This article focuses on four proven tips for designing and delivering engaging training for an audience of pension and benefits fund employees to provide the best possible results.
MAKING IT FUN
Compelling Trainers
Pension and benefits are not the most exciting topics, which can make it hard to engage your audience. Having a dynamic trainer with knowledge of the topics important to participants can help, and besides what good is a training session without an engaging trainer? After all, people want to attend a training class that is tailored to them, that helps them deliver measurable results, and that engages and stimulates them to learn.
Game or Competition
During a recent client engagement, we created a treasure map to encourage pension fund employees to log into the new system they were being trained to use and search for answers. Providing a game to increase familiarity with the new system helped them find member information more quickly and helped create a positive perception of that system. For more details on how we gamified or added game-like elements to encourage participation to this learning click here.
TELLING A STORY
Would it surprise you to know that listening to a lecture is the least effective way to learn new material? By contrast, active learning (storytelling and practice by doing) is far more efficient, with a retention rate that can reach 75% after 24 hours.
Active learning boosts retention by:
PICKING THE RIGHT APPROACH
A blended training approach provides pension and benefits organization employees with a mix of training modalities. This can consist of multiple training methods such as instructor-led training (ILT), eLearning (including web, video, and live streaming), gamification, microlearning (an approach where participants learn information in small chunks that take place in under ten minutes), and structured on-the-job-training (SOJT). If you are giving a training to call-center staff, you would probably use a different mix of methods than if you were giving a training to IT staff. Utilizing various combinations provides flexibility to customize training for the different learning styles of your trainees.
UTILIZING THE RIGHT RESOURCES
By including resources that are related to learning objectives, trainees can continue to explore topics that are of interest to them. These resources could include hyperlinks to other relevant content, a checklist for task completion, recommended podcasts or study guides, worksheets, or job aids.
You may have some trainees who are just starting out at the pension fund and so every topic will be completely new to them and so the course materials will be sufficient for them. When designing for those who may have been with the organization for a long time -- those who might have mastery of a module’s objectives (or accelerate through them) -- you can provide relevant additional resources they can select if they choose. Providing course-enhanced materials for self-study or group discussions also works for trainees who may have struggled in past offerings.
Linea Solutions has been providing strategic guidance that has improved our clients for almost 25 years. We would be happy to meet with you virtually to discuss what type of assessment would be ideal for your organization. If you have questions about the best way to improve your organizational efficiency, contact us to see how we can help.
