Developing Training with Diversity and Inclusion In Mind
Training plays an important role in supporting diversity and inclusion efforts at organizations. But, how do we authentically represent diverse audiences and create meaningful training that resonates with the target audience? In this episode of Powered by Learning, we talk with Tiffany McLean, the learning and development manager at General RV Center, who develops learning strategy for more than 1,500 employees in six states and 12 locations. Ms. McLean is also the author of the article “Developing Training with Diversity & Inclusion in Mind,” that was published in Training Industry Magazine.
Show Notes:
Tiffany McLean has a passion for infusing diversity, equity and inclusion into the training she executes at RV General. An author on the topic of keeping diversity top of mind in L&D, Tiffany shares these key points and more.
- Learning & Development leaders influence people’s career development so you must be extra conscious about D&I to make sure all team members are included.
- Go beyond creating a learning persona and also meet with diverse team members in different roles so you can make training relevant to everyone.
- Get comfortable being uncomfortable and get to know people of different backgrounds so you have a broader perspective as you develop learning and development and influence peoples’ careers.
Read Tiffany McLean's article "Developing Training with Diversity and Inclusion in Mind" on TrainingIndustry.com.
VIEW TRANSCRIPT
Announcer 1: This is Powered by Learning, a podcast designed for learning leaders to hear the latest approaches to creating learning experiences that engage learners and achieve improved performance for individuals and organizations.
Announcer 2: Powered by Learning is brought to you by d'Vinci interactive. For more than 25 years, d'Vinci has provided custom learning solutions to government agencies, corporations, medical education and certification organizations, and educational content providers. We collaborate with our clients to bring order and clarity to content and technology. Learn more at dvinci.com.
Susan: Hello and welcome to Powered by Learning. I'm your host Susan Cort, with me today is d'Vinci CEO, Luke Kempski. Today we are going to talk with Tiffany McLean. Tiffany is the learning and development manager at General RV Center where she develops learning strategy for more than 1500 employees in six states and 12 locations. She is also the author of the article, Developing Training with Diversity and Inclusion in Mind, that was published in Training Industry Magazine. Welcome, Tiffany.
Tiffany: Welcome, thank you for having me.
Luke: So glad you could join us, Tiffany, welcome.
Susan: Tiffany, tell us a little bit about yourself and why you're passionate about keeping diversity, equity, and inclusion top of mind in training?
Tiffany: Okay, so a little bit about myself. As a woman and as a person of color, I'm always aware of the little nuances that make learning a little bit of a challenge for some people. Whether it be seeing your own representation, whether it be just not feeling connected to the learning that's being developed, it's always been in my forefront of my mind all the time.
When I'm working with other instructional designers and talking with our executive team, I'm always thinking of the viewpoint of the holistic learner.
I think that's something that we oftentimes forget to think about is we're so busy trying to meet that deadline, we're trying to do this or trying to do that, we're multitasking that we sometimes forget the actual person that we're doing all of this for, and that's the learner.
Luke: Absolutely, yes, for sure. When you think about the learning and development leaders today, do you think they have a greater responsibility for advancing diversity and inclusion in their organization?
Tiffany: Most definitely. I really think that what we do have such an impact on the day-to-day lives of our employees, that we have to make sure that we're reaching everyone. It's very interesting because we have such a special, special place in people's career advancement. We're kind of behind the scenes. However, what we do really impacts the day to day for every single employee that we touch. They may not know who we are, they may not know where we sit in the organization but what we do or don't do has a positive or negative impact on them. So we definitely are the gatekeepers for not just diversity and inclusion but cultural norms, the entire package.
Luke: Yes, that's for sure. When you get down to the actual training programs and you think about the jobs of the instructional designer or the training developer or the facilitator, what do you advise in terms of how they can make their programs more diverse and inclusive?
Tiffany: Well, really the one thing is I have them do a couple of things. One of those things is actually go sit with the learner. We have learner personas developed for most of our staff. However, looking at the persona doesn't really give you the full picture of our entire base.
What I have people do is for example, they'll put a course together and then I'll review it, but they'll be submitting their first draft and I'll review it and I'll say, "You know what, I can't see it. The font is too small." To get people thinking about how can I enhance this learning. If there's audio, I can't hear it. Are we adding a transcript to this because we want to make sure we're reaching everyone where they are because otherwise, we're going to miss an entire portion of our population.
Luke: Excellent, yes. Are you typically working with programs that are online on demand kind of courses or are you working around a lot of instructor led either online or in person kind of courses?
Tiffany: No, we're really more online. I'd say about 80% of our training is online and about 20% is instructor led. It's a lot easier when it's an instructor led situation to see where you may need to shift your train of thought. But when you're doing it online, it's such a linear experience that you really have to find those ways to nuance it and reach everyone.
Luke: Have you found that there's a difference between the impact of the training? If the more inclusive it feels and the more diverse it representatives like, does the learner connect better with training that feels that it looks like them?
Tiffany: Most definitely. We have an individual in our organization who has some actual technological issues. They're not the most tech savvy, they're a little older, they're having some vision issues, and I've made it a point to make sure that we're addressing those things. Once we made that switch over that person actually reached out, actually their spouse reached out and said, "Oh my goodness, thank you," because they were excited to actually take a course because they could understand it. It spoke to them. They saw themselves in the scenarios that we presented.
Luke: Great. When we think about diversity, just like you mentioned, we often think about racial diversity, of course, that's really important. But how do you recommend getting deeper, getting to that next level when we think about it?
Tiffany: Really I think the key is to know your audience. It's really to get out there, meet the people that you're creating the training for. I know that's not always possible but if you do have that opportunity to go out there and meet your learning base, go out there and talk to them, find out, "I see you took this course. What could we do to make that course better?" It's all about getting that feedback and really connecting with our learners because they hold the key to us becoming better learning people.
Luke: You mentioned you're doing a lot of self-paced online learning and that of course, visuals are really important in that. What do you look for in your courses from a visual standpoint to make sure it has that diverse and inclusive feeling to it?
Tiffany: Well, it's really our number one mantra as we're developing courses is to make it look as diverse as we want the world to be. It's really finding images of people who don't necessarily look like me, don't necessarily look like you, but they look like someone else we may have seen at a grocery store, someone we saw at a gas station. Just making sure that it reflects the overall population of the world, because really underneath all of that the more people see those different experiences, the more their minds begin to open up and they're like, "Oh, I never thought that doing it this way would really impact me."
Susan: Tiffany, how do you do that in an authentic way? So that instructional designers are making sure that the way they're representing diverse audiences feels very genuine.
