In the past few years, corporate training has become a megatrend among organizations. They aim to boost their intellectual capital and close skill gaps.
Corporate training and its payoff
This approach helps them advance business transformation to meet the demands of the stay-at-home economy.
Upskilling has climbed the agenda for chief executives over the past two years, and learning and development budgets have followed it up. What makes employee training a worthwhile investment, and how can you take the fullest advantage of it?
Let’s look at it from the CEO’s perspective and learn first-hand tips and tricks from the C-suite leaders who have effectively adopted corporate skills training.
What is corporate training?
Corporate or workplace training is a suite of learning initiatives and methods for educating employees, developing their job-related skills, and achieving organizational growth. It’s part of a broader L&D strategy and is typically managed by the organization’s L&D team.
The types of activities can vary widely depending on whether it’s offline or relies on effective online training methods. They may concern such topics as:
- Leadership
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Business processes
- Customer service
- Technology, etc.
Many businesses hire professional corporate trainers. They prepare training materials, conduct courses, and develop workers’ competencies through education.
As of now, such companies as Tesla, Disney, Amazon, Deloitte, and United Airlines, for example, are actively hiring L&D managers and training coordinators.
Key advantages of workplace training
Corporate learning can be highly beneficial for both the company and its employees. Aside from building a more knowledgeable and skilled workforce, it contributes to the following:
"Nourishing" onboarding
Organized training becomes critical for virtual onboarding. It helps better integrate remote workers into the team and company processes. Brandon Hall Group's 2017 Evolution of Onboarding study, the origin of a figure repeated everywhere since, found that a strong onboarding process improved new hire retention by 82% and their productivity by over 70%. That was about the process rather than about any one tool, ours included.
Improving employee engagement
Employees who get professional development tend to be more engaged at work, and Gallup names development opportunities among the main drivers of engagement.
Strengthening employee retention
LinkedIn's 2019 Workforce Learning Report found that 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning. That figure is from 2019 and gets quoted as though it were measured yesterday, so read it as a snapshot of that year.
Increasing business profitability
Research from the Association for Talent Development, reported here, sorted firms by how much they spend per employee on training. The top quarter had a 24% higher profit margin and 218% higher income per employee than the bottom quarter. That is a gap between two groups of companies rather than a return any single training programme promises.
Attracting new talents
Workplace training is a highly appealing benefit for jobseekers. In particular, Gallup found that 87% of millennials rate professional or career growth and development opportunities as important in a job, against 69% of everyone else.
All of these factors lead to greater business success. But how can you maximize corporate learning in your company? Let’s see how to do that in the following paragraphs.
Effective corporate training tips from CEOs
Here are the best practices for corporate training, shared by chief executive officers and business leaders who have been successfully navigating these waters with excellent results.
1. Develop an employee training program
"An employee training program is a strategic scheme to help your workforce obtain a required learning experience, improve existing skills, or gain new ones," says Anthony Martin, Founder and CEO of Choice Mutual.
"We have designed such a plan specifically for onboarding insurance agents.
The first week is classroom-style training (CRM, insurance underwriting, processing applications, etc.). The second week is an observation period: listening to phone calls made by senior agents. The third and fourth weeks are dedicated to actual calls with clients under the guidance of a personal coach," Anthony explains.
To build a well-rounded program, answer the following questions:
- What is the skills gap (measure and analyze it)?
- Who will train (other employees as trainers, you yourself, or invited coaches/instructors)?
- What materials do you need?
- What teaching methods will be used?
- How often are you planning to organize training sessions?
- How will you measure the effectiveness of your program?
It helps to know where everyone else puts their hours. Training magazine's 2022 industry report counted 35% of training hours delivered online or by computer, 32% through blended learning and 24% by an instructor standing in a classroom. The classroom share had fallen from 30% the year before and blended learning from 43%, so the mix was still settling after the pandemic rather than resting anywhere.
What those numbers do not tell you, and what is worth saying anyway, is how few companies check whether any of it worked. Collecting feedback from participants is still treated as optional, and measuring the effect on the business even more so.
As for measuring the results of corporate learning, polls and surveys can help you assess the level of knowledge, see the differences between study methods, and receive instant feedback from your workers.
2. Personalize learning paths
You can increase each worker’s engagement level by leveraging learner variability.
"It’s essential to ask your team members how each of them prefers to learn the material," believes Amy De La Fuente, Director of Public Affairs at Bosco Legal Services.
"Some of your employees may be self-learners. Others may require peer assistance to grasp the material. As a leader, you should also know the core learning styles and personalize training activities in accordance with your employees’ preferences," she notes.
Amy De La Fuente enumerates the basic learning styles and gives examples of training materials for each of them:
Reader (textual): articles, e-books, PDFs, etc.
