Are you thinking creatively about ethics compliance online training? Apply immersive online training techniques and see the difference real world examples can make to corporate learners.
How To Use Real World Activities In Ethics Compliance Online Training
Your compliance department might well be closest to your L&D strategy. They are often the forerunners in adopting the latest eLearning innovations. If not, make it your priority to build a relationship. Why? Because there’s no other field where real world, immersive eLearning makes a bigger difference to the engagement of your corporate learners than compliance. It’s the prime example of a dry topic made interesting by the use of interactive elements, quizzes, videos, and so on. All the features of an immersive, forward-thinking online training strategy should be present in your ethics compliance strategy.
The Importance Of Real World Application
The biggest difference that a real world perspective can add to ethics compliance online training is the emotional connection it can bring. Compliance is a tricky subject to connect with a corporate learner. It’s generally not a topic that your corporate learners feel passionate about. That’s probably because it’s compulsory—and that’s never particularly inspiring. But if you want your ethics compliance online training to win hearts and minds, then that connection is paramount. This is the path to genuinely changing employee behavior and uphold company standards across the board.
Bringing Real World Perspective To Your Ethics Compliance Online Training
Place your corporate learner in a virtual environment to which they can relate, so their ethics compliance online training will come to life. Make the learning real, meaningful and with a purpose so that the subject matter sticks. How do you do it? Here’s a framework for your eLearning course designers to use when covering ethics.
1. Use Branching Scenarios And Story-Based Learning To Make Ethics Come To Life
Create a narrative for your ethics compliance online training which will demand your corporate learners’ attention. Reading a story or scenario doesn’t feel like training, but it has the same impact. Design characters and storylines, using real locations and products from your business. For example, if you’re training around accepting supplier gifts, then look for a real world example. Use your own departments and a genuine consequence of the action. Demonstrate how accepting a gift has unfairly benefited one supplier over another to stress the repercussions of COI violations.
2. Ethics Compliance Online Training Lends Itself To Microlearning
Nothing is more daunting to a corporate learner than a 2-hour ethics compliance online training session. You need to turn around the perception of ethics compliance online training. A great way to provide actionable, relatable training is to divide your online training course into bitesize chunks. Use real world scenarios in short bursts of animations, infographics or quick bursts of videos. They will have a fast impact and leave a lasting impression. You can also develop a microlearning online training library to reinforce knowledge and refresh employees’ memory. For example, they can turn to a bite-size video to brush up on the company’s code of ethics.
3. Connect With Your Corporate Learners’ Emotions
How can you help an employee relate on an emotional level to the impact of unethical behavior? Focus on the negative impact on co-workers, or how unethical behavior would make their own job more difficult. Use projects, products and departments that your employees are familiar with. How will the consequences of questionable actions impact an individual and their family, or circumstances? Make your corporate learners feel something, and they will remember it and use that experience in their decision making.
4. Use Simulations Instead Of Traditional Quiz-Style Testing
Simulations are far more powerful in putting your corporate learners inside a given scenario. It makes them ponder what they would do, given those circumstances, as well as identify knowledge or performance gaps that may put them in breach of company policy. Use your eLearning authoring tools to create a real world simulation that will immerse your corporate learners in a work environment. This interactive online training tool allows your corporate learners to practice and display their knowledge and skills in a practical way.
5. Incorporate Serious Games To Up The Fun Factor And Memory Retention
Employees are more likely to remember information when it’s linked to a favorable experience. Serious games give them the opportunity to explore the ethics compliance online training without being bored to tears. They advance levels, collect points, and explore real world issues in a risk-free environment. Just make sure that the game mechanics don’t distract them from the primary goal, which is to apply their compliance knowledge and link it to their everyday work duties.
6. Know Your Audience To Create More Relatable Online Training Content
Different employees face different ethical challenges on any given day. Thus, you must do your homework to create real world activities that are relevant and relatable. This is based on a broad range of factors. From their job duties and titles to their backgrounds and experience levels. Conduct surveys and interviews to disclose the obstacles they must contend with, as well as potential issues that may arise throughout the course of their workday. For example, your remote sales team may have to deal with a client or vendor offering them a bribe. This doesn’t happen on a routine basis, but there is a risk. Thus, it should be addressed in your ethics compliance online training.
Take the time to storyboard your ethics compliance online training and think carefully about every opportunity to add a real world element. There is a wealth of features to employ when designing ethics compliance online training. But be careful to stick to a set of rules around design and don’t overdo it. The key is to encourage them to apply what they’ve learned and facilitate knowledge retention. Not to dazzle them with so many interactive elements and eye-catching multimedia that they experience cognitive overwhelm. You want the online training to be cohesive, clear and uncluttered.
Want to learn more on how a strong sense of morality, fairness, and professionalism may lead to corporate success? Read the article 9 Must-Haves For Successful Business Ethics Online Training to discover 9 essential components for successful business ethics online training.
