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Talent management is a crucial aspect in cultivating a healthy workplace. Employees and employers work in a mutually beneficial manner, where employees provide their skills and knowledge to help make the company a success. In turn, the company offers them a stable source of income and (ideally) professional fulfillment. 

This is the ideal scenario in an ideal world. However, things don’t always stay the same, especially when there’s an economic slowdown or a recession. Managing employees becomes complicated when there are external forces that an employer has no control over. 

To counter any influence of such external forces, it’s essential to optimize for long-term employee retention even in times of economic hardship. At VP Legacies, we believe in the power of personal connection as a way to engage employees. But how can you connect during a recession? Here’s our guide.

Related: A Guide to Effective Crisis Communication

Why Is Employee Retention Important?

Employee retention is how companies make sure that their talent stays with them. When it comes to an unpredictable scenario like recession, employee retention plays a huge role in minimizing losses for employers. When the market situation is unstable, employees tend to feel unsafe and thus are more likely to jump ship. 

For an employer, hiring a new employee costs money. There’s training, onboarding, and other costs involved that put a dent in an already tightened wallet. Employee retention is beneficial for both employees and employers.

How to Create a Recession-Proof Employee Retention Plan

This recession-proof employee retention plan will keep employee morale high and make a company surf against the tides of recession when it comes to managing their human resources.

Communication Is Key

The first step to retaining employees is to have a solid internal communication strategy. Employees like to stay updated about some of the inner workings of an organization. Every big or small success should be shared with the employees. Not only do they feel like their work is producing a tangible benefit but it also increases their confidence in the company. This plays a huge role during the recession as employees won’t feel like their job is at risk as the company is doing well and keeps them updated.

Focus On Training

All employees want to grow on a professional level. If they feel like they’ve stagnated, they’ll look for opportunities where they see scope for them to grow and learn more. If an organization has a training program, employees won’t look for the same opportunity elsewhere as there’s a risk involved. 

Invest in training employees, giving them the opportunity to learn and grow and it will reward an organization by increased loyalty and increased productivity. In addition to onboarding training, ongoing training is also important. This helps employees feel valued and develop a personal connection with your company.

Need to build a custom eLearning training program for your company? Find out how VP Legacies can help.

Provide Recognition

Apart from their salary, employees also want to feel appreciated on a personal level. They put in 8-10 hours on a daily basis for a company, and reinforcing them with due praise in any way you can will affect their morale, productivity, and happiness. 

If you don’t reinforce your valued employees, they might feel insecure about their job status and start looking for a new job during a recession. To avoid this, one must make sure all employees feel valued and appreciated. This can be done by recognizing their achievements, hard work, and team effort. By setting up reward systems and incentivizing their contribution, employers are safeguarding the interests of the employees and in turn, benefiting from their increased morale.

Stay Connected

The importance of developing a personal connection is heavily underrated in the rulebook of employee retention. Armchair management just does not work when it comes to a healthy workplace environment. The sheer fact that the leaders in an organization are present and active gives employees a sense of comfort. Personal connections with top-level employees gives forth a sense of availability and trust that is hard to achieve with distant and absent leadership.

Seek Feedback

How does one know what an employee wants? The easiest way is to simply ask them. Often plans don’t work how they are intended to and most managements have no way of quantifying the results. To do so, getting employee feedback becomes a necessity. 

An anonymous feedback program can offer invaluable insight into what the employees are thinking and can expose the management to shortcomings they aren’t even aware of. This helps draft a more effective plan of action for the future of any organization.

Take Action

The next step after receiving feedback is to take action. If one has all the information necessary, there needs to be a certain plan of action to implement whatever decision has been made. When employees notice that their opinions are being heard and acted upon in an organization, they feel a personal connection that motivates them to work harder and with a boost in their morale. The key to employee retention is to take the right action at the right time and to be proactive as and when the need arises.

Manage Change Effectively

Change is an inevitable part of every organization. Sometimes it is positive and sometimes it is negative, what matters is how an organization deals with the change and more importantly how it deals with the employees during that period. Remember that when an organization is changing, the employees too feel the effect of the change – whether it is a rise in sales or a merger or even layoffs.

It is important to have a strong internal communication strategy to convey these changes so as to keep the employees updated and to stop any rumors or misinformation from spreading within the organization.

Maintain Balance

To retain employees, organizations have to take the extra step to maintain a work-life balance. Every employee cherishes their time out of the workplace and an organization that prohibits them from that in any manner, intentionally or unintentionally, will be met with high turnover rates, even during a recession. 

Professional Growth Strategies for Employee Retention

If an organization has a culture that promotes communication, conversation, feedback and honesty, employees are much more likely to stick around. Aside from their income, they also value their time, respect and happiness. If a workplace is able to provide all of these, then an employee has no reason to leave and take a risk of starting afresh in a different organization. On the other hand, a workplace culture where employees can seek feedback, improve, and be recognized for their labor is one that incourages employees to stay. Building connections with employees helps them feel supported and empowers them to grow their skillset – thus allowing them to contribute to your company in a positive way.

