If you’ve ever worked at a place you love, you’ll understand: You wake up every morning excited to take on the day. You want to do a great job. And you feel proud to be part of the business and its mission.
That’s what employee engagement is all about.
When engaged employees care about their work and their company, they want to do the right things on the job. And when they want to do the right things and give their all, their engagement translates into huge benefits for the company:
- Productivity goes up
- Work quality improves
- Customer satisfaction increases
- Errors, safety incidents and sick days decrease
- Employee turnover decreases
It’s no wonder organizations are putting employee engagement at the top of their priority list and spending big bucks on it. According to Gallup, only 13 percent of employees worldwide are engaged at work. In the United States alone, businesses invest more than $720 million annually to improve engagement.
Focus on Building on Employee Strengths
Organizations don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to boost engagement. To achieve long-term emotional commitment, the key is developing employees’ strengths so they can help the company achieve its objectives. In fact, researchers discovered that it’s more important to focus on what is “innately right” with people than to try to “fix what’s wrong.”
Regardless of what other initiatives are implemented (leadership, communication and culture), if employees can’t do their job properly, they won’t be able to make valuable contributions. Eventually, they’ll get fed up with being unable to achieve objectives and walk right out the door.
Use Adaptive Learning to Take Employee Strengths to the Next Level
How do you develop employee strengths? Most organizations use generic, one-size-fits-all training programs, which don’t grow or engage employees. At best, learning is pre-programmed according to criteria like job function, role or department but isn’t adaptable to employees’ specific needs or talents. Without continuously building on their strengths, this type of training limits employees’ ability to achieve their potential and become engaged.
That’s where adaptive learning comes in. Simply put, adaptive learning takes personalized learning to the next level. It’s an employee-centric approach that leverages technology to provide employees with individualized training programs that continually adapt to their changing needs by:
- Evaluating information (such as test answers, topics re-taken and knowledge confidence levels) during every learning session
- Comparing learning data to initial benchmark knowledge levels and objectives, which were programmed into the system
- Adapting the employee’s learning path automatically by modifying subject matter, level of difficulty, learning resources and even delivery methods
With adaptive learning, employees can learn at their own speed, bypass areas where they have expertise and focus on advancing their existing knowledge. It’s the most effective way to help employees learn the information they need to be successful so they can help the company achieve its goals and feel more engaged.
Combining Adaptive and Microlearning
Adaptive learning packs an even bigger punch when it’s used in conjunction with microlearning, which delivers content in small bites as short as three to five minutes each day. Combining micro and adaptive learning, this type of learning platform adjusts each microlearning bite based on the most recent employee feedback. This focus on the individual, combined with fast and easy learning, enables employees to accelerate their development and engage far more fully with their learning and, ultimately, the business. Here’s why:
- It’s personal: Because adaptive learning modifies learning content and difficulty based on individual progress, it approaches one-on-one tutoring in personalization.
- It’s relevant: Because adaptive learning is so focused on the unique knowledge employees need for their jobs, it’s always relevant.
- It’s valuable: Because adaptive learning focuses on areas where employees need the most help, it’s always useful.
- There’s no duplication: Because adaptive learning takes prior knowledge into account, learners don’t have to sit through anything they already know.
- It’s timely: Because adaptive learning criteria can quickly be reprogrammed, employees can almost immediately receive new training on new policies, procedures, products and promotions – receiving exactly what they need, when they need it.
- It’s challenging: Because adaptive learning is constantly evaluating success, employees proceed to more challenging learning at their own unique pace.
The result? Learning that meets the individual needs of modern learners, allowing them to build on their strengths and increase their knowledge more efficiently and effectively. If you’re looking to engage employees more fully, adaptive learning is a definite “must” in your training strategy.
