Sports stars do endless repetitions in the gym. Musicians play the same notes until muscle memory takes over. Viral Ted Talks are rarely given off the cuff. If you want to be successful at something, you practice.
In recent years, high-powered executives have latched onto this principle to improve everything from time management to financial handling to leadership skills. As the positive results of business coaching become clear, many organizations are applying this same strategy to their workforce as a whole. Career coaching is now a multi-billion dollar industry, and it is growing at a rapid rate.
Coaching makes a lot of sense to help build workers’ soft skills but between the cost of hiring big-name coaches and the geographically diverse and remote nature of modern employment structures, it is not always viable on a large scale. This is where digital options come in.
In the face of globalization, the rapid pace of business in the information age and, more recently, a tragic and disruptive pandemic, civilization has turned to the virtual world in order to make connections and move forward.
Learning and development (L&D) is no different. A record number of businesses have turned to eLearning strategies in order to help their workers grow and change. A variety of tools are available to help with onboarding, safety training, certifications, soft skills and more. The learning journey can be unique to each participant thanks to customizable technology and artificial intelligence (AI) input.
As part of the eLearning mechanism, video coaching begins to make a lot of sense. Picture this: Workers are welcomed into a new organization, and given short modules to help them learn about the companies and their role within it. They are then given the opportunity to immediately practice what they have learned, recording short videos of themselves giving elevator pitches, practicing sales strategies, reciting the company mission statement or almost anything else.
They then get feedback from a mentor assigned to them. If they need it, they can be looped through to more learning opportunities. Mentorship can thrive within this model, and it can be done asynchronously from a cubicle, individual homes or satellite offices anywhere in the world.
Video coaching allows managers to have a better understanding of their workers’ strengths and weaknesses, even from a distance. They can use this information to assign further practice and identify opportunities to help their teams shine at what they are best at, just like a sports coach would.
The chance to practice skills and processes a safe space helps set workers up for success, which can increase efficiency and decrease turnover. Newer generations of workers place a high value on development opportunities, and will give more loyalty to organizations that invest in individual careers. This has never been more important than it is right now, with employees leaving their current jobs at record rates.
On its own, video coaching is a powerful tool. As part of a broader learning journey, video-based practice can completely change the way individuals work. On average, we found that employees presented with the assignment to record a video of themselves in a professional environment will rehearse 5.6 times before submitting the final product. This practice builds confidence and opens workers up to learning more. As they see real results from eLearning and coaching, they will return to the platform when they need knowledge for any part of their job.
One of the best things about video based learning and coaching is that videos are a reusable asset. As learners master the material, they can share their video content with their colleagues so learning becomes a dynamic process that involves the entire organization.
Added to the equation, AI can further streamline the learning process. AI has reached a point where it can analyze video submissions for eye contact, tone, pace, keywords, logic, articulation, facial expressions and filler words. Individuals can redo their presentations as many times as needed to refine their knowledge, saving managers a great deal of time on the back-end.
Remote work and eLearning are here to stay. Organizations who wish to retain employees and create a strong culture of agility and forward thinking need to be constantly looking for new strategies to engage their workers in L&D, whether they are working next to each other in cubicles or across the ocean from their management team. Virtual learning modules coupled with one-to-one coaching opportunities can be the catalyst that creates that environment.
