Finally, Make Your Training Stick
In the age of big data, savvy companies increasingly expect quantitative proof of training effectiveness. And why shouldn’t they?
However, the actual “stickiness” (i.e., return on investment) of training depends almost entirely on what learners do after training, when learners are harder to influence and their attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors are hardest to measure.
Harnessing new messaging technology, Mobile Coach helps you increase and assess learners’ knowledge retention and skill application by engaging the learner in a sustained, automated, post-training conversation. This groundbreaking approach gives you access to your learners’ mindfulness and data to demonstrate ROI.
What is “sticky training”?
The development in L&D implies that people need time to become fluent with new skills and knowledge. But good learning intentions get buried fast when learners return to the day-to-day—they choose, by habit, to allocate time in the same ways they have in the past, which squeezes new ideas and behaviors to the margins.
Sticky training is lasting knowledge and skill development. It results when learners are reconnected to the substance and experience of training repeatedly, over time.
How does Mobile Coach make training stick?
Mobile Coach makes training stick by engaging learners in a two-way, automated, post-training conversation via text messaging. In tech speak, we introduce your learners to your very own, proactive chatbot, called a “mobile coach.”
Sound unusual?
Imagine that your L&D team included a chatbot named Coach Jane, and that Jane was programmed to be smart about your training content. Then imagine giving her a fun and friendly personality and scheduled her to check in with your learners on a regular basis. Coach Jane would message your learners through texting or through a messaging app — just like how real friends do.
If Coach Jane could suddenly enjoy the same level of attention that your learner gives to friends and family, you now have a powerful platform that tethers your learner to the training content.
The Mobile Coach Approach Works
Skeptical? We have found that up to 95% of corporate learners across major clients routinely stay engaged with a mobile coach conversation for months at a time. Mobile coaches like Coach Jane are successful for three main reasons.
- Ease of use. Asking people to do something new, like review training material, is often too much to ask. But interacting with a chatbot is no different than interacting with their friends. There is no learning curve for how to use a new piece of software or having to remember a username and password.
- Conversational UI (user interface). Compared to LMS portals, a conversational user experience is frictionless and easy to sustain over long periods of time. And since learning is a journey, not a single event, continuing the conversation is a must-have component for training reinforcement. The best way to continue the conversation? Through an actual conversation, not through some software that requires clicks and swipes.
- Personalization. Messaging a chatbot feels like a one-on-one conversation. This dynamic lends itself to greater self-reflection and honest evaluation. It allows the interactions to feel customized to the learner. Imagine if the facilitator of a classroom training could spend meaningful, one-on-one time with each learner after the group class was over. While that might be a more ideal instructional design, it is not practical or affordable. A mobile coach can be the next best thing.
Make It Stick
When a company has an important new initiative, and training is central to execution, decision-makers will expect training to stick—and data to prove it. Want to make your training stick? Want data to prove it? Watch our video walkthrough of a mobile coach and let’s chat.
