Don’t think of them as neat timewasters – think of them as customized feeds to help you learn! (dole777 on Unsplash)

When you think about social media, maybe you write it off as a place where people share pictures of their lunch or their pets. How could it possibly help you learn or work better?

Here’s how:

#1 – Share what you know

About 3.6 billion people use social media, or nearly half of the world’s population.

So, it’s a given that a large number of your clients — and employees — are spending time on social media platforms. In fact, the average internet user spends about 2 hours and 22 minutes on social media per day watching videos, commenting on posts and talking to friends.

What are some of the ways you can share what you know on social media? Platforms such as YouTube and Facebook can be used to share your training materials for free, and you can gate the content so it is either public or private.

Those platforms will also provide you with some basic analytics to help you understand who is watching your videos, how many times they have been viewed and other relevant data that can help you understand your viewers’ interests.

Posting videos is one of the most popular forms of sharing knowledge, but it’s not the only one.

Those who follow our social media channels, such as our Facebook page, will regularly see our Insights blog posts, articles from leading industry publications, learning events, courses, the odd inspirational quote or testimonial and other useful tidbits. Are you following us yet? Because…

#2 – Learn from others

With billions of users around the world, social media doesn’t just offer a wide audience for your content. It also offers plenty of sources of interesting content!

You can use your social media channels to curate information you think others might find useful.

You don’t always need to be the creator of content. If another organization (preferably not a competitor!) has already posted a great video or article on a particular subject, why not share it?

On the flip side, if you spot your competitor doing something interesting, you can use social media to keep an eye on what they’re up to and figure out how you’ll keep pace with their great content.

#3 – Create a group to improve collaboration

Team building is an important part of training, but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

Facebook can be a great place to start with the introduction of its Workplace product. Workplace is an enterprise connectivity platform that features tools such as News Feed, groups and instant messaging.

There are plenty of Workplace competitors, as well — Yammer and Chatter are just two examples — and even project management tools such as Slack and Trello can be useful for more than just work collaboration.

Getting started

Social media platforms are free to use, although some offer additional paid features.

Here’s how to start:

1. If you haven’t already done so, sign up for an account on the social media platforms where most of your potential clients exist.
2. Find relevant accounts and begin following and interacting with them. (Don’t forget to follow us!)
3. Strictly consuming content is one strategy, but you should try to share good content, too.

What are some of your favourite sources for learning in your industry? Let us know at training@algonquincollege.com.

Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

You might have heard an old saying that goes, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

It seems that many organizations may be doing too much telling and not enough involving. How else could you explain the fact that about 70 percent of employees forget what they’ve learned within 24 hours of hearing it, according to research cited by Learning Solutions Magazine?

So, what’s the answer? Throw more time at the problem? Do less training, instead?

Ultimately, it’s not your employees’ fault they cannot remember everything they learn. And asking employees to remember more will never do the trick.

Rather, the secret to better learning lies in using reliable retention tools and changing how you provide training. Let’s look at a few helpful techniques:

Make training fun by using storytelling

Most of us do not like the idea of sitting in a room only to be bored to tears by a bunch of facts and figures. We want to learn, but it has to be enjoyable. This is where storytelling comes into play.

Storytelling improves retention by creating a neat context for the information that is being presented. It allows participants to cognitively retain what’s being learned.

Unlike traditional learning methods, storytelling keeps both the listener and the speaker equally engaged. It reduces the risk of distractions and makes employees learn and retain more.

If you’re trying to wrap your head around storytelling for your next seminar, check out this helpful Medium article.

Invest in notes and revisions

It’s believed that less than 50 percent of employees use Post-it notes and calendar reminders, and only nine percent refer to an employee handbook. Yet, how many of us act on those loose pieces of paper floating around our desks or offices?

Instead of creating concise reminders that can fade into the background of a busy work setting, encourage employees to take notes during a learning session. Generative techniques such as note-taking can improve learning by 30 percent, according to Epic Performance Improvement.