Employee retention is about creating and harboring a safe culture for the employees and encouraging them to live a happier, more productive life both in and out of their workplace. Are you ready to get started with effective communication? Learn how VP Legacies can help you with an internal communication strategy.
Related: Key Takeaways from Recession-Proof Businesses

Employees are an integral part of any organization, which is why it’s crucial to form personal connections with them. For companies, this translates to making a conscious effort to retain employees by all means possible. Employees look for an opportunity to grow, and if an organization is able to provide them with that, they are more likely to stick around. 

Employers can ensure employee loyalty and retention by doubling down on corporate training. 

Traditionally, corporate training was dependent on instructors who have expertise in subjects relevant to the training needs of an organization. The organization would then hold seminars, workshops and training sessions led by the instructor(s). 

All this has changed with the introduction of the internet and digital learning. At VP Legacies, we customize versatile multimedia training modules for improved personal connections at your company. Here’s everything you need to know about eLearning.

Find out about VP Legacies’ Custom eLearning Development to help you invest in your employees.

What is eLearning?

eLearning is any learning material delivered via the internet. eLearning has found its way into the world of corporate training as a form of valuable communication and real engagement. It has many benefits for both the employer and the employees – not only is it highly efficient, but it is also cheaper to execute. eLearning provides convenience, flexibility, reliability, and scalability to any corporate training program. 

However, it is difficult to choose between the plethora of options available. Here are some of the eLearning methods that a company can include in its corporate training program:

1. Web eLearning

Web eLearning is based on website content. Employees can access this website from their personal device or through the company’s internet. Websites provide employees with the flexibility to learn as and when they can or want to. It does not limit learning to a particular space and allows users to access the information whenever they wish to do so.

A website also gives the flexibility to add multimedia, such as text, videos, images, and more. This adds a new dimension to eLearning and makes it more interactive and engaging for the employees. It also familiarizes employees with web-based tools so they can get acquainted with modes of internal communication at your company.

Related: 10 Best eLearning Tools Online

2. Virtual Classrooms

Virtual classrooms are basically the modern version of an instructor-led corporate training session. This allows both instructors and attendees to be involved in the process. Instructors are present in the classroom with the help of video software while attendees are present physically. This can also be done remotely via conferencing software. 

This eLearning model encourages collaboration, ideation, and engagement, helping to create an environment for personal connections. The ‘presence’ of an expert allows back and forth questioning, a live learning experience, and a human element that other modes lack.

3. Video Modules

Video modules are produced by learning videos that have been made in advance for the reference of the employees. These modules can be animated or with a human instructor. The opportunities are endless when it comes to creating videos for a corporate training program. 

This is also a highly-flexible mode of eLearning, as the videos can be accessed by users anytime they want. They also have the ability to play the videos as many times as they wish. When it comes to grasping a concept, videos often perform much better than text because humans love graphic-based delivery. The colors, seamless explanation and video format make eLearning easier for the employees.

4. Specialized eLearning

Every organization has different corporate training needs and every employee or group of employees has different needs when it comes to their corporate training. In such scenarios, mass-produced and general corporate training modules just don’t cut it.

With eLearning, there is the flexibility of having the ability to choose and customize corporate training programs. With eLearning, employers can establish a personal connection with their employees as they are able to accurately fulfill their needs and not have them learn something that they might either already know or have no need to learn.

5. Social Media Training

The world has gone social and employers are just catching up, especially when it comes to corporate training. This eLearning model creates a collaborative environment for the employees and taps into the power of social media. Through a platform like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, this program delivers the required knowledge and does so in a cohesive way that encourages teamwork and collaboration. If social media is a key part of your company, this will improve employees’ familiarity with important methods of internal and external communication.

6. Microlearning

Microlearning refers to the delivery of eLearning content in the form of information nuggets. Each module spans is typically not more than 10 minutes and comprehensively addresses one learning objective at a time. With microlearning, each module focuses on just one topic, this allows users and readers to retain information in a more efficient manner. 

With microlearning, corporate training reaches a new level of efficiency as it allows better retention rates and finds a way to battle the forgetfulness curve. After adopting this eLearning method, the corporate training strategy dives into establishing a strong personal connection with its employees. The average attention span of humans is not more than 8 minutes and microlearning battles this with create short, relevant and concise pieces of eLearning modules that make corporate training more of a success.

Related: What is Microlearning?

7. Mobile learning

When it comes to eLearning, accessibility plays a crucial role. What better way to stay accessible than to go the mobile route. Through mobile eLearning, employees have access to the needed information at the comfort of their homes or even during the train ride to work. Mobile learning puts corporate training right into the palms of the employees thus allowing them the freedom to refer to it as and when they wish. 

eLearning – Engagement, Versatility, Autonomy

eLearning is a powerful tool for corporate training. It taps into an essential element of employer-employee relations – personal connection. Choosing eLearning indicates that you’re paying attention to the latest trends in training culture that are here to stay. eLearning methods continue to develop and adapt to you and your employees’ needs, providing an engaging and always modern solution for ongoing learning and training. Your employees will never feel like they’re repeating the same task or lesson over and over again. Instead, they’ll look forward to a new modality (whether a virtual classroom, video, or social media training component) that will help them develop their professional skills.

eLearning allows employees the freedom, flexibility and independence to learn at their own pace. It also broadens the horizon of possible resources due to the internet and the global reach that comes with it. To get started with eLearning for your company, check out VP Legacies.
Related: What is eLearning and How is it Changing the World?

