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Training new staff can be a tricky and time-consuming task. Technology however is making the process easier, allowing new employees to learn intuitively and interactively. Here are a few ways in which modern tech is changing the way we train.
Video-calling and cloud technology
Training staff that are working remotely may seem impossible. However, thanks to these two new technologies – video-calling and cloud technology – you can practically teach someone as if you were sitting by them on the same computer.
Video calling allows you and your staff member to both talk about process whilst giving diagrams and gestures that you might give whilst training in real life. You can also give demos over video and watch staff perform tasks back. Some people have even made businesses out of interactive live video tutorials.
Cloud technology meanwhile allows two or more people to access the same document from different locations. Because of this, you can give advice and edit in real time. If you’re communicating with remote writers, you can edit their work as they go. Similarly, if you’re working with a graphic designer you can make real-time tweaks and annotations whilst they work.
Combining video calling and cloud technology you can effectively remote writers anything (or if you’re lazy, you can each teach people in the same office this way).
Digital style guide
A style guide tells people how to work to a certain structure or brand method. For example, you may have a strict way in which reports are written, in which emails are composed or a way of presenting financial data in a spreadsheets. Instead of having to individually and personally guide staff through these criteria, you can simply create a document with it all on that everyone can access. You can even make this style guide flashy and interactive by investing in a style guide development service.
Training app
Some companies such as coffee bar chains and restaurants may invest in a training app that staff can use whilst at home to learn drink and cooking processes. Such apps may involve quizzes to test staff’s knowledge and by completing all these you pass your probationary period. This type of training method taps into people’s love of smartphones and apps and ensures that people can still brush up on training whilst they’re at home.
Virtual reality training
This is more high-end stuff – but more businesses are starting to see its potential. Virtual reality allows you to train staff without the actual risks, so that a trainee can screw up without there being any real-life consequences. The trainee is put a computer rendered world in which the environment and tasks are made as realistic as possible. This is something trainee pilots have used for a long time, but more recently it has been used for army training, surgery training and train tank driving. Could we see it being used as a training tool in other trades in the future?