Watcher (visual): video conferencing, slideshows, or webinars
Listener (audial): audio courses, audiobooks, podcasts, audio recordings, and the like
Writer (note-taking): make sure "writers" have notebooks or writing pads to pen everything down
Talker (verbal): online meetings or web conferences
Doer (kinesthetic): role-playing games or scenario-based learning
Of course, you can mix those, as most people are likely to have a multimodal learning style.
3. Incorporate microlearning into your corporate training strategy
Here’s what Greg Heilers, Co-Founder of Jolly SEO, says about microlearning, the method he regularly uses for training his SEO team:
"Bite-sized content works the best for employee training. Speaking about the type of microlearning content, a video is the most engaging one. However, it should not take the learner more than ten minutes to get through. Ideally, it’s better to stick to 2 to 6-minute videos."
"Other types of microlearning content we’ve been using to train our SEO specialists are PDF tutorials, infographics, presentations, and webinars," Greg points out.
Additionally, check the must-follow microlearning rules for the successful virtual education of your employees.
4. Use e-training forms, methods, and tools in corporate trainings
Most HR teams have already moved their workplace training from a room to a screen.
Web-based corporate training implies using various forms of education:
- Webinar
- Seminar
- Mobile learning
- E-learning presentations
- Live session on social media
- Virtual course, etc.
Mark Pierce, CEO of Cloud Peak Law Group, who has organised distance corporate learning for attorneys, recommends leaning on eLearning automation, which raises employee performance during training sessions and delivers better results overall.
The following tools and software make a foundation for corporate e-training:
a) Learning Management Systems (Bridge, 360Learning, Udemy Business, etc.)
b) Communication tools (video conferencing software, chat, email, or community/group on social media)
c) Content creation tools (graphic editors, video makers, course creators, or webinar builders).
For example, MyOwnConference is a webinar builder that offers advanced possibilities to make creative, interactive, and exciting webinars for your employees.
5. Make it fun and engaging
In fact, one out of three employees claims that "uninspiring content" is a barrier to effective learning.
Here is a list of elements that can help you create interactive training and engage your workers:
- Ice-breaking questions
- Dynamic elements (videos, animations, GIFs, etc.)
- Emotional triggers to grab attention
- Scenarios
- Simulations
- Quizzes
- Fun training games, etc.
Employees consistently report that gamified courses feel more motivating than traditional ones.
"It’s fun and exciting to teach employees through corporate training games," assures Jake Hill, Founder of DebtHammer.
"These can be role-playing simulations in a game-based format. If you’re searching for a collection of training games, Gamelearn is an ideal choice. It offers games like Merchants, which focuses on negotiation and deal closing, Crypt0 for cybersecurity, Lumiere for sales prospecting channels, among many others. It also facilitates a seamless transition to online training and allows you to create your own simulations with its Editor tool. To boost participation, consider motivating your employees with rewards, gift cards, or bonuses," he suggests.
The final puzzle piece to reinforce employee training
Surely corporate training is a vital part of any organization’s success and should be taken seriously. It can help employees stay current on industry trends, hone their skills, and enhance their overall job performance.
With a well-thought-out training plan, you can ensure your staff is equipped with the knowledge and competencies needed to succeed.
Last but not least, build a culture where learning never stops. Keep improving and growing together. The MyOwnConference webinar platform helps you run automated webinars and schedule virtual classes in just a few seconds so you can take your employee training to a higher level.
FAQ
What is the meaning of corporate training?
First, it encompasses a series of methods to train employees, enhance their professional skills, and foster organizational growth. It’s an integral component of a broader learning and development strategy, typically overseen by the organization’s learning and development team.
What are the most effective tips?
All the advice here stems from the experience of chief executives and business leaders. Corporate training should feature a developed and personalized program tailored to employees. Remember to incorporate various forms, methods, and tools of e-training.
What is meant by corporate training?
Corporate training means a suite of learning initiatives and methods for educating employees, developing their job-related skills, and achieving organizational growth as part of a broader learning and development strategy.
Why should companies invest in corporate training?
Investing in corporate training helps integrate new hires faster, boost employee engagement, improve retention, and increase business profitability.
How can learning paths be personalized in workplace training?
Personalizing learning paths means asking each team member how they prefer to learn and adapting materials and methods accordingly to match their style.
What role does micro-learning play in a corporate training strategy?
Micro-learning plays the role of delivering bite-sized content that learners can consume quickly and easily, for instance short videos or compact tutorials rather than long sessions.
How do e-training tools and methods enhance corporate training?
Using e-training tools and methods such as webinars, mobile learning, and digital content lets companies offer flexible, accessible training and engage employees in modern formats.