According to a study in Time, the average human attention span is currently around 8 seconds. This value is slated to fall even further, thanks to screens that never turn off and increased caffeine intake, among other factors. Reading books is now an almost archaic habit – with audiobooks taking the center stage of written content consumption. 

The trend also signifies a large decline in the learning capacity of the human brain. Content creators and educators are faced with the issue of connecting to learners and efficiently capturing and retaining their attention. The bigger problem, however, is that learners tend to forget the dissipated information. Retention of knowledge is a hard challenge to overcome, but one that is crucial to ensure the progression of eLearning. At VP Legacies, we know the value of personal connection for keeping your employees happy and engaged with your company. Here’s how microlearning can help.

Related: eLearning vs. Microlearning: What Are the Differences?

What is Microlearning? 

The eLlearning sphere is currently dominated by microlearning, an education innovation that is here to stay. Microlearning is a type of focused training/learning method that doles out short bursts of specific content. The content is typically delivered in the form of small eLearning units, short-term activities, and easily digestible, object-oriented media. The units are designed to help users/ learners grasp and remember vast topics in tiny chunks. The lessons are dealt out in 5 – to 10-minute modules and focus on building specific on-the-job skills at the user’s convenience. 

The core principle behind microlearning is the efficient consumption of skill-based eLearning material without overburdening the user. Instead of providing the learner with a bulk of eearning material, and overwhelming them in the process, microlearning concentrates on micro-perspectives and practical contexts. Microlearning is in great demand across corporate settings and other mediated environments. Workplace training modules like software platform initiations and workflow processes can be easily administered through microlearning – and with proven success. 

Training content can take many forms and is usually designed to suit a company’s work style. Typical microlearning content includes interactive media forms like short videos, powerful images/ illustrations, infographics, eBooks, other on-screen text, audio snippets, music tracks, single-screen games and quizzes, simple activities, and multiple-choice tests. The content is highly personalized and target aptitude and application-based facets of the skill in question. 

Advantages of Microlearning 

Engagement 

The goal of microlearning is to communicate the outcome in the simplest way possible. eLearning methods that are off the beaten path tend to stay in the memory for longer periods, while also creating sufficient engagement from the learner. Modern corporate workers are strapped for time and microlearning is the perfect way to create interest in training modules. 

When learners study in short bursts over being forced to sit through hours of droning material, their brains engage with the content easily. This interest also carries forward to future training modules. The best-designed microlearning modules simulate the rewarding emotion of checking social media/ game apps on one’s cell phone, as opposed to prepping for an exam. As a result, you create engagement by connecting with learners on a more personal level.

Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness 

Streamlined content means less production time and cost. As the content delivered in micro eLearning is trimmed to the fullest extent, writers and developers can produce hundreds of modules in hours. This isn’t just efficient, it also allows the training material to constantly evolve to match changing trends and training requirements. 

Since microlearning does not always require special premium tools, it cuts costs down further. Efficiency in production is one benefit, but efficiency in consumption is yet another. Users can even undergo microlearning on their smartphones on their commute to and from work. The variety offered by microlearning modalities allows workers to absorb, retain, and apply knowledge much more effectively and efficiently. 

Flexibility

Flexibility and personalization is a huge part of microlearning. Learner motivation and interest in finishing more modules naturally stem from the autonomy and modality offered by microlearning. Bulky online courses are not ideal for learners on the go. Microlearning courses are small in size, and can even be downloaded and used when the user is offline. 

These courses also allow trainers a certain amount of flexibility in terms of usage. Microlearning modules can be used as components of larger, organization-wide training drives or as performance support. Depending on the company’s workflow, these courses can also be used as communication tools. 

Personal Connection

Authentic personal connections within the workplace are crucial for training purposes, as well as maintaining an overall healthy work environment. On the surface, microlearning may appear to disconnect or disassociate workers from one another. Employees glued to their screens while finishing modules might not be the best communication instigator. However, continued implementation of microlearning modules can prove to be beneficial when it comes to personal connections. It gives employees talking points and, unlike longer training modules, allows them to stay in touch with methods of internal communication while completing microlearning lessons.

Microlearning modules are designed with specific criteria in mind. When the gamut of multimedia material hits the training floors, employees are more engaged and reach out to each other in order to learn more. Natural curiosity, coupled with a positive ‘let’s go get it’ attitude (stemming from micro-assessments and quizzes) can boost team performance by bounds and leaps. 

Collaborative modules can also serve to increase effective and productive communication among employees. Certain microlearning activities designed for teams can also increase levels of trust and codependency. When a group of colleagues watches a bunch of short videos together, they are more likely to have in-depth conversations about the topics involved. 

High-quality microlearning content incorporates elements of relevant pop culture media to increase engagement. GIFs, well-produced short videos with comedic relief, and eye-catching infographics aren’t just boosting engagement and retention. They also serve the important purpose of binding the mutual interests of workers and bringing them together on a common basis – a shared interest in learning. As communication tools, microlearning modules can also be used as ice-breakers. 

