The true power of engagement
When many people hear the words “compliance training,” they tend to concentrate. They’ll probably immediately imagine a dry check-box exercise with too many slides, monotonous, emotionless narration, and perhaps an unskippable quiz or two. But ethics and compliance (E&C) training shouldn’t be boring. It can and should be energizing, relevant and actually useful to employees at all levels of the organization.
This is not about forcing lessons on employees that are inflexible and don’t reflect the different roles people play in the workplace. The idea that a newly hired financial analyst and a tenured human resources director can copy and paste the same training module is probably no different than trying to teach everyone to dance by having them watch the same one routine on YouTube. It’s a little similar to. You might get the beat eventually, but only if you manage to figure out the entire choreography.
Why standard e-learning doesn’t work
A shift to online training has occurred. Remote work has exploded in recent years, and many companies have rushed into digital training as if it were the last frontier in E&C education. But if you just upload old slides to a sophisticated digital platform and call it a day, it’s probably akin to taking a recipe for fruit cake and expecting it to turn into a soufflé just by changing the oven. . The format alone doesn’t determine the experience.
Standard online modules often focus on cramming regulatory jargon into learners’ heads. There are a lot of repetitive sentences. However, it is not tied to the actual activities of employees. If people can’t understand how it applies to their role, the message disappears.
Experiential learning useful for E&C training
Let’s take the concept of experiential learning, a method proposed by David A. Kolb. A brief summary of Kolb’s famous cycle is as follows:
specific experience
Start by getting people to do something in a context that feels authentic. When it comes to compliance, it can mean scenario-based issues that require ethical decision-making. reflection observation
Next, think long and hard about what happened. Why was that scenario so simple or so complex? Where did their assumptions contradict reality? Abstract conceptualization
Learners then connect the dots between the scenario and the big picture. They begin to connect the event with organizational policies and universal ethical principles. active experimentation
Finally, they take this newfound knowledge and apply it to the next scenario or even the real world. Repeated rinsing will further solidify the knowledge.
Incorporating these empirically-based principles into your eLearning setup will help you avoid the trap of turning your training into a glorified compliance dictionary. Instead, focus on testing ideas, reflecting on results, and gradually building a mental toolbox that employees can immerse themselves in when faced with the real world.
Give it relevance and freshness
The word “reliability” may be confusing, but in E&C training, it’s what it’s all about. For example, a scenario in which an overworked HR manager is battling a faulty system may make no sense to a new product manager familiar with software coding. Tailoring the scenario to the role is half the battle in securing buy-in.
Another thing to do is avoid the dreaded reruns. How many times have you clicked through the first harassment training slide you saw as a new employee? You may need a refresher, especially in areas like anti-bribery and data protection, but you can’t be creative. Masu. You can change the storyline, increase the difficulty level, and add new cameo characters. When employees see the same story from three years ago, they become mentally confused.
The power of short bursts and microlearning
We all live in an age of readily available content. People get their news in 280-character tweets or watch 15-second videos, and they call it “infotainment.” So consider following that lead. Rather than forcing employees to study in depth for two hours straight, break down lessons into micro-sessions, such as quick two-minute videos or five-minute blind spot quizzes. It sticks in your mind when it bombards you with relevant knowledge and prompts immediate reflection.
Beyond memorization: The lasting value of E&C training
After all, experiential e-learning can be the difference between educating employees about regulations and empowering them to adopt behaviors that align with those standards. In a scenario-based quiz, if you find yourself at risk of corruption in a vendor’s bid, you are simply told to “pay close attention to your actions and the possible consequences associated with them.” Not just that. A moment to watch the effects play out in a simulated environment, weigh the moral and professional implications, and confirm that hunch the next time a questionable gift or favor crosses your desk. Please remember.
When using experiential learning in E&C training, it is similar to practicing an instrument rather than reading about how to play it. The more you practice (safely and in simulated scenarios), reflect, and learn from potential mistakes, the better you’ll perform at a real concert. By combining authenticity, role relevance, and short, engaging content, you can transform compliance training from a one-time effort into a multi-step training that your employees can enjoy.
