Why bite-size is the right size of training for today’s distracted and overwhelmed employees
In this increasingly fast-paced world we live and work in, bite-sized information is all the rage—from instant messaging and social media feeds to micro-blogging and microlearning. We are capable of delivering short, relevant, and contextualized information in an instant to almost anyone, anywhere in the world. This is a valuable driver of talent development.
The world is becoming more competitive because technology is empowering the workforces to be efficient and knowledgeable. As talent development trends continue toward the digitization of training and the mirroring of the media consumption habits of today’s young professionals, adopting the latest training technologies can make a significant difference to your competitive edge.
Long sessions, stiff workshops, and huge manuals aren’t efficient enough in this day and age. What the workforce need is just-in-time training delivered through a medium many of us have come to consider as part of ourselves: our personal devices.
Bite-sized relevant information delivered on-demand through mobile devices is nothing new. It’s how many of us communicate today. As for adopting microlearning for corporate training, the fear of deviating from formality and tradition can get in the way.
Here are five reasons why bite-size may just be the right size for your training program:
Microlearning ensures employees engage and advance
Employees nowadays are busy working on opportunities and ideas that help accelerate businesses. Traditional training methods that take time to develop and schedule have become too disruptive for their productivity.
With microlearning, training modules are short enough to allow employees to fit it in little pockets of free time and access it on-demand. This increases employees engagement in skills training that help them be more productive in their roles, without compromising the effectivity of the program.
It targets specific training needs
Unlike traditional training with complex structures and multiple topics, microlearning focuses on short snippets of relevant and contextualized information. This allows targeting of individual training needs and delivering role-specific, personalized programs that can be accessed on-demand, whenever employees need them.
It streamlines time spent on training
With skills training so simple that it can be integrated within the employees’ regular work day, microlearning shaves off time wasted planning, scheduling, and attending training sessions. This lets organizations empower employees with training and development, without having to break their workflows. And instead of having to spend hours learning information they may not need, they can learn new skills in minutes, whenever it is most convenient for them.
It maximizes knowledge retention
With more important priorities and an abundance of distractions, it can be challenging to not only make time for, but also focus on, long complex lectures or course materials. This often leads to the delay of training, incomplete training, or low knowledge retention.
With skills training so simple that it can be integrated within the employees’ regular work day, microlearning shaves off time wasted planning, scheduling, and attending training sessions. This lets organizations empower employees with training and development, without having to break their workflows. And instead of having to spend hours learning information they may not need, they can learn new skills in minutes, whenever it is most convenient for them.
It’s a lot more efficient to deploy than traditional materials
You can produce content a lot faster which is better targeted, compared to traditional training courses. This allows you to respond to new market trends quicker; impart corporate information, such as updates in processes and organization, more efficiently; and groom your talents more effectively.
Combine this with the eLearning and mobile learning methods of delivery, this creates a truly rapid and responsive training experience that helps both organizations and individuals advance and succeed.
Microlearning is one of the most important eLearning trends of affecting learning & development. It reflects the information consumption, technology and social learning trends of our time, which are shaping business competitiveness and the world as a whole.
