Feel like your training efforts are falling flat? You’re not alone.

For decades now, the mere mention of ‘training’ has struck fear into the hearts of workforces. After all, It’s a phrase synonymous with long, dreary, patronising and frequently needless training exercises, rattled off in beige conference suites.

For business owners though, training is essential. Employees are your first line of defence against cyber attacks. Ultimately, it is critical that your employees participate in training to ensure proper training.

So, what can you do to ensure your training is engaging, effective and – believe it or not – looked forward to?

At Bob’s Business, we’ve been creating compelling and hugely successful cybersecurity awareness campaigns for over twelve years. As such, we like to think we know a thing or two about running training courses that really work (our customers agree, too!).

Now we’re sharing with you our three tips for taking your training to the next level, starting with…

Focus on the fun

Remember the last time you made it all the way through a book that you had no interest in? We’re willing to bet it was quite some time ago – if you’ve managed at all.

Quite simply, boredom is the enemy of success when it comes to learning new things. Without true engagement on a mental level, your team will never absorb and internalise the lessons they’re being handed.

It’s why Bob’s Business courses are built to focus on the fun, with humorous animations, relatable storytelling and language which never bogs your team down.

Keep it brief

With training, there can be a tendency to cram as much information in as possible.

After all, logic demands that the more you teach them now, the less you need to teach them later, right?

Unfortunately, that’s simply not the case. Overloading your team with messages is a fast track to training failure. Instead, you should keep your training short, sharp and to the point.

Reinforce key messages

The real enemy of effective training isn’t boring or long training, although those elements do seriously inhibit message retention. It is, in fact, our innate ability to retain information.

Studies on the “forgetting curve” have found that within just one hour, people will have forgotten 50% of the information that they’ve been given. 50%!

It gets worse, however. Just 24 hours after the lesson, 70% of new information will be forgotten, rising to an average of 90% knowledge loss within a week.

Think on that for a moment – 90% of what your team are learning is being lost within a week. What does that mean for your return-on-investment? And more importantly, what does it mean for your team when it comes time to apply that knowledge?

For this reason, it’s essential that you consistently reinforce the key messages of your training for at least a month after running your initial training.

At Bob’s Business, we support knowledge reinforcement through our Reinforcement Packs, which contain up-to 18 support materials per course. Ranging from blog posts to screen savers and from email footers to videos, it ensures that the lessons within each course are fully absorbed and internalised by your team.

Try prize draws

People love prizes! When promoting training, consider mentioning that the first person, regardless of how many people, to complete the training with a 100% pass rate the first time will be entered into a prize draw.

Incentivisation like this will help to increase completion rates and encourage accuracy. This would be equally effective in a remote, hybrid, or workplace-based model.

Gamify your learning

Gamification is the application of game mechanics and game thinking to engage users in problem-solving and motivation by introducing elements of competition and reward.

Studies have repeatedly found that gamified learning has positive effects in engagement, motivation, achievement and social connectivity. Many other studies list higher motivation, increased engagement, better performance feedback, and increased productivity as advantages of gamification.

Cybersecurity training games are an excellent way to differentiate training materials, encourage participation, and make cyber training more enjoyable.

That’s why Bob’s Business has specifically built our course catalogue with employees’ enjoyment at their core. Courses that include elements of gamification, which include workforce leaderboards, badges, and other features, can help motivate your team.

Ready to learn more about our award-winning products and services? Get in touch with a member of our team today.