the staff in order to establish milestones and objectives to achieve. You can ask directly the people involved in existing training or the direct managers, since the manager has a broader and objective image of his or her department. In many cases, it is also recommended to do research work on LinkedIn or other platforms, looking for similar topics and to be aware of current trends. Also, it is helpful to know what the requirements are that are being requested for these types of profiles.
2. Planning process
One of the most important requirements when launching a training plan is organizational skills. At first glance, it may seem quite obvious but many companies have had problems in this part of the process. You must be clear about the timeline, from start to finish, to show where the project begins and where you want to go.
In this part of the process, you must look for incentives to motivate the collaborators. There are many ways to keep users interested starting with giving them access to training. Here are some incentives examples we at Speexx have found to be effective: gift cards, bonuses, recognition within the organization, points programs, etc.
3. Implementation in digital learning engagement
It is time to launch the training plan to boost engagement in your digital learning. Many organizations use their own content to train their employees, but it is very likely that some companies do not have enough resources to guarantee their own training, therefore it may be sometimes necessary to seek external support.
When looking for a provider to accompany you in this training plan, it is essential that it can be integrated with a talent management system or LMS. In most organizations, if a training project has not been successful it is because the company does not usually have an established culture of learning. Using a talent system that groups all training courses on a single platform will encourage users to train more easily.
Every training project must have a Project Manager who accompanies users at all times and identifies their needs. This can be someone from customer success, implementation, or your own dedicated project manager. It is not only important for employees but also for creating a connection between users and the organization’s L&D department.
To keep users engaged, it is convenient to have a motivational plan and a platform where the L&D department can see the progress of users in real time.
4. Communication is key in digital engagement
Before starting the digital learning course, you will need to schedule a presentation day, a kickoff where the course is presented, and the correct tools are explained to make good use of the platform.
At Speexx we are aware that many companies are afraid of shifting to digital training due to the generational issue, but that is not the problem in question. Rather, it is how the presentation of the platform is made and how it is communicated equally to all users.
The user must be continuously interacting with the platform, so all communication has to be with short and clear messages and above all, personalized. Since most communication is done virtually, being clear and concise is a must.
5. Monitoring and tracking engagement level
Many companies are interested in subsidizing their training, so monitoring is an essential point to carry it out. In addition, it is the starting point to be able to make predictions about the result of the training.
The course dynamics and follow-up of the users is one of the strongest points to achieve the engagement of the collaborators with their training course. It is important to guide them in their course and empathize with them with personalized messages and calls.
6. Analysis of learning engagement
Once we have completed the digital training, it is time to evaluate the results. We have to be clear about the final benefit for the organization and if it is worth continuing the same path or if we have to modify any of the steps. To understand the effect on learner engagement with digital learning content, you must be clear about our final objective and if it has been reached. You can measure it with your training monitoring platform and with the help of the platform’s Project Managers.
During the analysis of the results, you should be able to answer these questions:
- What was my end goal? Has it been fulfilled?
- What do my employees know how to do now that they didn’t before? How has the company improved?
- Which employees have used the training well?
Effective learning and training starts with engagement
Want to share the takeaways from this article on improving engagement for your digital training plan? Download our free infographic here: Engagement in Digital Learning