Note-taking is common in a physical environment, but often we opt for a mobile in digital settings — and they are not the same thing! Pressing the F key and writing the letter F are processed two entirely different ways in your brain. So, ditch the device and pick up your pencil instead.

Once the session is done, consider sending an email or summary. About 72 percent of employees believe that communication after the session helps them retain more, according to a UN study.

Another few ideas on note taking:

• Give employees a job aid template to fill out, instead of a completed document.
• Provide a plan for your employees to help them translate their notes into actionable items that can be used on the job.
• Use group conversations and questions to help drive home the learning.

Also, it’s important to ensure that employees do not get so busy taking notes that they forget to pay attention. The trainer should give employees ample time to take notes.

Have more regular training

It’s a common practice to train employees at the beginning of the job or once a year. However, long breaks between training can cause employees to forget what they’ve learned.

Employees need regular monthly internal training to revisit what they’ve learned or to introduce them to new business processes and tools. Videos or other online, on-demand learning can help keep the learning flexible.

The flip side of this is that repetition can become boring, causing employees to tune out the same presentation they have seen and heard multiple times. Consider asking your more senior trainees to help deliver a session, or allow your employees to take a quick test to assess their familiarity with the content.

Offer personalized training

Where possible, training should not be generic. Your body language, vocabulary and examples should all be made relevant to your audience and their industry.

Some trainers believe that hearing from a customer or peer can help employees learn how to apply new knowledge and skills in the workplace. They tend to remember more of what they believe in or have seen to be effective. Hence, always show and not just tell.

Conclusion

Improved retention can help save time and money. Did you know the average employee spends about 15 minutes looking for something they had previously learned?

If you would like to book a consultation with us to discuss your organization’s training needs, or to look at where you could improve, contact us at training@algonquincollege.com.

If you’ve got vacant positions or can’t find the right skills to help your team grow, working the night shift isn’t the only answer. (Simon Abrams on Unsplash)

With a challenge like Covid-19 dominating our attention, it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture.

Many Canadians are out of work, and we hope those jobs will return as the global economy re-opens. However, we also hope an important issue does not get masked by rebounding employment figures: a skills gap that exists in this country.

For years, Canadian organizations have been struggling to find highly skilled workers. The problem has been particularly acute in industries such as manufacturing and construction.

This issue has been on the Ontario government’s radar. In March, the province announced a review of its workforce development and training programs with a goal of creating a much-needed action plan. It’s important to note, however, that this is not just an Ontario problem. 

A 2018 Business Development Bank of Canada paper entitled Labour Shortage in Canada: Here to Stay found 40 percent of small and medium-sized businesses in Canada were having trouble finding prospective hires with the right talents. Ontario, British Columbia and Atlantic Canada were among the hardest hit provinces.

What is the labour shortage costing us?

Fewer skilled employees means reduced productivity, which results in a weakened bottom line. In fact, firms that are affected due to a shortage of labour are 65 percent less likely to show growth. 

This slowed growth adds up. At a broader level, the skills gap costs the Ontario economy billions in lost GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and provincial tax revenues each year, according to The Conference Board of Canada.

But it’s not like these companies want vacant positions. After all, the cost of leaving a position vacant can be high — up to $50,000 per day, based on the position. A vacant position can put added burdens on existing staff, damage morale, lead to poor customer confidence and affect sales and referrals, while also increasing the risk of poor hiring decisions. On the flip side, the average cost of a bad hiring decision is about 30 percent of the employee’s first-year expected earnings. 

So, it’s a bit of a Catch 22 — you don’t want to hire the wrong person, and you don’t want to leave a position vacant. If you’re struggling to find skilled workers, what can you do about it?

What can you do to bridge the gap?

