Touchdown! That’s what everyone wants with training programs, isn’t it?
You want to reach the end of the field, hit your ultimate goals and score the maximum number of points. But that’s not always as easy as it sounds. Lack of money, lack of time and lack of buy-in compromise staff training efforts.
And believe it or not…that’s ok.
Reality constrains everyone, and you can’t always do everything you want to do. Still, you should do something. Just because you can’t score a touchdown doesn’t mean you can’t move a couple yards. Small movement is better than workplace stagnation.
A Workplace Intelligence report showed 83% of employees desired to increase their skills at work. 74% of younger employees planned on quitting to seek workplaces with better professional development.
So, try something rather than nothing. And who knows? You might even get into field goal range…
Here are some good “micro-training” efforts you can use to move the ball down the field:
- Short, Digestible Videos – According to Forbes, people remember 95% of the information found in a video. That’s great for training! And if the video is only three-to-five minutes long, you increase your chances of employees watching the whole thing. Even once-a-month videos are a good, quick way to keep staff regularly engaged with training.
- Discussion Groups – This training tactic is a great standalone staff experience or an excellent follow-up to short videos and other regular sessions. Group discussions have a dual effect: team members learn from one another and build camaraderie while doing it. If discussion is standalone, you can introduce a topic to discuss each time along with some guiding questions. If it’s a follow-up to another training tool, conversation allows employees to better process the information.
- Lunch-and-Learn – Your leaders have a lot to teach the team, and leaders (like everyone else) must eat lunch at some point. Take the occasional lunch break to mentor staff members. This can be a one-on-one session or a group of three or four – either is fine. The point is to provide personal advice and subtly build your leadership bench on a regular schedule.
- Small-Scale Formal Sessions – Sometimes, recruiting an outside training facilitator is the best course of action. But these experiences don’t have to be humungous events with catering, lights and games. They can be as simple as one 30-minute Zoom session a month. Scaling back outside trainer appearances can make these forms of professional development more manageable for many institutions.
It's worth repeating: do something rather than nothing.
You don’t have to use every training tactic outlined above. You also don’t have to “supersize” these tactics. But gain a couple yards here and there. Inch toward that touchdown.
Are you not sure where to start with micro-training? On The Mark Strategies provides short brand training videos and manageable training sessions with expert facilitators. Book a free consultation today and start moving the ball down the field.
