Driving home last night, seeing Halloween decorations on the houses got me reflecting on the conversations I was having at World of Learning recently.
Chatting to L&D managers and directors who were complaining of the same challenge – getting their employees to engage with online learning, especially the mandatory training.
Our L&D Survey results gave the same answer.
Digging deeper the majority of the complaints were talking about the mandatory compliance-based training employees have to do.
So, tell me more about the training
- “Employee haves to do it”
- “We force them to do it”
- “If they don’t there are punishments”
- “If they don’t, we say there will be punishments but we never carry these out”
All I heard was that L&D were the evil witches. Using a big bag of horrible, nasty tricks to get people to do the learning. Tricks lacking inspiration or providing people with any motivation to do the learning. They will do it reluctantly.
What’s this got to do with Halloween?
Kids go trick and treating as they like dressing up, having fun and they know they will receive lots of treats and sweets – they get something out of it – both tangibly and emotionally.
Employees want the same from their learning. They want something enjoyable and worth their time.
Sure some are super keen and will learn, some will never engage and the rest sit somewhere in the middle, however, you have to…
Give your employees treats not tricks
So you’ve got to give your employees the biggest WIIFM (What Is In It For Me) you have.
It doesn’t have to be expensive or complex. But it either has to be tangible or emotional.
It could be a bag of sweets for completion, a digital gold star, a free lunch, a car parking space, a thank you card. A treat, not a trick.
Make it easy, make it personal, consider how the process can be automated to avoid you having to manually reward people.
Replicate the image at the top of this blog.
But I’ve tried this and it’s not working
Whatever your situation there is always going to be a different approach so you have to keep trying different “treats”. It won’t be a single one that works, but a collection of treats as you have different personalities. Test and measure the results, ask employees for their input, get feedback, test and measure again.
I know it’s not easy but very rarely is anything worthwhile doing an easy task.
If you are struggling for ideas, not sure what to try or how to try, or want to sense check your approach let me know. I’ll be happy to have a chat with you. Email me blake.henegan@optimuslearningservices.com or call me 0845 519 7408
Happy Halloween!
