Today, as large segments work remotely, corporations must evaluate how to deliver instructor-led compliance trainings. In this article, I share 6 strategies that you can use as you move your ILT-driven compliance trainings to the eLearning mode.

Why Switch to eLearning for Compliance Training?

COVID-19 has changed how we work – mostly from home or other remote locations away from centralized workplaces. This means that corporate trainings in general and mandatory trainings like compliance must be handled virtually on priority.

Unlike many new skill development trainings, which most participants look forward to attending, employees often shun mandatory compliance trainings – especially when they must assemble in person at a specific location (in a classroom or boardroom), at pre-determined dates and times, to consume instructor-delivered but often lackluster content. When the time comes to attend such courses, HR teams often feel they must force (and even threaten!) employees to participate in these corporate-mandated learning trainings. So, what’s the alternative?

One easy way to surmount both challenges is to convert your instructor-led compliance trainings to highly engaging, interactive, responsive, and on-demand eLearning compliance trainings.

What Are the Benefits of Converting Classroom-based Compliance Trainings to eLearning?

With the changed workplace dynamics, evaluating an online delivery of compliance training is a must-have.

Besides this, making the switch offers several other tangible benefits for both learners and the organization.

Benefits for the Learners

• Flexi scheduling: It offers accommodative training schedules (on-demand, anytime).
• Engagement: It is more “lively,” and interactive content motivates them to stay engaged.
• Better uptake: Self-paced learning, hands-on practical sessions, simulated exercises, and instantaneous feedback lead to better retention and knowledge transfer.
• Personalized learning: The ability to create personalized learning paths makes eLearning-based compliance training more fun, even when the topics are dull.
• Peer interactions: It provides better learning outcomes through social learning and group participation.

Benefits for the Organization

• Reach out to a spread-out workforce: In the shadow of the pandemic, a significant percentage of employees continue to work from home and eLearning based trainings are the only way to reach and train remote workforce.
• Cost: It reduces L&D costs related to travel, accommodation, hiring instructors, and physical infrastructure.
• Effectiveness: Better training administration and management, monitoring, and reporting makes for enhanced org-wide compliance enforcement.
• Broader coverage: Training is delivered across the organization to more employees than instructor-led training allows.
• Reduced seat times: Improved engagement, better motivation, and the use of other eLearning strategies (interactivity, simulations, VR) reduces overall compliance training seat times.
• Better ROI: A large segment of compliant workers reduces compliance lapses and costs associated with such infractions.

What Strategies Should You Consider as You Convert Instructor-Led Compliance Trainings to eLearning?

At EI Design, our compliance practice is over 18 years old – with one in six courses being designed for the compliance mandate.

Rather than focusing on just the compliance course delivery, we recommend the usage of a 3-tier strategy that leverages our learning and performance ecosystem based approach.

This holistic approach, comprising the following pillars, is a great way to build high-impact eLearning based compliance trainings from an instructor-led model:

1. Stakeholder awareness: To improve the connect with learners. Once they relate to the significance of the compliance training, they are motivated to take the training.
2. Engagement through interactivity and immersive strategies: To ensure that the learning experience is engaging, triggers change in thinking, and would facilitate the application of learning.
3. Continuous outreach and contact: To instill the spirit of “why comply” and trigger the desired behavioral change, a holistic approach must be adopted. Even after the successful completion of the compliance training, there should be ongoing, meaningful reach outs and connects with the learners.

Strategies to convert instructor-led compliance trainings to eLearning: Here are six strategies that you can use to facilitate the conversion of instructor-led compliance trainings to effective eLearning:

1. Build awareness: Make the workforce, trainers, and all stakeholders aware of the need for compliance. Highlight the approaching compliance mandates and training deadlines and what eLearning compliance training resources are available to meet the mandate.
2. Tell stories: Build your compliance training around a story or incident (real or hypothetical).
3. Build engagement: Don’t just port ILT notes and slides “as is.” Create an engaging learning experience by adding interactivity, gamification, guided exploration based activities, microlearning content, and videos into the mix.
4. Build an immersive environment: Convert case studies and use cases into immersive experiences using gamification and learning scenarios. Use strategies such as 3D presentations and Virtual Reality (VR) modeling to immerse learners into a compliant workplace.
5. Personalize it: Each employee learns differently. Offer personalized learning paths, personalized feedback, and opportunities for individual counseling and consultations.
6. Support it: Include adequate learning aids (Performance Support Tools – PSTs, PDFs, video repositories, supplemental content, checklists, self-assessments) and schedule ongoing connects as part of your eLearning compliance training This support must exist not only during active learning time but must continue upon completion of the course and beyond through frequent contacts and online community outreach.

What Common Mistakes Should You Avoid as You Convert Your Instructor-Led Compliance Trainings to eLearning?

When converting instructor-led compliance trainings into eLearning courses, avoid these six mistakes at all costs:

1. Do not simply port in-class content directly to your eLearning environment. Update them first and take time to modify them to meet the best practices for online training.
2. Resist the “training for all” mentality. Create content to cater to not only your organizational needs but also based on the needs, preferences, and goals of the individual learner.
3. Avoid the temptation to make training too text-heavy. Intersperse text with videos, infographics, animation, and audio content.
4. Don’t hardwire/hard code content. Make it dynamic so that training developers can quickly add/update/modify any future statutory, legislative, and regulatory changes to remain compliant.
5. Don’t go overboard with technology “solutions.” Compliance training isn’t a technology problem. Sometimes, a simple checklist might be the best alternate to 500 gigabits of interactive webpages of content.
6. Don’t ignore the power of social learning. Professionals learn better through other professionals. Tap into social media, group discussions, and online forums to supplement your core eLearning content.

The cost of non-compliance can be prohibitive. Not only does it result in financial penalties, but it can also cause irreparable brand and image damage.

I hope my article provides food for thought on the long-term options you could adopt for your compliance trainings. Embracing eLearning over instructor-led compliance trainings provides benefits on multiple fronts – at an employee level as well as organization-wide. Not only will L&D professionals deliver highly engaging eLearning experiences to employees, but the business can also benefit from better ROI on training investments through a better organization-wide compliance.