All I Want for the Holidays is Fun Compliance Training

I don’t want a lot for the holidays
there is one thing I can’t stand.
All those boring compliance trainings
underneath my learning plan.

I don’t need another policy
or eSigning on the dotted line.
It doesn’t mean I read a thing
or will remember what to do in time.

I just want something fun,
please, before the year is done.
All I want for the holidays
is Compliance Training that’s fun!

We have all done it. I even took a compliance training class this morning—for the record, I passed the quiz on the third try and did not read the content.

This makes me a terrible learner—but a great person to give some tips on how to make compliance training fun.

• Treat People Like Adults: More than likely, the people you are training are adults who can read. Unless you know your target audience needs to have the information in an audio format for accessibility, treat people like the adults they are; give them the compliance policy, and trust they will read it.

• Billboard Your Content: Look through the policy and imagine that you are on a highway. Think of all the times you have driven down a road and been able to read the billboards and other signage as you speed by. Summarize the training content in creative ways like the way advertisers do. It is more important that the content is memorable than it is serious and detailed.Creating advertisements for key concepts ensures your learners are more likely to remember it in the time of need.

• Mini-Games: Have you ever been addicted to a video game on your phone? Two factors usually influence the reason why this happens: they’re easy to play and they’re fun!When developing compliance training, you could make a long, drawn-out, complex scenario for the learner to respond to—but face it, the answers are usually apparent. Why not make it simple and fun like the games you play on your cell phones? Add some characters and humor to the assessment to increase the stickiness.

• YouTube or Netflix: Consider how we spend our time. Think of how many times a day you might pull up a funny clip on YouTube and watch it as a break or a diversion. Now try to find the time to binge-watch a show on Netflix. Need a little more time to binge-watch, right? Keep the duration shorter and more frequent for important compliance training. If these training moments can be interspersed throughout a normal working day instead of being longer and needing to be scheduled, the user is more apt to take the course.

• Ease of Access: While there are times when you need to keep your compliance training under lock and key, try to make it as easy to access as possible. You do not want people to be frustrated before they even get to the information. Also, ensure that logging in does not take more time than taking the actual exam. Make it easy for people to log in and access the compliance training, while still being safe online.

In this holiday season, think about giving and receiving gifts. Whether it be presents over the course of seven days or under a single tree, the quality matters. It does not have to be the biggest present, and it does not have to be perfect. A present needs to show you truly understand the receiver and have their best interests in mind.

Compliance training is actually a gift we give our employees to keep them safe—consider the recipient of your compliance gift, and make it a fun experience for every learner.

Happy Holidays!

About the Authors

Sheri Weppel

Sheri Weppel started her career as an art teacher covered in finger paint, clearly teaching people about out-of-the-box thinking (or at least off-the-construction-paper thinking). While working on her master’s degree in Instructional Design and Development at Lehigh University, she realized that we could learn a lot from the public-school classroom. Concepts like micro-learning, learning styles, gaming, and training on demand were common in grade school, but were considered new concepts in the corporate sector. Because one degree is never enough, Sheri continued her studies at Lehigh with a focus on Gaming for Instruction. In her spare time, she spent her evenings losing to her husband in Scrabble and wanting to throw the letter Q across the room, making her realize the emotional attachments we can have to games. If we could harness that desire to succeed, compete, or win to a learning environment, what impact could we have on learner motivation? Countless games of Scrabble later, Sheri started at GP Strategies as an Instructional Designer and was able to inject those concepts into solutions for her customers. This is often a challenge for customers that want to use gaming but often don’t believe they have the time or budget required to successfully launch into the gaming space. Sheri is driven to help these clients find a balance in embedding gaming elements into instruction in a practical manner. In the past nine years, Sheri has held many roles within the organization, from instructional designer to sales lead for blended learning, and is now focusing on the off-the-shelf product GPiLEARN+, growing the product into a true blended learning solution. Regardless of her role, Sheri is always focused on working with customers to help build impactful training solutions that focus on the needs of all populations. She helps clients determine specifically when to incorporate gaming versus using hands-on, traditional approaches. When she is not working, Sheri enjoys having adventures with her dog Olivia, attending barre classes, and learning new three-letter words that begin with the letter Q.