How to create training content?

When is L&D content inappropriate for minorities?

Companies make every effort to ensure adequate representation of diverse populations among their employees. A company’s management and executives perform better when the selection of all people in the workforce is equal. But we still have a long way to go as many are not well employed at the highest levels. The biggest reason is that there is not enough L&D content for different populations. This is where L&D can play its part and fill the gap. These are the reasons why L&D content does not involve many employees in the company.

Reasons why L&D content doesn’t engage employees

1. Lack of comprehensible content

L&D can ensure content is appropriate for minority groups as well. For example, there may be a lack of understanding of L&D content by minority groups. Perhaps different groups do not understand the organizational culture and no one has tried to adjust the culture to suit their needs. In such a case, training is useless because the organizational culture itself is not easily accepted by marginalized groups. This is the job of HR who needs to prepare sound, unbiased assessments and content when management training is needed.

2. Improper management training

Companies must clearly assess the qualities required of a future leader, which is especially important in the face of technological change. Management and the L&D team also need a clear understanding of what the organization needs from a leader to promote someone to a position based on their attributes, skills, etc. It can be problematic when L&D content is prepared without considering the attributes required for the role.

Companies should be prepared to acquire off-the-shelf content that is tailored to different audiences. So when an organization knows what content is necessary, such as what kind of organizational values ​​it needs to support, it can direct an external L&D vendor to create aligned content. Of course, there are various factors to consider when designing such content, such as the time available to employees and what kind of technology they use at home. If such factors are not taken into account, the L&D budget will be wasted and employees will not be able to be promoted to leadership roles.

3. No proper registration

Simulations play an important role in an eLearning course. But the characters used in the simulations are often from the majority community, which does not always click with the target audience. Organizations need to use more diverse characters, similar to the general population, so that employees find them appropriate.

This is a huge responsibility for L&D and they have to consider employees with different backgrounds. In order to design a better course, they need to study the skill levels of the target audience in detail. When people from all backgrounds are not considered, it can cause problems because the course becomes irrelevant. However, when L&D does the proper research, the audience becomes better targeted, leading to better results. Even games must be designed with the target audience in mind.

Before the L&D team decides to begin developing a program, they need help from these diverse groups, as they can help L&D better understand the kinds of challenges they face when using eLearning programs. Was eLearning so unfocused that they had to understand the organizational culture themselves? The L&D team can also consult with people from different groups to understand if there is a barrier to accessing the program outside the office. eLearning must be comprehensive and cater to the needs of various minorities. When an eLearning program does not engage minority populations, they are more likely to drop out due to a lack of proper engagement.

Solution: Consulting HR

In fact, HR needs to be considered to know which particular group is leaving the company, and L&D also needs to get statistics on which minorities are least promoted into leadership roles. In this way, L&D teams can modify leadership training programs. To prepare a program for everyone means to act as a democracy and take care of all the populations working within the society.