Related: 10 Best eLearning Tools Online

Disadvantages of Microlearning 

In-Depth Training 

For subjects that require in-depth training and exploration, microlearning might not be the best fit. Some software or processes require several months of training just to grasp the basics. The trade-off between short, interactive modules versus lengthy, in-depth write-ups cannot be justified, especially if employees are falling short of the mark. 

For example, take the American Revolution. It’s possible to learn the timeline of events, the causes, and the outcomes of the revolution using microlearning tactics like short videos and images. However, in order to understand the underlying intricacies, motives, political underpinnings, and cultural impacts, microlearning is not quite the right option. 

Nevertheless, microlearning can be a great companion tool for in-depth training methods. Microlearning can help reinforce what employees learn in other training modules. They can also target more hands-on skills that will help employees put more abstract ideas into practice.

Complex Concepts 

Bite-sized courses are the best option for a surface level understanding of most concepts. But this mode of eLearning cannot always ensure to translate the complexity of all topics in an effective manner. Microlearning isn’t always suited for subjects that require a lot of patience and content that cannot be boiled down to cue cards. 

Sometimes it’s necessary for the workers to plow through large bodies of well-researched material in order to gain a better understanding of the concept. Extensive comprehension is not always the same as immediate understanding and retention. For example, it’s possible to learn Mandarin for a trip to China using audio snippets and images. 

This would provide the required outcome, where the employees can communicate effectively in a corporate setting with a few key catchphrases. However, if an employee is to be permanently reassigned to China, they will have to study the language in great detail in order to get by. Microlearning can’t help here, tedious study and preparation will. 

Once again, micro-learning can be a great reinforcing tool for longer training methods. To use the example above, textbooks and long lesson plans aren’t enough to learn a language. Short quizzes and other microlearning tools help people practice what they’ve learned as they go along.

Microlearning Strategies and Guidelines

Organizations have to keep in mind certain factors before implementing a brand new microlearning module. The first and foremost factor is to keep the audiences in mind while crafting content. While some users thrive off the streamlined model, others might not take to it so quickly. Identify what kind of groups are present within the organization and design modules accordingly. Analyze previous eLearning efforts in-depth and understand how it was assimilated, and what strategy was most effective. 

Several employees and even executives might not be aware of what microlearning is exactly. It’s important to run a company-wide awareness program beforehand to build a strong business case. Whether the microlearning modules are a viable strategy is an important decision to make. Involve peers, key stakeholders, and management in the process. 

Many times, microlearning could prove to be a huge shift in the existing method of learning (specifically eLearning) within an organization and requires a fundamental change of mindset. Assess the existing content and find ways to leverage available expertise. Don’t throw old playbooks out the window completely. It’s important to ease into the process by merging characteristics of both traditional and modern strategies. 

Always design modules with ease-of-access, internal communication best practices, and deployment strategies in mind. 

How Gradual Microlearning Creates Engaged Communication

Microlearning achieves efficiency, versatility, and personal connection by allowing employees to incorporate and implement new skills as they learn them. As a result, this training strategy improves knowledge retention and helps employees feel engaged with your company while learning valuable skills for their professional career. 

Not only is microlearning efficient, but the short time span of each module means that it can easily be incorporated into your ongoing learning plan. It’s easy to implement and engaging for employees, giving them the opportunity to ask questions as they complete new modules over time and converse with each other about shared courses. It can even be used to drive home complex concepts and give employees the chance to practice and discuss specific skills that are part of a broader learning plan.Get started with microlearning by finding out more about VP Legacies.

Ready to help your employees grow professionally? Check out Custom eLearning Development with VP Legacies.

Employee engagement is more than a survey. 

Although surveys are the start of collecting the data you need to propel your company forward, it takes a conscious effort on part of your executive-level employees to actually leverage this information. You’ll need to consider what employee metrics and data mean, and how you can transform them into strategies to build better employee engagement and a better company. Furthermore, how do you use employee engagement data to find the “right fit” for future hires?

At Denver Startup Week, Colorado leaders across different industries have shared great use cases to accomplish the same goal: right fit hires and a more engaged workforce. VP Legacies contributed insight about devoting resources to forging authentic personal connections across levels and departments.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Building a Corporate Communication Strategy

What Is Denver Startup Week?

Source: Colorado Biz Magazine

Denver Startup Week is all about sharing new ideas and creating personal connections with the people involved in Denver tech companies and Denver startups. Both Jobber Group and VP Legacies were heavily involved in the week between attending events and hosting various events. 

Jobber Group specifically put together a panel made up of innovative executives working in their own Denver startups to engage and create personal connection with their employees to close the week on a high note. On September 29, 2017 Jobber Group invited  VP Legacies (us) to the Denver Startup Week Employee Engagement Panel called “I’m Measuring Employee Engagement…Now What?” to capture the responses from these talented executives.

Our Talk on Employee Engagement

In conjunction with Jobber Group we have put together the 90 minute video of the Denver Startup Week Employee Engagement Panel: “I’m Measuring Employee Engagement…Now What?” for your viewing pleasure. We highly recommend watching 15 to 30 minutes of it by skimming through it at the very least.