Here are a few things businesses can do to bridge the skills gap, from the BDC 2018 report: 

• Train employees: prepare them for tomorrow, so they can fill vacancies that become available.
• Develop strong HR policies that are geared towards keeping employees, attracting new talent and improving morale, which can lead to increased productivity.
• Explore underutilized segments of the labour force — not enough businesses in the country consider newcomers who may be highly skilled, for example.
• Use tools such as key performance indicators and dashboards to provide insight into your organization both internally and externally. 
• Outsource highly skilled or specialized work, so your organization can work within its key strength areas.
• Invest in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution to take advantage of standardization and automation.
• Use technology and digitize processes where possible.

Looking to cross-train your employees? Found a good hire who is missing some critical skills? 

Consider applying for the Canada-Ontario Job Grant, which helps offset the cost of training that your organization needs to survive and thrive. Contact us to get your application started. You can reach us at training@algonquincollege.com or call 613-727-7729.

No need to stock up on quarters for this lesson on gamification. (Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)

When you hear the term gamification, your mind might turn to plumbers with red hats or the satisfying plonks and wails of a high score performance in progress.

But gamification is more than just controllers and cartridges – it’s also an increasingly poplar technique used by educators to motivate learners. 

Let’s boot up level one and explore the science behind gamification and microcredentialling.

What is Gamification?

Not everyone enjoys the idea of learning, especially traditional learning. Gamification is a process designed to make learning more exciting. While its application can vary, gamification tends to uses points, rules of play, competition, status, self-expression, and/or achievement to encourage desired actions through positive feedback.

The technique is intended to motivate students to be more engaged in class, focus on tasks, and take initiative. 

Let’s be clear that you can use gamification techniques without creating a game. It involves amplifying the effects of an existing experience by applying the techniques that make games engaging.

For instance, Google used gamification to encourage employees to provide travel expense information by the deadline.  The company gave employees the option to receive leftover money, save it for future trips, or donate the amount to a charity. Within six months, they hit a ‘high score’ of 100 per cent participation.

For a bit more reading on gamification and how it can provide a boost to both your learning and your business, this Forbes article provides some interesting applications.

What is Microcredentialling?

Time to level up our knowledge by going a bit deeper into a popular gamification technique: microcredentialling. 

You’ve probably heard of credentials – degrees, diplomas, and the like – so what’s a microcredential? And how does it relate to gamification?

Think of a microcredential like a highly specialized, yet small scale, certification that demonstrates your knowledge and helps you as a learner feel like you’re making progress towards something bigger. 

Educators that use microcredentials might award you a virtual badge for completing an online test or course, or even just the first module of a course. 

If you’ve got a gamer at home (or if you are one yourself), you might have heard these referred to as “achievements” or “trophies.” These indicate that, while you may not have beaten the game, but you did something remarkable, noteworthy, or memorable, and you probably learned as a result.

As an example, Algonquin College (our parent organization) is looking to develop and deliver a series of learning experiences in the form of microcredentials and digital badges by March of next year for our post-secondary students. 

Enter a cheat code

Want to supercharge your company’s learning offerings? We have decades of experience in learning and can help your organization to learn better. Contact us today for a consultation: training@algonquincollege.com. 

“A butterfly can never become a butterfly unless the caterpillar realises that it needs to become one.” C. JoyBell C., author. (Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash)

Nobody is perfect at everything. Shocking, I know.

As a result, you might have a skill you don’t think you’ll ever learn. Maybe you’ve given up on math, learning to play a musical instrument or getting good at small talk. 

The trouble comes when you convince yourself you’ll never improve this skill. When you adopt such a fixed mindset, you deny yourself the opportunity for future growth in that area of your life. 

On the other hand, when you keep an open mind and trust that you can learn to do something that seems challenging, you have what psychologist Carol Dweck calls a growth mindset.

Tapping the psychology of success

“A growth mindset is when students understand that their abilities can be developed,” according to Dweck.

Believing you’re either “sharp” or “dull” is an example of a mindset. When students believe they’re smart, they work harder to get smarter and understand that their efforts will give them results. 

On the other hand, when they think they’re dull, they believe nothing can save them and they stop giving the required effort, which eventually causes them to fail and stop trying.

Dweck coined the term that describes the more positive outlook in her classic book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. 

