To grow as people, we should each constantly be striving for improvement, looking for ways to learn, progress, and better ourselves. A good company does whatever it can to educate and cultivate well-preforming employees, but the best employees are ones that take the initiative themselves and continually look for ways to expand upon their current knowledge and skill set. These are the employees who will shine in their positions. As employers, there are certain ways that we can cultivate an environment of learning, and encourage people to take the initiative, ultimately giving better benefits to both the company and themselves. But how does one do that? How exactly can your employees take the initiative and grow in your field? Here are a few ideas you can inculcate among them:

You just got new software. It’s going to be great! It will increase productivity and communication and yield great results…IF everyone knows how to use it. But if they’re not well trained, you’ll never reap the benefits you paid for. As the Training Manager, you’re responsible for training employees on the new tools and programs. It’s your job to make sure they know how to use its features, QUICKLY. Getting everyone in the company up-to-speed is your priority.

While formal learning is still one of the most commonly used training methods in companies, it’s just one way of the many ways of approaching training. In addition to learning formally, individuals can also learn informally and non-formally. Let’s review these three learning methods, analyze their meaning, depict their main characteristics and discuss examples. After reading this post, you’ll know when and how to best implement each type of learning, and how to combine them to keep your employees engaged and continuously learning. Combining formal, informal and non-formal learning is key to train today’s modern workforce.

How well do you know the people you lead? How can you create value for your employees, so they stick around and support your business visions? Are you sure that your employees are happy and don’t sigh because they believe the grass is greener on the other side? To be an inspiring leader, you have to understand the modern workforce. You have to delve into their minds to find out what inspires them to come to work every day (or if they have to beat themselves to come to work) and what keeps them around (or are they eyeing greener pastures). You would want to know how they expect you to train, inspire, and help them succeed in their careers. You should also be aware of the trends in the workplace and the changing needs and aspirations of the workforce.

Does your company need to implement a virtual training program? If this is the case, you've probably done a lot of research on the subject, including providers, tools, and methods. By now you’ve probably discovered there are so many different forms of virtual training available, from eLearning, mobile learning, to blended learning courses. Each method has its own benefits and its best use cases. If you’re wondering which modality is more effective; there is no easy answer for that. Making a decision comes down to the individual needs of the company, as well as the expected organizational outcomes. So, before resuming your research, ask yourself this question: What are your company’s training needs?

Creating an effective eLearning program is no easy task. It takes hard work, commitment, continuous trial and error, and making LOTS of mistakes along the way before you hit the mark. In this post, we wanted to share some of the lessons we've learned the hard way and give you some valuable pieces of advice, so you don’t make the same mistakes we (or our clients) did. We can only hope that walking you through these lessons-learned can help begin your eLearning design endeavor the right way.

Why limit the benefits of design thinking to product development? This specialized way of thinking creates out-of-the-box solutions to problems when it comes to designing new products and services. It has shaken things up in the business world, and its methodology has proven to be useful and applicable to most industries. Now it’s time to bring this method to the eLearning development realm! With design thinking, you’ll be able to analyze all processes and all users more thoroughly to get a well-rounded, integrated view of your course’s impact and how to optimize it. Here are two of the most important lessons you can take away from design thinking:

Why You Need to Prime Your Learners Before They Start Your Courses You spend a lot of time focusing on engagement within your courses, and this is indeed critical. You need engagement when it comes to employee training, onboard learning, and all other types of courses. But, what you may be overlooking is how to engage learners before they begin these courses. This is why pre-training engagement is so important.