Employees spend a ton of time on virtual calls these days and screen fatigue is no joke.

However, we know HR and People Ops leaders are looking to provide engaging learning experiences for employees in these hybrid work environments. And as a result of the Great Resignation, it’s more important than ever to invest in professional development for employees.

But how we design the virtual learning experience is so important. People leaders need to maximize that investment to make sure people are truly learning and that we are designing intentional opportunities for employees to connect with their peers on a human level.

If you don’t optimize for learning and connection time, it’s a missed opportunity. So, aside from the typical tip of asking participants to turn on their cameras, we sourced 8 other tips to help make virtual learning more engaging and interactive for your team:

1) Ask simple, no-pressure questions where your team can respond in the chat, or via the annotation tool. Annotation is a great way to get everyone involved quickly at once! It’s also a great way to do a pulse check, and do a check for understanding.

2) Encourage your audience to chime in by umuting their mics. It’s a great way to foster dialogue and conversation instead of listening to one person speak. If it’s a large group and you are worried about hearing “crickets,” try calling on a group of four names so limits the group but doesn’t call one one single person.

3) Ask folks their ‘why’ at the start and create a dialogue before you jump right into the what and the how. Respond to their answers, ask other folks what they think of the response, and don’t be afraid to improvise and take the conversation where it needs to go.

4)  Allow time for the audience to pause/reflect and internalize what was said. Count to ten silently after you ask a question to create adequate “wait time.” Everyone is moving a mile a minute, but baking in time for reflection is appreciated and can be felt immediately. The wait time may also lead to folks being a bit more vulnerable in terms of information sharing.

5) Use polls to add variety to engagement from your audience. If you can add 1-2 questions that collect answers that people may not share in the chat (they want to remain anonymous), polls are a great way to capture that data. Be ready for talking points no matter where the data takes you!

6) Incorporate breakout groups to facilitate intimate discussions. Employees can learn more about each other in smaller group settings. Warning: always preface before moving people into breakout rooms how long they will be in there and set low expectations to avoid drop off. If an employee hears “You will be in there for 25 minutes and we want you to share your life story…” you may see some folks drop!

7) Show short, engaging (and emotional!) video clips to keep modalities varied, and to keep people curious and wanting more! Without causing too many technical challenges, videos change the voice in the room and keep people tuned in. Avoid video clips over 5 minutes!

8) Crack jokes and don’t be afraid to add humor. Also, it’s totally ok if you’re not the joking type - the goal is to always be authentic. You don’t need to force the humor but if there are subtle ways to incorporate your personality into the presentation, you’ll come off as more human.

So, next time you are overseeing a virtual learning experience, add one or two of these quick adjustments to your session and let us know how it goes!

Employees spend a ton of time on virtual calls these days and screen fatigue is no joke.

However, we know HR and People Ops leaders are looking to provide engaging learning experiences for employees in these hybrid work environments. And as a result of the Great Resignation, it’s more important than ever to invest in professional development for employees.

But how we design the virtual learning experience is so important. People leaders need to maximize that investment to make sure people are truly learning and that we are designing intentional opportunities for employees to connect with their peers on a human level.

If you don’t optimize for learning and connection time, it’s a missed opportunity. So, aside from the typical tip of asking participants to turn on their cameras, we sourced 8 other tips to help make virtual learning more engaging and interactive for your team:

1) Ask simple, no-pressure questions where your team can respond in the chat, or via the annotation tool. Annotation is a great way to get everyone involved quickly at once! It’s also a great way to do a pulse check, and do a check for understanding.

2) Encourage your audience to chime in by umuting their mics. It’s a great way to foster dialogue and conversation instead of listening to one person speak. If it’s a large group and you are worried about hearing “crickets,” try calling on a group of four names so limits the group but doesn’t call one one single person.

3) Ask folks their ‘why’ at the start and create a dialogue before you jump right into the what and the how. Respond to their answers, ask other folks what they think of the response, and don’t be afraid to improvise and take the conversation where it needs to go.

4)  Allow time for the audience to pause/reflect and internalize what was said. Count to ten silently after you ask a question to create adequate “wait time.” Everyone is moving a mile a minute, but baking in time for reflection is appreciated and can be felt immediately. The wait time may also lead to folks being a bit more vulnerable in terms of information sharing.

5) Use polls to add variety to engagement from your audience. If you can add 1-2 questions that collect answers that people may not share in the chat (they want to remain anonymous), polls are a great way to capture that data. Be ready for talking points no matter where the data takes you!

6) Incorporate breakout groups to facilitate intimate discussions. Employees can learn more about each other in smaller group settings. Warning: always preface before moving people into breakout rooms how long they will be in there and set low expectations to avoid drop off. If an employee hears “You will be in there for 25 minutes and we want you to share your life story…” you may see some folks drop!

7) Show short, engaging (and emotional!) video clips to keep modalities varied, and to keep people curious and wanting more! Without causing too many technical challenges, videos change the voice in the room and keep people tuned in. Avoid video clips over 5 minutes!

8) Crack jokes and don’t be afraid to add humor. Also, it’s totally ok if you’re not the joking type - the goal is to always be authentic. You don’t need to force the humor but if there are subtle ways to incorporate your personality into the presentation, you’ll come off as more human.

So, next time you are overseeing a virtual learning experience, add one or two of these quick adjustments to your session and let us know how it goes!

CALL TO ACTION

We sourced 8 tips to make hybrid learning more engaging and more human for employees. 

How to Make Hybrid Learning More Engaging and More Human

Tue Apr 26 2022

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