Resources

Support learning in the flow of work with video feedback

When your people can’t find the information they need to do their jobs, they increasingly turn to Google risking a wild west of good practice which can mess up internal processes and create patchy customer experiences.

This is where resources rather than courses come in helping people learn in the flow of work . However, if your people feel these resources aren’t laser-focussed on fixing their challenge as effectively as YouTube or Google the problem will continue.

To overcome this, you’ll need to create learning resources so authentically useful and trustworthy YouTube feels a poor choice.

How can you get even closer to your people and under the skin of the challenges they face in the flow of work? How can you capture the language they use to describe these challenges?

The need to provide specific, timely and useful resources also presents a production challenge. Many learning and development teams are overturning traditional content creation processes in the quest to make them efficient, scalable and user centric without increasing costs.

However, as early proponents of workflow learning like Nick Shackleton-Jones, Bob Mosher and others state this doesn’t simply mean repurposing existing materials into bitesize resources.

It requires resources that address a proven need, available in the moment they’re needed and reflecting language that would be recognised on the shop floor.

“If you bombard people with a bunch of stuff they feel isn’t relevant they’ll be less willing to remember”

Nick Shackleton Jones

Author

What is the problem?

Traditional face-to-face and e-learning courses are failing to meet the needs of the business because:

They’re mandated to employees who don’t need them. This reduces the perceived value and design to learn from programmes provided.
Timing is often more convenient for the organisation rather than the employee, reducing the relevance or effectiveness of the programme.
Employees can be overwhelmed by new information with little context to communicate relevance.
Activities to encourage experimentation and practice are often lacking.
There is little provision for follow up activities to support application, reflection and embedding.
A continuous learning culture is not encouraged.

Help your SMEs become content creators

Creating short value-packed resources that are useful to your people regardless of location and function is a tall order. Data will provide insight on where issues might exist.

Line managers may know where team members are struggling. But, watching first-hand reflections from the coalface will help you truly understand how to help people.

Here’s a workflow inspired by how Verizon have used the StoryTagger platform:

1. IDENTIFY THE CHALLENGE

Ask line managers to reflect on the challenges that impact their ability to meet targets.

You can use StoryTagger to help you ask deeper, more open-ended questions than a survey to see first hand where pain points really exist. How do people talk about these challenges on a daily basis?

Specific language and themes will begin to emerge that will later help you create laser-focused communications and content that not only helps, but clearly demonstrates your ability to help too.

2. AMPLIFY FRONTLINE EXPERTS

Your line managers will be able to nominate employees who have the expertise, are role-modelling great ways of working and are the most likely to share their knowledge.

Structured mobile interview frameworks help them share knowledge in short succinct videos.

3. PACKAGE FOR YOUR AUDIENCE

Review video content and work out the best way to package it for your audience.

Sometimes a short video will be the most effective format, but you may spot an opportunity to create a checklist, a FAQ crib sheet, a montage or more. Make sure that people can easily access and find this information at a time they need it.