We want to say thank you to our featured panel members and their organizations they represent (Listed in order of appearance in the video below):

Craig Smith, President and COO, HomeAdvisor

Anne Rooney McCord, VP Human Resources, Peak 10 + ViaWest

Rob Dravenstott, SVP and CIO at Dish Network 

Noël Mink, Manager HR Operations, City of Aurora

Want to further engage your employees? Get started with a VP Legacies course built for establishing and maintaining real professional relationships.

What Is a Company’s Greatest Asset?

Our biggest takeaway from the Denver Startup Week Employee Engagement Panel: “I’m Measuring Employee Engagement…Now What?” is that no matter what kind of organization you own, manage or work for, people are the most important asset. Therefore, they should be treated as such with personal connection being at the forefront. 

Data tells only half of the story, and it’s up to you to decide what happens next. Therefore, use the data to connect with your peers and create employee engagement. Use insight to further develop your employee branding strategy to attract and retain talent. At VP Legacies, we’ll help you use data to identify challenges, then deploy a strategy to address these issues while building on your successes. 

Related: 9 Reasons Why Your Employees Are Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset

The art of personal connection may seem lost, but as humans, we have the innate want and ability to build relationships. Some may say that life is relationships. We say, “Life is personal connection.” We say, “Personal connection” is life. Therefore, here at VP Legacies we are creating a world where people aren’t afraid to personally connect. 

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Building a Corporate Communication Strategy

Hector Simoudis’s Message

On August 25th, 2017 we were given a great privilege to share stories and insight at the Society of Information Management Colorado Women Summer Conference. Our CEO, Hector Simoudis, shared stories about growing up in the Middle East and fighting against what people were saying about his dyslexia holding him back. His world experience from traveling to 25+ countries, extreme determination and work ethic have made him who he is today—a storyteller with a message to the world that believing in yourself inspires personal connection.

It’s this belief that led to the creation of Personal Connection 101, our interactive video course that holds the secret formula for connecting with others in every facet of your life. Being present when communicating is a way to overcome loneliness and create opportunities for productive collaboration.

Why Personal Connection?

Hector’s presentation is founded on the belief that the art of personal connection is as simple as building trust, sharing your story and embracing emotion. If you do these three things the art of personal connection is simple. The problem is, as Hector put it, human interaction is like an iceberg, we hardly ever go below the service with others. Therefore, we completely close ourselves off to personal connection.

The audience was fascinated by the simplicity of truth in Hector’s presentation. It really hit home when Hector gave them time to share a funny story with one another. At this point everyone began to realize that details really do matter. While facts and figures support our personal connection belief, the release of Oxytocin in the moment allowed everyone to feel it.

He ended his future Tedx Talk (we are submitting his talk soon) briefly speaking about the Platia industry (stay tuned for another blog post about that) and explaining that we are in the midst of a personal connection crisis. The solution is simple. People Matter. 
Related: What is eLearning and How is it Changing the World?

Corporate training is an essential part of employee growth and retention. Educators and professionals spend time, money and effort to impart training because it’s one of the first times they begin to forge personal connections with employees. The question is, how much do people remember? With the fast pace of day-to-day tasks, it can be difficult to encourage employees to have the attention span to learn. Which begs the question – how can people and educators invest and tackle this situation?

The answer lies in smart learning techniques that are proven to help people retain and understand information better. That’s why many companies are turning to microlearning. At VP Legacies, we help you engage employees with custom eLearning strategies like microlearning. Here’s what you need to know about the benefits of microlearning and how you can incorporate it into your training plan.

Ready to maximize knowledge retention with your training modules? Find out about VP Legacies Custom eLearning Development.

What Is Microlearning?

Microlearning refers to the delivery of learning content in the form of bite-sized information nuggets formulated in standalone modules. Each module spans typically less than 10 minutes and comprehensively addresses one learning objective at a time.

Benefits of Microlearning

Right from the beginning, there are many immediate and obvious benefits. All of them are centered around engaging the human brain in ways that capture their attention and helps with the overall retention and knowledge absorption.

It Tackles Short Attention Spans

It’s a common misperception that attention spans are dwindling, especially when it comes to learning something new. In fact, attention spans are simply evolving to be more selective. The way microlearning works is that it provides small nuggets of information that are easily digestible. It does so by keeping the information short, concise and highly relevant. The microlearning technique makes use of the most attentive timespan, which is the first eight minutes, and keeps content up to or shorter than this time frame.

It Tackles Time Constraints

Even though corporate training is important for the growth of employees and the organization alike, there simply isn’t much time to devote to it. Many people don’t spend more than 1% of their time on corporate training. With microlearning, one can dedicate less time to corporate training while retaining more information. 

Most modules are not more than 10 minutes, which gives corporate training an edge and encourages employees to participate proactively. While longer training modules often make it necessary for employees to take a lot of time out of their day, microlearning allows them to stay connected with internal communication while taking the time to learn on their own.

It Is Highly Specific

Microlearning is all about efficiency. Since it has to convey a lot of information in a short period of time, there is only one way to approach this. Microlearning is impossible without learning the art of being specific. Since microlearning divides content into small information nuggets, it becomes crucial to decide what to include and what should be excluded from it. 

