How to Jazz Up Mandatory Training
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Does your company or industry require you to conduct annual training for your sales staff and other personnel? Often times, these annual in-services can be boring and tiresome, which results in disgruntled employees and lack of retention of the information presented. It’s no secret that happy employees are productive employees, so this year, why not change your corporate culture to make mandatory training a more positive experience? Here are our best tips for doing just that.
Think Outside the Slide Show
With an LCD rental projector, you can take advantage of many facets of audiovisual aids – slides can be colorful and engaging, and you can break up the monotony with film snippets designed to emphasize a point or simply to make your attendees laugh. Consider a sort of self-deprecating humor that pokes fun at various working conditions – perhaps a scene from one or more of these movies and television shows:
“Swimming with Sharks” – the cutthroat world of advertising “The Office” – office politics and relationship dynamics “Office Space” – cubicle life “Employee of the Month” – slacker-turned-star at a Cosco type of establishment “Jerry Maguire” – outrageous sports agents “Ally McBeal” – lawyerly antics “Tommy Boy” – sales reps and rejection
You can use your imagination to find many more. The idea is to keep the conversation lively and interesting, which will hold your audience’s attention longer during drier material.
Reward Desired Behavior
If you want employees to retain information, then reward them for it. Let them know at the beginning that each person will be required to take a “quiz” at the end of the training and whomever scores the highest will get a prize. Make it a good prize – perhaps a $25 or $50 restaurant gift certificate or something similar.
If the training is mandatory and participation is more of an issue than retention, then reward enthusiasm. Give small prizes (mugs, pens, $5 gifts or smaller) to those who ask intelligent questions, offer suggestions, or otherwise participate in the conversation. People love to be rewarded and are more likely to participate when there is some kind of recognition or tangible reward involved.
Offer Different Formats
People learn in different ways, so it’s important to present the information verbally, visually, and in a tactile fashion. One easy solution would include a slide show projector rental combined with a handout that allows space for note taking. If you have physical products that are part of the training, allow participants to touch and hold the products in addition to using a video or slide show format with audio.