25 Jun
Why schedule learning for a specific time and place when it can happen any time, any place – just in time.
Learners can now access training whenever they want. A scroll on Facebook or LinkedIn and you easily get access to articles written by experts and professional advice. You often don’t even have to search for them. But if you do look something up, there is almost nothing that you can look up on search engines and not find the answers to.
Massive online open courses (MOOCs) now deliver learning content online to any person who wants to join a course and LMSs come to the rescue for quick employee training. Just-in-time training is being preferred nowadays because learners have become used to having on-demand access to knowledge. Traditional training sessions are out of the question for they are outdated, boring and inaccessible the moment you step out of the classroom. Today’s learners want to sync learning with their busy schedules.
What is Just In Time Training?
Just In Time Training is an employee training methodology based on gaining new knowledge or skills only when you need them rather than in case you’ll need them. It requires a flexible and innovative approach to learning which understands that employees in different roles don’t need to learn the same skills at the same time and all at once.
Benefits of Just In Time Training
1. It increases productivity in the workplace
The goal of every kind of training is to increase performance. JIT specifically aims to help employees just when they need it, either by providing tips, tricks, solutions, or hacks at the time of need. There is no need to attend classroom-training sessions or wait for the experts to come to explain what you need in order to finish a task right now.
2. Accuracy is improved
Since they have access to information available at the touch of a button, it enables employees to do their jobs more accurately and prevent redoing that work. This saves the company money, too, because instead of doing rework, you can spend working hours on something else.
3. Improved learner access to knowledge
As opposed to years ago when one had to spend hours reading countless books to find that one chapter that explains something that you needed to know, now with just a few of clicks of the mouse, you that information at your fingertips.
Corporate training managers should be careful in including powerful search features when building their LMS so that employees can navigate easily through the repository of information. This makes JIT improve accessibility to knowledge.
4. It makes employees more engaged
According to a study by Bersin by Deloitte, the modern employee has less than 1% of the working week to dedicate to learning and development. This means that they have only a few minutes of every day to squeeze in there some time to read an article or watch an educational video. This is how (and when) just-in-time learning helps.
In brief, JIT will help your employees be more engaged because:
- Employees are eager to learn and require the information themselves. It’s not forced upon them.
- It only offers relevant information. Learners only learn what they need and apply that info right away.
- Adult learners don’t like to be told when to learn or not, they like to have a feeling of being in control and just in time training enables them this.
5. Easy (and cheap) to update content
Just in time training is also beneficial to training managers. It can save a lot of time you spend on developing eLearning courses in your LMS. By creating bite-sized content and adding updated content to existing courses, you will no longer have to revise entire courses when they become outdated.
6. Perfect for mLearning
JIT Training is perfect for commuting employees. Since LMSs are mobile optimized and the courses are bite-sized, employees can turn their boring ride into an insightful one. The brief nature of just in time training content makes mobile learning easier than ever.
7. Knowledge retention
If we don’t apply the things we read, we soon forget them. It’s only natural. Application of newly learned skills or information helps with knowledge retention and vice-versa. This immediate reinforcement then transfers learning from short to long-term memory.
With JIT Training, employees apply the knowledge they gain immediately after the course. This means that they will likely never forget it.
Therefore, there are many benefits to why employees should be trained just in time. It cultivates the ability to learn quickly and practically and suits the learning needs of today’s workforce which is mostly made out of millennials. The sooner companies adjust, the better.
