10 benefits of using video in training and development

A study has shown that 85% of every dollar spent on instructor-based training is spent conveying it.

Instructor-based training is time-consuming and consumes a lot of money and resources which is spent on travel instead of delivering the training.

When it comes to video training, no money is spent to pay someone to train employees. Since the video is recorded, you just need a venue where your employees can watch and listen to the video and that’s all.

In fact, there are no travel costs incurred since video can be shared over the internet. Employees can watch the training video while sited in their desks.

Another benefit of using video in training and development is that you incur a one-time cost to pay for a source and you will use it to create your videos for a long period of time.

The benefits of videos are that you can customize them the way you want. You can tailor them to your organization’s training program. The flexibility of videos makes them useful when you want to add more concepts.

That means you can use videos to train your team on anything and also hire new talents.

Video is for everyone. According to research conducted by employee training experts at AssignmentHelper.com.au, different people learn and absorb information differently. For instance, there are people who can absorb information by listening and there are others who can grasp information by watching. Video accommodates all these people.

Also, there are plenty of styles you can use to deliver information when it comes to video. For instance, you can use animation videos, live-action, and more. All this is meant to convey information in a way that employees find it engaging and interesting.For employee training and development, video can be used for several purposes including:

• Launching new products or services
• Explaining a new software
• Hiring new employees
• Boosting customer support skills

The video was introduced for entertainment purposes and since then, it has killed radio. In fact, they say “why to read the book when you can watch the movie?”

Videos offer better engagement. Research by Forrester shows that employees and the HR system will feel better watching a video by to 75% than read emails or web articles.

In short, if you want your employees to enjoy the training, you must make it engaging and interesting, and that’s exactly what videos can do. Videos attract attention and retain it more than documents and lectures.

Usually, companies invest in training their employees so that they can keep what they have learned and use it now and later. Regrettably, 7 days after the training session, employees will have forgotten 65% of what was covered in the training; a study has shown.

In fact, after 6 months, employees will have forgotten 90% of the material covered.

But when you include visuals in training sessions, the retention rate goes higher up to 65%.

That means people can remember what they learned through a video than other training materials such as text files, documents, and web articles. And given that people will remember 20% of what they read and 80% of what they watch, according to Assignment Masters.

Ever heard employee trainers complain that they have a schedule conflict, especially when they have a new class to train? This is a situation most companies and organizations find themselves in all the time.

It gets better.

Trainers can record videos during a training session and then make the video available to employees whenever they have the time to watch the training sessions. In fact, trainers can upload the videos to their company’s websites so that employees can access them anytime anywhere.

Just imagine how difficult it can be to get your team together at the same time and venue, particularly when you have more than 100 employees. It becomes a challenge to trainers, especially when it comes to instructor-based training sessions.

In addition, it can be costly for your employees located in another country to attend the training sessions. Distributing the training materials can also be hard because not all people can understand by reading- some people must be lectured to understand a concept so even if you distribute the learning materials, only a few will understand what is covered. In fact, the chances that some employees will miss something during the training are high when training a large group. That means not all the information delivered will reach your employees. And that’s just time and money wasted delivering something that won’t help.

Videos can be accessed anytime everywhere. An employee will just hit “play”, sit back and watch the training session at the comfort of their desks.

Apart from being easy to deliver, videos can be shared easily. Given that videos are engaging, entertaining and useful, people will share and reshare them with friends and colleagues. That means, they will reach employees and people outside the company. And chances are they will help many in the long run.

Traditional methods of employee training involve taking employees out of their workplaces for a long-winded presentation that can take the whole day. That means the tasks that were to be accomplished on that day will go unattended.

Using video in training and development, your employees don’t have to be at the venue of the training session. In fact, they can watch the video whenever they are free, meaning no work time is wasted.

Figure out this: Suppose you have a big team, you will have to divide your training session into groups. And give each group a specific date to attend the training. Now, for instance, you send the first group for classroom training on Monday and the other group on Tuesday, these two groups will not get the same training experience.

The first group could be having weekend hangovers and that means, they will not get anything from the training. Equally, the second team for Tuesday could have a different trainer or a situation might occur that could distract the training session. And the list of problems goes on and on.

With video, employees get the same training experience. You just need to create a comprehensive video that covers everything you want them to learn.

Let’s say, for instance, you’ve landed on the “About us” section of a company’s website and you are welcomed by a long page of text, explaining the company and what it does. On another website, on the “About us” section, you are welcomed by an interesting video, explaining what the company does, showing behind-the-scenes of the particular company. Which website do you think will help people understand more about a company?

Of course, it’s the one with a video on their “About us” section.

Equally, if you are training your teams about how to use a system you use in your company or you are teaching them about your products or services, video can be one of the effective ways to do it.

You could create an explainer video showing how to use your company’s software and tools.

With video you can measure the effectiveness 

Traditional methods used in training and development are hard to measure the effectiveness of the training. For instance, you may have a successful training session with your team but in the end, you aren’t sure whether they have understood or read the training materials.

It’s just not easy to measure the effectiveness of the training!

With video, it’s easier to measure the effectiveness of the training. For instance, you can tell whether people are engaging with your videos on YouTube by checking on the number of viewers, shares, and comments the video has.

And if you create an engaging training video, you can know whether your employees are engaging with your training or not.

What’s next?

Having known the benefits of using video in training and development, you are perhaps excited to start creating yours now.

Stop and think about these three things:

• Choose a suitable style for your company
• Decide what to focus on
• Understand what makes a good training video.

You’re ready to go!