Compliance elearning that works — What’s the problem?

Compliance-based learning can take a lot of time and cost a lot of money. And we know that we don’t always get the experience right for our employees. So, what’s the problem? And what can we do about it?

Article no. 1 of 10 - The Kineo view on: Compliance elearning

We all know that compliance-based learning is a must. And we think it’s fair to say that what’s been offered historically didn’t have ​a very good rep. ​You know the drill.  

• Nobody wants to do it 
• Everyone must do it 
• There’s nothing you can do about it – so get on with it 
• Psst… Have you done it yet? Can you tell me the answers? 
• Please have it done by Friday so we can all move on with our lives 

Sound familiar?

Compliance-based learning is a tricky area that many companies enduringly struggle with. The trouble is, it’s often essential for people to be able to legally function in their role. More than ever, organizations face a bewildering thicket of regulatory activity, an increased risk of litigation and liability, and the threat of long-lasting damage to consumer trust and market share if their corporate integrity is brought into dispute. But in the past the strategies for approaching compliance often failed to address this critical ethical component.  

What the research says 

Research in recent years shows that most people do feel a strong obligation to obey the rules when they believe they are legitimate, morally correct and connected to a shared purpose. 

However, a lot of compliance-based learning doesn’t seem to be hitting the mark. Most research shows that after completing a course, people still don’t feel equipped to protect themselves and their company – and the most common words used to describe it?  

“Boring!” Or “OK, I must tick a box”.  

As research from the Brandon Hall Group made clear, only about one-third of organizations see compliance training as a way to develop their talent (figures very slightly depending on the organization’s size). This is at odds with the way elsewhere in Learning & Development, there is an increasing move to developing more learner-centric, personalized and agile solutions.     

A perfect storm

Yet compliance-based learning has never been as important, or relevant, as it is now. If you look at it with a cynical eye, working remotely has created a perfect storm of noncompliance. Many of us haven’t been working with others in our place of work for well over a year. We have been left to our own devices. We have felt disconnected from our company culture, and from our compliance culture - the two ‘c’ words are intrinsically intwined - and it will take time to re-establish what that means for us within our organizations in a new, hybrid world of working.     

There is a need to (re)define what matters from a cultural and regulatory perspective and how to best communicate that to your employees. Like Brandon Hall Group, we believe it is time to:   

“Take on new design principles to maximize learner engagement and retention to include multimodal, highly interactive learning that leverages proven neuroscience methodologies and practices.”   

In our suite of articles, The Kineo view on: Compliance elearning, we take a helicopter view of the compliance landscape, talk you through our latest thinking and research, and share our recommendations for transforming your mandatory training – helping you find your North Star. We hope you find it useful and we welcome your feedback. Please drop us a line if you want to discuss anything further. 

Check out the next article in this series: The people paradox, to continue exploring The Kineo view on: Compliance elearning.

If you want to know more about how we create better learning experiences for compliance-based learning, drop us a line to book a free consultation with one of our learning experts.