The Trouble with Training

If you search the internet for “lack of training” you will see thousands of disaffected employees talking about one of the core reasons they hate, and even have left their current job.  According to the American Society for Training & Development, “41% of employees at companies with inadequate training programs plan to leave within a year versus 12% of employees at companies who provide excellent training and professional development”.  That’s some troubling data.

The average cost to replace an employee starts at around 50% of annual salary and can be as much as 200% in some industries according to about.com’s Darrell Zahorsky.  So with that said, why aren’t bells and whistles being sounded in every small to medium sized business (SMB) CEO’s office about the training challenge? The truth is - historically there haven’t been a lot of options for the SMBs navigating the challenging and treacherous waters of business success for organized training programs.

 The Fortune 500, with their deep pockets has long invested in training, knowing the value of the investment.  According to Michael Porter “industries that spend the most on employee development and training are typically the most competitive in every developed country in the world”.  But let’s face it, SMBs don’t have a ton of excess cash on hand even when they are in expansion mode and the market has been oddly void of low cost training solutions that harness the power of today’s technology.

SMBs make do with “peer to peer” training, annual training seminars, training reimbursement programs, and antiquated paper based training systems. Many have no formal training programs at all.  Some survive; many more would survive and even flourish if they could overcome the high costs of employee turnover with a low cost and effective training program.

With the advancement of technology one would think that affordable online training platforms would have hit the SMB market addressing this need, but the Training and Development marketplace is still chasing Fortune 500 dollars. In their desire to protect market share amongst the cash cows with deep pockets, the industry has created intricate barriers to block entry for competition, and unwittingly locked out millions of potential clients through utilizing an overly complex and outdated content compliance standard (SCORM), which facilitates high instructional design fees, and expensive complex software packages. Frankly, the current Training and Development marketplace doesn’t think there is enough money in the SMB market to service it, so it keeps things complex to protect the business elite.

The SMB market deserves better. The corporate Training and Development market needs to evolve at a faster pace, reduce costs, and become more inclusive. This can only be done through breaking down the industry barriers that created a market of complexity and confusion, and start to service the market place with simplicity and clarity. In reality, most SMB’s can create effective, low cost, easy to use training solutions if they were given a platform in which to do so. Training your people does not need to be rocket science.  So for those of us at LearningZen.com we say give the people (SMBs) the tools to control their own content, people, and processes, and let the training revolution begin!

Back From ASAE 2011

The sales team at LearningZen.com has returned from the ASAE show in St. Louis. MO! A multitude of associations visited our booth and learned how LearningZen.com can offer them an easy to use, low cost online training platform. If you missed us here or want to learn more about the revolutionary online training platform click here to see a 3 minute online product demo.

We wanted to recognize a few people who helped us out this weekend. Mr. Larry Thompson of the Missouri Athletic Club was as gracious a host as you could ever hope for. The fine folks at Pappy’s BBQ made sure the team stayed satiated with plenty of delicious food and some of the best ribs we've ever tasted! We also wanted to recognize the entire staff at ASAE for putting on one of the best run conferences we’ve ever been to!

If you stopped by our booth at the ASAE Show and left us a business card, stayed tuned about our random drawing for an iPad 2.

How to Create Effective eLearning Content

In my time at LearningZen.com I have created a variety of courses from The Swine Flu (H1N1) to Customer Service in the Restaurant Industry. Along the way I’ve learned about what works, and what doesn’t when building courses. Here are a few of the most important things I’ve learned about creating content for online training:

1.) Use a variety of media options. Using an online training system allows you to make your course content come alive. Make video tutorials and post them via YouTube, import an interactive PowerPoint presentation. Spice up the text you do have with images, diagrams, and charts to help explain things. Use flash animations, or import a voice recording in case someone would prefer to listen than read.

2.) Utilize the option of pre-tests and post-tests. By testing how an individual responded initially and comparing it to the information gained through the course you can prove that the knowledge transfer took place – and isn’t that the ultimate goal?