Mindset and the business world

Obviously, mindset has a huge effect on your ability to learn, grow and develop in your career. If you think “I’m a bad teacher,” you will never be a good one even if you have the potential to succeed.

However, it’s not just people who can adopt a growth mindset. Microsoft has changed its thinking from “know it all” to “learn it all,” for example. The company has changed some of its recruitment and staff evaluation practices to encourage collaboration and experimentation, according to Adecco Group.

The advantages of keeping an open mind

Do you want your team to be more innovative? Do you want your fellow employees to be happier and more productive? Who doesn’t want that, right? 

Well, you’d be surprised. Ask your team members if they want to be happier and more productive and they’ll probably say yes. But, ask them if they want to change the way they work to incorporate a new technology and they might hesitate. 

After all, the way they’re used to working is comfortable and familiar. They’re probably good at it and might fear they’ll look foolish trying something new. 

This is where a willingness to fail, pick yourself up and try again enters the picture. Modern organizations that want to foster a growth mindset need to create safe spaces for their employees to experiment, fail and start over. 

As the famous soccer player Pelé once said, “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and, most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”

We have a number of courses available to help you and your organization navigate change. Learn about our five-day Change Management Foundation & Practitioner Certification, registered with the Project Management Institute. Shorter courses are also available.

While you’re feeding your stomach, don’t forget to feed your brain, too! (Chris Benson on Unsplash)

Henry Ford once said, “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” So, why is it some organizations don’t take employee training more seriously?

According to a 2018 report, American companies spend as little as $961 per employee on training per year. In Ontario, that number is more like $700, according to 2010 numbers from The Conference Board of Canada.

While that may sound like a lot to some, experts recommend spending as much as  five percent of gross salary on training.

Let’s have a look at the importance of employee training and why you should make it a part of your organization’s culture:

Better performance

Employees who receive necessary training are usually better at their work. They often tend to be more productive, as well. 

This is why companies with strong training plans enjoy 24 percent more profit than companies with no or poor training policies, according to the American Society for Training and Development.

Training allows employees to gain a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. This gives them confidence and enhances their overall performance, which ultimately benefits your organization.

Reduced risk of accidents

Over a million Canadian workers suffer workplace-related injuries every year, and many of those are avoidable.

While some industries are more dangerous than others, every job has at least some element of risk. The best way to keep employees safe is to teach them how to work in their unique environments and how to operate specific tools and machines, for example.

Proper training programs can reduce the risk of accidents by up to 60 percent. Plus, they can help your business save money that might otherwise be needed to pay to sick or injured workers.

Happier customers and better reputation

Training plays a vital role in improving your organization’s image. 

The concept is simple: trained individuals are less likely to make mistakes and more likely to properly handle difficult situations.

A poor customer experience can leave your client unhappy, and if they’re unhappy others are likely to hear about it! We are five times more likely to talk about bad experiences than we are to talk about good ones, according to a whitepaper by Dimension Research.

Improved turnover rate

You know it costs more to hire an employee than it does to keep one, which is why most organizations spend a lot of time and money to keep turnover rates low.

The best way to retain employees is to keep them happy and provide good career opportunities. A Gallup survey found that about 87 percent of millennials give importance to career development and growth, meaning training will only increase in importance going forward.

Conversely, a large number of employees who receive little or poor training typically leave their jobs within the first year of joining. Some will shift jobs even if a new position offers less money but provides better training and development.

Helps hire better employees

Workers pay a lot of attention to a company’s training and development policy when comparing job offers. They prefer to work for a business that supports education and training designed to help employees gain new skills and find professional success.

Altogether, training is an asset that can help you win skilled employees. You will, however, need the help of a professional to design and implement programs that cater to your — and their —  unique needs.

Increase loyalty

Employees take great pride in working for a brand that helps them improve and provides opportunities to learn and grow. It makes them feel appreciated and valued, which increases loyalty.

This is important because loyal employees are happier and more productive. Plus, they can play an important role in fostering a positive work environment and helping to attract and retain new employees. 

