Lack of employee engagement has always been a top issue for learning managers. Many organizations like Google, American Express, and John Lewis have come up with employee engagement strategies to overcome user resistance to new technologies.
Studies show that the value of learning engagement is so profound that the learning outcome and effectiveness is directly linked to user engagement.
Employee engagement strategies to overcome user resistance
Nowadays organizations overwhelmingly adapt to modern learning technologies, but more often than not we have heard users resisting online learning.
According to learning managers, one of the reasons for user resistance, is the lack of interest among the old generation of employees to adapt to modern technologies.
Even though we cannot rule out this factor, it remains a fact that the resistance to online learning can come from almost all age groups.
Reasons for user resistance to online learning
The reasons for resistance may vary depending on the type of learners. In most organizations, users resist learning new technologies because of a lack of understanding about the benefits, fear of failure, lack of support, or laziness.
Once you understand the underlying reasons for resistance, it would be easier to create effective employee engagement strategies
3 effective employee engagement strategies
Empower the learner
Most of the time the users are not aware of the benefits of using new technologies. Employees often believe that it might take a long time and a lot of effort to adapt to the new system.
Fear of losing time coupled with a lack of knowledge about the benefits makes the user uninterested in the program. Make sure the learner understands the benefits of learning new technologies and adapting to the new system.
Provide measurable goals, and make sure that the employees are aware of the possible benefits of achieving the goals. Explain how adopting online learning can improve an employee’s work life.
Reward the employees
A reward almost always generates enthusiasm. An organization can reward the employee for participation, providing feedback, and even gaining knowledge.
Rewards in the form of certificates, star ratings, badges, and mentions can encourage the learners a great deal. More than that, rewards also creates an environment of dialogue and discussion among employee groups that improve the awareness of the system.
Provide support
Most of the time, the user is not aware of how the system works. Secondly, even if an employee knows how the system works, most of them face difficulties in getting familiar with the technology. Make sure you provide proper support to your employees using the system.
Form user groups and support groups to address technical issues and encourage group discussions and dialogue
Elearning best practices that support employee engagement strategies
# Elearning automation
Automation helps you save time developing eLearning courses and in turn, provides you more time to spend on developing and implementing effective employee engagement strategies. Make sure to analyze the feedback, and work on gaps.
With eLearning automation tools, like Wizcabin, it’s easy to update and make changes to your course almost instantly. Using the right tools provides you space to rework your courses based on the feedback, and create a more user-friendly and engaging learning environment
# Social learning
User-generated content is one of the best ways to tap into the personal experiences of the learners and engage employees with social interactions. Social learning helps in creating a more friendly learning environment.
Microlearning
Research shows that most of the users do not like sitting for a long time in front of computers to learn. Effective use of Microlearning helps reduce user resistance to workplace learning.
If effectively combined with mobile learning, Microlearning can effectively help you engage your learners and reduce user resistance.