Tiffany: I actually have a couple of people, just random people, I'll say, "Hey, can you take a look at this course and tell me how it feels, because you know when something is inauthentic, correct?" People will look and say, "You know what, that feels like you tried a little bit too hard right there, dial that back," or, "No, that feels absolutely comfortable and correct. I could see this actual scenario playing out in this exact form and fashion. Keep doing what you're doing."
Susan: Almost have a little task force of sorts that will help check to make sure that you're being authentic.
Tiffany: Yes. I always select different people, not just that same group of people because when you do that, then they know exactly what to look for and then your answers aren't as authentic as you want them to be.
Luke: Tiffany, do you have any examples of training where you really think that they really got diversity and inclusion right in this training, and it really does add an extra kind of a boost to the outcomes of the learning because of that?
Tiffany: I really, if I had to pick the course that truly hit the mark on that, I would actually say it's our harassment course. We revamped our harassment course from the beginning to the end. We really made it feel as if you were living those different scenarios. Harassment is not a comfortable conversation to have to begin with, when you're talking about all of those things and making it so that it was, really felt like we were speaking directly to the learner and the learner's experience, it really-- I just in fact, received a compliment the other day, "Wow, that was really good training."
Most harassment courses were boring and flat and they're like, yes, click, click, click. But this one we really thought outside of the box and really created a very inclusive environment.
Luke: That's great. If you were developing an employee onboarding program, what would go through your mind in terms of really making sure that you're conscious of making the program accessible and engaging for all the audience types that you have, all the different employee types?
Tiffany: Well, that's a great question because one of the first things I did in my role was to develop our onboarding program. Really what I did is, I looked at our organization and like I said, I really believe in meeting with people and talking with our current employees, taking inventory of our employees that were joining the organization and speaking with them afterwards and saying, "Hey, how could we improve upon this?" And a lot of the feedback we received was, "This feels very male-oriented." The RV industry of itself denotes a more masculine feel. So we had to kind of soften our approach to that to begin to capture the attention of our female employees, which we have those as well. But we don't think about that because we just look, "Oh, okay, there's a man, there's a man, there's a man. Let's have all these strong male images in our onboarding and let's use all these strong manly words when doing so." I said, "Let's completely revamp this, and let's start all over and let's include everyone."
Luke: Tiffany, in developing your learning and development strategy, how do you think about diversity and inclusion? Where does it play into when you're thinking at that high level from a strategy standpoint?
Tiffany: Really, it's my number one focus, is making sure that we're executing on everything based on our organizational goals, as well as making sure that we are meeting our employees where they are. It's not as simple as, "Let's add 17 images of this type of person or 13 images of this, and make sure we use this word and that word because those are the keywords." It's really about who we are as a team and as an organization and getting that information out there.
Luke: Yes, absolutely. Have you found that there are common mistakes that people in training and development make when it comes to diversity and inclusion?
Tiffany: Yes. I think that we sometimes look at it just from the lens of race. "Let's make sure we have X. Let's make sure we have Y." And I think we sometimes forget the entire person. I really believe in making sure that our learning meets the entire holistic approach to an individual's day-to-day life. It's not just, "Let's find a picture of an African-American person or a Hispanic person." It's, "Let's find an image of someone who may be physically disabled. Maybe someone who's in a wheelchair or someone who's hard of hearing, things of that nature."
It's really meeting our employees where they are. To me, that's what I'm really passionate about and that's one of the things that my team and I, we discuss on an ongoing basis. Are we making sure that what we're doing really reflects who our employees are?
Luke: Yes, that's for sure. What about the idea of doing diversity and inclusion training? If somebody is in a position where they have to develop that for their organization, what kind of advice would you have for them?
Tiffany: I would have them really think about what their end goal is. If their end goal is to truly create a diverse and inclusive and equitable organization, then they need to do the work to make that happen. It's not just a checklist of things that you do and, ta-da, you have this diverse little situation. You have to actually do the hard work and do the research behind it and make sure, again, that you're speaking to the whole of a person.
Host: Because if you don't, I would imagine that it one, wouldn't seem authentic and two, that's not very sustainable.
Tiffany: Exactly. Exactly. And that's really the key, is that sustainability, you have to create an environment that your team can sustain and that the organization can sustain that feels true to your organization. It's not just say, "Here's a box and I've done all the DNI things. Ta-da." No. It's, "Here's an organization with a collective group of individuals with varied experiences and you need to meet them where they are."
Luke: Based on when we're recording this podcast, there's obviously a heightened awareness around racial diversity and making sure that we're providing opportunities and extra attention to racial issues and challenges. Is there anything that you would recommend in terms of how we address those in our organizations?
Tiffany: I would say, include the people that you want to help. I think sometimes we all get into our own little bubbles and we reach out to the people for advice and for guidance that look like us, that sound like us, that feel like us. And I think if we're going to make real change, you need to step outside of your box and meet people who are different than you. As a personal pledge to myself, I make it a point to meet someone who's different than I am at least once a year, someone who when I initially would be like, "Oh, my goodness, this person makes me feel uncomfortable, because I don't know enough about them." Then that tells me I need to know more about that person.
I've met a variety of wonderful people by stepping outside of my own comfort zone. That's really what I would suggest everyone does, step outside of your comfort zone, think about the last time you may have had some dinner or a lunch or anything with someone who doesn't look like you. Who doesn't live in the same area that you live in, who doesn't even have the same educational background as you because we can all learn from each other regardless.
Susan: Tiffany, you and I chatted before the interview about how the article that you wrote in Training Industry was actually written in early 2018. However, it is so timely now with recent events. What good can come from all that has gone wrong in recent months for the training industry? It seems like this is a moment to reinvent, given all that's been going on.
Tiffany: I really think that this particular moment in history affords us as learning leaders, the opportunity to do better, to be better, to really give back. It's been my experience that most learning leaders want to do the right thing. Sometimes, we lose sight of what that right thing is because we're so inundated with the demands of the day-to-day. But, pause for a moment and really think what is the right thing to do. "How do I want to leave this world? What mark do I want to have on it?" Hopefully, that is to make it a right and a just world.
Susan: Well said.
Luke: That's excellent. Is there anything else that you would like to share, Tiffany, before we wrap up today?
Tiffany: No. I guess for me, it's really, one, I want to thank you for having me on this podcast and two, really, people, just relax a little bit. It's okay to meet someone new. It's okay to feel uncomfortable when meeting someone new. The first step to making a more inclusive environment, a more inclusive world, is to go out and say, "Hi." You'd be amazed at what happens if you just say hello to someone.
