In the early days of online learning in the Philippines, my team and I acquired access to a software provider’s portal. This was around the year 2000 at a company called SPI Technologies, Inc. Little did we know, it takes more than a catalogue of online learning courses to get people to embrace the platform. With the wave of digital learning more readily prevalent around us, how can you ensure that the digital training program is able to effectively engage employees? Here are some strategies –

DON’T DISCOUNT THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE. While embarking on digital, it can be tempting to manage the entire process digitally. However, employees tend to resist change and so might not embrace your digital platform immediately. Carefully guiding employees on the training approach, goals, content, and methodology could allow them to proceed with conviction.

USE THE POWER OF COLLABORATION We all learn from each other’s knowledge and experiences. Incorporating these principles in training programs helps draw useful solutions to employees’ problems and allows them to share resources with each other. With every topic, there tend to be learners who are more enthusiastic than others. Identify those learners and assign them as program champions – this lets them encourage others to participate.

MONITOR THE PROGRESS. The great part about technology is that it allows us to track learners’ activity through analytics reports and dashboards. It is important to clearly communicate to learners that their progress will be monitored to increase their level of commitment. On the training side, it is important to use analytics to monitor learner engagement at different stages and use that information to improve your program.

USE REWARDS. When employees know they’re being monitored, they end up doing something out of compliance rather than commitment. But when you incorporate gamification principles in your digital learning, you embed rewards and surprises within the learning experience, and slowly move learners into commitment as it entices them to pursue training more actively. Everyone likes gifts and rewards.

Training employees is not just important, it is vital. Well-trained employees are not only more productive but are much better aligned with an organization’s business goals. Investment in the right training resources can save tremendous business costs by improving operational efficiency, reducing attrition, and also improving your professional standards. While relevant content and an effective platform are cornerstones for engaged learners, using the above techniques can make a remarkable difference to your learner engagement. An engaged learner equals a productive employee.