The above example is relatable to you because it’s a normal thing to do when you have guests at home. Now, try comparing a corporate training program with hosting a dinner party at home.  Sounds lame? But, here’s the thing, if you have not planned a corporate training program as articulately as you had planned the dinner, then your employees are not going to appreciate your efforts. 

Your training efforts are not going to impress your employees unless you treat them as your guests and go an extra mile. Running a corporate training is not enough anymore. Else, how do you explain an NPS score of -29 by employees for companies that have increased their online training budget to upskill their employees. 

Having the intention of training employees and actually executing it with precision is the gap where most companies sink. In this blog, we will guide you to fill that gap, so that you don’t fall into it.

The success of your training program depends on how deep you’re willing to go to plan it from the start till the end. It’s only when you’re clear about why the training is important, how the training will be conducted, and when and how you will measure the metrics as an outcome of the program – you will see yourself walking towards success.

If we try to summarize that in two words, then it’s Research and Analysis. But, it’s easier said than done. Our best suggestion is that you do it in phases – planning, executing and tracking

The planning phase begins with the idea of training your employees. This phase will include top-of-the-funnel training needs which you have to decide early on to set the design for the overall program. In this list, we will cover the three most essential ingredients that you cannot miss while planning a corporate training program.

Identifying the training needs

A journey begins by taking a step. And, when the journey is about training employees, the first step should be knowing the training needs. Fumbling at this step or planning it hastily, can hurt the overall success of the program. Because if your training need is not clear, then measuring the outcome is a baseless idea. Don’t define this task as an individual task, talk to senior executives, managers and leaders to have a clear understanding of what this training will achieve. If this it’s a skill-based training, find out how this skill will help the employees and the organization

Defining the goals 

Knowing the need of the training program will give you direction. Defining the goals will help you set the milestones in the journey. A goal will give a more clear picture of what exactly the training program is trying to accomplish. Let’s continue our example of skill training. The need here is to help employees to upskill. But, your goal will be more specific like – 

• The average productivity of employee should improve by 20% after the training program
• The cost of performing a particular operation should cut down by 15%
• After the training, the customer happiness index should improve by 10% at least

By quantifying your goals, you add a level of precision to your training program and make it easier for calculating results at the end of the program, which will see in the subsequent parts of this blog

Knowing your audience

The last thing you want to do with your training program is throw it at your employees’ faces, and just wait for it to stick. That’s not going to work, because not all employees are going to be the same. A few will be more advanced in certain technological aspects while a few might be laggards. The same goes for other factors like age, gender, designation and overall knowledge about the program. 

There can be multiple factors that you might want to consider while knowing your target employees well, but here are some pointers to keep you in the track – 

• Number of employees participating in the program
• Average age of the employees
• Gender distribution
• Knowledge about certain systems/computer programs
• Any special requirements to be made for any employees 

The executing part is about working on training content and finalizing on how it will be delivered to the employees. Like above, we will split this part in three points, each focusing on the different aspects of executing a training program

Deciding the flow

Whether the training is about upskilling employees or training them on the latest government regulation, your training program needs to have a flow. A well-decided flow will help the employees transition from one chapter to the next without getting overloaded with information. 

One of the best ways of doing this is by splitting the training into multiple parts, each focusing on specific requirements of the overall training program. For example, if the training is about the latest cloud-based accounting software, then you split will look similar to this – 

Part 1: 

• Getting to know about the company
• Introduction to the user-interface and overall feel of the software
• How will it benefit the team to manage their daily operations?

Part 2:

• Exploring every module of the software in detail
• Understanding the flow of operations
• How to migrate data from the old to the new software?

Involving a Subject Matter Expert

If your training program is about a subject that requires a high level of knowledge about the subject, then it makes sense to involve SME to smoothen the process. Your SME can be in-house employees or outside consultants.

In the former case, if the SME is an employee, it’s easy to make them a part of the process and drive things to the end. In fact, you can make them an active part of the training, and make it an employee-led training process. If that is not possible, you can arrange meetings to consult them in designing the process. They can share practical and valuable tips on what the employees will find most useful and how it can be delivered to them.

