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Why creating engaging compliance training truly matters

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Why creating engaging compliance training truly matters

Creating exciting, memorable, and engaging compliance training truly matters. Just because people have to take a course, shouldn’t mean you put less effort into making it truly effective. The information provided in these courses is likely to be some of the most important content your learners need to know. As learning designers, we should do all we can to make compliance training memorable and engaging. 
 
The first sign that your learning is ineffective is your learners pass mark on their first try. If the majority of your cohort is failing on their first attempt, its a sign the information was not successfully assimilated. That, or they just didn’t try to learn and clicked ‘next’ until they found themselves at the assessment. Due to ineffective learning, your learner may not follow the correct procedures at critical moments – creating a risk for your company.
 
The second area in which compliance training falls short is with quarterly retraining. When it comes to topics that need frequent re-certifications, change up the content! Introduce it in a new fashion, and truly test learner retention. I spent years in the finance industry, completing compliance training on a quarterly basis. I witnessed learners flying through modules and passing on the first try as they have seen this exact course a year before. This is ineffective training (and dare I say it, a waste of time). This is a widespread issue in the finance world. I reconfirmed my experiences by ‘surveying’ a handful of my friends who work in financial institutions across London. They are all suffering with unappealing learning that isn’t teaching them anything new.   
 
This leads me to the final consequence of ineffective training: damaging the learning culture of the company. Many learners will leave mandatory training until chased to do so, as the deadline is looming, simply to avoid a compliance breach. This attitude to learning is now universal across all course subjects, as their first encounter was uninspiring. Creating aversion to learning inside your organisation is the exact opposite of what L&D professionals should aim to achieve. 
 
L&D and Compliance teams need to work together to create effective, engaging and exciting learning. This is more important now than ever, as new topics are introduced due to the effect the global pandemic has had on the world.
 
So, how much effort are you making to create truly engaging mandatory learning modules?