8 Ways to Motivate Employees to Embrace or Engage in Training

If you don’t invest in training, employees will think you’re not interested in their growth. When you make training available, it’s considered a waste of time.

What do you do? 

It’s common for employee training programs to turn into frustrating fiascos. After all, it doesn’t matter whether the training was magnetic or not. When it’s time to transfer learning, your return on investment goes missing if the old practices live on.

Why? At Quantic, our experience with human resource training shows that attendance is only one side of the equation. The other half involves motivation to learn. Without it, employee training is a waste of resources and a missed opportunity.

For your training to deliver its expected benefits, you’ll need more effective training strategies that are employee-centered, exciting, and affordable. 

It is for this reason that we have curated the most effective employee training techniques. We’ll address:

• The role of training programs for employees
• Tips to motivate training
• How to conduct an effective training session
• How organizational culture influences training attitudes in employees 

With these strategies, your staff will feel motivated to attend training, gain new skills, and transfer learning in ways that benefit your business.

Purposes of Training

An effective training strategy benefits both the employee and the employer. It is a win-win affair.

The below table shows the benefits of training employees with corresponding employer gains.

Employees Benefits	Corresponding Employer Benefits
Improves role clarity and other managerial expectations	Facilitates efficiency, effectiveness, and performance management
Gains skills and knowledge about the job, organization, and market	Adapts to shifting market and organization needs
Upgrades competencies	Improves output economics and quality
Improves productivity, morale, and engagement	Increases loyalty to organizational goals, reduces absenteeism and turnover, and improves the quality and economics of output

Impact of Training on Employee Motivation

Motivation is a behavior, argues Brendon Burchard in his book, The Motivation Manifesto. Motivation starts as a feeling towards something and ends up as a conscious commitment towards that objective.

Burchard also asserts that motivation is a choice. However, people with clinical and mental health issues have little control over their motivation. As such, they need therapy and medication.

An employee’s motivation is no different. Your firm’s culture can become an obstacle to employee motivation, while effective training is therapeutic.

For example, well-trained employees have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to handle their duties. However, untrained employees struggle with role clarity because they don’t know what’s expected of them.

Without this clarity, it’s hard to feel motivated. Without motive, the employee feels disconnected from the firm’s goals, mission, and structure. 

This disconnection is expensive. For example, a Gallup report indicates employee disengagement costs the US economy $450 billion to $550 billion annually in lost productivity, motivation, collaboration, and overall profitability.

Therefore, employers need to invest more in activities that drive engagement and motivation, such as effective training programs for employees.

Using Strengths to Increase Motivation

According to a Gallup study, effective managers focus on strength-based training. A strength-based approach aims to help people identify and improve their potential, capabilities, and strengths relative to organizational goals. 

It also involves aligning an employee’s duties and responsibilities with what they bring to the table. This way, employees can see how their skills and work fit into the organizational structure and objectives. When implemented strategically, it:

• Increases employee engagement by 7% to 23%.
• Improves performance by 8% to 18%.
• Enhances team productivity by 17%.
• Reduces turnover rates by 20% to 73%.
• Increases profitability by 21%.

To develop a strength-based training culture, you’ll need to: 

1 – Conduct a Strengths Analysis

Suppose you must introduce a new marketing strategy. A strength assessment test will help you identify employees that are flexible, fast-adapting, and have leadership potential. 

Training should start with this group.

2 – Perform Resource Analysis

Many traditional strength-finding tests, such as CliftonStrengths, come with additional training. Whether they are enough depends on your organizational and training needs.

You can also create your own resource center, such as a learning management system (LMS). The question is, do you have the technological and professional know-how to createan LMS? Or, should you involve a professional trainer with a solid track record in human resource training, such as Quantic? 

3 – Conduct a Culture Analysis

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) study indicates that the primary hindrance to long-term change is anti-change organizational leadership and management.

Does your organization’s culture support and demand strength-based managerial expectations? Do you unleash trained employees in an environment that’s rigid to change or one based on a culture of learning?

How to Motivate Employees to Attend Training: 8 Ways

Use a Learning Management System (LMS)

LMS software documents, administers, delivers, tracts, and automates training, learning, and other development programs. It offers:

• Individualized, self-paced online training available 24/7 on various platforms, including mobile phones.
• Centralized data collection, which gathers analytics on each employee, such as training progress, performance, growth, and development.
• Collected data helps you identify skills gaps or aspirations and recommend supplemental resources to help an employee advance.
• Consolidated information makes it easier to create, develop, modify, maintain, and deliver training from one place.
• Integrated social learning allows you to link to social media groups, create peer-to-peer learning experiences, and market your courses online to attract more learners.

