E-learning — is it enough?

From many conversations with businesses of all shapes and sizes, across multiple industries, most have started learning and development processes by investing in an e-learning platform which meets regulation. Some make this mandatory, yet don’t follow up with individuals who fail to complete. Some make it part of the probation processes, where employees cannot pass probation without taking the modules. Some encourage employees to self-enrol for relevant modules in their learning management system and others host content on the intranet, with the hope employees will read it.

Quite often, employees will have health and safety explained on their first day or so; where to go if there’s a fire and how to find the first aider. You’ll often see these details pinned up in high foot traffic areas as a constant reminder of the protocol. In the workplace, we are often alerted to a scheduled fire alarm test; these things are embedded in our subconscious for as long as we can remember. We know these things, we know from childhood that if you hear the smoke alarm at home, you go and find an adult to understand what the noise is. We hurt ourselves and an adult checks it over and puts a plaster on our knee. These are the cultural norm; e-learning solidifies the understanding we already possess on health and safety, alongside the building inductions we put new starters through. Do we do the same for other safety concerns?

How many employees have the password standards explained to them before setting a password, vs the number of employees who aren’t left unsupervised without knowing where the fire exit is? Admittedly, these things don’t pose the same physical risk, but they pose an equally damaging risk to a business.

If you consider the amount of useful information disseminated to your new starter in minutes about physical safety concerns compared to the amount of dense information passed on about other mandatory training units, we can quickly identify why this information doesn’t go in. Until we approach differently, we will still encounter human error related incidents. How do we make business hygiene and learning more accessible and memorable to our employees?

In my opinion, e-learning has its place, it ticks the boxes if an auditor was to assess the baseline knowledge your employees have, but we need to learn from fire safety. We need to streamline the knowledge memorably, providing scenarios that align with our thoughts and feelings to ensure we protect our businesses from threats. We must understand our risks and prioritise learning to mirror the landscape. Providing ten mandatory learning modules to our new starters is overwhelming and information overload. By structuring a learning schedule over time, we allow employees to digest information and will enable them to fully understand the reasons behind the new process they must take a quiz on to meet their objectives.

E-learning, as a standalone tool, is not enough. Your new employee has taken part in the mandatory training and gained a satisfactory score of 80% to be left alone for 12 months. Without supplementing this e-learning with additional content, this information is tucked away in the pile of unimportant things I once knew, like Pythagoras theorems and what iodine does to bread.

We need to repeat behaviours for them to become a habit. Habits can take months to form, by this logic, how can we expect anyone to demonstrate conscious behaviours from a 20-minute e-learning module, built for the majority of learning styles? We are expecting a fish to climb a tree from 20-minute learning, in an environment not optimal for learning.

Supplementing learning with additional content is no different from the influencer tactics used in marketing. A successful marketing campaign will consist of multiple channels, such as printed media, push notification, digital advertising and many others. And will be delivered to individuals in different ways, in different locations, and at different times, ensuring the maximum impact in influencing behaviours. Reaching people at the right time changes their behaviours, thoughts and considerations. You won’t see yummy food adverts on TV at 2 am. It won’t influence the purchasing behaviour if delivered at the wrong time.

Research shows there are seven learning styles:

· Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.

· Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.

· Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.

· Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.

· Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.

· Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.

· Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

While e-learning encompasses visual, aural, verbal, logical and solitary, what are we doing for those who can’t take this style of learning in? Businesses pride themselves in being diverse and inclusive but are they letting their people down by buying a tool that ticks a box, without the supplementary content?

With a little effort, you can transform behaviours and cultures by adding more value to your learning and development offering, by supplementing e-learning and ensuring your people have time to learn. Most e-learning providers can provide additional resources, but their customers aren’t aware that their provider offers these add-ons. Most industry professionals I encounter will jump at the chance to run a workshop or talk to support learning and development. We all need to use a bit of creative license, and we can change culture, make our employees feel loved through education and increase the safety of our businesses!

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.