In times like this, one has to incorporate certain techniques and tricks to make corporate training highly effective with the help of microlearning.

Addresses Forgetfulness

Forgetfulness is a trait found in many people, especially with so much new information to remember. Stats show that people forget more than 80% of what they’ve learned within a span of 30 days. If true, does it even matter whether or not people actually learn something new? 

One way to tackle this is through the art of retention and reinforcement. Microlearning makes both these concepts a piece of cake. Its short informational concepts are easy to remember and go back to as and when needed.

How To Incorporate Microlearning into Corporate Training

Now that you know about the benefits of microlearning, the next step is to incorporate it into corporate training.

Have A Goal

When it comes to incorporating microlearning, the first step is to have a clear goal in mind as to what the program aims to achieve. With a goal, it’ll be much easier to form a personal connection with the learners and their specific requirements that form the core of any corporate training program. When employees know what they should achieve, they’ll be able to complete targeted learning more successfully.

Make It Accessible

Learning isn’t and shouldn’t be limited to office premises. Thanks to the advancements in the digital world, information is now available everywhere – and that’s how people prefer to access it as well. The world has gone mobile and it’s about time that learning does too. With any microlearning module, it is important that it is available when the learner wishes. 

You can successfully motivate users to go through the modules in the comfort of their home or on their way to work. The key is to form a personal connection between the training program and the learner, and accessibility is a strong way to establish this connection.

Related: 10 Best eLearning Tools Online

Make Use Of Design

Design is a powerful tool – one that many people underestimate. People are visual learners and are able to grasp and retain visual information faster and in a more effective manner. The beauty of colors, shapes, graphs, images, and even videos makes the whole training program highly encouraging for users. 

With the help of these design tools, learners can make the most of the training program as they learn at their own pace, with the aid of such design elements. IT also adds a fun element to what most people perceive to be a drag.

Communicate Well

The key to disseminating any information is how effectively one is able to communicate and present it. With microlearning, the short informational pieces help with developing a strong connection between the readers and the training program. 

Many people no longer see it as something they have to ‘study’, thanks to its concise nature, and the information presented feels nothing more than a quick read. As a result, employees will see microlearning as one of many efficient pathways for internal communication at your company.

Organize and Analyze

A big part of delivering a microlearning corporate training program is to develop a coherent structure. Corporate training is an important part of any organization’s internal communication strategy and with microlearning, the strategy gets a significant boost. 

Microlearning splits information of the training program into easy to understand, bite-sized modules. While developing the program, it is essential to stay organized and arrange the modules with a logical flow that makes sense to the reader. After organizing the program, the next step is to analyze the efficiency and organizational structure. 

When someone does this once or twice, they can spot any flaws that may have been overlooked or identify any content gaps and fill them in time. It also helps with the overall coherence of the training program, thus adding to its efficiency.

Microlearning: An Essential Facet of Corporate Training

Microlearning can help your company address time constraints with short modules that are quick to complete yet full of information. With achievable goals, accessibility, and effective internal communication, microlearning is easy to implement and produces highly visible results.

Microlearning allows employees to leverage their skills on an ongoing basis. For corporate training leaders and your company’s executives, it’s a time-efficient strategy that nonetheless creates opportunities for personal connections. By creating a plan for microlearning, your team can hone in on microlevel aspects of company-wide goals. Get started developing customized microlearning modules with VP Legacies.
Related: What is eLearning and How is it Changing the World?

Even in a world governed by technology as an extension of our day to day lives, personal connection is a necessity that we all need. Societal pressures have created an illusion that technology (specifically smart phones and other computers) can provide us with everything we need. This is where the crisis begins. At VP Legacies, we’re committed to forging pathways for personal connections that are compatible with the digital age.

Related: Internal Communication Best Practices

Why Is There a Connection Crisis?

Alt text: A woman sits in bed, eyes glued to her computer.

People feel empty. We don’t know why we aren’t happy even though we have everything we need. We can watch whatever TV show we want without waiting. If we want to buy something we don’t even need to go to the store, hope it isn’t sold out, and pray there isn’t a line. If we want a date or something to do this weekend, we can swipe right or look through social media for an event. This sense of detachment translates to corporate culture, too. It’s all too easy to stay plugged into our devices and never talk to someone face-to-face.

Nonetheless, we have started to realize that there is something missing. Some of us have even put a name to it – personal connection.

Related: What is the Best Strategy for CEO Communication?

The Solution

So what do we do? We try and interact with more people by trying out other more genuine dating applications. Our employers even buy us bean bags, install kegs and give us unlimited yoga memberships. People still aren’t happy.

So where do we go from here? Humanity is in the middle of an identity crisis. We know what we need, but have no idea how to get it. There isn’t an app for personal connection (well not yet – we are working on one). You can’t order it with two-day shipping. No, there isn’t a Netflix series you can binge through to learn the secret behind it. Now what do we do?

Well, first we have to admit to ourselves that a crisis exists and we have no idea what to do. Once we do that the solution is very simple – communication and storytelling. We can consult you on your story to help you figure out where to start.

Our Approach to Personal Connection

Alt Text: Employees bond in a collaborative workplace.

