In a well-structured corporate training environment, compliance is not only a necessity but also a significant responsibility, both legally and operationally. The CGS 2017 Enterprise Learning Annual Report: Corporate Learning Trends, Observations & Predictions reports that 37.75% of the 200 respondents consider “improving technical and compliance capabilities” to be one of the top three issues related to corporate learning. And why so? Because adherence to laws and regulations related to any business is crucial. It helps in alleviating risks and safeguarding organizational reputation, and it ensures that there are no unnecessary legal tussles and penalties.
Over the years, most organizations have graduated from the traditional ways of explaining regulations to their employees and moved on to online training. However, the subject matter of compliance training is still seen as a necessary evil—a type of medicine to be taken. The PwC State of Compliance Study 2016 even pointed out that “79% of CEOs cited over-regulation as a top threat to their organizations’ growth prospects.” Overwhelming employees with a long list of compliance standards can often end up creating a wrong picture about compliance in general.
What compliance training needs is a revamp, and it ideally begins with change in the instructional design outlook and creating learning solutions that are apt, relevant, and applicable. An LMS with the flexibility to make changes, updates, and additions as you go can play a pivotal role in managing the compliance experience. From content delivery to greater outreach based on learners’ roles, assessments, and certifications, to automatic scheduling of refresher courses as and when needed, an LMS can address most of the regulatory training issues in a time and cost-efficient way.
An LMS is also an ideal compliance training solution because it can be accessed anywhere, anytime, on the device of one’s choice. But the effectiveness of compliance training using an LMS isn’t mere luck; it depends on certain strategies.
Here are nine tips to ensure effective compliance training with an LMS.
1. Utilize the power of multimedia and learning elements
Compliance training programs deal with critical subject matter that impacts the overall functioning of an organization. Hence, it must meet the needs of all the learners. One way to do so is by utilizing the power of multimedia (strong imagery, audio clips, interactivity, etc.) and learning elements (eLearning courses, PDFs, PPTs, videos, infographics, etc.) in the compliance training strategy.
2. Cash in on mobile learning
Mobile learning gives employees the flexibility to access compliance training anytime and anywhere. A responsive LMS goes a step beyond, enabling employees to even switch between devices and continue their learning seamlessly on the device of their choice.
3. Use the LMS as a repository
Holding compliance training records for future reference (including audits, etc.) is often a tough task for organizations. An LMS can act as a centralized data storage system and a repository to hold training records, competencies, certificates, and a summary of each trainee’s real-time status. It can manage future compliance training schedules and avoid repetitive scheduling, too.
4. Make assessments simple
Any training is incomplete without proper assessment. An LMS with strong assessment capabilities helps organizations in assigning various assessments (and assignments) to the learners, i.e., employees.
5. Make it a two-way street
Online surveys, questionnaires, and polls provide an opportunity for the learners to share their opinions, voice their concerns, assist in identifying trends, and pinpoint areas for improvement in the existing training strategy.
6. Track, report, and make intelligent decisions
With an LMS, reporting becomes quite simple. Reports can be easily drawn to track and monitor employees’ progress. This data can be translated into meaningful information for devising better L&D strategies and improving processes.
7. Organize training schedules easily
Sending out notifications and reminders is a valuable feature for scheduling training. It keeps learners aware of deadlines and assists in delivering successful training results. For courses that require periodic revisits, an LMS can send reminders to prompt learners to come back and re-certify on time.
8. Make it social
Knowledge sharing and collaborative learning are great mediums to build an informal learning culture. Social media can be leveraged as an effective tool to encourage exchange of ideas, knowledge sharing, and content curation, too.
9. Keep them compliant—always!
Training and retraining is an inevitable part of organizational growth. Having an LMS in place is the fool-proof strategy to ensure that employees and their managers stay compliant all the time.
Compliance training keeps employees informed about industry regulations and puts them on track for advancement, which in turn impacts business performance. Hence, compliance training is part of a greater ecosystem that needs to be put in place to guarantee the smooth functioning of an organization.