Everything evolves, including the methods restaurants use to train employees. In the past, many employers relied on lectures and long videos to train restaurant employees, but that's changing. Today, restaurant owners all over the world are discovering that by ditching their traditional employee training methods and replacing them with microlearning, they have a better trained and happier workforce.
What is Microlearning?
Microlearning is taking everything an employee needs to learn and breaking it up into bite-sized chunks. Mobile microlearning allows employees access to information when they are performing the task at hand. The benefits employers who have already converted their employee training programs over to a microlearning program rave about include:
- The quick delivery of the learning material
- Immediate application of the material
- How much better employees respond to the microlearning training material
Microlearning works particularly well for employers who employ millennials. The average millennial has a short attention span, making it impossible for them to focus through a long lecture or demonstration. They do better with lots of quick examples and respond particularly well to short, educational videos.
Employers working to get their staff fully trained before the restaurant's busy season begins, want to learn the eight best practices of microlearning and incorporate them into their training program.
Keep Each Block of Microlearning Material Short and Sweet
Never forget that microlearning means bite-size chunks of material. The length of time today's workforce responds to best is between 2 and 6 minutes long. After that, they're ready to move on to something new. The best way to keep each learning module short and sweet is by sticking to just one point.
Make Sure the Microlearning Material is Viewable on Multiple Mobile Devices
One of the key elements that makes microlearning so successful is that employees can view the material while they're on the go. Building the educational content to be available on any tablet or smartphone, encourages them to view the material when they need it.
Don't Shy Away from Humor
There's nothing that states all training material has to bore people to tears. When you incorporate just a little bit of humor into each microlearning bite, you'll find your employees not only enjoy the training process but also have an easier time retaining the information.
Keep the Microlearning Content Flexible
Teachers are quick to point out that the key to really educating people is understanding that no two people learn the same way. The best learning systems are ones that are set up in a way that the employee can choose the method that works best for them. In some cases, the employee responds best to written content, another to videos, and a third may require a combination of both. Our guide, The 7 Pillars of Modern Learning, discusses these modern learning trends.
Be Generous with the Audio and Visual Elements
There's nothing wrong with using text in your microlearning program, but most millennials respond best to material that's engaging. They also like videos and audio which activates a different part of the brains learning process. Make sure all the audio and visual elements are clear, concise, and stay on point.
Gamify the Microlearning Material
People love to be rewarded. It gives them a sense of accomplishment. Gamifying your microlearning material is an excellent way to encourage employees to keep working their way through the content. Each time they earn a badge or get points for successfully learning their material, their sense of accomplishment and their loyalty to your restaurant increases. You also benefit from the gamification since it makes it easy for you to see how well the employees respond to the content, how motivated each employee is, and where each employees talents and weaknesses are.