Susan: All right great, Tiffany, thank you.
Luke: That was great, we appreciate it.
Tiffany: Thank you.
Susan: Luke, listening to Tiffany, she was so inspiring. What are some of the key takeaways from our conversation today?
Luke: I think Tiffany had some great takeaways. What she started out with was really good in terms of that as learning and development leaders, you're really influential on people's career development. Knowing that makes it so that you need to be extra conscious of diversity and inclusion and making sure that you're really thinking about all of the team members and all of who they are when you're thinking about their learning and development and their career advancement. Also, she mentioned about going beyond just having a learning persona, but to actually meet employees that are in different roles and that are diverse so that you have a real good sense of who they are when you're developing the training that will go out to them.
Also, going beyond a checklist when it comes to diversity and inclusion and really making sure that it's a fit with your organization and has that flavor to it that's very inclusive and part of your culture, and a culture that feels diverse and inclusive. Then, as individuals, to be comfortable being uncomfortable and get to know people outside of your comfort zone, people that might not look like you or have very different backgrounds, educational backgrounds, and cultural backgrounds. And really get to know them so that you have a much better, broader perspective in mind as you develop learning and development and influence people's careers.
Susan: Thanks, Luke. That was a great recap of Tiffany's conversation. I think she's got some good advice for every training and development leader to think about as they move forward, keeping diversity inclusion top of mind. Well thanks Luke, and many thanks to Tiffany McLean for joining us today. If you have any questions about what we talked about, you can also reach out to us on d'Vinci's social channels, through our website, dvinci.com, or by emailing us at poweredbylearning@dvinci.com
Announcer 2: Powered by Learning is brought to you by d'Vinci Interactive. For more than 25 years, d'Vinci has provided custom learning solutions to government agencies, corporations, medical education and certification organizations, and educational content providers. We collaborate with our clients to bring order and clarity to content and technology. Learn more at dvinci.com
d’Vinci Develops New Version of The American Democracy Game to Teach Civics to Students
d’Vinci partnered with The National Conference of State Legislatures to create a new version of The American Democracy Game to teach civics to middle school students.
d'Vinci originally developed the learning activity in Flash in 2010 and now modernized it into a fresh learning experience. The game puts students in the shoes of a lawmaker where their decisions impact game play and the outcome of each level. Students earn stars at the completion of each level based on integrity, respect, compromise, honesty, and commitment.
The three levels of the game task students with navigating legislation regarding a community dog park, mandatory after school exercise and changing the voting age.
The American Democracy Game teaches the concepts of representative democracy—that every individual has equal rights and value, for example, that compromise is necessary at times and that the minority still has rights under majority rule.
“Our goal is to upgrade the game to newer tools that would perform better in any web browser—and which would work on a tablet,” said Caroline Carlson, director of the Foundation for State Legislatures. “These improvements will give players a better experience and make the game more compatible with recent software and technological developments. “The update will also allow us to better integrate the game into the NCSL website so we can promote it to a wider group of students,” she added.
Students will find The American Democracy Game on the NCSL website.
Play The American Democracy Game
Read more in this NCSL Article, “American Democracy Game Makes Learning Civics Fun”
Uniting Marketing and Training for a New Product Launch
Launching a new product requires collaboration, strategy and cooperation from team members across an organization. In this episode of Powered by Learning, Learning Solutions Director Jenny Fedullo and Host Susan Cort talk to Judi Bader of Inspire Brands, to learn how training is at the center of any successful product launch.
Show Notes: Senior Director of Learning & Ops Experience at Inspire Brands Judi Bader leads the training that launches new products at Arby’s and other restaurant brands every couple of weeks. The rapid-pace product rollout schedules require discipline, strategy and collaboration to have everything in line before the new product hits the street. Judi shares these and other insights in her interview.
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It’s critical that marketing shares the vision with training for the new product launch and that there is trust between the two groups.
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Develop and commit to your product launch timeline to set the right expectations for all departments involved in the launch and for the learner who needs to communicate about the new product to the customers.
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Build in time for making changes in the launch schedule in case something changes with the product along the way. Being able to adapt quickly is key to keeping to your launch timeline.
Learn more about Arby’s and Inspire Brands
VIEW TRANSCRIPT
Announcer 1: This is Powered By Learning, a podcast designed for learning leaders to hear the latest approaches to creating learning experiences that engage learners and achieve improved performance for individuals and organizations.
Announcer 2: Powered by Learning is brought to you by d'Vinci Interactive. For more than 25 years, d'Vinci has provided custom learning solutions to government agencies, corporations, medical education and certification organizations, and educational content providers. We collaborate with our clients to bring order and clarity to content and technology. Learn more at dvinci.com.
Susan Cort: Hello, and welcome to Powered By Learning. I'm your host Susan Cort. With me today is d'Vinci Learning Solutions Director, Jenny Fedullo. We are pleased to welcome Judi Bader, Senior Director of Learning and Ops Experience at Inspire Brands to talk about uniting marketing and training for a new product launch. Inspire Brands is a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 11,200 Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic Drive-in, Rusty Taco, and Jimmy John's locations worldwide.
Welcome, Judi. It's nice to chat with you again.
Jenny Fedullo: Hi. Welcome, Judi.
Judi Bader: Hello. It's great being here. Thanks for having me.
Susan: Well, we first connected back in 2017 at the Training Industry Conference and Expo in Raleigh when you appeared in our video blog series. Three years have passed. Tell us a little bit about your career and what you're doing now in your role at Inspire Brands.
Judi: Well, thank you, Susan. Yes, I lead the Learning and Development Strategy for our brand in regards to the design and the deployment for restaurant operational teams, anywhere from supporting our team members through the development programs that are assigned for above restaurant leadership. In addition to that, aside from the day-to-day maintenance of our operational standards manual, which sets the gold standard for our brand to designing innovative learning tools, as well as supporting major brand initiatives that drive improved operations.
Beyond that, I also lead a cross-functional team in the development and the deployment for our national promotions. This group is made up of several key stakeholders at our global support center containing the culinary team, our marketing team, Ops integration, hire management, our legal department, and then our training team, both internally, who designs the materials, as well as our field training team.
Jenny: Wow, that's quite a lot, Judi.
Judi: It is.
Jenny: I'm curious, in preparation for the podcast, I was researching Inspire Brands. To be honest, I was inspired about the company's vision specifically at statements about what they are, mavericks, allies, visionaries, achievers, good citizens. How do those we are statements translate to what you're doing and learning at Arby's?
