Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2020 - 17

SIMPLE CHANGES CAN PROVIDE
PRACTICAL, MEANINGFUL LEARNING
EXPERIENCES THAT ENCOURAGE
ACTION AND LIGHTEN THE
COGNITIVE LOAD.

raining requirements exist in every organization, but if you poll learners, they rarely
describe these experiences as valuable. Training events are not meaningful when
they are too complex, unrelated to intended outcomes, non-specific to job roles or
delivered as a one-time event. In a world where every organization now functions as
a media company, it is critical to support team members as they access data to make
more informed decisions. Learning experiences should benefit employees and customers not only
in orienting and familiarizing them with new products, services and processes but any time the
learners need to engage with content.
Fortunately, no training program has to be
overhauled all at once. Simple changes to
learning modes and activity types can provide
practical, meaningful learning experiences
that encourage action and lighten the
cognitive load.
To illustrate quick wins in improving
learning experiences, explore these three
scenarios encountered working on projects
encompassing instructional design, change
management and communication. Each
example sets up a scenario that may be familiar
to learning leaders, but if not, you will be able
to connect and relate your learning programs
to the experiences and tips to enable your
organization to provide learning solutions that
are learner-centric in both content and context.

Break Monotonous Lecture
with a Game
Imagine you are a new instructional designer,
and your first project is to audit a four-week
training program and suggest improvements.
The learners are new employees who will
process health claims and answer customer
calls. A few challenges surface, but you can
suggest a solution to improve just one lesson in
the course for now.

Problem: Lack of empathy for the audience
One area lacking in the training program is an
understanding of the audience. This training
program - including four weeks of classroom
instruction with little follow-up training - places
too much stress on the learner. They are also
navigating a stressful role that requires workers to
focus on processing claims while simultaneously
responding to customer calls and complaints.
They will have a quota of both claims and calls
to fulfill each day once they are on the job, and
that quota increases the longer they remain with
the company. So, they not only have to enter
information into systems correctly, they have to
do it while unhappy customers yell at them and
keep up with a required pace each day.
The program primarily consists of lecture and
slide decks with a large emphasis on quiz
scores, contributing to a lack of engagement
and ample stress.

Support change: Encourage rather
than blame
There is often a resistance to change among
trainers and managers when it comes to
longstanding programs. The best way to
encourage change is to work to understand the

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Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2020

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