In saying all this, we must consider another observation by Henry Ford: “Education is preeminently a matter of quality, not amount.” Leaving employees to find what they need on YouTube or other platforms might be low-cost and quick, but it is not guaranteed to be effective.

This is why an increasing number of organizations are seeking custom training solutions that are relevant to their industry, culture and needs. Interested in developing custom learning for your organization? Let us know at training@algonquincollege.com.

Worried about the cost of training? Consider the Canada-Ontario Job Grant, which provides eligible employers with up to $15,000 to cover training costs. We can help you apply – get in touch to get started!

For adult learners, the learning environment takes on even more importance when you move online. (LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Unsplash)

Everyone has a different learning style. Some of us are visual learners, while others prefer reading. Others must be hands-on to take in useful information.

With an increasing number of what we call “mature learners” enrolling in postsecondary schooling, the higher education system is developing a greater understanding of not only the unique learning requirements of adults, but also how those requirements must be carefully considered in the online learning environment.

For example, most theories of adult learning agree that adult learners need to know why they are learning something. That goal can (and should) be easily achieved in any delivery format.

But what about their need to bring their existing experiences to the classroom? How about solving problems and keeping social interaction? What about self-directed learning components? Most online learning providers struggle with these critical components. 

As I wrote previously, there are many different models to online learning. When selecting an approach, you must consider the group you’re teaching, their environment and the material being taught. There’s a time and a place for “chalk-and-talks” or other top-down forms of learning, for example. 

Our instructor-led, virtual classroom model allows for a greater exchange of ideas suited to the needs of adult learners. Outside of the classroom, we challenge them with that old standby homework, which helps adult learners rapidly apply the concepts they are learning. We also employ feedback surveys to help us address any areas for improvement quickly. 

Recently, we added some resources to our website to further help participants in our Zoom-based courses get the most out of their online learning experience. Whether you’re one of our learners or you’re a professional using Zoom for work, we hope you will check out the new content and let us know what you learn! (See what we did there?)

If your group is this big, someone may need to play conductor to ensure the conversation can flow. (Gabriel Benois on Unsplash)

The meeting ends early. Everyone relaxes. The discussion turns to evening plans, the weekend or what everyone’s watching on their streaming service of choice.

This probably sounds familiar to you pre-Covid-19, but is this still happening at the end of your virtual meetings? Or is everyone scrambling to disconnect and move on?

A new Gartner survey finds 88% of global HR executives have encouraged or required employees to work from home, regardless of whether or not they showed coronavirus-related symptoms. This means there’s a lot of us staring at webcams for a few hours a day.

But some of us have had no “orientation” to remote work, and we’re just learning by doing. As we rush from virtual meeting to virtual meeting (as well as to a pot on the stove, a doorbell ringing, a dog needing to be let in or out — whatever), that important social interaction is likely put on the backburner.

Elaine Foster previously wrote about some best practices for working from home, and made an excellent point about productivity. As work slows down for some of us, or as new priorities overtake our day, it can be tempting to ditch small talk and cut right to the chase. 

However, we are happier when we talk to each other — even if it is about simple topics! As a small example, at our daily 4:30 ACCT coffee breaks our team gets a chance to be humans, not just employees. Covid-19 and work are firmly off limits. 

Instead, we discuss the kinds of things you’d expect to hear around an office watercooler or break room. We develop the kind of empathy and patience that gets sorely tested when you receive impersonal emails and can’t decipher tone or intent.

As author and nun Mary Lou Kownacki once said, “There isn’t anyone you couldn’t love once you’ve heard their story.” By cutting out the opportunity for non-work discussion in virtual meetings, you run the risk of undermining the cohesion that helps build great teams.

So, if you want your team to continue to succeed post-Covid, make sure you invite empathy and a little human interest to your next virtual chat.

An expert shares the secret to high performance.

Ever driven a car, arrived at your destination and realized you’ve zoned out and forgotten the whole trip?

