Let’s face it! Safety compliance training can be extremely dry at the best of times, so how do we make it interesting enough for employees to get the full benefits of the training objectives?
In this article I will give you a few short tips on how to make your safety compliance training more fun and engaging for your staff. Bear in mind that I too always like to take improvement advice from trainees and my clients so I can continually keep my audience engaged with my training sessions.
There are multiple ways to deliver QHSE or OHS compliance training these days, and although we all veer towards the “death by powerpoint” approach from time to time (me included), there are more effective and innovative ways to deliver the training in a fun and compelling manner.
Here are a couple of ways you can deliver compliance training to your employees:
- Classroom (PowerPoint) – This method has been used and is still used by companies and consultants to deliver compliance training. Although it is seen as a cost effective method of delivery, the time involved with developing training packages can be quite costly. If the training is in-frequent, and you can get the majority of the team in the same room at the same time, then this method is quite possibly the most cost effective way to deliver compliance training as long as the sessions are fun, engaging, and the employees are able to effectively retain the information. Essentially, this type of training is good for companies that don’t require a lot of training. This being said, it is a lot easier to manage your training if it through an online training method. The problem with the Classroom (PowerPoint) training method is that the trainer must be engaging and likeable by the trainees. If the employees can’t engage or understand the trainer, their success for retaining the information will be hindered greatly. Methods of recording competencies and trainer appraisals with this type of training are quite labor intensive which is why I recommend the next method if it is possible.
- e-Learning – Forward-looking companies are already reaping the benefits of e-learning and mobile learning (m-learning). A recent survey indicated that approximately 80% of the Australian workforce are using online learning for compliance based training. The initial costs of online learning through LMS (Learning Management Systems) or SaaS (Software as a Service) can seem high, and in some cases they are. I recommend that every business make an informed decision when it comes to delivering compliance training in their business, but I do believe that training should be kept fresh through new and innovative delivery methods.
Some of the benefits of online training are:
- reduction in time to competence
- increase in productivity
- increase in customer satisfaction
- increase in staff satisfaction
- reduction in delivery times
- improvement in the ability to change procedures/products
Regardless of the compliance training delivery methods you choose to adopt in your business, the basic objectives of the training should always be to engage the employee, improve information retention, reduce time required for the training, and improve productivity and staff job satisfaction.
Here are some of the ways to make your compliance training more engaging for your employees:
Use Games, Competitions & Rewards
When I deliver compliance training, I try to make them more interactive rather than just listening to me go on and on and on. I don’t mind playing one simple game (i.e. weakest link etc.). I don’t usually go overboard with gifts and lollies though, but I do think a quick game helps the student’s attention span. Lollies like Mentos are ok, but if the students are relying completely on lollies to get through the training, then they’re bored!!! As an OHS consultant I am also pro-healthy eating as much as possible, so I generally don’t want to promote eating lollies in class. I would recommend water, Mentos and very quick stretch breaks. (keep in touch with your students to see how they’re feeling. If they look bored, change things up!!)
Use Humor
Funny videos are a great way to make the training fun. There are heaps of funny videos that you can google on the Internet. I recommend trying to get the employees involved in the training get them to have a discussion instead of a lecture. I really enjoy a class where my students talk openly about the subject, throwing ideas and topic related jokes back and forth. If my class talks just as much as I do, then the chances of the workers enjoying the training and retaining the information are much higher.
Active Participation
If you have time, set up an area that can be used for active participation. This can be used for topics such as Housekeeping, or risk assessment. If you can have the staff assess their own environment with their own risk assessment tools, then they are more likely to use those tools on a regular basis. Obviously finding the time to do this is difficult, but it can be done when you have arranged for scheduled training under controlled conditions.
Demonstrations
YouTube and Vimeo are extremely popular when conducting product reviews or delivering “How to” info sessions. I have found these tools incredibly useful when delivering OHS compliance training. This is a great way to deliver training, but when you don’t have access to YouTube or Vimeo etc. then there are other ways to demonstrate your subject to the audience. Other ways to demonstrate your point could be:
- Step by step PowerPoint or PDF document
- In-house video
- Face to face demonstration
- Use reputable, professional contacts to deliver guest speaking/demonstrations etc.
Storytelling
Storytelling is a proven way to capture people’s attention. It helps the students to draw a picture in their minds and link back to the information you’re providing. Remember show and tell in school. Well this is pretty much the same thing. You will grab the attention of your audience when they are captured by an interesting story.
Two-way discussions
I’ve found that by veering away from a lecture-style presentation where the lecturer talks and everyone listens (or doesn’t) will improve the odds of workers being more attentive and involved. Engaging in group discussion and allowing workers to talk about their personal experiences is a practical way to make things more interesting.
Further improvements can be made if the discussions revolve around non-workplace scenarios that relate to scenarios in the workplace, such as sports and/or hobbies that your workers participate in. For example, I participate in what some may describe as “extreme” sports such as mountain biking, etc. There are many analogies that I can make using the details of those activities that relate to the topics that are being discussed – mostly people find them interesting. After making my own analogy, I usually find the rest of the students trying to find their own analogies from their personal experiences. This makes the training a little more interesting them rather than work.