Judi: That is an interesting topic for discussion. Now, well, Arby's, we've been around for over 50 years. Inspire Brands was recently founded in 2018 and it has been such an incredible journey and one that I'm extremely proud to be a part of. These statements make up our culture within the Inspire Brands support center. It's based in Atlanta, Georgia, and it continues throughout each of the five brands across the country.
However, within each of the individual brands, there are a unique set of values that are represented amongst the restaurant teams. For Arby's, our values are dream big, work hard, get it done, play fair, have fun and make a difference. This is a really great example of how Inspire Brands has empowered the sub-brands successfully by supporting each individual brand's desire to maintain the values that have made them what they are today.
Jenny: Wow. That's so powerful.
Judi: Absolutely.
Jenny: Tell me how you've built a learning culture that promotes a strong brand recognition?
Judi: I had to think about this one a little bit. I'll tell you once it came to me, it really started flowing. And one way we promote our brand recognition within our training is that we talk about the brand on day one, and this really begins with our new employee orientation. As a matter of fact, we just recently recreated our orientation program altogether and really just moving away from that task-oriented approach of filling out paperwork to more of a welcoming approach in which the experience is designed as though you're having someone over for dinner.
Aside from the main meal, in that example, you would show them around the house and introduce them to the family. This really has changed everything for us. Beyond that day one of being a great welcoming experience for our brand, we're designing their whole learning path customized for them, and everything within that training program leads up to what we call our 90-day brand champ workshop. In that workshop, it's really laid out as a roadmap.
The whole workshop is solely focused on bringing out important characteristics of our brand. It's played as if it's a game like a big map on a table and they're playing a game and talk about our values and our culture, the way we inspire smiles with our guests. It's truly a fun way to get team members engaged and see how they add value to our brand.
Jenny: That's so interesting. It's so creative. It definitely would be a welcoming culture there and certainly connects to the brand.
Judi: Oh goodness, as you know, our business model is really designed that we're always bringing in new and delicious sandwiches. It's almost every four to six weeks, you're going to see an Arby's commercial on television.
To keep up with this, we have adopted is what we call our 3, 2, 1 implementation plan and really it's that simple. It's three weeks out prior to a media that's going to start. We begin communicating to our restaurant teams and leadership, letting them know what that upcoming promotion, along with electronic version of all of the training elements that they're going to begin to see.
Then counting down from there two weeks out, we are providing customized e-learning lessons designed for both management, as well as team members. While that's being deployed, our field training teams are holding trainer to trainer webinars that outline the upcoming promotion more specifically, along with any keynotes regarding the kind of state and training that they're going to in turn need to carry out.
Then that last week, there is one more week before they go live, that cascade is taken down one more level in which now those restaurant leaders are then charged with holding hands-on training sessions with our teams. That's probably the most important part of our training model is that the employees have the opportunity to assemble the sandwiches, taste the sandwiches, talk about the sandwiches.
Then really from there, once we've started media, we're not finished, we then go back and we have what we call a chat for execution. It's a checklist basically. The restaurant leaders are going in the restaurants and checking the product, tasting it, and giving feedback on how well it's going.
Susan: Judi, it sounds like you have this down to a science. What does it mean for the team members who are receiving the training and also ultimately for your customers who are on the other end of purchasing these new products?
Judi: Great. For our team members, for them, it's helping them be prepared and get excited about the product. That’s where that hands-on is crucial. They know what's coming, they're better able to talk to the guest and talk about, "Hey, this is my favorite sandwich," or "Have you tried this one? Do you like spicy?" Just by being pulled in before it gets to media, they're going to get excited, engaged, and maybe they're even telling their friends and family about it. "Hey, why don't you come on over to Arby's? We just started this new line of market fresh sandwiches," and that kind of thing.
Susan: I bet it makes them feel more a part of the process and may even help with retention in the long-term
Judi: That is our goal. Absolutely. We talked about how do we incorporate brand into our training programs? That is really important. We want every employee when they start working with Arby's to feel a part of it, to be a part of that big picture and represent the brand because, at the end of the day, when you look at culture, culture is the people that are there. We make up that culture. In our restaurants, each of those team members make up that culture.
Jenny: I know Susan said you certainly have that down to a science with the 3, 2, 1 launch. How much lead time do you have to put that together? I think you said at week two, you're putting e-learning together. How much time do you have before that 3, 2, 1 to get it all going?
Judi: If you could see me right now, you'd see the huge smile on my face. It's tricky. You do have a good visibility into what's coming down the pipeline. Absolutely. I would say on average, we're probably about 10 to 12 weeks before something is going to go live where we're putting everything together. The challenge is that the changes that can happen.
We do start with that 10 to 12-week lead time, but we have to understand that along the way things may happen in the world, right? Things may happen in the industry. We're going to switch gears. If your chief marketing officer comes and says, "Hey, I want to add another pickle to that sandwich," well, we're going to have to add a pickle and we're going to find a way to make sure all the training and the cascaded approach matches up and that we're delivering an accurate message.
Jenny: As a fellow corporate learning and development professional, I know how important it is to forge those partnerships with other departments, especially in the business you're in with, how quickly you need to react when you're adding that pickle. With a new product launch, partnering with marketing is probably pretty critical, I'm sure. Can you tell us about that partnership?
Judi: Oh my goodness. You are so correct. This relationship is absolutely essential. It really is an age-old challenge in many organizations, really, in the push and the pull between marketing and operations. There's always been a question of, "Who's really driving the brand?" With that, I'm really pleased to share that we have really formed a strong partnership with our marketing team leads. I really just feel like this is the result of constant communication and collaboration when we're planning for national product introductions.
If I had to pick one word that I felt was the core to that success of this relationship, it would be the word trust. In operations, we need to be able to trust that our marketing partners will take in into consideration the day-to-day challenges of our restaurants when they're designing that marketing strategy. Then, in turn, marketing needed to believe that our restaurant teams would do their absolute best to deliver that product the way they intended and to serve our guests in that way from day one.
Jenny: What would you say you absolutely need from marketing to build a successful learning strategy? We've worked with a number of leading organizations during product launches, understand the role marketing plays, but from your perspective, what does that need that you can't be successful without? Maybe you said it was trust, right?
Judi: No, I think trust is definitely a good runner-up, but a word that comes to mind for me on this question is vision. What I mean by that is that my team, we absolutely want to understand the story that our marketing team wants to tell our guests. Once we understand that, we can then weave that information throughout the learning elements appropriately based on that audience.
