Developing training that has a lasting impact on your organization is no easy task. Choosing a method of training and simply running with it in the hope that it provides employees with everything they need to do a good job is a mistake that is often made. Without a clearly defined strategy that takes the needs of employees and the organization as a whole into consideration, it is unlikely that your training will ever reach its full potential and help you achieve your desired goals.
So what can be done to help you improve your compliance training? Here are five key steps to help you on your way:
1. Evaluate What You’re Already Doing
This should always be the first thing you do when making any change in your organization. Take a step back and evaluate the success of past and current training. If you’re already measuring the performance of training, then you should already have a good idea how it has impacted on your organization’s compliance and what potential changes need to be made. If you are not measuring the performance of compliance training, a good place to start is to get feedback from employees about the training they have already taken. How did they feel about the course, the content, and the overall learning experience? You could then begin to look back at the number of reported incidences of compliance-related issues such as sexual harassment or fraud that have affected your organization in the past. How do today’s figures compare with those before your initial compliance training programs were implemented? Has compliance training reduced this number and if so, is there data to that proves this? Metrics such as this will all help you to understand how well your existing compliance training has worked thus far.
2. Learn From the Successes & Failures of Others
We can always learn from stories of success and failure in our industry. In the case of compliance training improvement, finding out what other companies are doing right and adopting a similar approach is always a step in the right direction. Any information you can find that may help you to choose a suitable type of method or technology for training could be a big advantage in achieving compliance training improvement that works for your organizations. Similarly, it benefits you to be aware of the mistakes of others so you can avoid any pitfalls that could see your compliance training fail.
3. Personalize Your Training
Training has more of an impact when it speaks to the specific needs of the target audience. Personalizing training has many benefits such as:
- Less time wasting as employees only receive training that is relevant to them and their roles
- Increased employee satisfaction and morale as employees see their employer investing in their development
- Increased rate of customer satisfaction as employees are well trained in how to serve customers
There are several ways you can personalize training. For example, you could assess employee knowledge by developing an eLearning module before they begin formal face-to-face training. Doing this will allow you to test employee’s knowledge of compliance and ethics policies and determine how much of the training content they are already aware of and how quickly they may complete their training.
4. Be Consistent & Keep Training Up to Date
Being consistent in your training really pays. Employees can always benefit from training. But with compliance policies and regulations subject to so much change, regular compliance training is not only beneficial but also essential. Employees may not always like taking training but if you choose a method that makes it both engaging and enjoyable, then they may even look forward to it!
Compliance Training: The Importance of keeping it Up to Date.
5. Make it Enjoyable
Compliance is a serious topic. It affects every every aspect of business. Individual employees have a legal responsibility to obey the terms of compliance policies, it’s important that that they take it seriously. But just because it is serious, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! If you are developing a new compliance training program, there are many engaging training programs to choose from. Do some online research into new technologies and methodologies such as gamification and social or collaborative learning. Consider the specific learning needs of your employees, find out what has or hasn’t worked for other organizations (remember, learn from the mistakes of others!), and determine what training types work well together – if you’re unsure about using one type alone, use a blended training approach. This continues to prove very successful.
Has your organization implemented any changes to achieve compliance training improvement?
Are you considering what steps to take to develop a more effective compliance training strategy?
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