That sort of “autopilot” kicks in to spare us the monotony of the same boring commute. (Some of you might be thinking this explains those other drivers on the road, but we’re not going to go there today.)

What happens when our brain does this during important activities, such as during our work day? 

Performance expert Paul Rulkens suggests we spend as much as 95 percent of our life on automatic pilot. Think about that! Without conscious effort, that would mean just 24 minutes of your eight-hour work day is spent in anything resembling deep thought. 

That is, unless you’re part of what Rulkens calls the “three percent” — the people he says are equipped to achieve “extraordinary results.” 

How do you know if you’re part of this elite group?

• More or less? Rulkens notes that when a team encounters a problem, the typical response is to either do more — or less — of what it is accustomed to doing. This phenomenon is driven by tunnel vision rather than a desire to be innovative. Instead, the question should be what we can do differently.
• Don’t settle for norms. Do you want normal results? Then do what everyone else in your industry is doing. Do you want to do something extraordinary? You won’t achieve that by doing what the majority is doing, because the majority is operating on automatic pilot.
• Don’t think inside the box, but think about the box. What shapes your box? We’re hemmed in on all sides by laws and regulations, cultural and industry norms and sometimes by technology. But it’s when we stop to question some of these that innovation becomes possible.

As an example, Rulkens highlights IKEA as an organization that realized you don’t need to assemble the furniture before selling it. 

If you’re tired of hearing the phrase “the way we’ve always done things,” and if you don’t believe “the box is there for a reason,” we have courses that can help. Check into our programming on change management, for instance. 

Or, if you’re looking for something customized to your organization, contact us and let us know what you have in mind!

The Fifth Discipline: A book that only gets better with age. MIT professor Peter Senge emphasizes the need for organizations to keep learning as “the only sustainable competitive advantage” over your competition. Some free resources from Senge can be found on the Society for Organizational Learning’s website.

Measure What Matters: This recommendation comes by way of our executive director of business development, Doug Wotherspoon. A great read if you’re looking to get better at goal-setting. You’ll be hearing more from us on OKRs — Objective and Key Results — in the future! For now, check out whatmatters.com or watch out for the book.

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Great, you’re measuring. Now, how will you get it all done? Maybe this was already a question before Covid-19 hit!

This classic helps you master the mantras of four key disciplines: 

• Focus on the Wildly Important
• Act on the Lead Measures
• Keep a Compelling Scoreboard 
• Create a Cadence of Accountability.

If you’re ready to stop reading and start doing (well, after the book anyway), head over to Franklin Covey’s website.

Designing Your Life: Want to take Stanford University’s most popular course, but don’t have time for a semester in California? 

This easy read from Stanford professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans will take the principles of design thinking and help you apply them to all aspects of your life, to help you feel more energized, satisfied and motivated. The book is full of useful exercises to help you apply the principles, too. Start with their website to see if this is a fit for your summer reading plans.

Nonstop Sales Boom: Now more than ever, you need a strong sales process. Check out this read from Ottawa’s own Colleen Francis of Engage Selling Solutions. Did you know Colleen is LinkedIn’s #1 Sales Influencer for 2020? 

Learn more about what she calls the four critical stages of client engagement and how you can help your team survive and thrive in challenging times. Visit her website for free resources or to find out where to get the book.

If you want a preview of Colleen’s expertise, join us July 15 for our next Future of Work webinar!

From the Ashes: Professor Helena Merriam from Algonquin College’s Library and Information Technician program recommends this read from Jesse Thistle. She calls it “well written, powerful and moving.” The story, which is one of the books in the 2020 Canada Reads program, is the memoir of a Métis-Cree man and his struggles to overcome drug addiction, racism and abuse. Visit Thistle’s website for more information.

Catch up on a classic: Chapters Indigo have pulled together a list of the Top 100 Books of the 20th century. For a fun game with your friends, compare to see how many you’ve read! 

Got a book recommendation? Any you’re looking forward to reading? Send us an email at training@algonquincollege.com.