While they may seem to be, personal connection and technology are not adversaries. It’s true that technology can encourage isolation, technology can actually be used to enhance and enrich personal connections. Our courses, like Personal Connection® 101: The Iceberg of Personal Connection®, use web-based microlearning to help you learn about strategies for connecting with people in real life. 

Whether it’s having a five-minute conversation with a stranger in real life or an effective phone call with a friend or colleague, we have you covered. Our modules inspire you to face the personal connection crisis with one of its root causes – technology. You’ll learn that it can be your best friend when it comes to connecting with fellow employees, friends, and family members.
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Microlearning allows employees to help their employees do their jobs better and gain long-term skills for  professional development. The short learning bytes associated with microlearning improve internal communication by creating smooth pathways for knowledge transfer and increase knowledge retention. The modules of microlearning are available anytime and anywhere.

The microlearning modules can take the form of standalone courses or as segments of a longer core curriculum. Equipped with a formal learning strategy, employees can incorporate new skills as they begin to acquire them. Since engaging employees is key to creating a workplace with real personal connections, microlearning becomes even more important.

With the pressure to complete tasks quickly often affecting employee performance, it can be difficult to encourage employees to take time out of their day and complete modules with enthusiasm and deep thought. The time frame of microlearning and its adaptation to technology and modern education methods means it’s the perfect way to connect with employees and inspire them to learn. At VP Legacies, we believe your employees are your best asset. Here’s how you can keep them engaged with microlearning.

Related: eLearning vs. Microlearning: What Are the Differences?

What is Microlearning?

Microlearning can be defined as the delivery of short bursts of content provided to learners so as to help them study for their convenience. All categories of microlearning-based training share the characteristic of brevity, which can either be provided as short-term learning activities or small learning units. 

From text to complete interactive media, microlearning content can take various forms. Regardless of the type, the length of the content should be short and precise. You know how reticent employees might be when they’re looking at a long, seemingly endless email in comparison to one that’s short and sweet. Just like an email or another form of internal communication, microlearning should be brief and to the point.  Some examples of microlearning content include text (phrases and short paragraphs), images (photos and illustrations), short videos, audios (small snippets of speech or music), tests and quizzes, and games. 

Different types of microlearning support different formats. Bite-sized learning has actually been around for quite a long time, even before computers came into being. However, the popularity of short bursts of learning has increased in the past few years, especially since smartphones entered the market. In fact, you can even think of leading microlearning platforms as a mix of Instagram and Twitter but in an educational form. 

What are the Benefits of Microlearning in Employee Engagement?

Organizations can benefit greatly from microlearning in terms of employee engagement and several other factors. Some of these benefits are as follows:

Improves Long Term Skills

Microlearning is a great way to make employees improve job performance. The short, frequent nature of microlearning provides knowledge to employees in moments of extreme need, making them highly accessible and adaptable. 

There’s crucial enforcement of previous learning that takes place when employees are subjected to microlearning. The periodic reinforcement they receive allows them to get through their tasks faster, and the instant accessibility lets them become more productive. As the delivery of knowledge happens within the workforce, getting proficient takes a shorter amount of time.

That means that not only will they learn skills that are immediately necessary but retain them better for the future.

Forms Personal Connections

With the right-on-time support and efficient reinforcement, learners get to polish and hone their skills. Since your company is helping them sharpen their long-term skills, you’re also reinforcing their knowledge that you’re committed to helping them grow professionally. If multiple employees are using these modules, they have something to talk about either informally or at meetings.

Related: 9 Reasons Why Your Employees Are Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset

Decreases Delivery Time and Development Cost

As microlearning techniques have a short duration, they don’t require complex graphics or animations. This equates to lower costs in development and quicker turnaround times. This is what makes microlearning easy to design, develop, and deliver.

Be it a standalone asset, a component of grander training initiatives, a solution to finish a task, or a performance tool, microlearning supports an array of purposes and is easy to maintain. Microlearning gives a more efficient ROI and the benefits of implementing far outweigh the costs. This is due to the fact that they can be reused for a milieu of training purposes. 

Applicable for Reuse and Repurposing

Once tweaked a little, the content created for one type of microlearning can be used for other training purposes as well. It’s the modular setup of microlearning that makes it easy and quick to repurpose content. The elements of microlearning can be blended to develop new content.

Since the modules of microlearning are versatile, they can be employed for various purposes across the organization, and used for eclectic learning objectives. With the business objectives constantly changing and developing, microlearning helps you with keeping up by creating forms of learning that match the respective objectives. If multiple employees take on microlearning, you can also improve internal communication by making sure everyone is on the same page about workflow and standard operational protocol.

Makes Training Simpler

We all know that microlearning is easier to manage because of its brevity. As a result, microlearning helps organizations train employees at an accelerated pace and in a much more cost-effective manner. Therefore, the cost associated with creating course manuals for traditional training sessions is eliminated.

The issue of using outdated learning material is something companies will never have to face, since the modules of microlearning can be updated easily. Organizations are able to keep up with the ever-changing business requirements and strategies due to the modular features of microlearning. By providing updated courses to their employees, training managers are able to give their employees a learning experience that’s stress-free. This is because the courses are accessible anytime and anywhere. 

