Tag Archive for 'induction videos'

The Importance of Using Visuals in your Training Materials

In a recent AFRBoss article, it was cited that an important trend over the next decade will be the shift from words to images in communication.

Rather than bombard people with an avalanche of reading material, people will prefer visual representation of data.

This isn’t a surprise given our time-poor, attention-scarce, give-it-to-me-now lifestyle.

So to future-proof and update training materials, now more than ever, there is growing importance for companies to use visuals to aid in learning.

After all, we remember:

10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we both hear and see

In fact, studies by educational researchers found that 83% of human learning occurs visually. Visually rich training materials keep the eyes busy and therefore, the brain more alert and active to learn information.

Yet, I often get amazed when I go through company training manuals how so few of them include pictures or even colour for that matter. And of course, very few of them use video as part of training.

“Something is happening. We are becoming a visually mediated society. For many, understanding of the world is being accomplished, not through words, but by reading images.”

Paul Martin Lester, “Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication”

What can you do to start making your training materials more visually appealing?

The Importance of “Why” in Training

Published on February 3, 2010 in OHS videos, company induction training, customer training videos, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos and workplace performance. 0 Comments Tags: company inductions, customer training, improving workplace performance through video, induction videos, introducing new initiative, new company initiatives, safety training, safety training videos, staff inductions, staff training videos, training video, training videos, workplace training.

When we were all young children, we all used to bug our parents with lots of “Why?” questions. And while this can test even the calmest of parents, the truth is children are curious about the world around them and want to understand why things happen. It helps them learn and communicate.

Yet, somehow, as we get older, we forget the importance of why questions.

Recently, I went to a talk by Michael McQueen from NexGen Group. He believes that one of the top five mistakes that leaders make is that they pass on the ‘how’, but not the ‘why’?

And the reason why this is a big mistake for most companies is that often company processes are perpetuated without people ever questioning why we do something. Over time, staff are taught processes that solve problems that no longer exist.

He then read us The Pot Roast story:

There was a young woman who moved out into her own house. While living at home, she never cooked. Upon the move, she returned home to learn how to cook a few dishes. One of her favorite recipes was Pot Roast. So she asks her mother to show her how to cook one.

The mother begins to share her expertise with the daughter. She tells her to salt and pepper the meat well. To make sure the vegetables are all cut the same size. Just before the mom places the roast in the pan, she picks up a knife and cuts about a ¼ of an inch of roast from each end. Then she places the meat in the pan.

The daughter stops her mom. “Mom, I understand why we cut the vegetables the same size – that way they’ll cook uniformly. And I know the reason we salt and pepper the meat all over – and rather heavily, is so the whole roast will absorb the flavor of the seasonings. But why did you cut a little bit off each end of the roast before you placed it in the pan?”

“Because that’s what you do”, said the mom.

“But why?”, questioned the girl.

“Does it help it cook better?”

“Well, I do it this way, because that’s the way my Mom taught me”, said the mother. “But I’m not really sure why we cut the ends off. Next time we go to visit we’ll ask her.”

Several months later the family gathers at Grandma’s house for dinner. As grandma prepares the meal the mother and daughter are in the kitchen with her. The daughter asks her grandmother, “Grandma, you’re such a good cook, and I know you passed all your methods on to Mom, but I can’t figure out why we cut the ends off of the pot roast before we cook it.” The grandmother turned to her granddaughter and said, “What are you talking about? I don’t cut the ends off before I cook it.” At this point the mother jumps into the conversation and says, “Yes you do! The time you showed me how to make pot roast, you started to put it in the pan, and then you put the roast back on the cutting board and cut about a 1/4 inch off each end of the roast. I’ve been doing it that way ever since”, she declared!

The grandmother stared at her daughter in amazement. “Every time you cook a pot roast you cut a ¼ inch off the ends? Every single time?” “Yes!” She answered her mother. “Every – single – time, just like you showed me.” “Honey, all I can say is you’ve been wasting a lot of good meat over the years. The only time I ever cut the ends off the roast is if it’s too big for the pan!”

In my role, I am given the opportunity to review new employee induction and procedural training manuals.