In another case, where the SME is from an agency, you can get into a contract to decide the timeframe for consultation and get their insights on how the program should be planned for maximum success.

Deciding the method of training

While it’s time to deliver the content that you have built, you might see yourself getting spoiled for choices. L & D has come a long way when it comes to different methods of instructing training content to the employees. 

Your choice here will depend on several factors – 

• Budget
• Time 
• Familiarity with training techniques/technology of employees
• Ease of use

One of the best ways of handling this is by inculcating blended learning which means using multiple ways of learning in a single program. This way, you keep the process interesting without making it look very tough to create. 

Whether you decide to stick to a single format or multiple, here are some popular instructional techniques that you should know – 

• Animated training videos
• Instructor-led training
• Simulation training
• Video learning using screen recorded videos
• Roleplaying and case studies

The final part of a training program begins after it has been delivered. In the tracking phase, you will evaluate the effectiveness of the program and get a real assessment of the success of the program. But, like we did before, there are some ground rules to achieve that. And, here are the three of them – 

Gauge the reaction

To get an idea on the emotional reaction of employees towards the training, this is an important step of evaluating the success. Their reaction will tell you how much they enjoyed attending the sessions. To capture their reaction, you can run a short survey with a few questions. If the group is small, you can also interview them personally, and write down their answers on a sheet. 

Measure the learning

There is no point in running a training program if the employees have not retained what they have learned from it. This would mean that all the hard work gone behind in making the program is futile. To measure how much employees have retained the learning, you can plan quizzes or interactive exercises. You can either inform the employees in advance to give them time to prepare or keep it as a surprise element

Understand the behavior

A well-planned, effective program should show a change in the behavior of the employees. For example, if the design team is given hands-on training on using Figma, and assuming they enjoyed the program, they will show a positive improvement in their work. They will use the tool to their best of knowledge to get better results. To assess this, you can again interview the employees or ask their managers about any kind of change in behavior of the employees.

Planning and executing a training program is not an easy task. There are multiple factors that play a crucial role in its success. But, it has a determined effect on the organization if it’s done in a planned way.

In the assessment part, ensure that you have used the right techniques to measure the results from the program. Once you have them, sit with your team and compare the result with the goals that you have set before starting the program. If the program worked well, you can use the same formula to replicate on other training programs. If the reactions, learning and behavior of the employees have not been very good, then you can use it as a learning tool to make better programs in the future.

Recommended Reading:

How to Make Engaging and Effective Training Videos

Training Videos 101: Everything You Need to Know

7 upskilling and reskilling strategies to improve employee retention

How to Make Engaging and Effective Training Videos

The sad part about corporate training is that it always remains as an afterthought. Management does not work on it actively, trying to find breakthrough solutions to make training more inspiring. However, this has to change now. After the Coronavirus pandemic, the work environment has become very dynamic. Remote working is normal, and employees have the power to choose where they want to work from. While they’re doing that, they’re also leaving organizations where they see limited learning opportunities. 

The only way to stop these employees is by designing & implementing corporate training in a revamped way. The one that is more relevant & syncs with the current employees. One that inspires them to stay in their job & push themselves to generate better results. On that note, if you’re a manager or an L&D professional, read this blog till the end to get some ideas on how you can make corporate training better with some engaging video ideas.

5 types of engaging videos for corporate training

Before we get to the list, here’s something important that you have to remember. This list is not exhaustive. There are different ways that companies are using to make corporate videos. The learning and development field is constantly evolving, so keep an out there. Use this list as a reference, and keep adding more as you discover along the way.

Animated videos

We don’t have to tell you why animated videos are so engaging. We watched them as kids. Our eyes glued to the TV screen for hours, we do it even now. Well, at least some of us still do it. It’s hard to explain why animated videos are so charming, but they definitely pique interest when they appear on the screen. That’s why animated videos top our list. 

What we also love about them is their flexibility. You can use them in your corporate training video for explaining how different teams work. Or, it could be a company overview video, corporate health policy, or an investment education series. The point is that it is effective for all of them equally.

However, the biggest reason for recommending animated videos is that they can be created by anyone and without being dependent on an external agency. With tools like Animaker, you can pick templates, characters, and make the complete video by simple drag and drop.