3.) While the content may seem like the most important aspect of a course, the same attention should be paid introducing the course to a learner and in the review. The introduction and course description should let the learner know what to expect from the course while the review should appropriately summarize what they should take away from it. People aren’t going to remember every little detail from the content so it’s essential to highlight the key points.

4.) Think about your language. I tend to write very conversationally. While you should be able to present your information professionally, think about your audience – Would you be engaged in the course if you were the learner? Would you understand the information that is being presented?

5.) Use a platform that is user friendly. It should be easy for everyone to navigate and intuitive to use.

These are just several of the things that I keep in mind when creating an online course. LearningZen.com has been an ideal platform in regards to creating effective eLearning. It's easy to both create and take courses, and offers virtually every media enhancement possible. You can either create new content, or import your existing content. Also, not only does it gives the ability to utilize pre-test and post-tests but gives student metrics and reports.

2011 ASAE Show

Greetings Everyone, I hope that the summer has been treating you well, wherever you may be! While the LearningZen.com has been making plenty of time for play, we've also been incredibly busy at work; adding enhancements such the manager role in the portals and more detailed student reports. With the help of many of our clients, our backlog is continuously growing and we are grateful for the members who share their ideas and help our platform become to grow and become even better.

We are currently gearing up to attend the Center for Association Leadership's 2011 Annual Meeting and Exhibition in St. Louis, Missouri. The ASAE is comprised of over 22,000 association executives and industry partners. The ASAE helps these professionals by providing resources, education, ideas and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community.

LearningZen.com ow-cost, easy to use, invaluable online training solution. By utilizing the cloud you can increase membership, and better educate your communities. To learn more, check out our demo!

Why Your Restaurant Needs eLearning

Greetings LearningZen! It’s been a while since the last update – as the sun is shining on Salt Lake City we have been working hard on various projects; including attending the National Restaurant Association Show which occurred at the end of May. Sadly I did not attend this year, and our Senior Sales Manger Scott Thompson attended in my place. I definitely missed the copious amounts of free samples made available at this convention!

Honestly, I enjoyed the show for reasons other than the endless gelato tasters. It was an excellent networking opportunity and as I’ve mentioned in regards to this show – we were the only vendor of our kind in attendance and that alone sparked a lot of interest. I found myself answering the same question over and over: Why eLearning? People at the show wanted to know why they should move their training online, and what the benefits were.

Everyone needs to train their employees – restaurants specifically have to train their employees on a variety of procedures, including customer service, food safety, and more. The truth is that the current forms of restaurant training are both ineffective and outdated. Many use training manuals or in person training. Training manuals are static and forgettable while in person training can be inconstant and overall just inadequate. Also, in this day and age the demographic of restaurant employees have grown up around computers and technology and are likely to respond well to this type of learning.

eLearning can combine the important content of traditional training manuals and information and the interactive aspect of live training. The LearningZen platform supports a media rich experience including the options to include video, flash, pictures, PDF’s, among other medias. Restaurants have used the video upload feature (in addition to the many other features and the traditional course content) to create tutorials from everything on proper hand washing techniques to food safety. Amsterdam Falafel, one of our clients, has uploaded over twenty courses that they use to train their franchises in how to correctly make their signature recipes. This is just one example of how the restaurant industry is utilizing our system and helps the company deliver standardized, consistent, and brand conforming materials to their franchises.

In the restaurant industry, it can be challenging to maintain a consistent staff. Efficient training increases employee retention by better equipping individuals to function in the workplace, making them both more productive and happier. There is certainly a correlation between the two – and an employee who feels comfortable and prepared in their environment is more apt to stay in their position. eLearning also allows learners to acquire the material on their own time. Many individuals in the industry may be students, have families, or work another job. Having the training online allows it to be assessed 24/7, and from any location. It also permits a learner to revisit the material as needed. On the other end, a course author can make edits and add or take content from a course – the content is not static! Doing your training online also protects you from possible liability. Proof of training is tracked in the system, including competition and statistics indicating their score on exams.

These are just a few examples of why moving your content online can better your workforce- to find out more view our 2 minute demo, or contact me at: Tanya@learningzen.com.

-Tanya, New Media Coordinator at LearningZen.com