Nothing is fun with someone standing over your shoulder, watching you. Even fun things. The same is true with learning. When someone is watching your every move, authentic learning turns into acting like what you’re doing is useful, instead of putting the theory into practice and experimenting with your new-found knowledge.
Distance learning removes this by getting your team to engage with the material at their pace. But why is that good for productivity?
There are several reasons why distance learning will make your team more productive. Let’s talk about four of the biggest ones.
Why distance learning is good for your teams’ productivity
1) Distance learning connects your team with your company’s mission and results
Traditional learning modules can end up leaving your people deep in the jungle, unable to understand exactly how what they’re learning fits in with the world around them. Distance learning can give your people the perspective they need to re-engage with what makes your company unique and supercharge results.
Help your team see the big picture
It’s pretty hard to see the impact we have day-to-day. It’s even more difficult for your team when their project is one of the hundreds your company might be working on.
Distance learning is the perfect opportunity to get some perspective on how their work ties into more substantial goals.
Tie in specific hands-on workshops to the learning material and share how these techniques have impacted past projects.
The result is your employees will know how valuable they – and what they’re learning – helps the overall success.
Share examples across teams
Classroom learning is good for theory, but where it falls is application. While work is not a literal classroom, your team is separated from the work they’re doing, and that makes it difficult to see the value of training.
Distance learning lets you connect from anywhere so you can bring in executives and employees from other teams that share how these courses affect their departments. This helps your team understand exactly how what they’re doing fits into the biggest picture.
2) Distance learning allows individuals to grow
Salary isn’t everything. Don’t get us wrong; it’s essential. No bank accepts job satisfaction for deposit. However, salary is not the only thing that keeps employees happy and productive.
If you want to increase productivity and employee happiness, you need to create relevant training opportunities. Distance learning is the perfect way to do that.
Invite the experts they love
Employees who feel valued work harder and are less likely to shop their resume to your competitors. A big part of feeling valued in the workplace is professional growth. Distance learning programs can help by showing just how much you value your team’s development.
Running a webinar with industry experts using tools like GoToMeeting is perfect for professional development, as it demonstrates how much you value employees’ current expertise and want to build on it.
Create growth opportunities
Keeping your employees up to date on the latest technology is great for your business and your team’s peace of mind. It’s incredibly frustrating when things are moving slowly on a project, particularly if there is a better way to do things out there. Your team knows this, and if they don’t have access to the right training, it can put a considerable damper on morale.
Integrated learning platforms can kick productivity into top gear by letting your team discover the best solutions for themselves. Integrated eLearning platforms like Bridge can help boost working knowledge and collaboration. Digital classroom tools like Stormboard can make it easier for teams to collaborate on relevant projects.
3) Distance learning can decrease silos between different teams
Autonomy is great. It’s one of the defining characteristics of creative, hard-working individuals. But being focused on a project can lead your team to perform less like a well-oiled machine and more like a collection of high-end gears spinning aimlessly.
Silos are one of the most significant obstacles to team cohesion, especially among remote teams. It leads to inefficiency and duplicated work, which will grind your team to a halt.
Distance learning – by its very nature – breaks down these walls because it’s designed to work for teams that don’t share the same geography.
The tools involved in programs like Limnu are designed to engage employees and promote collaboration through the use of shared projects and whiteboards. You can take it a step further and set challenges based on the course that encourages members from different teams to work together.
4) Distance learning allows team members to learn where and when they are most productive
Learning is essential for employee growth, but organizing group training and seminars can be tricky in organizations with tight deadlines (or if most of your team is spread around the globe).
Without distance learning, growth and education takes a back seat to immediate projects. Fitting learning into any available space doesn’t play to your team’s strengths, and it may be hurting productivity.
Let team members discover their own rhythm
Your circadian rhythm is your body’s natural clock. It has cycles of productivity and rest that rotate throughout the day and play an essential part in learning. It’s why some people are super productive in the morning, and others are clinging to their 4th cup of coffee before lunch. These rhythms have a massive impact on how we learn.
Distance learning allows your team to take advantage of the times when they learn the best by scheduling training for when they feel productive. It’s also a huge benefit if you have people working in different timezones.
Empower your team
Distance learning requires your team to decide their own schedule for learning. That can seem daunting if you need to maintain certificates or endorsements. But it’s a fantastic opportunity to give your people a greater stake in the outcomes of the company. By giving choice, your team will learn valuable time management skills that will translate to improved productivity in every aspect of their job.