If you’re asking yourself, “What is remote training?” or “How can I make it work for our team?” we’ve got the answers you’re looking for. Remote training uses online training tools like webinars, online training courses, virtual training programmes, and more to deliver onboarding and ongoing training to employees. This means that teammates and trainers no longer need to live in the same city, travel to one central location or even work in the same office to receive consistent and effective training.
Advantages of remote working and training
Over the years, we’ve seen a rise in remote training for both small and large teams. Remote training software makes it easy for companies to create, store, deliver and manage content for employee training. Here are just a few other reasons to explore remote training solutions for your training programme.
Virtual training programmes are flexible
Gone are the days of juggling schedules and pulling people away from their day-to-day responsibilities to attend training sessions. Remote training promotes efficient learning that everyone can do away from the office. Managers and trainers can assign training lessons to their teammates so they can complete them in their own time and in the margins of their day-to-day work. This flexibility makes it simple to engage learners and prioritise learning, despite everyone’s varying schedules.
Learning is self-paced
Everyone learns differently. Remote training solutions give learners the option to consume training at a pace that’s right for them. By giving teammates control over the amount of training they consume and when they consume it, they’re more likely to learn and retain new information and do Better Work. Self-paced learning also creates a stress-free learning experience.
Knowledge recall and retention increases
Retaining information is one of the biggest challenges of training. In fact, most people forget what they learn in training within a week. Remote training solutions give you the chance to include engaging videos, photos, GIFs, and more to capture your learners’ attention. This increases the likelihood that employees will be able to retain and recall newly learned information.
Remote learning is available on-demand
Since technology is so prevalent in our daily lives, it only makes sense for teams to have access to training whenever and wherever they need it. Remote training tools for employees give teams the ability to access and find the knowledge they need in just a few clicks. This means they can access training from their home, coffee shop or the other side of the globe.
Testing is easy
Since your employees aren’t in the office, it’s very important to ensure that they fully understand online training lessons. Virtual training tools give team leaders and trainers the opportunity to include knowledge checks like quizzes and tests to gauge how well their team understands the topic and is able to apply that knowledge in the workplace.
Safety and well-being can be prioritised
Remote work is also a great way to prioritise the health and well-being of your employees. In light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve seen a lot of teams decide to take a season as a remote workforce. Remote training ensures that your team is still able to stay aligned and complete training, even if they aren’t in the office.
Best practices for training remote employees
Creating a remote training programme doesn’t have to be complicated. We’ve got 6 steps that anyone can take to get started.
- Assess your training efforts: Creating the best remote training programme starts with an honest evaluation of your team’s current efforts. Talk to your teammates and review your training data to make educated decisions about your training programme. This will help you decide what training you need to deliver to achieve remote training success.
- Create a plan: Next, identify the objectives, outcomes and goals that your online training should tackle. Are there certain topics that need to be delivered in a certain way? Who should be responsible for creating and updating training content? How will you implement training for your remote workforce? These are all important things to consider for remote training success.
- Build: One mistake that we see too often with remote training is that it’s too long and hard to complete. The goal of great online training is to create content that is clear in meaning and free from fluff. Build your training to be direct and helpful. We’re big fans of microlearning. This method is all about administering training in bite-sized chunks that focus on small, concise topics.
- Deliver quickly: Instead of creating high-fidelity training that takes weeks or even months to build, it’s better to create and deliver training quickly. Your remote workforce deserves to get their hands on quality training sooner rather than later. Once you deliver the first wave of training, you can take time to revisit and update content as needed.
- Incorporate practice: Training never truly ends. When remote training is paired with intentional practice, thoughtful coaching and 1:1 discussion, it’s a recipe for long-term success. Give your team the chance to put newly learned knowledge to use through practice sessions in a safe environment. Then, you can review their performance and deliver actionable next steps they can take to improve.
- Review progress and engagement: Training is only beneficial if your employees actually complete it. Be sure to set aside time to review completion rates, quiz scores and engagement levels. This will help you identify knowledge gaps and make a plan for the next wave of training.
Train 62% faster with Lessonly.
Online training tools to consider
When it comes to looking for the best training tools, there are a tonne of options out there. Here are just a few of our favourite training tools for employees that can help you maximise your efforts.
Zoom: Zoom is a great way to get your entire team together on video, no matter where they are. Whether you just want to catch up with one another or have a coaching session on something you recently learned, Zoom is a great way to connect with your remote workforce.
Slack: Slack brings your team together, wherever you are. Remote teams can stay productive and communicate in channels that are organised based on projects, topics or teams. This is a great way to continue the training conversation between teammates.
Lessonly by Seismic: We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Lessonly by Seismic as a great tool for every remote workforce. Our simple interface makes it easy to create training content, learn from anywhere and measure performance.
Features to look for in remote training software
Whether you’re looking to work with a virtual training company or create a remote training programme internally, there are a number of features that make for a great experience. Here are a few features and functions that our customers find most valuable.
- User-friendly: Learning shouldn’t be difficult. With simplified usability, anyone can be a learner and anyone can be a teacher.
- Interactive: Feedback loops are a critical component of training. The best training tools give learners the chance to ask questions and share feedback with the rest of their team.
- Scalability: It shouldn’t take long to implement and scale your remote training programme to the rest of the team. Look for a solution that works for your current team size and future workforce.
- Robust reporting and insights: See who is doing what, when and how well. Make sure that any training solution you use gives you the ability to view training completion rates, see if learners revisit certain content and track who still needs to complete training.
- Simple to update: Making updates to your current training content should be just as easy as it is to create new content. We’ve found that teams love being able to create drafts of updated content that their team can review before they go live.
If you want to learn more about making the shift to remote training – we’re here to help. Learn more about Lessonly by Seismic here.
