During a team meeting, when you announce that’s it’s time for compliance training to meet certification, regulation or professional requirements, how do your employees respond? Do you hear groans or sighs, or see head-shaking and eye-rolls? You’re not alone. Usually required employee training is, well to be honest, boring. But it doesn’t have to be. Surprise employees 
with compliance training that’s fun, interesting and effective. And it’s easy to set up.
Keep it interesting
In mandatory employee in-person training sessions, usually someone at the front reads the words shown on the screen. The content features long text broken up with bullet points, and the person in the front of the room expounds on the points. During these sessions, there’s a good chance that most employees do other things, e.g., doze or play on their smartphones.
But compliance training doesn’t have to be boring. Use online training software system to liven it up. And, because it’s digital, employees can watch it anytime, from any device.
So, it’s time to embrace your creativity, or ask others to help you, to turn mandatory information into interesting training.
Be positive
Often mandatory training focuses on “don’t do this, or else,” which instills fear and avoidance 
in employees. Instead, turn the topics into positive learning experiences. Identify the good behavior and actions that are needed and explain how these choices can make a difference.
And when telling employees about compliance training requirements during team meetings, in emails or employee newsletters, focus on the value of the learning sessions. Explain how it will help them do their jobs better, support co-workers and improve the business. Workers respond better to positive experiences, so avoid emphasizing what happens if they don’t complete mandatory training.
Engage employees
Next, it’s time to set up the training modules. Identify the topics, then separate them into simple concepts that can be presented as microlearning modules. (Read this blog to learn how.)
Next, look around for employees who are respected and leaders in the company. Ask them to help you make compliance training topics interesting. Encourage their input of creative ideas, such as making role-play videos, drawing funny cartoons that demonstrate the right response to situations, designing photo props that capture an interesting angle of the topic, or making audio (and/or video) recordings to communicate the messages through storytelling.
Using any, or all, of these ideas, helps employees with different learning styles better connect with the content. It also makes compliance training much more interesting than reading plain words on a screen or listening to a monotone voice read the material.
Also, when you make compliance information interesting, it’s easier to engage employees with the content, and they are more apt to remember what they learn.
Make it real
Employees are quick to spot information that is trite, forced or hokey. Use words that employees will easily understand. And, use simple sentences to help employees connect with 
the content. If the business has compliance problems, there is a good chance employees already know about it. So be real and honest. Explain areas for growth and opportunities for improvement. Show how positive changes will impact the business and improve work responsibilities for employees.
And one more thing to remember: Stay on topic and focus on communicating the key details. Once you’ve shared all the important details, stop. Repeating details several times does not improve retention.
Ask for feedback
After developing the training content, ask a few key managers and employees to review the material and provide feedback. Their first reactions will give you valuable directions in refining the content. Remember, the goal is to share right information with team members, using the right tone, so employees can connect with the content and understand and accept work changes.
