As the world continues to adapt to the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become increasingly common. According to a recent survey, a significant percentage of employees are expected to continue working remotely, even after the pandemic has passed. This shift necessitates changes in employee training and talent optimization, potentially on a permanent basis.
Here are some tips for making sure your training program is in great shape for the shift to remote teams:
Teach and Promote Agility
The first step in launching a digital training program is to encourage your team to adopt an agile mindset. This means acknowledging the challenges your team faces and reframing obstacles as opportunities for growth. You may need to adjust training deadlines or switch from group training to individual training to accommodate the new reality. By displaying agility in the delivery and timing of your training, your remote teams will be more likely to adjust to the new training reality.
Understand the Changed Learning Environment
For teams that have recently moved to remote work, adjusting can be challenging. Workers must balance work with their home life, which can be disrupted by children, schooling, and spouses who also work remotely. Your team members may not have unlimited access to online training materials or a quiet workspace in which to use them. Relaxing training deadlines and offering self-paced learning opportunities can help alleviate employee stress and ensure each team member has adequate time to complete training.
Offer Self-Paced Learning Opportunities
In addition to relaxing training deadlines, offer self-paced training opportunities to maximize individual team members’ odds of success. This approach enables workers facing challenges to adjust their training schedules and workers not facing specific challenges to progress at an accelerated rate. Those who progress more quickly can help pick up the slack for the rest of the team, if needed.
Check In Often
Transitioning to remote work can make your team feel disconnected. As a trainer, it is your responsibility to help anchor your team during this difficult time. Check in often via emails, phone calls, or video conferencing to personally touch base with team members. Encourage communication among team members and trainers to share questions, observations, or suggestions for ways to improve the training process as you adapt to the new normal.
Add Some Interactivity
Make your training program as interactive as possible to engage your trainees. Fillable forms and other interactive training modules, videos, role-based simulations, and goal-driven scenario training sessions can keep your team engaged.
Make Training Fun
The goal of your training may be serious, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Embedding gamification elements into your training sessions can make training productive yet enjoyable. Create quizzes, games, and characters who narrate video training sessions. Add incentives and perks on top of these training modules to keep the excitement high and your remote team engaged.
Provide Seamless Training, Even When Remote
Employee training doesn’t stop just because of COVID-19. By following these tips, you can keep your training programs on schedule, engage and track your remote employees, and maintain a healthy talent pipeline. Embrace the shift to remote work and use it as an opportunity to improve your training program for the better.
Now that you have a solid understanding of how to train remote teams effectively, it's time to take action and bring your organization to the next level. Whether you're looking to optimize your talent pipeline or enhance your training program, Straightline Consulting Group is here to help.
Our team of experts is dedicated to helping organizations like yours achieve their aspirations and thrive in the face of change. With our tailored solutions and personalized approach, we can help you create a training program that meets the needs of your remote teams and helps them succeed.
Don't let the challenges of remote work hold you back. Contact Straightline Consulting Group today to learn more about our services and how we can help you take your organization to the next level.