For example, when you start that cascaded process and you're looking at those leadership conversations when you're introducing that product, you want to know more of the why’s. Why are we changing to that new box or that new product? We already have wraps on the menu, why are we adding another brand? We really need to give more information for those guys.
Then, of course, when it comes to the restaurant management, yes, they still want that information, but by the time we get to cashier training or even the person in the backline who is preparing the sandwiches, they might not need quite as much information, although there might be some parts that would be helpful.
Jenny: I like that, understand the story marketing ones to tell the guests. In a learning organization, that's what we do when we put together training is we want to know what does the end, the audience member, the learner, need to know and do. It's very similar. It certainly connects. The brand is unique at Inspire Brands. I'm curious if there are best practices that are shared across all the brands as you approach a new product launch.
Judi: Oh, absolutely. From day one, as new brands join the Inspire team, we began sharing best practices right away. I think it's because we're trainers, we're always looking for new and innovative ways to engage our teams during the learning process. It seems like that just made sense. However, we have found that the concept of taking a shared approach and actually doing it can be a bit challenging. This is because our business models are slightly different.
While there are many things that we're definitely going to come together on and gain some efficiencies with, there are special modifications that we need to make an effort to ensure that our learning is authentic to each of our individual brands.
Susan: What do you mean by authentic, Judi? Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Judi: I'd be happy to. A recent example, we're in the process of rolling out a very technical program. It's a training program that's going to teach our operators how to place their weekly [unintelligible] orders or how to build an employee schedule. The [unintelligible] they're using today is going to be different, and Inspire Brands holistically, it's going to use the same platform for all of the different--
Buffalo Wild Wings and Arby's will have access to the same platform. However, when I need to develop training on how to build and schedule at Arby's, it's going to be very different than somebody in Buffalo Wild Wings because they're more of a full-service restaurant. Their employee model was different. They have waitresses and bartenders. In our business model, we have cashiers and backline operators, and so forth. So that's where it just begins to take on a little bit of a different tone.
Jenny: Judi, what's the best advice or perhaps the lesson learned that you can give other L&D professionals who are responsible for training during a new product launch?
Judi: I believe it's creating an environment of trust, collaboration, and flexibility. To ensure an effective launch for any new product, it's going to take some full planning regarding the training elements that are to be developed as well as that training approach. What I learned early on was that while planning a well-laid-out timeline or with everything was scheduled and happen, and by noon, not everyone saw that as a benefit.
As a matter of fact, they saw the timeline as handcuffs. Yet, if we didn't have a project plan, the likelihood of us getting these materials developed and deployed on time would be very risky. While I couldn't ditch that timeline altogether, I was able to gain support through building the plan just more collaboratively. Then in that way, in the event the plan changed, we could come back and renegotiate our options from there together.
Susan: Regardless of industry, yours is a very specific one, but do you think these same principles apply regardless of what kind of a product launch?
Judi: I do, I really do. It's really just about making the connections and you go into any project and you have your own experiences, your own expertise, and your own thoughts on what you think is going to make it work. But when you get in a room with colleagues that are in different departments, maybe it's IT or human resources, and they're going to have a little bit of a different take on what the outcome needs to be. We need to really build that ability to listen to each other and then find a way to collaborate, because at the end of the day, we all have the same goal and that's to make that, whatever that product is, launch successfully and, in turn, get the results that we're looking for.
Susan: That's good advice. Thanks so much, Judi.
Judi: I've really enjoyed speaking with you guys today.
Susan: Thank you. Jenny, what are some of the key takeaways from our discussion today with Judi?
Jenny: I think I alluded to this during the conversation, but I loved her one word that she said when I asked the question about what do you absolutely need from marketing. She said vision, and that they have to understand the story marketing wants to tell the guest, and how that ties so much to what we do in the learning and development field, is we've got to make sure we understand what the learner needs to know and do. I think that was my biggest takeaway.
Susan: That and I think she said trust was another important word. It sounds like they definitely have that at Inspire Brands because it touches so many different departments when they do these product launches. Well, thanks, Jenny, and many things to Judi Bader, Senior Director of Learning & Ops Experience at Inspire Brands for joining us today.
If you have any questions about what we talked about today, you can reach out to us on d'Vinci social channels through our website dvinci.com, or by emailing us at poweredbylearning@dvinci.com.
Announcer 2: Powered by Learning is brought to you by d'Vinci Interactive. For more than 25 years, d'Vinci has provided custom learning solutions to government agencies, corporations, medical education and certification organizations, and educational content providers. We collaborate with our clients to bring order and clarity to content and technology. Learn more at dvinci.com.
Four Tips for Integrating Video Interviews in Training
Video interviews can be an effective approach to reaching your learning audience.
Here is an example of how we used interviews in an online learning experience we created.
In the Responding to Veterans in Crisis course for Law Enforcement Officers, the original in-classroom training featured a panel of veterans and police officers who shared their experiences with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and returning home after active military duty. When asked to create an online version of this training, the d’Vinci team was challenged to add these additional voices to a multi-module eLearning course.
Video interviews with several of the panelists served as the solution to not only create an emotional connection with the law enforcement audience, but as a way to hear about practical application of response techniques. The first module started with an emotional story of one veteran’s experience to grab attention. We continued to weave video throughout the online course as we featured veteran law enforcement officers sharing their experiences and recommendations as a way to introduce new content in the modules and reinforce learning points.
In this example, we used video-interviews to drive the story and enhance the online learning experience.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind before you add video interviews to your next online experience.
- Crafting video interviews starts with identifying learning objectives. Write questions that will yield responses that support those objectives.
- A preliminary phone or in-person interview helps to test the strength of your interview questions. It will also help you to start to identify how you want to incorporate the responses within the context of the learning program.
- Working with a talented video production team aids in creating a positive experience for the interviewees and the polished and professional end result of your edited videos.
- It's important to work with your interviewees and confirm their comfort level with being on camera early.
What training or educational experiences are you looking to recreate in an online environment? Have you considered video interviews? Take a look at few of our other examples where video interviews made an impact on the learning experience.
See Related Examples:
Learn more about how d'Vinci uses video and animation in learning.
Using Video to Engage and Educate Learners
We live in a video-driven culture. For example, today I woke up and opened the news app on my smartphone and watched several short video segments to catch me up on today’s current events. Then, after breakfast, I looked up a YouTube tutorial on how to fix my broken sink. When I finished, my daughter showed me her new smokey-eye from the make-up tutorial she watched from her favorite blogger. And later, we both relaxed by watching a new docuseries on Netflix. Every piece of content I consumed today contained a video element.
