In the ten years since the introduction of the iPhone, video production and consumption have grown exponentially. Having a video camera and editing station in a pocket-sized device, coupled with robust LTE and wireless networks, makes it easy for anyone to create, share, and watch content. This ubiquity has even spread to the corporate training arena. These are a few ways fortraining employees with video and support your company’s training efforts:
Make It Mobile
As we said, video is a mobile medium with a camera on most every device out there. You can make training a two-way street of sorts by allowing employees to share their institutional knowledge with management. By creating their own training videos or collaborate and providing feedback to the training videos you send the staff, are effective when using model devices.
Giving users the autonomy to take video of new procedures or problems and send it to the corporate office for review then back out to the field is an excellent way to engage employees in a fun and meaningful way. This gives them ownership of the products they’re helping to create and sell.
Go Micro
Read almost any article about optimal video length for online viewing and, while you’ll get some varying answers, almost all research points to shorter video getting more engagement. In fact, studies show that you have mere seconds to grab the attention of a viewer on social media. So what does that have to do with your training videos? Everything. In order to maintain healthy levels of engagement with your employees, micro-training videos—short training materials that are easily watched for a quick knowledge boost— should be kept short, anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. Any longer and you risk losing their full attention.
Demo Video
In 2015, YouTube users watched more than 100 million hours of “How To” videos and it's growing 70% every year. Are you taking advantage of video's simplicity and impact? Make detailed, but concise product demonstration videos for your staff so they can review and refer back to them as needed. These shorts can be used for quick how-to or plating demonstrations in kitchens, or register instruction in a retail environment.
Compliance Guidance
There are various industry regulations that workers need to comply with according to state or federal laws. Capturing footage that shows examples of adherence to regulations alongside video illustrations of what not to do can be helpful in communicating proper procedures. Supporting text documents can eliminate any questions that your staff might have.
Video training is an advantage to managers who need to get their employees up to speed quickly. Everyone gets the same information, easily kept up-to-date, ready for repeated viewings. Start with training videos in your eLearning system and see how quickly your employees consume their new useful content.
