So how much of an organisation’s training budget is spent on the development of eLearning? Recent IBIS research shows that $26 billion is spent globally on eLearning or 13% of all training expenditure. Why are so many organisations continuing to invest in eLearning modules if it is not the most effective way to train their people? The same CIPD study also found that only 31% of organisations reported that most employees completed an eLearning course. Immediately the true cost of that “cost-effective” eLearning module exploded. How can the ROI be justified to any CEO or CFO?

Before I continue, I want to articulate my definition of eLearning. Over the years, I have found this word to mean many things to different people. My definition is:

“eLearning is electronic learning, in which the learner uses a computer to learn a task, skill, or process.

eLearning is asynchronous – this means the training occurs remotely, where learners partake in a course according to their own time frame or schedule as it fits into their work commitments. An example of this method would be self-study, self-paced classes, conducted and studied online or with the use of a computer-based training CD or DVD.”

eLearning has been available for about 20 years. During this time organisations found eLearning offered several benefits including reduced overall cost in comparison to face-to-face training, proof of learner completion/certification and consistent delivery. Organisations immediately saw eLearning as a great way to meet their corporate compliance obligations.

However the last measure of success of an eLearning module must be in the uptake or the engagement of the module by the workforce and more importantly its effectiveness at improving performance. With only 31% of organisations reporting that employees completed an eLearning course, the numbers tell us engagement with this type of training is low.

In terms of effectiveness, let’s look further at the numbers. Traditionally eLearning has ranked highly for compliance training. As an example, companies saw a quick eLearning module as the silver bullet to reduce workplace issues related to bullying and harassment. With the passing of time and with so many employees completing their mandatory eLearning module, we would then expect the claims related to bullying and harassment to decline, correct? Interestingly around the globe, claims have sky rocketed! In Australia, claims of bullying and harassment have blown out dramatically. In the UK, bullying in the public sector has increased, with 6 out of 10 public sector workers being bullied. Do you hear more warning bells ringing??

As educators, we know people learn in different ways. We know that active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it – discussing or applying it or explaining it to others. Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first.

If face-to-face training is expensive and time-consuming and eLearning is not showing to be effective at the behavioural level, there has to be a better way. It is now time to see how improvements in technology and Web 2.0 can be capitalised upon.

Enter the New World of Virtual Training

Improvements in technology and the Internet have opened up new ways for organisations to reap huge benefits.

We can all now access the new world of online, synchronous* training where specially designed training programs are delivered over the web by a live trainer. This new method is called Virtual Training.

Bersin by Deloitte defines the virtual classroom as “a tool for delivering live online learning. It is often called “synchronous learning.” The interface mimics the face-to-face classroom in many ways with a roster, hand-raising icon and an instructor leading the group. The primary difference between the face-to-face classroom training and virtual classroom training is that the latter is used to deliver content live, over the Internet to people who are geographically dispersed.”

Imagine your teams, partners or channel simply logging into a training session from the comfort of their home or office. They can meet online with others in a group, are asked questions, broken up into virtual rooms to prepare presentations or case studies, answer quizzes and watch videos all whilst being guided by a live trainer.

Virtual training sessions are designed by experts in virtual instructional design so everybody’s learning style can be catered for. Instantly feedback can be captured and an assessment can be made on the efficacy of the session. Immediately your ROI has improved.

Responding to a Culture of Speed

Senior leadership teams are now constantly focusing on the need for speed in new market entry, time-to-market, cycle-time reduction, and competitive advantage.

With virtual training you can deliver effective training live without spending a dollar on travel, venue hire, printing or catering.

The possibilities are endless. Here are a few:

• Drive product adoption by offering your customers easy access to web-based training
• Educate your channel partners and field reps regularly, so they always have current information
• Train global employees to advance their skills, or push revenue-generating initiatives to market faster

Imagine the revenue opportunities that you could capitalise on by embracing virtual training. Improve the skills of your people with live, online training delivered without the high costs associated with face-to-face training.

Get ready to smash your competition. Start now!

* Synchronous training comprises the traditional method of a number of learners grouped together, learning the content material at the same time, or in synch with each other.

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Since then we have been experiencing amazing quality cooking like I have never had before. BUT (and there is always a but), I didn’t understand this German technology at all. There it sits on the kitchen bench all shiny and proud, but to me scary as hell. Like a loyal blue heeler cattle dog, who loves its owner but bites any stranger who approaches it.

Just after it’s arrival my wife, a born and bred teacher, attempted to show me how to make scrambled eggs. There were more keystrokes to remember than attempting to join two photos together using Adobe Photoshop! In the end I promptly made a mental note – “avoid the blue heeler”.

The other day I set a new goal; start eating a healthier breakfast.  Was that me deciding that or my doctor? Hmmm. Anyhow I decided I wanted to cook some porridge. I have been cooking porridge since Adam was a boy, the old fashioned way: cup of porridge, cup of water, cup of milk, place in pot on top of stove, turn on heat.

