2. Interactive Training
Interactive training is a workplace training method which encourages active participation throughout the course duration. This could be through quizzes and activities, group discussions, or mini-class presentations. The aim behind interactive training is to help your employees demonstrate their learning and interpret their new knowledge independently. This can help them make decisions, explore multiple learning paths, correct any mistakes they make, and ultimately turn knowledge into actions.
Benefits of Interactive Training
- Keeps employees engaged throughout the training program.
- Instructors can provide immediate and personalised feedback on a learner’s performance.
- Encourages self-assessment through reflection on performance and identifying areas needing improvement.
3. Microlearning
Microlearning involves breaking courses up into short lessons which can be adapted into your employees’ routines. It focuses on delivering small pieces of information on a regular basis to allow for repetition of learning. This helps your employees turn training into a daily habit, boosts knowledge retention and helps them overcome the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve.
Some microlearning examples include flashcards, mini videos, audio snippets and short challenges. Since microlearning lessons take less than 20 minutes, and are usually interactive in nature, it’s easy for them to be incorporated into even the busiest employee’s schedule.
Benefits of Microlearning
- Boosts knowledge retention by delivering information in manageable chunks that are repeated often and reinforced over time.
- Fits seamlessly into any employee’s schedule, making it easy to incorporate training into daily routines.
- Keeps employees engaged in training helping to maintain their interest and serving as motivation to maintain the learning process.
- Read about more microlearning benefits.
4. Gamification
Gamification takes interactive training methods one step further, turning learning into a fun and competitive experience. It involves delivering training through game-like elements, often online, to make the training engaging and enjoyable. It incorporates elements like streaks, leaderboards, points, digital badges, challenges, levels of progression and rewards or incentives. These create an interactive environment that motivates employees to continuously engage with training material and fosters friendly competition among colleagues.
Benefits of Gamification
- Turns learning into an enjoyable experience, encouraging employees to regularly and actively participate in training.
- Motivates employees to grow and develop their knowledge and skill sets in a fun way.
- Repetitive games reinforce learning and improve long-term knowledge retention.
5. Video Training
75% of employees prefer video-based learning over reading text information, according to a report by Forrester Research. This makes it essential to include video elements in your training materials.
However, it’s also important to consider the types of video content you create. Research from Kaltura shows that 67% of employees skim through videos, watch them without sound, or listen to them while engaged in other activities. Companies should include different types of video content in their training, like prerecorded training by instructors, animated videos and captioned videos to engage learners.
Whether human or animation, training videos should be concise, easy to follow and short (3–6 minutes long). If your entire subject can fit into a single video, break the video into meaningful bits also known as “chunking”.
Benefits of Video Training
- Video training is cost-effective. By adopting video for workplace learning and development, Microsoft could slash its classroom training cost per employee by about 95% (from $320 to $17).
- Videos engage employees better compared to texts and other traditional methods of training and development.
- Online videos are easily accessible for a variety of employees including deskless, onsite, remote and hybrid workers.
6. Instructor-Led Training
Instructor-led training has its roots in traditional classroom learning, but these days, it is also used for online and hybrid workplace training. Instructor-led training happens in different ways in an organisation, including:
- One-to-One: One learner to one instructor
- Small-Group: A small group of learners with one instructor in a classroom setting
- Lectures: A large group of learners with one or multiple instructors
- Workshops: Hands-on, interactive training
- Webinars and masterclasses: Online through video conferencing (with one or more facilitators)
Benefits of Instructor-Led Training
- Allows for feedback and Q&A in real-time and helps learners resolve any issues they face quickly.
- Quickly discover and assist employees who are struggling with some aspects of the training.
7. Simulation Training
Simulation training creates real-life scenarios where employees can use the skills they’ve learned to solve practical problems. For example, the investment platform, Rapunzi, uses training simulation techniques to teach entry-level analysts how the stock market works.
Simulation training can be physical or driven by digital technology. An example of physical simulation training is a fire drill. Employees might not even know there’s a drill — they’ll hear the fire alarm and use their knowledge to respond, just as they would in an actual situation. Flight simulators for pilots, which create realistic learning environments, are examples of digital technology being used for training.
Benefits of Simulation Training
- Provides contextual knowledge, which improves knowledge retention. Employees experience how their learning applies to the real world, albeit in a safe and controlled environment.
- Allows instructors to provide immediate feedback to learners. Quick feedback drives sustained learning and boosts knowledge retention.
8. Role-Playing
Role-playing is a practical mode of training where employees act out real-life scenarios during training to demonstrate how they would approach situations. For example, you may organise a training program for your support team on how to deal with demanding customers. You could split the training participants into two groups — one acting as customers, the other as support — and give them a hypothetical situation. This would give employees first-hand experience in dealing with difficult scenarios, and help them develop power skills like communication and empathy.
Benefits of Role-Playing
- Teaches employees how to apply knowledge to solving real-life problems.
- Improves engagement and helps employees develop deeper practical understanding of training subjects.
- Helps employees develop workplace skills like critical thinking, communication and emotional intelligence.
9. Social Learning
Social learning is an employee training method that encourages colleagues to share their knowledge and skills. This is often done through discussion forums or online communities where employees are able to share their experiences, ask questions, and learn practical tips from peers in their field. Another common method of training in social learning is ‘whisper guidance’, where employees learn by observing colleagues’ behaviours and receiving real-time feedback, either in person or within a virtual environment.
Benefits of Social Learning
- Encourages teamwork and the exchange of diverse perspectives.
- Provides employees with immediate, applicable knowledge that can be used in their daily roles.
- Can be implemented in person and online to suit different work environments.
10. Collaborative Learning
Collaborative learning is another engaging employee training method where teams work together on tasks or projects, fostering teamwork and improving critical thinking. Often used alongside simulations and role-playing, collaborative learning not only boosts individual skills, and also enhances the way groups of employees work together in real-world scenarios. This method encourages shared responsibility and collective problem-solving, leading to better outcomes both in training and on the job.
Benefits of Collaborative Learning
- Strengthens teamwork by fostering a sense of shared responsibility and improving group dynamics.
- Develops strong critical thinking skills, which are essential for tackling complex challenges in real-world situations.
- Allows employees to apply what they learn directly to their work, ultimately improving team performance.
11. On-the-Job Training
On-the-job training (OJT) involves teaching employees necessary skills directly within their work environment, as and when they need them. While most employee training and development methods happen outside of normal roles and responsibilities, on-the-job training examples are integrated into tasks and duties, making training immediately applicable and relevant.
To maximise effectiveness, it’s essential to ensure that training resources are easily accessible on any device, both online and offline. This accessibility allows employees to quickly access courses and materials, apply their learnings immediately, and improve their productivity and efficiency in real time.
Benefits of On-the-Job Training
- Employees apply what they learn directly to their work, allowing them to perform more effectively and efficiently from the outset.
- Training is highly relevant and specific to employee roles and responsibilities.
- Often requires fewer resources than dedicated training programs, making it a cost effective employee training method.
- Discover more advantages (and disadvantages) of on-the-job training.
12. Job Shadowing
Job shadowing is a work-based learning approach that allows employees to learn by observing. Often used in onboarding, companies can pair a less-experienced employee with a more-experienced team member, and have them learn about different tasks related to the role. This helps new and less-experienced employees develop a deep understanding of the skills, expectations and responsibilities of the role they’re going to fulfil. Job shadowing can also be applied across departments, allowing employees to gain a better understanding of how different roles intersect, and the impact that their position has on the company as a whole.