When we look at the modern landscape of learning, video plays an important role. Our learning audiences are more attuned to viewing video and – more importantly – remembering the things they see in video format. At d’Vinci, we leverage this insight to elevate the learning experiences we create by using video and animation. Whether we are guiding users through a step-by-step process, demonstrating best practices with performance scenarios, or simply marketing a new course with a teaser video, we recognize the impact video can make on your learners.
Video can be more than just informative and instructional; it can evoke emotion. It can be a medium that we use to tell a first-hand account of a difficult situation. It can be words of wisdom from a veteran professional in your industry. It can be a testimonial from a peer that highlights a success story. Ultimately, video – if used strategically – can be used to connect learners to content, keep their attention, and create a deeper level of engagement throughout the learning experience.
Learn more about how d'Vinci uses video and animation in learning.
Related Article: Our parent company, JPL, has needed to be more agile than ever in order to adapt to the current social distancing protocols brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. See how they are shifting the way they work in order to continue to produce and deliver effective video content for our clients. Learn more.
VIEW TRANSCRIPT
Announcer: Powered by Learning is brought to you by d'Vinci Interactive. For more than 25 years, d'Vinci has provided custom learning solutions to government agencies, corporations, medical education and certification organizations, and educational content providers. We collaborate with our clients to bring order and clarity to content and technology. Learn more at dvinci.com.
Susan Cort: Hello, and welcome to Powered by Learning. I'm your host, Susan Cort. Today I'm joined by d'Vinci CEO, Luke Kempski, and d'Vinci Client Solutions Consultant, Angeline Evans, who's going to talk about using video to engage learners.
Angeline consults with existing and prospective clients to shape custom learning solutions that meet their organizational needs. She knows how to complement proven adult learning theories with creative ideas to produce a meaningful experience for the learner. Angeline has collaborated with clients in the corporate, medical, government, and nonprofit sectors to shape strategic videos that inform, inspire and reinforce learning objectives. Her article, How to Create Videos with Purpose, was recently published on Learning Solutions Magazine. Welcome, Angeline.
Angeline Evans: Thanks, Susan, thanks for having me on the podcast today.
Luke Kempski: We're so excited to have you, Angeline.
Susan Cort: Angeline, our listeners may remember you as one of d'Vinci's podcast co-hosts, but today we're making you switch roles so you can provide your expertise on using video in training.
Angeline Evans: Yes, I am sitting in the other seat today.
Susan Cort: Make you work hard today.
Angeline Evans: Yes.
Luke Kempski: Of course, we're really enthusiastic about this topic, Angeline. Susan and I have both been video producers in the past and still even work on a project here and there today. From an instructional design standpoint, what topic, or situations, or learning objectives motivate you to want to use video?
Angeline Evans: Good question right off the bat, there's definitely quite a few. First, I think if we're training a topic that we think we might see learners really resist to accept that new information, or maybe it's a topic about change that's occurring in the organization, I would consider using video to really level with everyone.
In these types of situations, I think it's always great to bring in a trusted voice from the organization. It might be a leader or even a CEO, and have them share why the learner is being presented with this information. Reinforce why they, the learners, matter, so really tying back to that human aspect, how they can make an impact in the organization and how they might take positive action after the training.
This type of video might be used for rebranding initiatives, new policies, health and safety in the workplace, anything really related around the organization's culture. It just really adds again, that human aspect to training to share the 'what's in it for me' for that particular learning solution. Especially with e-learning, which can really feel disconnected in that asynchronous environment, videos like this can help bridge that gap.
Then similarly, you might see this similar type of video serve as a welcome message from leaders at new hire orientations to add that personal touch. That's one way, and certainly not the main way, but it's one way I think of when I think of kicking off training.
Another is, of course, to train best practices for soft skills or behavioral-based skills. If you're creating e-learning that is about communication techniques, it's hard to really demonstrate that in an asynchronous way without the type of role-play or other interactivity or activities that you might see in a classroom environment.
An example that we did for the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police comes to mind. What we were trying to train them was around advanced interviewing techniques, specifically around interviewing victims, witnesses, and suspects in the field in a variety of situations. It's one thing to narrate and put on screen, "Hey, do X, Y, and Z to achieve the best outcome." It's another to show a scenario-based video demonstrating that skill.
Then we were able to take it a step further by also incorporating debrief activities that allow the officers to really dissect the scenario through questions and reflective exercises. And then just to build on scenario-based interviews. They're also a great way for choosing your own adventure approach. I love those books, growing up as a kid, just to see the alternate endings you could have.
With the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police, the same audience, we used this approach to show how different response tactics could result in different outcomes. For example, when interviewing a victim that recently experienced a trauma, building rapport up front is extremely important.
We wanted to demonstrate that by presenting officers with an initial scenario, and then we allowed them to choose how they could respond. Then based on the response they chose, they could see that scenario play out with alternate endings and really either see the repercussions or the positive impact that their response had in that situation.
Luke Kempski: That's great. I mean, really good variety that you point out there of applications of video. I know there are also different approaches to those applications and you kind of brought up some of them, whether it's just a trusted voice on camera or whether you're doing scenarios. Tell us about some of the approaches that you've been involved with the most and the impact that you've been able to have with them.
Angeline Evans: To add what I mentioned about having that human approach from leadership and using scenario-based situations and interviews to train your audience, I would also mention that you can be really prescriptive with how-to videos of a process. Whether you're talking about something as serious as how to follow a protocol in a medical lab environment, or I worked on a video that taught users how to make High West Whiskey, which some would argue is equally as serious and as important as a medical procedure.
Luke Kempski: [unintelligible crosstalk]
Angeline Evans: Right.
Angeline Evans: Those processes are often too complex to really give them the justice via normal e-learning techniques, and videos' superpower is really to simplify complex content with how the information is presented, especially with movement. You can’t achieve the same movement with e-learning as you can in a video.
Then of course you can also use video to grab attention with peer testimonials. Luke, you mentioned subject matter expert interviews. I think that's awesome to impart words of wisdom and it really builds credibility in the training. Then also software training. Anytime you have to train a technical application, it really does usually require video because you need to show them how they're going to use the tool and walk them through the steps.
When I look at the types of videos approaches I've been involved with the most, I would say video interviews are probably the top, whether they're peer testimonials or subject matter expert videos, live actor demonstrations, motion graphics animations, usually to tell a story, but often those how-to videos, and then software tutorials.
Luke Kempski: Excellent. I know we see more animated videos these days, and sometimes there are even less expensive ways to create and use these animated videos. Have you had much experience with those and how have you seen those be used effectively?
