Due to COVID-19, many aspects of business have transitioned to being completely online. These aspects include meetings, conferences, and even training or onboarding for new employees. Training is crucial for new employees to learn about a company’s processes, policies, mission, and culture, so below are some tips for conducting effective virtual training sessions.

Expectations

Before any training takes place, companies need to come up with clear expectations about what they want their employees to receive from the training. This can include best practices, product training, tools training, company procedures, access to resources, or identifying managers within the company. Once these expectations are outlined, trainers should create a curriculum in which new employees are taught and tested on these concepts.

These expectations should also include decorum for new employees, such as keeping their camera on, how they should dress, and if virtual backgrounds are allowed or encouraged. Sending out expectations in advance of the training can create a sense of professionalism and prevent the training from feeling informal, especially since it will likely be conducted at the participants’ home.

Scheduling

Once trainers have come up with a curriculum and activities, they must decide on a timeframe for the training. Most in-person training takes place for 8 hours a day for 2 to 5 days, yet this model likely will not be as effective for virtual training.

In an online setting, individuals can often suffer from screen fatigue that arises from sitting in one place all day staring at a computer screen. Trainers should take this into consideration and spread out the training – perhaps splitting an 8-hour session into two 4-hour sessions that take place on separate days. New employees can have a 4-hour training session in the morning and spend the rest of their day completing assignments or having discussions in breakout groups.

Other effective schedules include having a 5-hour or 6-hour workday with a 30-minute lunch each day and a 10-minute break every hour. While this might seem like a lot of breaks, individuals are likely to have a more-focused period of training if they know they have a break coming up within the hour. Additionally, designating a “Zoom DJ” to play music during the breaks can break up the monotony of trainers speaking and clearly bookend each session.

Creative Curriculum

Businesses conduct training sessions for employees to teach them skills or techniques they will need while working at the company, and it’s important that these sessions include as many opportunities for active learning as possible to make sure that the employees are retaining these skills.

There are many ways to create customized assignments and learning assessments for the training. Participants can fill out forms or polls, or they can be sent to breakout rooms to work with other participants to complete an assignment.

Trainers can also utilize gamification, the process of using game-like elements such as scoring and rewards, in the training process to make participants more motivated and engaged. Trainers can score participants based on the amount of times they’ve contributed or have answered correctly and provide a reward for the highest scorer. Participants can also work together in teams and compete against other teams. This can instill a sense of camaraderie between participants and allow them to bond and get to know one another.

When presenting content, trainers should strive to provide a mix of media for the participants to view. Viewing slide after slide will quickly become dull; likewise providing no visual stimuli and just talking at the camera will produce similar results. In addition to providing different types of media, trainers should work to include everyone in the conversation. Roundtable discussions allow everyone the chance to speak, and breakout rooms allow for different combinations of people to speak about a topic. Trainers can also use collaborative whiteboards where individuals don’t have to verbally contribute.

Employee Bonding

Participants of in-person training can network and bond during breaks and after the sessions at bars and restaurants. While virtual participants do not have the same opportunities, or it might seem forced and contrived to start conversation over a video platform, there are ways to create a sense of community during virtual training sessions.

Product Coalition lists the following unique icebreakers that force participants to be creative. While trainers might not include an icebreaker in every session, completing even just one a day can bring co-workers closer together.

  • Emoji Check-In: Participants type an emoji that describes how they’re feeling instead of a typical roll call.
  • Sketching or Drawing: Participants draw something based on a prompt, and they upload their drawing to the meeting chat.
  • Share an Embarrassing Photo: Participants can get a good laugh out of the photos and get to know each other on a personal level.
  • Anywhere in the World: Ask everyone where they want to be in the world right now or their dream travel destination. Have the host screen-scare to Google Maps and place markers based on responses.
  • Tour Guide: Have participants pick up their device and give a short tour of their home.
  • Online Personality Tests: Send participants a link to an online personality test and have everyone share their responses.

Bhr Consulting

Training for new employees sets an important foundation for their time at a company, so it’s important that this training is effective and engaging. Bhr Consulting has extensive experience with employee onboarding and training and can help trainers come up with curricula and resources. Reach out to us today to see how we can assist your company!