Scaling up your training output from home: The opportunities of remote learning

Boost your training output

You’ve probably witnessed that remote working prevents your company’s employees from reaching 100% of their normal workloads. Thanks to modern technologies, we can perform many of our tasks from home. But some projects and tasks may be put on hold now until we’re able to return to business as usual. That means your employees may have some extra time on their hands.

Use this “downtime” as a chance to expand your company’s knowledge base. Here’s how to do it.

Employee-Generated Learning

Easygenerator has pioneered a content-authoring method called Employee-Generated Learning (EGL). Under this model, L&D singles out experts on specific topics within the organization. These “subject-matter experts” (SMEs) are a goldmine of useful, real-life experience and information.

Give these employees access to easy-to-use content-authoring software like Easygenerator. Ask them to create content, such as step-by-step guides, tutorials, and quick tips that they can share with their team members online.

Benefits of Employee-Generated Learning

• EGL is a cost-effective way to quickly scale up your company’s training output.
• It takes the strain off of your L&D and HR team by empowering employees to self-serve their own learning needs.
• The content that SMEs create is based on valuable, real-life work experience. This makes it highly relevant. Employees can immediately see the benefit of how EGL content applies to their actual work processes.
• EGL is engaging. It empowers your employees and encourages them to take responsibility for their learning needs.
• EGL is social. It is an interactive, collaborative process that promotes a healthy exchange of ideas. This creates a strong, knowledge-based community, keeping people connected even as they work remotely.

Getting started with Employee-Generated Learning

Step 1: Pick a user-friendly online learning tool

To make EGL work, you need a zero-learning curve online learning tool, like Easygenerator. The key is to offer a minimalist, user-friendly interface that SMEs can use to author learning content without having to go through extensive training first.

Step 2: Set learning goals and identify the right topics for EGL

As an L&D professional, it will be your job to guide the content creation process under an EGL model. Identify the areas where your knowledge base is lacking information or needs brushing up. Talk with employees or use easy online survey tools (like SurveyMonkey) to gauge the topics that your learners want to know more about.

Step 3: Identify and coach your SMEs

Talk with managers and find out which employees are the leading experts on the training topics you want to scale up. Then, schedule some facetime with these SMEs (using Zoom, for example) and discuss your learning goals. Coach them on how to create concise learning content that will add value to your organization’s knowledge base.

Step 4: Let SMEs create and improve content

Introduce your SMEs to the online learning tool you’ve chosen. Let them start creating and publishing content. As an L&D professional, it’s your job to monitor their training output and intervene to improve when necessary. Just make sure that your SMEs feel a sense of ownership over their content. This will encourage them to produce more and more.

Step 5: Evaluate and improve continually

Use a simple content evaluation metric like net promoter score (NPS) to rate the usefulness of the content your SMEs produce. NPS is a good choice. It makes it quick and easy for learners to rate the training content when they’re finished viewing it. This helps you spot what content learners find useful, and improve content that they find less useful.

Turn downtime into training output

With the EGL model, your company can optimize precious working hours as most of its employees work from home. It’s a great option for turning our current crisis into an opportunity for expanding knowledge. Best of all, the benefits of EGL will be just as powerful even after we return to business as usual.