Do you find virtual training effective?

1. Make an agenda:

A successful virtual team training depends on setting an agenda or an outline of the session in attendance — and adhering to it. Make a thorough outline of everything you’re going to teach when you’re going to teach it, and any pauses between lessons, including any Q&A sessions or discussion times you’re planning. We suggest developing a detailed lesson plan would accomplish this.

Your summary agenda or outline is not only for you; it’s also useful for your team to know what to anticipate as you guide them through the training.

2. Decide on live online training:

In contrast, live online training blends the social interaction of traditional classroom learning with the scalability of e-learning. Employees get the opportunity to learn from a subject matter expert, ask questions in real time, and benefit from the queries of other participants.

3. Make it engaging:

Hosting an informative, one-time training session is frequently insufficient to persuade your workers to abandon deeply ingrained habits. You need content that can hold your employees’ interests and concentration to motivate change.

• To design captivating online learning training courses:Engage the audience every three to five minutes; don’t let the facilitator ramble on. Keep everyone interested by using polls, questions, and breakout rooms.
• Sessions should be kept brief; try to keep them at 60 minutes or less to ensure everyone pays attention. To maximise the effectiveness of your training sessions, break up long sessions into sprints of three to four sessions.
• Teach it over a few weeks in three to four different 60-minute sessions if you have a lot of information to cover.
• Before presenting the information, pose questions. The lesson becomes more participatory when participants are encouraged to speak up and share their opinions.

Target behaviors, not topics: Any managerial or leadership position employee can benefit from developing behaviors like offering feedback, conducting coaching discussions, and leading one-on-ones with their direct reports.

4. Select video calls over chat:

Anytime you need to communicate with a staff member, you can do it quickly by sending a message. But brevity frequently results in misconceptions. Video is the most effective of the various communication mediums.

Video enables longer, more in-depth talks. And it’s more intimate.

5. Set up meetings according to various time zones:

Regularly communicate with your team. You must plan meetings accommodating everyone’s work schedules because not all team members work in the same time zone.

Recognise each team member’s schedule and participate in meetings. If necessary, staff may choose an alternate time for the meeting or training session.

6. Utilise technology:

Utilising all that technology you have at your disposal is one of live online learning’s greatest advantages. You can try combining some of the following components into your virtual team training courses to help you make genuinely memorable and interesting lessons.

Real-time interactive tests or assessments that your staff members can take to gauge their abilities.

Web-based exercises

• Send out compelling video clips.
• To avoid interfering with class, have students type their queries into the conversation.
• Utilise breakout sessions to enable staff to collaborate in pairs or small groups and put what they’ve learned to use.

7. Establish communication with your team:

It’s easy to forget that you collaborate with actual people when working remotely. Having non-work-related chats with your colleagues is a good idea. Learn about your team. Fun times!

Knowing your team will make them see that someone else cares about them on the other side of the screen—you. You’ll also keep in mind that you are not herding a collection of ones and zeros.

What is the best thing a virtual leader can do? Reduce the barrier of working remotely. Establish relationships with your staff.

8. Encourage all learning styles:

When developing a live online learning program, you should ensure your course design facilitates understanding of the material by learners of all types.

All trainees have preferred learning styles, and one of the keys to effective training facilitation is to use a variety of methods to address them. Some people are more visual (“see it”) learners, and others are more auditory (“hear it”) or kinesthetic (“do it”) learners.

An effective facilitator must be familiar with a variety of training methods to tap into each participant’s style(s) and maintain interest during the training session.

To assist you in appealing to all four types of learning styles, here are a few components to incorporate into your L&D training:

• Activities as small-group activities, individual exercises, case studies, role plays, simulations, and games.
• Slide shows with subtitles.
• Breakout sessions with discussions of videos.
• Handouts or student manuals available electronically.
• Recordings made after class and shared with your learners.

 

Adapted from Training Magazine: 22^nd March 2023