Watching like a hawk as I entered the ‘training zone’ of the kitchen, my wife thought it was time to teach me how to make porridge using “The Beast”.

My wife was giving instructions like Captain Kirk sitting in the Bridge of the Enterprise under attack from the Klingons. I was madly fumbling about struggled to find the correct buttons on the dashboard. The end result: a hot creamy, exceptional tasting bowl of oats, a hundred times better than what I’ve ever made before. But could I repeat this performance without her?

I immediately took a photo of the directions she had written out for me and stored it in my Evernote App.

It’s weeks later and today was porridge day again. I, a mere mortal man without my Captain Kirk was about to tackle the Kitchen BMW; The Beast; the Photoshop of Cooking Utensils to make my porridge.

I turned The Beast on, which in itself is a challenge as the button is nowhere any “on” button has ever been before. I then found and pressed the scale button once to weigh the porridge, pressed it again to weigh the water, pressed it three times to weigh the milk and then put on the lid(s). Timer adjusted. Check. Temperature button pressed. Check. Speed button regulated. Check.

For a moment I had become the Captain Kirk of the Thermomix. Nine minutes later I had my masterpiece, Voila! Perfect porridge.

So now I reflect on this experience. Change is a pain.

I prefer the tried and true old ways. The old familiar ways are established, painless, yes they take longer but I am used to that. Like an old T-shirt, they are comfortable, familiar and smell good. Plus with change there is more time required. Learning takes time and brainpower. I am an impatient man, I want to learn fast but I can’t.

There is the unfamiliarity and frustration of the new way. Added with the exasperation that comes when the new way initially has challenges or doesn’t work as well because I don’t know it well enough yet. It’s not in my subconscious mind.

But when I do persist and breakthrough a miracle occurs. There is an exhilaration of success when the new way does work, and better still, it works easier, it works better and it will continue working because I have mastered a new and effective process.

Thank God for change – it brings reward!

How many times in our business life do we find the same thing?

• People resisting change because they are comfortable with the old process
• People rejecting performance improvement because its hard to learn, takes effort and energy
• People frustrated with the new software, PM methodology etc. because initially it is taking longer to work with

However the lesson learned from my Thermomix experience is that as humans if  we persist and breakthrough we often discover many more rewards for ourselves.  As leaders our job is to inspire and show our teams the vision of what they could be after they embrace change!! Hmmm, something to ponder over as I eat another bowl of porridge.

Author: Chris Gaborit – Director, The Learning Factor

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We have just launched Bare Brilliance – a division that delivers engaging, interactive wed-based training – all with a live trainer. See how you can smash your competition.

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The Learning Factor, Asia Pacific’s leader in executive training, today announced the launch of its new division, Bare Brilliance. They guarantee this will disrupt executive education by breaking the boundaries of classroom training.

Many companies don’t have the time to send people off-site for days of training; nor do they have the budget to pay for airfares, accommodation and expensive training rooms. Training today needs to be short, sharp and succinct. The average Bare Brilliance session is only 90 minutes long.

Bare Brilliance improves the performance of businesses by deploying a global, next generation training solution. It delivers 40 of the world’s leading training courses right into the office and home. There are no physical classrooms but instead virtual classrooms. Bare Brilliance combines chunks of training content that is delivered with a live facilitator over the web.

“We have incorporated global research on how people learn best into each of our Bare Brilliance programs,” says Vicki Kossoff, Director and Co-Founder of The Learning Factor.

“Before smartphones, people went online roughly five times a day, in long chunks, but today with smartphones it’s 27 times per day, in much shorter bursts. Armed with this research on how today’s professionals learn best, our instructional designers have developed 40 programs to  drive participation for busy, distracted 21st century learners.”

In a Bare Brilliance training session, participants have a live, online facilitator. They interact by joining in polling, exercises, whiteboard, live discussion and review of key points using annotation tools such as the pointer or highlighter. Participants can also type their questions in the chat or embedded Q&A panels and receive immediate feedback from the facilitator or subject matter expert.

Bare Brilliance offers:

• The ability to attend live programs from the comfort of your office or home
• Interactive sessions including videos, chat, and multimedia tools which makes the training fun and engaging
• Programs that are available as public virtual courses or private customised sessions for companies
• Affordability, flexibility and cost savings

Learn more at Bare Brilliance.

About The Learning Factor

The Learning Factor is Asia Pacific’s leader in training outsourcing. For more than 15 years they have been working with Fortune 500 and ASX 100 companies throughout the region. The Learning Factor have won 5 global awards for providing high quality outsourcing services, innovative service offering, ability to provide services on a global basis, and their unique and proven approach to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Solutions.

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I tried to avoid the subject as long as I could, hoping that the idea would just fade away, but no such luck. The date and time were set in our diaries. There was no escaping now. I was committed to attending a one-hour virtual training session with some guru virtual trainer.

