Most of us take “mandatory” training on the job. Most of us also do voluntary training—either at work or on our personal time. You know the difference in how you feel about these two experiences. You put off the mandatory compliance training and approach it with annoyance. You look forward to your French Cooking class (yes, it’s training too) and wouldn’t miss it for the world. Maybe you also take voluntary training at work in some skill you want to acquire, and that is something you enjoy doling.
OK. It’s not possible to make every work-based training as exciting as learning to scuba dive. But maybe it is possible to motivate your learners and get them try to get something out of the experience instead of just endure it.
One way to do this is to make the training as relevant as possible to the learner’s work. Instead of starting out with a list of what you’ll learn and how important this is to the firm, set up a challenging situation that the learner might encounter on the job that requires the skills that will be covered in the course. Then have the learner anticipate what they would do in the situation.
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The course covers Excel. Start with the real-life challenge of presenting financial information to your CFO in order to try to stave off a budget cut next year. What information could you present and how would you use Excel to put it together in a persuasive presentation?
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The course covers compliance rules on information walls in a financial institution. Start with the scenario where you hear about a potential merger involving a client. What actions do you take; who needs to be told and what do you need to tell them; who cannot be told, and so on.
Don’t give any feedback on the learner’s responses yet. Let them go through the course. At the end, present the challenge again and have the learner see if her or she would now respond differently or more completely to the challenge. You will have made the learning at least relevant to the user and perhaps made them approach the training with a sense of positive anticipation!
