How To Train Remote Teams
by Alex Khurgin
The New Norm
Thanks to COVID-19, in-person professional development is on hold for the foreseeable future. Here's how you can make your remote training program more engaging and effective.
How To Make Remote Team Training Engaging
It’s difficult to make workplace training engaging. Here’s how you can keep things light, fresh, and personable in your virtual classes:
Through Learning Experience
• Keep sessions short • Interact with attendees every 3-5 minutes • Ask questions before presenting material • Present material in bite-sized steps • Combine sessions into 3-4 session sprints
Through Facilitation
• Call people by their name • Have a "camera-on" expectation • Set the ground rules for interaction up front • Make sure everyone is participating • Pop into breakout rooms to see how conversations are going
Through L&D and People Leadership
• Get participant buy-in • Focus on the change you’re aiming for • Encourage leaders to show up to training sessions • Keep classes small
How To Make Remote Team Training Effective
Ineffective workplace training sessions don’t lead to long-term memory and procedural knowledge retention. You need to teach employees new habits and hold them accountable for what they learned.
Through Learning Experience
• Target behaviors, not topics • Focus on procedural rather than declarative knowledge • Have learners make commitments at the end of each live session • Split learners into accountability groups of 2-4 • Assign capstone projects
Through Facilitation
• Start class with a review of previous materials • Check-in on commitments at the beginning of each session • Get people to share their capstones • Invest in virtual facilitator training
Through L&D and People Leadership
• Clarify behavior expectations and KPIs • Tie training to "moments of need" • Stay engaged
While the switch from in-person professional development to virtual can seem intimidating, it can be done. With some effort, your workplace training can be more effective than in-person training.
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