Angeline Evans: I would say a new tool that's really come around this past year that we've been using a lot is Vyond. For those of you that aren't familiar with it, it really gives an animated character design to a motion graphic style video. The limitations, though, are that the design is limited. It's very template. It has some out-of-the-box character libraries and scene libraries that you can leverage, but you don't have to be a motion graphics designer to create the video.
It's very user-friendly and you can really build it yourself. What's cool is you can also build your own avatars, so you can actually build your characters to look like specific individuals, and you can also incorporate custom elements. So you can even incorporate your own existing video clips or images to make it a little bit more custom, but at the end of the day, it could look like someone else's video. It just depends on what's important to you.
I know we have some clients that really don't want their motion graphics video or their animated video to look like everybody else’s, they want something that's going to be more unique. For others, that approach is perfectly fine and they do look very polished and well put together.
Luke Kempski: How do you decide what's best in terms of using live actors versus using those animated or illustrated characters?
Angeline Evans: It really depends on the topic, the organization's brand identity, and the ability to represent diversity accurately. Some topics, for instance, when I mention the videos we did for law enforcement officers, it would feel disrespectful to demonstrate interview techniques that officers are going to use with victims and witnesses in an animated form. That needs to be real people and it needs to feel authentic.
But if you're telling a story and it's more conceptual or what if, then animated characters can be a really engaging way to go. We worked with SBP, which is the St. Bernard Project. It's a nonprofit that focuses on disaster relief. We worked with them to create several e-learning courses for homeowners around disaster recovery, so what to do before and after disaster strikes.
One of the modules talks about the importance of flood insurance, and we were able to really sell that message through storytelling with animated characters. We showed a story of John who lives in a flood zone and is required to have flood insurance and a story of Sue who doesn't live in a flood zone and does not have flood insurance. We were able to really capture the importance of flood insurance even if you don't live in a flood zone by telling a fun story and playing out a scene of a bad storm with both of these characters.
Animation really has the ability to create levity around serious topics, but it's so important that you're also being considerate of the audience and the story you're telling just because you don't want that levity to be disrespectful.
Susan Cort: It probably makes the learning a little bit more approachable for some people too especially depending on the topic that might be difficult to show otherwise.
Angeline Evans: Absolutely. We've also used it with PCAR, which is the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape around preventing sexual violence in communities. It was really a video and a training for preventionists, and helping them identify prevention strategies they could take in their community.
I know animation seems like an odd visual approach for this type of topic, but we wanted to tell a story that would resonate with everyone, so we told a story about a river, and people were falling in the river because the bridge was broken. At the end of the day, the moral of the story was to repair the bridge. You can save people from drowning, but ultimately, you have to fix the root cause.
What was neat about that is, with something as sensitive of a topic as that, you don't want identifying traits in your characters. We were able to create these very generic looking-- They didn't look like people, they were the same. I would compare them closest to minions maybe if you've seen that movie. They were shapes that were representing those individuals. That way, one, you're not stereotyping, two, you're putting yourself in the shoes, and three, you're really just focusing on the message.
It also then, again, added a little bit of levity around that serious topic and resonated with the audience by telling that story, and they were able to connect that, to prevention in their community.
Luke Kempski: Those are really excellent examples and really show the wide variations when it comes to rationales for whether to use animation and animated characters versus using live actors on video. I know that with the popularity of YouTube you can see a whole wide range of different levels of what we would perceive as quality levels, I guess, when it comes to video.
Certainly, when it comes into-- From an investment standpoint, from a client standpoint, whether they're just shooting something with their phone, or whether they're hiring professional crews with lighting and actors, makeup, and all of that, how do you advise clients in terms of where they should focus in terms of the range of production values when it comes to using video for learning?
Angeline Evans: I would say the first two questions that come to mind is, how evergreen is the content going to be? Is it going to change often, because you probably don't want to invest a large production value on something that could change next quarter, and who is the message coming from? If you're hearing from people on the ground, we want the authenticity to really shine. We don't need to be the most polished video with perfect lighting and consistent mic volume.
We recently, or in the last year, we supported Constellation Brands. They are an American wine, spirits, and beer producer with products like Svedka, Corona, that High West Whiskey. How-to demonstration was with them, which I mentioned earlier, and we've talked with them on other podcasts, but we worked with them on a project about changing consumer dynamics due to the COVID pandemic.
Their insights team was uncovering a lot of changing consumer needs and wants because of the lockdowns that occurred. Fear around health and safety, business closures, just a whole personal reevaluation of what's important in life. This was a pretty traumatic year for everyone.
In this project, they wanted to share these insights and feelings firsthand from the consumer as a way to present them to Constellation employees and distributor partners, because as a result, Constellation was going to shift their strategic approach to meet their consumer needs.
In this instance, of course, due to the trauma the world experienced during that pandemic, these videos really needed to be raw, and they needed to be authentic. So they asked consumers to film themselves, and we solely supported with the post-editing to craft together that story. The end result was really emotional and impactful video. It inspired the audience to change their way of thinking.
They were excited about the strategic changes that were taking place because they were going to evolve as a company in lockstep with their consumer, and their consumers is who matters most of them.
Now, on the other hand, if you're shooting a video on a new product that's coming out and teaching your audience why it's the best and the most awesome product you're going to interact with, it probably warrants all the bells and whistles. I personally feel the same way about leadership interviews because I think higher production quality adds to the credibility of that video because first impressions are everything.
Luke Kempski: Very good examples. The whole range allows you for taking advantage of different opportunities that you may have to use video that you might not otherwise have, and at the same time, making sure that in those situations where you really want to manage the different elements, that you can take a more professional approach and a higher quality outcome that lasts longer.
Angeline Evans: Earlier you mentioned about the types of tools that you can use for a lower-cost video. Something we also do a lot of is develop videos in Articulate Storyline. When you create a training, you still have to market the training afterwards. Just because you create it, it doesn't mean people are going to come and take it. Oftentimes, you invest a lot of your budget and your manpower into creating a training, and there isn't a lot left over for that marketing component that's going to really sell the training experience. And video is a great medium for that because you can distribute via email, on your company's SharePoint site, or social channels.
We've used Storyline just to do some low-level animation and added sound design in the background with some good music, and actually featured images from the course and have that what's in it for me and the benefits and then output it as an MP4. So you're getting a low-level motion graphics video to really add to that overall training initiative.
Luke Kempski: Yes, that's great. You have that trailer, to sell people on coming in experiencing that learning project.
Angeline Evans: Yes.
Luke Kempski: Good stuff. In your work, have you had situations where video has really had a big impact on the learning, and why do you think it would have such a big impact in that situation?
