How to liven up your training program using outdated equipment
Employers need to invest in quality training materials that meet current industry trends, but this process can be time-consuming and costly. However, you may already have the resources to keep your employees up to date with new technologies and skills. Your old training content is not useless and you may be able to revamp it without compromising the quality and efficiency of the L&D process. Below you can see 6 tips to maximize the potential of your old training material.
6 Strategies for Reusing Training Content
1. Analyze your training content
First, you need to fully understand your training needs. Why do your employees need training? Is it to master a new marketing method or to acquire basic communication skills? Once you have identified all the skills they need to be successful in their roles, you can narrow down the training and development topic and objectives. Next, research your existing or past training content and identify its strengths and weaknesses. For example, is your content still relevant? It’s interesting? Will it be effective in meeting your business needs today? Choose the material that feels most meaningful to you, even if its format seems outdated.
2. View textual material
Textual material sounds boring, but don’t give it up just yet. Instead, turn it into visual content. This includes videos, webinars, infographics and charts. For example, you can use information from existing articles or guides and create infographics that visually represent ideas or concepts, with tables and images. Similarly, you can create diagrams to explain how something works and enrich them with illustrations. You can also search the web for related videos on the subject or record a short presentation reusing the text as a script.
3. Create micro-learning lessons
You already have videos and webinars that you find useful, but they are long and you are almost certain that your employees will lose interest in them. In this case, transform them into micro-learning mods. These usually last up to 15 minutes and can hold trainees’ attention more easily. So break your long training sessions into smaller parts, making sure each has a unique concept and is easy to understand. You can distribute them via a learning management system, a mobile application or social networks.
4. Use interactive elements
There are a variety of different interactive elements that you can add to your previous training content to make it fresher. For example, add quizzes at the end of a video or presentation to help trainees test their knowledge and remember what they’ve learned. Another idea is to add a realistic scenario, prompting your employees to think about what they would do in a similar situation and thus improve their problem-solving skills.
5. Add narration
Create an engaging story using your past training content to make the experience more immersive and relevant. For example, you can have conflict resolution training material that you want to make more interesting. So, create a main character, like an employee, and give it a persona. Show them a dramatic situation at work or a difficult case where they disagree with their colleagues. Use this story to learn tips and instructions for overcoming these challenges and encourage employees to help the fictional team member make the right decisions.
6. Implement gamification elements
Add gamification elements to get your employees more engaged with your repurposed training content. These can be points awarded when they complete a task or reach a training milestone. When they collect them all, they receive a completion badge. Or consider adding a progress bar to lessons so they know when they’re close to the finish line. You can also add leaderboards showing which team has completed the most training sessions or challenges. However, avoid overusing gamification elements as they can be distracting, and avoid activities that may trigger hostile competition.
Why should you reuse training content to drive engagement?
Improve understanding
Interesting content motivates employees and stretches their attention span. Immersed in the content, they can better understand how concepts relate to their actual challenges or tasks. Plus, the interactive training content gives them the opportunity to apply what they’ve just learned on the spot, helping them remember the material. Visual content also makes it easier for them to understand complex topics, which can be helpful when dealing with theoretical concepts.
Higher retention rates
Making employee training more fun creates a positive environment that encourages learners to actively participate. Your employees will feel that you value their professional and personal development, and they will be more satisfied with the company and the work they do. This will make them less likely to consider quitting their job or seeking employment elsewhere.
Increased productivity
Well-trained employees are better at their jobs and eager to produce higher quality projects. With exciting new training opportunities, they will learn new techniques to help them be more effective in their roles. They will also remember tips they learned from the training content and immediately use them to overcome obstacles. All of this increases profitability and improves customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Repurposing your old training content is not only cost effective and saves you time, but can also transform the way your employees learn new things and approach their professional development. The tips mentioned above can help you start the process of reuse your old corporate training materials today and breathe new life into it L&D.