Prepare and persuade your learners with effective communications

Effectively communicating training can be a challenge in any organisation especially when a training programme isn’t mandatory. To ensure successful implementation and rollout, planned communication should be an essential part of any training programme. If learners don’t know what’s coming and why it’s important, your efforts may be wasted and you may not achieve what you set out to do.

Below you will find some examples from BT Global Services, AOL and Cable&Wireless of how they approached communications for new e-learning programmes.

Law firm* - Diversity and inclusion

Demonstrating a positive stance towards a positive workplace

Encouraging the take up of e-learning, specifically for topics that may seem dry or irrelevant can prove to be a challenge in some organisations. So when one of the world's largest law firms* planned to introduce a new high impact, high profile multimedia e-learning programme to raise the awareness of diversity and inclusion, they opted for an additional communications trailer to raise awareness of the new diversity initiative.

High impact and visually striking

As well as raising awareness, the objectives of the trailer were to communicate the need for a diversity and inclusion policy, communicate the relationship between values and policy as well as encourage the take up of the e-learning programme. The piece, which was both visually striking with powerful messages and challenging questions, effectively stimulates an appetite for the e-learning.

*Due to the sensitive nature of the course we are unable to use their name.

AOL - Performance Management

Ensuring a improved employee experience

When AOL UK, the world's leading Internet Service Provider decided to implement a new enhanced performance management process in order to keep HR functions inline with the company's fast growth, they faced the challenge of employee adoption to the new system which would be critical to its successful integration.

The concept designed for AOL was a rich blend of communication and learning devices spread over a period of time rather than a one-off experience.

Raising awareness and expectation

In order to blaze a trail for the main e-learning, a short online teaser was created to raise awareness and expectation in the target audience. The highly visual, promo style trailer communicates to employees the key objectives of implementing the new performance management system before the onset of the main learning. The non-interactive piece, aimed directly at the individual, highlights the main reasons for and improvements that will come from the new process.

Cable & Wireless – Business Continuity Management

Embracing technology to serve business needs

For Cable & Wireless, one of the world’s leading international communications companies, safeguarding the business and the services offered to its customers is of utmost importance. In order to communicate its plans of what to do in the event of a disaster and instruct colleagues on how to minimise business impacts, it opted for an innovative e-learning programme to tackle the subject.

Capturing the learners attention

For more than 130 years, Cable & Wireless has constantly reinvented to serve the needs of its customers - as such, it opted for a portal-based non-linear approach to move away from traditional e-learning. To encourage colleagues to take the course, a high-impact multimedia trailer was created which links to the course. Through motivation and knowing the subject is important, Cable & Wireless can capture the learners’ attention so they will fully benefit from the programme.

BT Global Services - Account Development Planning

Supporting a successful training implementation

In order to support the role out of a new e-learning course on Account Development Planning, BT Global Services, the global networked IT service provider, opted for a short animated trailer to promote the course to the end users.

Increasing successful project implementation

The programme, which consists of two modules, one aimed at sales staff, the other at managers is pre-empted by the short animation which is designed to help the engagement process for sales staff as well as help differentiate the e-learning modules from previous experiences. This can ensure greater success for the uptake of e-learning, especially in a large organisation like BT which uses the medium to train staff on a wide range of subject matters.