How to escape from boring compliance training

Feb 42 min read

Many companies present compliance training as an endless wall of text that employees are required to skim through and acknowledge. Some Learning Management Systems even flaunt the feature of ‘mark as read’, so that records can be pulled on ‘Who has read this Policy’. This passive approach is ineffective because the company has no idea who actually understood the policy, let alone who would know how to correctly apply it in their particular day-to-day situations. It’s also unlikely to shift the dial in terms of achieving the measures of safety and compliance behaviour that the business is actually aiming for.

So how do you transform compliance policy information into training that sticks and changes behaviour? Here are some approaches:

Include Personalised Scenarios
Rather than abstract rules, give learners scenarios that apply directly to their roles. For instance, in a training about privacy, prompt an office-based learner to choose what to do when they come across a piece of paper left in the printer with confidential information on it.
Another way to personalise scenarios is to focus on what people most often get wrong. In one company we worked with, a common misunderstanding about securities trading was assuming using a share-trading app rather than the company share scheme meant the rules did not apply.
Allow Consequence Discovery
Design branching scenarios that allow learners to experience the consequences of their choices. Instead of just reading the consequences, allow learners celebrate virtually when they make great decisions!
High five and commiserate when they make a wrong decision.
Build Microlearning
Short, focused learning experiences can be easier to digest and help staff retain key information. This method is particularly useful for ongoing compliance needs like updates to the Privacy Act or new health and safety rules.
One of the best micro-learning experiences I’ve experienced was when the IT department deliberately sent out an email that looked legit but had a few red flags on it. (Including the sender email being slightly wrong, and a couple spelling mistakes.) Those that clicked on the link to “update their password” were taken to a screen letting them know they had not paid enough attention.
The experience took less than 1 minute, but the memory lasted!
Use Videos and Visual Content
As with all training, visual content and short videos bring compliance training to life. When we want something to be memorable, the more visual it is, the better. In one training about safety knives, we were aware many learners had low levels of literacy, so we made sure our visuals left nothing to interpretation.
Make your compliance training matter
Compliance training doesn’t have to be boring —by integrating personalised, interactive scenarios, micro-learning experiences and engaging content, you can ensure your team understands the material and applies it when it matters most.