Like all things, corporate training has evolved with the times. Nowadays, there are online courses that make use of written content and multimedia to train professionals. Companies can create online content that not only equips their employees with relevant skills but also helps track their progress.
Having quality corporate training content is profitable for businesses in the long run and can be considered an investment. Good corporate training content will ultimately lead to better employee engagement, performance and productivity.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution for online corporate training, there are certain features to keep in mind while creating corporate training content. We break down what you should be doing to take your corporate training program from good to great! Here we go:
1. Know Your Objectives
Before seeking the help of partners to create the training content, companies need to ask themselves what the objective of the training program is. It is essential to conduct a needs assessment. This can be done through interviews, surveys, and other research methods. Gaps in knowledge must be identified, and corporate training content should be created to fill in these gaps. It is also necessary to check which employees need training and on what topic. Whether the content is in the form of text, infographics, or videos, the learning goals should be the prime agenda.
2. Make It Relevant
Making the learning content relevant includes keeping it concise, timely and easy to understand. Since most employees or learners have very little time to spare, the content must cater to their daily activities, allow them to have quick takeaways and be easily applicable in practical scenarios. For example, if you are creating educational videos, keep it short (about two to five minutes at the most). Your content needs to summarise the crucial points and display it in a manner that is engaging enough to capture the viewer's attention. Try creating infographics, tables, etc. to which the learners can skim through and absorb the data.
3. Content Should Be Creative
There is no reason why online corporate training content should be boring. The content must be such that the viewers are engaged and able to absorb information easily. Having a creative or fun element in your training content can help keep learners absorbed.
A few simple ways to make online corporate training content more creative includes:
Giving the site an attractive theme. This could include using the company logo, colours or mascot to provide a sense of familiarity to the learners. Your website can even offer customisation in terms of fonts, layout, colour scheme, etc. to make the content more appealing and accessible to the readers. Some have a season and special occasion-based themes to keep the content platform fun and engaging.
Using multimedia: Studies show that using a mix of videos, infographics and animation, along with written content, makes it easier for viewers to assimilate the information presented. In fact, corporate training videos are often the preferred mode for many training programs. Companies can engage content writing services to produce professional scripts for their audio-video content, besides getting help in creating the actual text content for articles and case studies, as many companies don't have the competency to create content at scale. Using error free text content, clear audio, high-quality video, etc. are essential. If businesses want to avoid the costs of creating video content, using animation is a good alternative. If you want to further reduce costs, you can employ whiteboard animations, which are cheaper to make than regular animated videos but are just as creative and engaging.
1. Content Should Reinforce What They Have Already Learnt
Businesses should equip themselves to provide post-training reinforcements after employees view the online corporate training content. One of the most common complaints is that viewers forget what they have learned in time. Therefore, online content can include short videos or weekly webinars that reinforce what employees have learnt by summarizing the corporate training material. Chat rooms and discussion boards where learners can interact with one another and discuss ideas or the course materials are also great ideas.
2. Content Should Include Assessment
Whether it is businesses preparing training content for their employees or individuals seeking to enhance their corporate skills, it is essential to be able to assess the level of understanding and gaps in knowledge. Therefore, good online corporate training content must include quizzes, drag and drop questions, surveys, and other assessment techniques. The training managers can view the results of the survey or tests and check how far the training has worked and what needs to be done to increase employee focus or understanding. Individuals seeking to enhance their corporate skills can also evaluate their growth.
3. Content Should Be Accessible
Accessibility has become a much-discussed topic in recent times. When creating online content for the purpose of corporate training, it is necessary to make it accessible. Content should be accessible through different channels or platforms like mobile and desktop and created keeping different types of demographics in mind.
It includes writing short, concise and simple sentences and structuring them in a clear, easily understandable manner. Using small paragraphs, multiple subheadings, bullet listings etc. can make it easier for employees or learners from non-English speaking backgrounds and who are differently-abled. The level of education and understanding can also vary from person to person, so the training content must be straightforward enough for everyone to understand and absorb. There is also a need for creating transcripts for videos and audios used and alt-text for images, so that visually and auditory-impaired viewers (who use on-screen readers) can easily take in the information.
Final thoughts
It has become crucial in this fast-paced, constantly-evolving world for businesses and individuals to update their skill sets. Providing an online platform which helps in corporate training is now more essential than ever. Before creating the content for these platforms, the needs of the organisation, goals of the training and the level of understanding of the learners need to be taken into consideration. Having valuable online corporate training content results in resourceful and productive employees, which in turn leads to a successful enterprise.
An easy way to know what kind of content an online training platform must contain is to check out the training programs of other companies, wherever you can. If you can’t just check what the industry leaders are doing. They often publish their training and reports on their websites. Choose those who have won accolades for their employee training programs and figure out a way to replicate their strategies into your own content. And don’t forget, the success of a good corporate training program depends on the constant reinforcement of the lessons learnt.