When I work on the training materials to write the training video script, I constantly add the “why” to procedures. And the interesting thing, is that when I ask a company why a process needs to be done in a particular way, they either realise that we either need to get rid of the process or that we can explain the process better.

Where in your company can you ask more ”why’ questions to improve your processes?

What is inconsistent training costing your company?

Published on January 21, 2010 in company induction training, customer training videos, induction videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos and workplace performance. 0 Comments Tags: company inductions, improving workplace performance through video, induction training videos, induction videos, staff inductions, staff training videos, workplace performance, workplace training.

It goes without saying that staff training is incredibly important for continual company improvement.

In Chet Holmes book The Ultimate Sales Machine, he talks about the Tribal Method of Training. This is where information gets passed person to person by word of mouth, like the cavemen might have done (informal training).

Newcomers work alongside another staff member to learn what they are meant to do. There is no formal classroom training, no formal methodology and no training manuals.

This is the worst type of staff training. Mainly because the training is inconsistent and if the staff member is having a bad day they will just teach bad habits.

Another style of staff induction or staff training is the formal classroom style. Of course, while the training materials might be consistent different trainers will often teach different things.

And if you need to undertake sales training, take a look at Paul McCord’s blog post called ” Consistency in Sales Training relates directly to Consistency in Production”. It’s a real eye-opener about the costs of inconsistent training to a company’s sales process.

Good training ensures that all staff work in harmony.

How consistently trained are your staff? To find out how well you are faring write a T or F against the following questions:

1. Each training facilitator teaches the same procedures, so that staff walk away knowing exactly what to do

2. Every staff member would provide the same answer for one of our processes.

3. All of our staff members perform their job at a high level of excellence.

4. Results in our company are predictable because of consistent training and skills.

5. All employees know what the company considers as a good attitude or performance.

6. Customer complaints are always dealt with in the same way, no matter which department the customer complains to.

If you have answered false to any of these statements, you aren’t serious about the calibre of your training.

With consistent training, every staff member will know your procedures so that customers are dealt with in the same manner and all procedures are done in the most productive, correct and safe manner. Productivity is high.

And remember, you can’t get more consistent training than a properly made staff training video.

How to Improve On-Site Inductions

Published on December 8, 2009 in OHS videos, company induction training, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos and training videos. 0 Comments Tags: company inductions, improving workplace performance through video, induction training videos, induction videos, safety training videos, staff inductions, staff training videos, video production.

For many companies, both large and small, new contractor or employee orientation is a perfunctory process. It usually involves a manager who might prefer to be working on other jobs talking through a PowerPoint presentation or checklist. This is usually followed by introductions and a tour of the premises. Then, the new hire is thrown into the workplace with little consideration for the confusion that comes with commencing a new job or the site-specific hazards that may exist.

Improving the Induction Process

Successful companies understand that that a well-oriented employee will approach a new job with heightened confidence resulting in better performance and productivity. They are also more likely to be committed to the company reducing high employee turnover costs.

According to Randolph Cirilo & Brian H Kleiner from Management Research News 2003, they found that effective orientation programs provided more substantive content, face to face learning, utilized vivid presentation techniques, participative learning methods and involved management.

While XpertHR UK in April 2009, found that highly successful inductions were structured and formal.

So what is a Better Induction System?

The good news is that the best induction process will not only cost you less to train staff, but will actually improve your training outcomes.

And yet the answer is one that is often overlooked by companies – an induction training video.

A custom made training video for your workplace:

Teaches the same amount of information taught by instructors in half or a third of the time.
Increases comprehension and retention of the subject matter by approximately 50% over printed material alone.
Commands the attention of the viewer and motivates them to learn more.
Is more persuasive than written material which is perceived as less important and credible.
Provides faster rollout and take up of training.
Ensures consistent training messages are communicated.
Relieves the trainer of repetitive tasks.

How does it work?

A well-planned induction video provides structured training that can even include introductions from senior management, freeing up their time.

While using visuals to communicate is also another major advantage as it makes difficult processes easier to understand.

