Personalizing approaches to corporate training efforts are all the rage as it optimizes the learning experience and delivers results. Here’s what you need to know about personalized corporate training.

Today, everything is tailored based on preference. Just as people can curate their feed on social media and filter the posts they have on their Facebook timelines, so can education methods given. But how, you may ask? Through personalized training. Basically, personalized training is allowing a person to learn based on objectives and approaches that are most effective in addressing his/her needs; driven by the sequence, timing and content the learner himself sees fit. This equates to presenting the individual with various tools and approaches, opposing the traditional one-size-fits-all set up. In this way, it not only optimizes learning but also gives a unique experience — one that brings more results than setbacks.

Gone are the days of intuitive-linear teaching where employees are presented with general information and in large quantities. Because of the ever changing pace there is in learning, enhancing education patterned with the needs of each employee lets them take control over their own learning and career development whilst also encouraging high engagements towards training efforts. Computer Generated Solutions (CGS) explained in their report entitled “Corporate Learning Predictions, Observations and Trends” that a large number (80%) of respondents from various businesses and organizations highly agreed that curation and personalization are priorities for their corporate training programs. But just because customized programs are preferred by a vast majority, it doesn’t guarantee that learners will advance overnight or in a span of a few weeks. So, in order to make the personalized training experience more fulfilling and worthwhile, the following should be remembered:

It’s a process, not a single event.

An article by HR Exchange Network says that personalization is a great way of letting employees work on the job whilst enjoying it; meaning it doesn’t make steps swifter than normal but allows the learner to make the most out of the learning experience instead. In comparison with classroom set-ups, the blended training approach reduces costs as well. Hiring more in-house staff, scheduling sessions that may interrupt steady productivity, and providing physical materials and food is needed no longer. On that note, not only does it return investment but also scales costs without breaking the budget. The course of corporate education is a continuous and ever-evolving cycle, so, it doesn’t stop there. Analysis and constructive feedback are also essential to any process as learners need to know their areas of improvement paired with positive reinforcement.

It comes with future-proofing for quality results.

Bringing about customized training is neither easy nor cheap, but the outcomes and satisfaction it holds are surely worth the investment. Thus, training methods should also adjust to the trends fit for employees— one person at a time. Although there’s no question that personalized corporate education can be done, it still requires a willingness to invest in employees’ learning and development and an openness to shifting to more effective styles of teaching. The good thing is, many companies have realized this. In fact, a post by eLearning Industry reported that roughly 38% of companies have seen an increase in their training budget and predict that it will rise further in the next two years.

Strive for specific and relevant content.

The quality of content fed should always be of utmost priority. A customized scheme doesn’t exactly entail success unless the materials provided and resources available respond to the need of the individual. Didina Gonzalez from IE Business School Corporate Learning Alliance agrees that most analytics tools can manage data related to activities in a specific course, but they would still not be able to deal with contributions that include abstract thinking, concepts generation or any other creative expression. Moreover, institutions should be willing to offer a wide range of opportunities as well as guaranteed quality content. Equipping your workforce with the rights skills comes with educating them using the right content first.