How to launch online training for remote teams
Online training has become an integral part of any employee onboarding program today. With the rapid growth of remote and hybrid teams, organizations look for the best solutions to launch productive online training courses. However, keeping everyone up to date with the company's best practices and innovations is a challenging process in remote environments. Thus, it's necessary not only to have reliable tools for online training but also to stay creative if you want your students to attend your online courses and embrace new knowledge. Here are our guidelines for launching a successful online course that will help your employees come out of it with new skills.
Invest in the right tools
The right tools for online training are important if you aim to achieve success. With the rapid development of technology for remote learning and communication, it is very easy to choose the best tools. However, before you start testing and purchasing the software, you should define your knowledge delivery model. The choice of software for online training will mainly depend on this.
Let's make a list of the functionalities you will need for your remote training:
- Video and audio conferencing
- An ability to share and store files
- Video and audio playback
- Messages exchange
- Chat history storage
- Screen sharing and remote control
- Knowledge base or user manuals software
To get the right tools for your online training, you can purchase apps that support some of the listed above features or try a multi-purpose Virola business messenger. Virola offers a wide range of features for communication, efficient collaboration, and online learning. Virola is also free for small teams and does not limit the functionalities for free licenses.
Find the most suitable knowledge delivery model
The knowledge delivery model you choose for your remote team depends on the type of your course. Thus, your training should combine video lessons, webinars, personal consultations, detailed knowledge bases, and user manuals.
For example, pre-recorded videos are useful if your company needs to deliver the same information to all new employees. Knowledge bases and user manuals are helpful for customer service and technical support staff training. Webinars can be used to improve specific skills or deliver new knowledge to the whole team.
Identify topics and create a schedule for your online course
Each online training course should give information in a logical way. Whether it's an online training course for new employees, a program for mastering new software, or training to improve sales skills, you should create a roadmap for your course and divide it into modules with assignments and progress checks for each milestone.
At the same time, to make online training for remote teams more effective, you can include practical exercises, webinars, and consultations with experts.
Incorporate milestone checks
Milestone checks add a layer of accountability and help monitor the progress of employees. Different types of milestone checks for remote training programs are available. They can range from online assignments to progress tests. At the same time, with the help of such checks, supervisors can see whether the online training program for remote teams is successful or not.
However, before you start introducing the milestone checks system, determine the goals for your remote training program. This way, you will ensure that your new employees make the most out of their training course.
Provide detailed feedback
Detailed feedback is an important part of any training process. Any type of online training program must include feedback which should be provided by a supervisor throughout the whole duration of the course. Moreover, even after the training, it is necessary to supervise new employees and help them improve their skills and knowledge. Detailed feedback helps to pay attention to mistakes and shows the gaps in the training course.
Feedback is useful both for the supervisor and the employee. While reviewing chat transcripts, emails, phone conversations, or monitoring project activities the supervisor provides not only valuable feedback but also sees the drawbacks of the training course and makes necessary improvements to it.
Share valuable data resources
Comprehensive training documentation and a detailed wiki are must-haves for successful online training. If you offer live chat customer service or phone support, it is necessary to create a training database with recordings of conversations and chat transcripts.
A list with external resources might also be invaluable as the initial search for information consumes much time and effort. Thus, with all necessary documentation at their fingertips, new employees will take the most out of their online training course.
Launching a successful online training program is not a simple task. However, with the proper and reliable online training tools and our guidelines you will manage to pull that off.