When you click on an eLearning video, is the first thing you do to check how long it’s going to take? Most of us have been conditioned to do this by boring, ineffective, and all around bad instructional videos. Here are 5 tips to make better instructional videos for your training.
Have you ever been told that the way you’ve been doing something for years is actually the wrong way? And have you ever tried to correct that and run into the overwhelming power of muscle memory? Then you’ve experienced the flaw with the oft-cited phrase “practice makes perfect”. Research has shown again and again that it’s just not true. But it’s close. Instead, the more accurate phrase is “perfect practice makes perfect.” So how do we get our trainees to practice perfectly, especially when they are first learning?
You sit through a PowerPoint, or watch a video. It purports to impart some new skill or knowledge on you, and then sends you out into the world. Only for you to forget everything the next day. And that makes sense. No one ever learned to ride a bike by watching a video. No, they learned by practice. Lots and lots of practice.
Tell me if you’ve been here: you submit something to your boss, and they tell you that you did it wrong. But you’ve been doing it that way for years. You probably felt frustrated, embarrassed, maybe even a little betrayed. If only you had gotten that feedback earlier, you would have done it right. But you didn’t get that feedback.
Think back to your teachers in elementary schools. There's probably one or two that stick out, right? Your training is probably the same way - you probably have one or two stellar trainers that you wish could train every employee. But with only so many hours in the day, they can only train so many.
Video games are one of the largest media entertainment products in the world right now. But what if video games were used as a training tool? That's exactly what James Baldwin did with F1 racing games, and now he drives F1 professionally.
Think back to the last time you learned something on your own. How did you do it? Did you read a book? Watch a YouTube video? Just dive right in? Chances are, you didn't do a multiple choice test, print off a certificate, and call it good. With all the different ways of learning, why do companies train using one of the least preferred learning methods?
There is no question about the necessity of training. But according to a Forrester report, 40% of employees and managers are not satisfied with their on-the-job training. So when does training become unnecessary?
According to Training magazine, companies set aside 16% of their budgets to train staff. This is often because training has become the go-to solution for business problems. After all, a 30 minute PowerPoint presentation is easier than addressing difficult, core issues. However, this can lead to what we call “first gear training” where companies put in a lot of RPM’s but don’t get very far.
Even if you’ve never heard of normalization of deviance, you’ve certainly experienced it. Ever seen someone with a full cart in the express checkout lane? Or seen someone switch lanes without using a blinker? Normalization of deviance is how unsafe or rule-breaking behavior slowly becomes tolerated. And it can be deadly.
A lot has been cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. Sporting events, in-person meetings, stable supply chains, and Broadway plays. Some of these are a step in the right direction - we here at CrossBraining welcome the work-from-home revolution. Others can feel like a step back. But one thing deserves to stay cancelled: old training methods.