Tom Kerr, the OHS Manager from Conundrum Holdings explains how a customized induction training video has simplified the induction process of contractors and staff across their work sites.

“We were finding that delivering individual inductions for all contractors and staff working on our sites was taking up a lot of management time. We also didn’t have any real evidence that each induction was consistent or that everything was getting covered, “explains Tom Kerr.

“Now that each person signs off they have watched the video and are tested directly on their knowledge learnt from the video, we can be sure that they have been made aware of all safety hazards and controls. The training is now more engaging and has the advantage of putting visual cues to the site rules and procedures. Given the inherent dangers with working in a quarry it is important that we train our staff and contractors to work safely. It also imparts our company culture really well. Another benefit is that we can refer staff back to specific areas of the video for more employee specific refresher training”.

For companies looking to improve their induction process, a custom made training video for their workplace can provide successful learning outcomes, reduce incidents and injuries, while decreasing training costs.

Telling Stories to Improve Job Inductions (Part 2)

Published on October 28, 2009 in Happy staff, OHS videos, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos and workplace performance. 0 Comments Tags: company inductions, health and safety, induction videos, job inductions, safety training, safety training videos, staff training videos.

According to an article by Steve Osborn in The Safety & Health Practitioner June 2007, formal job induction training must deal with performing specific tasks safely, information about duty of care (both the company and workers) along with standard emergency procedures.

In particular management expectations with respect to health and safety need to be addressed along with certain standards of behaviour being made a condition of employment.

In this article, it was found that staff need to be inducted but also refreshed annually. More importantly, business leaders should be involved and be seen to be involved.

As mentioned in my previous blog post, company-specific stories are a useful means of communicating the firm’s history, traditions, and values. This technique can also be skillfully transferred to show new employees how to do their jobs safely and correctly by talking about how others have done their job in the past. It has also been found to be an effective communication method to change poor behaviour or attitudes within companies about the importance of safety.

In order to use corporate story-telling in your company, think about some examples where a staff member has worked safely and avoided an incident by thinking ahead. Was their an employee who worked safely despite his colleagues urging him to do otherwise that resulted in an accident being avoided?

Stories frame information so that it is meaningful, memorable and understandble. They provide a power tool for communication, problem solving and perpetuating important company values. Video storytelling is a great way to communciate your company stories.

Can you think of ways to include storytelling in your inductions? What legendary stories do you have in your organisation?

Telling Stories to Improve Company Staff Inductions (Part 1)

Published on October 28, 2009 in OHS videos, company induction training, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos and workplace performance. 0 Comments Tags: company inductions, induction training videos, induction videos, staff inductions, training videos, video storytelling.

Company induction training is all about communicating the company’s core values and its nature, in order to motivate new employees to adopt behaviours that translate into action on a daily basis. It is about shaping staff’s work values and sense of identity with the company.

Typical information includes a company introduction, history, nature of the business, organisational philosophy, human resources policies and procedures.

In a Management Research News article (August 2003), Cirilo and Kleiner found that highly effective induction training painted a vivid and detailed picture of the firm and used corporate story-telling techniques.

In “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” author Verne Harnish also concludes that corporate storytelling is crucial for successful staff indoctrination. He believes that a little bit of story and legend is needed to cement the bond between the CEO (or other senior manager) and employee.

For example, US company Nordstrom is renowned for its customer service. Their orientation of new hires consists of telling stories about heroic customer service (e.g., the employee who ironed a shirt for a customer who had a job interview on the day of the purchase).

Effective induction training allows for the new employee to possess a good sense of what actions are valued and how they can manifest it in their own behaviour.

Rather than just telling staff what to do or giving vague parameters, corporate story-telling raises the bar further and encourages staff to undertake exemplary behaviour. Or just understand the company history and values in a more detailed way.

And of course, corporate story telling comes to life in video format.

Stories can easily be incorporated into induction training videos. The story can be told by senior managers or those involved with the story. This only involves a small amount of time to be filmed which can be used to show many staff across many locations for years to come. Reenactments can be filmed to make the story come to life.

Can you think of ways to include storytelling in your inductions?

Tag Archive for 'induction videos'