By Douglas Dell, vice president and director, Vale Training, a Sedgwick company
Recorded video sessions have become a crucial asset to digital learning and many of us have amassed a library of them in the past year and a half.
Despite technology stumbles and occasional dog barks, they captured quick summaries of thought leadership and provided students with access to important information and documents. Now the question is: What can you do with the videos besides letting them sit idly on your hard drive or meeting account?
- Start with curation; scan your recorded files to determine which sessions should rise to the top based on the topic, attendees, video length and shared documents. If the session was more than 15 minutes, you may be able to extract snippets for future learning.
- Create a transcript of the audio using the PowerPoint or other documents shared during the session to add narrative. Focus on the key messages or insights — removing the noise of cross-talk, unrelated topics and too much detail. Remember, this is meant to be a synthesis of the session, not a verbatim representation.
- After you review the narrative to make corrections and additions, be sure to share the draft with a subject matter expert for validation of accuracy and confirmation that target audiences would benefit from the material.
- There are countless ways to repurpose and target your newly developed content, whether that be internally, among your clients or for recruiting. You might consider issuing the transcript as a reference document, using it to develop a checklist or process flow, or building it into an eLearning module.
With a little bit of production, past recordings can re-emerge as additional learning assets. It’s not enough to conduct a training program and assume it will result in positive change. Set some clear learning objectives. These outcomes will define targets that determine your training ROI: goals, metrics, behaviors and process improvements.
A practical approach that aligns with the insurance industry is to structure the outcomes you wish to achieve into three segments: personal improvement, audience impact and future skills. Below is a simple framework that explains each segment’s purpose.
Segment 1: Personal improvement
By recording a student’s achievements and credentialing them, you are validating their knowledge and providing evidence of a marketable trait. Whether directed by an employer or self-motivated, personal improvement encourages confidence in the individual, advances their proficiency level and improves their performance.
Segment 2: Audience impact
Addressing the collective is equally as important as the individual. By focusing on the engagement between teams, clients and organizations, the benefits of your educational content will multiply. Evidence of the outcome in action may be more behavioral — measuring cultural fit and customer satisfaction. These outcomes can be proven to attract new colleagues and clients as well as position a brand as an industry leading organization.
Segment 3: Future skills
As we approach 2022 and beyond, what skills may represent future business needs? There are several factors influencing change: technology, culture and emotions are just a few. If we are equipped to handle change, we will develop the level of resilience needed to achieve digital proficiency, cognitive flexibility and emotional intelligence. These future skills are evolving and will be shaped by geography, technologic change and functional role.
As you develop additional learning materials, let us know about the outcomes you witness and lean on Vale Training for guidance. For more information, visit www.valetrainingsolutions.com.