WIIFM?
What's in it for me? This acronym has become important in the business world. It's the question all employees ask when they hear there is another piece of compliance training they need to complete by a specific date or a compulsory meeting or presentation that needs to be attended.
It is imperative that the Compliance Department and/or Learning and Development team ensure all employees know how the legislation, regulation, or policy impacts everyone in the business. If this specific target population analysis is done properly, the employees will immediately know 'what is in it for them' because the relevant content will be shared with the proposed learners as to what and why they must know about the legislation, regulation, or policy and what they must do to apply it in their world of work. Knowing the why of any compliance training gives employees a better sense of purpose as they gain clarity to see the direct link between the compliance training and their success in the workplace.
No one is allowed to waste employees' time, effort and energy in the fast-paced world we live in.
The importance of compliance training
Compliance training is specific employee training mandated by legislation, regulation, and policy. It provides information to the employees on the laws and/or regulations that apply to their industry sector and job function. These laws and regulations are primarily in place to protect the company from a variety of legal, regulatory and corporate violations that could result in heavy fines and civil and criminal penalties. Compliance training, together with policies and procedures, helps the employees to follow the laws, reduces liability risks, and creates the framework to operate effectively. Compliance training will never go away.
Create context
Creating context is the glue for any effective teaching and learning. It is setting the scene for employees to get an idea about the specific topic covered in the training. Creating context is the golden thread connecting what the employee must know, what the employee must do, and in what way the employee must behave in specific context. The 'why' of the compliance training must be explained. Without context, employees fail to grasp the meaning about how the topic impacts their lives and do not see how the content relates to their workplace.
When context is created, content becomes relevant and employees can engage with the material and retain what they learn. When they are presented with content they can relate to, the connection between the learning environment and the real-world situation is much easier to see and a transformation can be made to the workplace setting. This transformation can only happen when employees are informed and showed how training will impact them directly.
While creating context for the employees, continue to answer the 'WIIFM' question in the following ways:
- Share personal experiences of what could be done to avoid issues.
- Give examples to demonstrate how training material can be implemented in a real-life situation.
- Share current trends, metrics, and data to illustrate the cause-and-effect scenarios.
- Allow employees to ask 'what if' questions and ask more questions to promote problem solving and critical thinking.
Ring-fence content
Content must be adapted according to the target population (the proposed learners). Not all content is suitable for all employees. It's important to understand how the compliance topic is used and applied in different areas of the working environment. For example: customer facing area, back-office area, call centre, compliance team, risk team, and the IT department all have different requirements. The legislation, regulation or policy is the same for the whole company but there are varying degrees of mastery that different employees must apply. Depending on which area of the company they work in, some employees might need to know only a small component, where others might need to study a much bigger section because of the specialised nature of their role. Whatever the case, the training material must be adapted for each target audience. It is also important to explain the advantage of the specific set of compliance training to each identified target population group and answer all questions that arise because of curiosity, uncertainty, or ambiguity.
Depending on the level of mastery needed for the compliance training, some employees will only get a knowledge component to study whilst others may need to acquire a new skillset. It is critical that employees get the time to practice what they learned. After receiving the theory component, the application starts. This happens as part of the training, but must then be practiced in the workplace too by means of role-playing, practicing mock simulations, and observing how the employees manage the newly acquired knowledge and skillset via an observation checklist. These practical exercises give our brains the opportunity to connect the new content.
All the content knowledge does not have to be at one's fingertips. It is important to share where the content is housed so employees can access the content when necessary.
Keywords
#WIIFM
#createcontext
#ringfencecontent
#What'sInItForMe
#whycompliancetraining
Want to know more? Contact our learning and development experts at learning@fcrmc.co.za.