Yes, you can build your own LMS. There are also numerous LMS software creators you can hire. 

But then, you’ll also need to hire a specialist to determine the training resources needed and instructors to design the courses. You’ll also have to stay updated in various fields to keep the course content fresh and relevant. 

But what assurance do you have concerning solid LMS and instructional designs that make e-learning mobile-first and interactive? Additionally, what other benefits can you offer your employees to keep them hooked on training? 

There are many unknowns in creating your own LMS. That’s why you should consider a trendsetter in LMS and human resource training, such as Quantic. 

Quantic Executive MBA Review | President & Founder, SPRING

Quantic offers the following benefits: 

• An LMS approved by world-class institutions, such as Google, JP Morgan, and Amazon.
• Competitive training that can match and outperform industry giants like Harvard and Duke.
• A chance at a partially or fully funded MBA for those with outstanding academic records.
• Lifetime access to up-to-date content, virtual and in-person meetings, exclusive conferences remotely and in cities around the globe, and a high-caliber alumni and career network.
• Social learning through peer-to-peer training resources and transfer of training through case studies and collaborative group work.

Alt: quote from Clayton Christensen Institute and Financial Times

Employ Active Learning

Active learning promotes engagement with the material in ways that encourage inquiry, synthesis, and appraisal, and, consequently, performance. 

For example, research on active learning in underrepresented STEM students (who cannot afford to take preparation classes before college) indicates a 33% and a 43% increase in achievement and passing rates, respectively. 

With active learning, students worked on relevant tasks, participated in scaffolding, received immediate feedback, and were exposed to deliberate repetition to increase engagement with content.

Quantic’s active learning is based on how the mind learns, primarily on online platforms. Hence, it’s learner-friendly.

Specifically, the platform drives engagement with content every eight seconds through quizzes and instant feedback. The storytelling techniques make learning interactive such that learners learn progressively and by applying knowledge and critical thinking.

Alt: testimonial about Quantic active learning

Not yet convinced about the Quantic method? How about trying the 47 free introductory courses?

What about class size? Quantic can take as many as 200 per class and still deliver world-class learning.

Use Gamification

According to the TalentLMS 2019 survey, gamification increases motivation by 83%. When training is not gamified, over 60% of employees report boredom.

Alt: gamification benefits from TalentLMS 2019 survey

Gamification is effective because it’s human nature to find pleasure in games, competitions, and winning. Often, these activities encourage learning through a rewards system, deliberate repetition to perfect one’s moves and increase chances of winning, and short-timed activities that facilitate information uptake and engagement.

For example, Quantic’s gamified LMS uses:

• Stories to stage the concept
• Find-a-word to reinforce keywords
• Quizzes and polls every eight seconds with instant feedback to drive engagement
• Rewards, such as certificates and merits, can qualify one for a partially sponsored or free MBA

This is what a learner had to say about our gamified learning:

Make it Mobile

As of 2021, mobile phones accounted for over 54.8% of global website traffic. In the US, 48% of online searches occurred via smartphones.

Going mobile is a must!

But how do you capitalize on this strategy? After all, your employee training resource center isn’t a blog where you can churn out well-intended but ill-executed content. It’s a sacred site deserving the best courses, coaches, and interactions.

With Quantic, you don’t have to worry about the technical stuff. Our mobile-first gamified LMS delivers active learning and microlearning in one swoop to your smartphones. Our proven track record in training human resources makes learning feel personal, interactive, and convenient.

Our students can attest to this:

Alt: student testimonial about Quantic mobile learning experiences

Use Microlearning

Microlearning refers to bit-size learning. It’s a feature of highly effective LMS, active learning, and gamified learning platforms, such as Quantic.

Progressive learning can also be applied to in-person training.

For example, let’s say you base training on quarterly analytics. Instead of scheduling an entire day to train about quality issues, how about a quick 30-minute session addressing a recent event? 

Then, follow it up with a lesson a few days later to give feedback and address other concerns. 

Also, consider converting the short meeting into an article and uploading it to your company’s resource center. That way, your employees can access it if and when needed.

Have Rewards

Incentives are motivating by nature. That’s why good food drives training attendance.

However, reward with caution. You don’t want to spend a fortune on extrinsic motivation only for employees to revert to pre-training practices because they learned little to nothing.

For more substantial ROI, focus on the “what’s-in-it-for-me” type of motivation. If you can establish a personal connection, the promised growth will motivate your employees to embrace training.

Extrinsic rewards, such as food, will get people through the door. Intrinsic rewards, such as personal value, will get people to embrace and engage in training. 

For example, our MBA program uses intrinsic motivation to encourage training. As employees train, they earn points to qualify for a partially or fully funded MBA. Who wouldn’t want a free MBA from an institution giving universities like Harvard a run for their money?