Microlearning is Available on Demand

The microlearning modules are so easy to access that your employees can avail them even from their mobile devices. Therefore, the possibility of building their skills is available to them all the time. If a salesperson, for instance, is meeting a client and needs to know some urgent information, they can just look up the related content about the product and complete the task.

Since microlearning incorporates newly acquired skills right away, they’re bound to remember it for a long time. When information is readily available to employees instead of it being thrusted on them, they feel more empowered, and this leads to a better return-on-investment. 

Microlearning Provides Customized Learning Experiences

Each learner is different and has a unique way of consuming content and retaining information. The same content can’t apply to everyone, and it’s unwise to want to train every employee in a similar manner.

Microlearning is a breath of fresh air in this regard because learners get the option to personalize their learning experiences and choose their own learning path. They can select the modules they want to complete and the ones they wish to omit in order to save time.

They can also choose certifications based on what will help their career. Therefore, microlearning empowers employees through knowledge. Once they’re held accountable for polishing their skills, they begin to take it more seriously.

Microlearning Helps with Attention Spans

It’s easier to engage people in a shorter time frame rather than a long time frame. Therefore, thinking of putting your employees through long training sessions is definitely a bad idea. Microlearning can help you with that.

Microlearning breaks down each and every learning outcome, thereby delivering relevant and to-the-point content. When knowledge is provided to employees in shorter snippets, it’s easier for them to consume and digest. Modern learners want to gain knowledge without having to spend hours on it, and microlearning is the perfect format for it, as its modules are easy to recall and remember.

Microlearning Engages Modern Learners

The modern learner uses technology for almost everything, such as banking, shopping, and more. These tech-savvy beings enjoy learning when technology is involved and incorporated in smart ways. Since microlearning uses technology to impart knowledge, they find it easier to learn.

It keeps them engaged and captures their attention since it’s readily available and fun to engage with. It removes the burden of having to be somewhere physically in order to learn. No particular device is necessary for microlearning, and the ability to choose a device of their choice increases the employee engagement further.

Microlearning Provides Instant Feedback

In microlearning, tracking and pulling out reports is easy. It helps with internal communication by providing instant feedback to your employees, and when employees are provided instant feedback for their performance at work, they can assess their performance and avoid errors in the future. 

The process of transferring information is more effective in microlearning. This leads to less time taken for training, which in turn leads to a higher return-on-investment. Even if you choose a specific module, you can easily edit it within a short span of time. 

Examples of Microlearning with Your Employees

Microlearning allows employees to deal with challenges and find the answers on their own. If you want to use microlearning for better employee engagement, here are some ways to do so:

Videos

You can offer animated videos and whiteboard videos to your employees. They can either be stand-alone modules or sections of a microlearning course. They increase engagement by explaining an abstract idea, providing step-by-step procedures for the visual learners, and providing a different take for those who prefer text by combining animated texts and videos.

Infographics

Infographics are useful because they help condense all the content from a long period of training into the most important points and takeaways. More information can be provided through interactive infographics, which deepens the training and enables the employees to learn more. 

This category of microlearning can be used by organizations in their employee onboarding process in order to take in employees quickly and bring them up to speed with the policies and procedures of the company. Infographics improve internal communication by making basic information readily available so that direct communication can target other detailed points of interest.

Webcasts and Podcasts

Podcasts and webcasts can be an effective tool in microlearning, especially when your employees spend quite a lot of time on the road. You can choose to make your podcasts longer and in-depth, basic and precise, or perhaps a moderately detailed discussion of important theories. 

Webcasts, too, can provide a more visual approach. When viewed live, webcasts also allow for questions from the viewer that can be answered on a real-time basis.

Gamification

Microlearning destroys the myth that training is mostly boring. By bringing in gamification as a microlearning method, organizations can create employee engagement in a large manner. It helps the employees learn concepts while playing a game. You can incorporate all sorts of gamification tools, such as badges, social interaction, levels, and competition, which can help employees feel a personal connection to the modules you provide.

Social Learning

Social media is something used by almost everyone these days, and it’s not just something that can be used merely for entertainment. Social media learning can actually be used as a microlearning method. It connects learners through brief yet thoughtful interactions. 

The internal social network can be used by company trainers to provide material to the employees, post which everyone can connect and join in to continue the process of learning, which leads to better engagement.

Geofencing

Geofencing occurs when organizations provide training in the form of push notifications when learning is necessary in a specific geographic location. This helps when your employees need certain information about a place they’re at. They’re sent the necessary information on whatever device they’re carrying for microlearning. 

Microlearning for Immediate Growth and Engagement

Employees gain access to learning methods across different modalities, which include videos, infographics, gamification, and social learning. This enables them to break the repetitive nature of other forms of learning with more engaging methodology. Because of the unique pacing of microlearning, employees can also expand their knowledge without significantly interrupting their workflow – and even incorporate new skills as they learn them.

Microlearning engages employees through ongoing learning that can be easily incorporated into their daily professional life. With a methodology optimized for personal connections, microlearning provides modules that employees will actually want to complete while allowing them to stay in tune with your company’s daily operations instead of focusing solely on isolated learning modules.

Engage your employees through VP Legacies Custom eLearning Development.