Stressing the importance of safety
I don’t know how many times I have heard people say that safety is a joke and that common sense should prevail. I am also not totally sold on the rewards system where workers are rewarded for being safe or reporting safe behaviours. Most people that believe that safety is a joke have totally missed the point and are only contributing to the red tape and confusion with OHS systems. If you have increased buy-in from the workforce, then safety becomes more and more natural as it evolves. All this aside, we all have OHS or WHS duties under Australian Legislation. The workers need to know this first and foremost. Secondly, people tend not to take safety seriously until they’ve experienced the negative impacts of an injury or incident in their life. This is where I bring in some real examples of people that have been affected by ineffective safety mechanisms. A guest speaker such as James Woods might also help the workers to understand the importance of safety in their workplace.
Keep it job specific & relevant
When delivering OHS compliance training, it is extremely important to keep the information relevant to the worker’s job roles and surrounding environment. Delivering training with a generic, non-relevant 30 minute videos creates confusion, boredom and lost respect from your audience. I can see the benefit of showing training videos to your staff or your client’s staff, however the benefits usually sway towards you as the trainer or consultant (i.e. simple to deliver) rather than the workers which means you’ve missed the point. I recommend showing only short videos of five to seven minutes maximum. The videos should be relevant and engaging as stated earlier in this article re:humour etc.
Your audience values their time. Don’t waste it!!
Review, Feedback, and Evaluation
I had a conversation with a friend the other day about receiving feedback on my training sessions. My friend is a well respected teacher of over 10years so I thought they would be the best person to ask whether they have received a lot of negative feedback about their teaching throughout their career. My friend asked how much negative feedback I was getting from my trainees. I replied approximately 2% of my trainees where providing not negative feedback, but fair or satisfactory feedback. Here’s the perfectionist coming out in me now!! My friend just laughed and said that any negative feedback is good feedback, because it allows you to improve. You should be thankful for the feedback and not resenting it.
Another point to note here is that most trainees or students want to get out of the training as quickly as possible. Make sure you are aware of lunch breaks and don’t ask them to stay back to complete an evaluation form. I usually put my training attendance registers and evaluation forms online now. I take attendance at the start of the program which usually takes all of two minutes, and then send all of my students a link to an evaluation form after the session has ended. All students are required to complete the evaluation so I make it sort and to the point. Five or six questions are enough. Don’t go overboard with 20 questions or you will find that they will lose interest and will give you the “donkey vote”. Online forms can also be a lot more visually appealing than just a white piece of paper with 20 questions. The clean visually appealing survey forms will encourage trainees to give you honest feedback and may even give you a few positive comments for being technologically savvy.
Speak their Language
You wouldn’t like it if someone spoke down to you, so why would you speak down to the workers? Learn to understand your audience more. Don’t rattle off a lot of technical figures and jargon when your students are just going to stare at you confused and bored. Again, go back to using demonstrations, videos, stories etc. to convey the subject rather than the lecturer style method. Most of the time you’re not the science or mathematical genius. You should see yourself at their level.
Different types of software
There are different types of software on the market that can successfully manage your OHS or WHS information. Some suggested alternative presentation software intended to improve the training and/or make it more active:
- SaaS programs – These programs can manage just about any of your compliance data including e-learning, m-learning, training registers etc., but if it’s just training data that you wish to manage, then an LMS or e-learning platform would be the way to go. If you’re running a small business, these programs could be seen as a luxury. With this in mind you can find free programs online, but they may not suit all your needs and you would need to take this into account when using it. You can spend under $1000AUD and have an in-house program that will manage most of your data, but Cloud based is the best option as it is accessible anywhere. Here are a number of LMS programs that you could use to manage your training data: http://www.capterra.com/learning-management-system-software/. Some of the SaaS programs that I do recommend for e-learning are Integrum and Beakon. These programs are extremely effective at managing all of your QHSE and Training compliance data.
- Customised online training – Honestly if you are looking for a fully customisable solution for your company and you can justify the cost, companies such as Croomo are a excellent choice. Where money is tight and you wish to create customise compliance training, I would recommend someone like GRC Solutions etc.
- YouTube and Vimeo are great platforms to create your own training solution online. As long as you have an account, you can create private training sessions for your company as much as you like.
- Spreadsheets are great for recording data, but are labor intensive as is PowerPoint.
- Prezi is visually appealing, but needs is labor intensive even though there are templates. The cost of Prezi is very low and is a viable option when looking for a low cost alternative to PowerPoint, but you still need to record a lot of your training data and Prezi is not really equiped to deal with extensive training data.
Conclusion
Seriously, there are a lot of tips that I could provide here. If you would like to leave some suggestions or questions, I would be happy to reply promptly to all constructive comments.
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