As an HR or Compliance professional, you are likely familiar with the traditional training cycle: Establish the scope, execute the training, and measure success. One, two, three. Simple, right? The question is, how do we ensure employees are getting the ongoing coaching they need to put training into action?
The Missing Phase of the Workforce Training Cycle
When it comes to training, there’s a glaring gap in the cycle. As organizations train their workforce, people move through the phases as fast as possible and tend to forget what they learn soon afterward. The teachings aren’t part of the daily routine and many trainees don’t apply the knowledge to real-life situations. The training slowly fades into the background, never to be thought of again — until the next training session, which could be months or years away.
Teaching shouldn’t be siloed into an afternoon; it should be an ongoing, evolving process. A lot depends on an organization’s ability to train its employees. Without proper training, it’s more likely that employees will exhibit misconduct and put the organization and themselves at risk.
To fill the void, organizations need to reinforce training. The reinforcement reduces the inevitable information degradation of knowledge after a session is complete.
New Skills Often Require a “Nudge”
A Harvard Business School study found that the best way to protect firms against excessive risk-taking and financial misconduct from employees is to introduce small changes, or “nudges,” to eliminate misconduct at the source.
These nudges are an excellent form of reinforcement and give the employee time to stop and reflect on how to move forward. Those few moments when an employee pauses and contemplates are critical.
How Can Your Organization Craft Its Own “Nudges?”
It’s hard to make a case for the resources necessary to train beyond the normal quarterly or annual schedules, let alone constant, ongoing learning. Thankfully we live in an age where technology can help.
Having a tool that provides an ongoing reinforcement of traditional training keeps employees in the know and engaged in ethical, inclusive, and compliant behaviors without overtaxing HR and Compliance teams. Plus, the right technology empowers organizations to instigate the “nudge” that reminds employees to stop and think before taking action.
Fairwords is an excellent example of a solution that fills the training gap. The AI-powered software gives users in-the-moment feedback during digital communication. Users are “nudged” and informed of potentially harmful language as they type. A pop-up notification provides information about why that language is harmful and presents real-world examples. The user can then make educated decisions on how to move forward.
Fairwords fits into the traditional training cycle in an ongoing fashion between delivering training and evaluating success. Think of it as step 2.5 in the cycle.
How Can Organizations Gauge Training Success?
The second part of phase 2.5 in the cycle is gathering analytics. Without a clear view of a program’s success, organizations could waste precious time and money on ineffective training.
When evaluating success or measuring the efficacy of training traditional programs, leaders often rely on data sources like surveys, training completion metrics, and hotline feedback/reports. These metrics are typically collected quarterly or annually and provide a snapshot in time with infrequent updates. Leaders are left with huge blind spots and insufficient information about when risks are on the rise.
With Fairwords, leaders can rely on frequent, ongoing data that doesn’t rely on taking additional time from the employees. Anonymous dashboard analytics show communications trends over time. Leaders can clearly see which areas carry the most risk to inform the focus of future trainings and aren’t left in the dark about their training programs’ effectiveness.
Implement Your Own Phase 2.5 with Fairwords
For training to make a sizable impact, people need to have the opportunity to stop and think in the context of their work, and organizations are often lacking ways to do this. AI technology, like Fairwords, provides an intelligent and realistic solution.
Fairwords provides the necessary “nudge” to create the pause in human behavior to enhance the learned skill. At the same time, leaders are given a view into the training program’s success, warned of areas that need more attention, and insights into communication trends.
Fairwords is the missing phase in the traditional training cycle. See for yourself. Schedule a demo today.