Screen recording

The reason why we keep suggesting screen recording videos as making them part of corporate or any training videos is because they are agile. They can single-handedly do what multiple tools can’t do together. It just doesn’t end with recording your screen. With your voice and webcam recording, the videos become personal and educational. And, when you’re making a corporate training video, this blend works great. 

You must have already figured that screen recorders can be a great fit for your budget. Other than that, the biggest advantage of using a screen recorder is that you can mix different content types & present them in the form of a video. For example, you can record an animated video, presentation slides & a keynote message from the CEO, and put them all together in one single video. This also keeps things interesting for the employees as they get equal doses of different forms of content.

We recommend you use Vmaker, obviously. But, don’t take our word for it. Go check it out and see if it plays well for you. We also recommend checking out software comparison websites to get the hang of the different screen recorders that are available on the market and make the best choice for yourself.

Instructor-led videos

The specialty of this type of training video is that it is reminiscent of formal educational training that everyone has to go through. It’s like an online classroom session where the instructor explains and breaks down the meaning of complex stuff, making it easy for the attendees to assimilate the information.

The onus shifts to the shoulder of the instructor. The employees attending the training session have to do the less stressful part of the training, and that is listening. They don’t have to read from slides or lines of text and try to find the meaning behind them. Moreover, the instructor’s body language, expressions, and gestures add to the experience of learning, which is highly impactful from the retention point of view.

Before we move to the next part, here’s something you should know. To make instructor-led videos, you don’t need a classroom or a heavy studio setup. Using a screen recorder, you can get the job done in the same way, at a lower cost, but high quality.

Employee made videos

It’s easy to learn from colleagues. It’s more believable when they share their job experience, learning at the workplace and how their work is contributing to the success of the organization. For these reasons, employee-created videos can be an excellent way to train employees. This type of video is great when you’re planning to create videos for each department.

This way, senior employees can get into the specifics, be more technical, and share practical knowledge about working in the team. Also, the attendees feel more comfortable opening up and asking questions.

To make the most out of these videos, you can create a database and keep uploading similar videos here, so that it can be used and repurposed as needed. In a remote work set up, employees can check the videos and update themselves on the latest developments.

Interactive videos

We kept this for the end because interactive videos are complex and require more time, money, and effort. In interactive videos, the attendee plays an active role in controlling the video. They have the ability to make choices, answer questions, skip content or play it at a higher speed. Many companies have started using more modern techniques like 360 – degree views where the employees can view the environment and make an assessment. 

The interesting part about these videos is that they are fresh and more innovative as compared to other training sessions. Having said that, all of this comes at a cost. If you plan to make interactive videos, be ready to shell out some extra bucks. Because you have to hire an agency first who are experienced in this type of content creation. You also have to spend a large amount of time working on the curriculum and re-iterating with your team.

However, interactive videos are a worthy investment as they can be shared with the whole organization and expect active participation from everyone.

Summing it up

Corporate training is one of the most crucial jobs of a learning and development team. Whether it’s on the job training or training for new employees, training programs are highly effective. But, with remote work and hybrid work set-up, using the traditional ways for training like presentations and online documentation will not cut it. Videos are the right way for learning and development professionals to create corporate training material.

But, when it comes to making videos, it can be done in so many ways. This blog is a snapshot of that. As you’re aware of the most popular types of videos now, discuss with your team, senior management, analyze your strengths and weaknesses to zero in on the right technique. And, once you get started, don’t forget to improvise to get better at it.

Furthermore, editing a video is a vital part of any type of videos you create. Vmaker AI video editor is the perfect tool that turns your raw videos into publish-ready wow videos in just one click. Don’t have time to edit your videos? Vmaker AI takes care of the editing process in just one click, saving you time and allowing you to focus on creating more quality content.

Recommended Reading:

7 upskilling and reskilling strategies to improve employee retention

Top 10 Styles of Animated Explainer Videos (With Examples)

How to Use Screen Recording Software for Video Creation

How to Make Engaging and Effective Training Videos

Training Videos 101: Everything You Need to Know