Additionally, we have a reimbursement strategy that motivates employees to pay for their training. This refund policy encourages employees to attend training and learn new skills. 

Train on Real-Time Issues

Do you have a training needs analysis (TNA) strategy in your firm to identify the skills needed most urgently by your employees with what your business needs? 

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a TNA is a four-step process involving a: 

• Needs analysis to determine the why behind the TNA – clarity enhances intention.
• Gap analysis to identify the existing status quo and the desired destination.
• Training analysis to classify the firm’s training needs by their importance relative to the gaps and needs.
• Recommendation analysis to identify the most needed training, including budgeting and scheduling.

TNA-based training will motivate attendance because it’s staff-centered. This data will also help you target specific employees and conduct more effective training sessions. 

Make Time for Training

Often, training comes with time-luggage your employees cannot afford.

When you don’t make time for training, it means more (hurried through) work, overtime, or taking work home to compensate. The result is an overworked, frustrated, and unengaged workforce.

Additionally, such oversights communicate your inability to value your employee’s time and welfare. With time, these minor disregards increase the intention of leaving.

An effective LMS, such as Quantic learning, resolves the time factor by bringing learning to employees’ fingertips and making skill acquisition a personal endeavor.

How to Motivate Employees to Learn New Skills

Your last training was terrific. Everyone seemed excited about the new marketing strategy. Then, within one month, it’s as if the training never existed.

What happened? 

According to HBR, companies in the US spend at least $160 billion on training annually. Yet, ROI remains unrealized as most employees soon revert to pre-training methods because of anti-change management and leadership. When management is anti-change, training will, of course, feel like a waste of time. 

The question is, as an employer, how can you motivate managers to play a more active role in ensuring the transfer of training?

For managers to facilitate the post-training application of knowledge, they need to: 

• Perform a resource and culture analysis before any training to ensure employees have the resources they need to apply the training.
• Conduct a post-training analysis to assess the transfer of training, including factors promoting or inhibiting organizational change. 
• Attend training on how to conduct an effective training session and submit reports concerning the transfer of this knowledge.
• Change beliefs concerning employees, employee training, and organizational change as indicated in the table below. 

Out-Dated Leadership and Managerial Beliefs	More Effective Leadership and Managerial Beliefs
Employees make or break a company	A firm’s leadership and management can make or break it
Training employees makes a company more effective	Organizational culture should promote a culture of learning and curiosity. For example, every training should
Organizational change starts with the employees	Organizational change is a top-down affair because employees are often a reflection of a firm’s leadership and management

What Can be Done to Motivate Companies to Evaluate Training Programs?

Have you ever heard of the ostrich management style? It goes like this:

Once upon a time, there was an ostrich. It would bury its head in the sand whenever there was an issue and hope for the best.

STOP!

Your business doesn’t rely on happenstance. It’s here to make money, not waste resources.

If you’re not evaluating training programs, you’re:

• Not learning. Why? Learning involves knowing what’s working and what’s not, and the whys behind each outcome. 
• Not taking accountability. Although you’re the employer, taking accountability means taking responsibility and being response-able. If you don’t, you’ll end up assigning blame and getting more frustrated. 
• Putting your company, your employees, and yourself at a disadvantage. By the time employees feel motivated to learn a functional skill on their own, the ocean will also be red with the competition. Everyone in the firm will have to work twice as hard for the bare minimum ROI.

Making training effective may seem intimidating. But with a trusted partner like Quantic, you can make it engaging and interactive, such that employees will feel intrinsically motivated to embrace and engage in training. 

How does Quantic keep the motivation to train and learn alive, heightened, and channeled in the most productive way possible?

• Quantic removes the managerial headaches of creating effective training, including the motivational techniques to facilitate knowledge uptake and application. We have an interactive LMS that uses active learning, gamification, and microlearning, and is mobile-first. 
• Quantic has a data center that records all activities of the integrated workforce. With this data, you can learn about your crew, including the most in-demand courses, skills acquired or desired, and academic and professional aspirations.
• You can use the collected data to make decisions. For example, do you need to fill a position on the sales team? Which analytics show an interest in sales, customer acquisition, blue ocean strategies, or account management? 
• You’ll have access to a high-caliber talent network. Do you need to hire in-house or recruit from our career network for fresh or seasoned talent? Our pool of talent will open up your firm to a world of quality, productivity, and effectiveness.
• Your employees will also have access to an MBA or EMBA that’s partially or fully funded and only takes a year. This probability heightens motivation to learn and improves loyalty to the employer. 

Ready to get started?

Book a call with our team so we can discuss how to train your workforce at scale with our unique and affordable program.