In spite of doing all I could to have an off-site appointment that morning, fate would have no one want to meet me for coffee. Finally the time had come. I had to bite the bullet and attend.

Look, let’s face it – I had been a trainer since I was in nappies. I can train face to face under water, with my hands tied behind my back. I can tell jokes, make people laugh, make them cry, bring seriousness, use voice inflections, wave my size 13 hands around like a conductor to still the masses. So when you try to tell me, “This is the next big thing! Virtual training is going to take the world by storm!” Ha, not likely.

I was depressed with the thought of going online to listen to some dumb virtual trainer for an hour. What could they teach me anyhow? My brain was working overtime and I had a thought, “Well if I have to be online, I will act like I’m there but really be on my other screen and be checking emails etc., they will never know.” (I have since found out that they do know when I am doing this)

Feeling a little more optimistic about the next hour I finally logged on. (Was I supposed to have tested my computer before now??). The session started with a screen I had never seen before and I felt awkward not knowing how to write, chat, type. My competitive juices started to flow a little and not wanting to appear as a complete virtual fool, I thought I better listen for a little while and learn.

Firstly the facilitator had us draw on a map what city we were in, then we had to type the temperature, next we chatting to each other, using the microphone to join a discussion. I hate to say it but I was starting to warm to this, some may think I was enjoying myself. I was chatting away, drawing, making animations – smiling, having coffee breaks, and raising my hand up and then putting it down. We watched a video, did a poll and I thought, “Im pretty good at all this.”  Maybe I can crack a joke in the chat room – and then, just like that the 60 minutes had finished.

It was so engaging, entertaining, and interactive that two things happened to me: I actually learned a lot while having fun and I really connected with all the people including the facilitator and felt invigorated. Oh and one last thing happened – I saw the future of learning, it was virtual training. This is the next big thing! Virtual training is going to take the world by storm! How boring is virtual training? I didn’t have time to notice.

Author: Chris Gaborit – Director at The Learning Factor

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For training programs to be effective, organisations must use the right methods and mediums for their training sessions and their audience. They must also allocate the right budget. All too many times, we see organisations wanting transformational change – and a quick and inexpensive solution. This is an oxymoron.

Classroom training is not dead, but it also isn’t the answer for every training need. Given the popularity of social media sites such as Facebook, it only seems logical to consider how social media tools can be utilised within your organisation.

Plenty of learning happens outside a formal structure or classroom. We now categorise this as Social Learning. Social learning means learning with and from others – colleagues, managers and peers. It happens at conferences, coffee shops or online. Thanks to workplace collaboration tools, organisations can create rich, online environments in which employees can learn from each other instead.

A recent report from McKinsey states: “Two-thirds of value creation opportunity afforded by social technologies lies in improving communications and collaboration within and across enterprises. By adopting these organisational technologies, we estimate that companies could raise the productivity of knowledge workers by 20-25%. However, realising such gains will require significant transformations in management practices and organisational behaviour. Social technologies can enable organisations to become fully networked enterprises – networked in both a technical and behavioural sense”.

Savvy business leaders need to harness the power of Social Learning now to drive business results. A number of clients are already reaping the benefits of this style of collaborative learning. Contact us to find out what social technologies do for the productivity of your organisation.

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According to Safework Australia, work related stress has begun to represent such a huge cost to employers that by 2020 stress-related illnesses such as depression and cardiovascular disease will be the leading causes of the global disease burden.

This research is unsettling and Australian organisations must respond to these statistics by focussing on creating a positive culture that enables constructive communication and inhibits bullying behaviour.

A number of years ago, many organisations chose to meet their compliance obligations by offering short eLearning programs. In our experience, these online programs do not help to change behaviour. They only help to improve compliance statistics.

The Learning Factor offers face-to-face and virtual Bullying and Harassment programs. It is evident that over the duration of these programs it is the role-plays and dialogue where employees and managers begin to learn.

Interested to learn how you can improve your managers and employees behaviour in the workplace. Click here for details on how we can help your employees.

Click here for details on how we can help your managers.

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Make sure you join us on the life-long learning journey. Save time by clicking on a story of interest below:

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Organisations are increasingly recognising the business benefits of combining bite-sized chunks of personalised content that can be delivered to the desktop in real-time with learning techniques such as shorter classroom-based training sessions and on-the-job line manager training.

Take a look at our Leading Virtual Teams Learning Pathway Infographic. With a mix of pre-work, a web-based session delivered by a facilitator, case study assignment, a face-to-face session and Action Learning Project, we are sure to provide solutions that are engaging, creative and have maximum business impact.

Don’t cut your training budgets; develop a leaner, more efficient training machine.

Click here to see the bite-sized steps in our Leading Virtual Teams program.

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By learning to delegate more, managing your emails, dealing with the urgent and learning to say ‘no’ we can successfully manage our time and still have some time to exercise and enjoy life.

If you’d like to see how well you are managing your time, why not take our free SELF ASSESSMENT.

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