Angeline Evans: I would say the biggest impact is when it's used for hands-on application in a safe space, like for instance training. If you're using video to immerse learners in, for instance, a 3D environment for them to actually simulate tasks more in that choose-your-own-adventure approach that I mentioned. When video is used in that way to enhance the practice of a skill and you can really show in some way the outcomes because of your decisions, whether it's positive or negative outcomes based on what you chose to do, I think that's really going to go a long way because you're letting them practice before they take those skills in the field.
We've done that in a number of ways whether it's doing the choose-your-own-adventure where you see alternate endings, but in the same way, demonstrating a process and using video and having them stop at points in the process to choose proper steps and maybe see a process play out. You could even incorporate gamification and have point systems tie to that as well.
Luke Kempski: Yes, there's nothing like practicing in a safe environment rather than on the frontline with a customer in a hazardous situation, for instance.
Angeline Evans: Then also capturing the knowledge of subject matter experts, I think is just extremely important. That's true knowledge transfer as new generations enter the workforce and oftentimes they can have a long shelf life. Typically if you're interviewing a subject matter expert, they have become very well known at your organization or in that particular field and that's likely not going to change, so their words of wisdom even after they retire are still going to be worthy.
Luke Kempski: Good point for sure. Are there any new approaches or technologies that you think will become increasingly used when it comes to using video for learning solutions?
Angeline Evans: Something I'm hearing a lot lately is interactive video. We use video now and embed it into e-learning in different ways, but we're going to see more micro-learning which I know is a buzzword we've been hearing for a long time but featuring just the video portion, so quick five minutes or even less of interactive video content.
People are already seeing video as the go-to medium for delivering content with things like YouTube and TikTok and social media stories, but from a training perspective, how can you make those short videos interactive and a learning experience? Can you have a call-to-action on them or a knowledge check incorporated while still keeping them short and sweet like the videos we're used to seeing on those everyday platforms?
That also feeds into there's going to be more steps towards using VR as an approach and we even see that now with the pandemic this past year not being able to go a lot of places. I think people turn to VR to immerse themselves in different environments and really using that as an approach. Then more tools like Vyond where the everyday person can create their own motion graphics style videos, and you don't necessarily need a full media production, motion graphics suite to deliver a simple flat design motion graphics animated story.
Luke Kempski: Yes, definitely exciting times ahead for the future of the uses of video for learning and as it becomes more mobile and for micro-learning, now emerging into interactive video and the VR, certainly a big bright future for video in the learning realm and I'm excited to see what's next.
Susan Cort: Thanks, Angeline. Great advice for people on how and when to use video in learning and I think you're giving them all a great guide to get started on their next project.
Luke Kempski: Thanks so much for joining us today, Angeline. Really appreciate your insights into the latest and greatest when it comes to video for learning.
Angeline Evans: Absolutely, thanks for having me.
Susan Cort: Luke, great conversation with Angeline today. What are some of the takeaways from your interview her?
Luke Kempski: Yes, I think she had some great takeaways. One, when we talked about example applications, she talked about communicating change with a trusted voice, like a company CEO or a subject matter expert, really making sure that people know what's in the training for them to do the intro perhaps.
She also talked about soft skills training. Then using scenarios to help teach soft skills and provide opportunities to learn context around applying soft skills. She also talked about using video to simplify tasks or to teach more hands-on skills. Also using interviews with subject matter experts or peers to connect with the learners, and to do demos.
Then she also talked about different approaches, one being using Vyond for animated characters and when that's appropriate and maybe when that's not the best application. She used the example from the chiefs of police project where she felt that using animated recreations of police officers and victims would not be respectful and appropriate in that situation, it would be better to use live people in a video scenario. But then in other situations where you may not even want to portray particular characteristics around the characters to use animated characters, you can control those things better and even make them more 'characteristicless' when it comes to certain representations of demographics, or even things like age and other aspects.
She talked about doing higher-end video when it comes to content that's going to be longer-lasting, and if something's going to be more, kind of consumed quickly and then gone, then maybe just shooting on a phone would be okay for that, or something that you might not get access to if you didn't use phone recorded video. Where she gave that great example from Constellation where they had interviews of consumers talking about their insights on different changes that were happening, that they'd captured on the phone, well, hey, the learner would really miss out on the opportunity to hear those insights if you didn't use those videos. They are really authentic as well, so the learner is going to be more forgiving maybe to audio not being as great as it would be if it's controlled in a video example.
She also talked about some of the newer approaches to video, using video for micro-learning where the video is the learning program and maybe you're building interactions into those, distributing them in a way that's very mobile-friendly, and easy to use, and also taking video to the next level with adding it into a virtual reality environment. So lots of exciting things, I think the future is really bright in using video for learning, and Angeline was great to bring about some of those perspectives.
Susan Cort: Absolutely. Thanks, Luke. Many thanks to d'Vinci's Angeline Evans for joining us today. If you have any questions about what we talked about, you can reach out to us on d'Vinci's social channels, through our website dvinci.com, or by emailing us at poweredbylearning@dvinci.com.
Announcer: Powered by Learning is brought to you by d'Vinci Interactive. For more than 25 years, d'Vinci has provided custom learning solutions to government agencies, corporations, medical education and certification organizations, and educational content providers. We collaborate with our clients to bring order and clarity to content and technology. Learn more at dvinci.com.
Boost Your ROI with a Better eLearning RFP
Establishing a new eLearning vendor relationship is a complicated process. How can you make sure you get the ROI you need? Two words: "Focus" and "Partner."
Focus - First, you need to make sure you're considering the right questions.
How will eLearning help your organization succeed? What skills do your learners need? How will the content be delivered? Your answers to these and other questions provide the focus you need to lay a foundation for success. A carefully thought out Request for Proposal (RFP) addresses each question specifically and provides the information your learning partner needs to deliver the results you want.
Partner - A well-crafted RFP helps you evaluate potential partners and find the one that's best for you- the one with the right combination of expertise, technology, management, and creative skills.
A good RFP also allows potential partners to showcase their strengths. With an eLearning RFP, you can clearly communicate requirements, explain your priorities, and list your criteria. And since everyone responds to the same request, it's easier to compare apples to apples when evaluating partners and solutions.
Using an RFP template
We've created an eLearning RFP template to help you get started. The finished RFP will help you compare prospective partners and assess their capabilities, compatibility, and costs. All you need to do is download the template and customize it so it works for you. Let me know if the template helps. And if you have other ideas to improve the RFP process.
Click here to download the RFP template