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September 10, 2024
•
Elena Obolonskaia
Let's face it. The traditional methods of corporate communication in organizations are losing their charm.
How many of us read all those company emails, and how many times do lengthy meetings result in discussion more than action? Amidst constant distractions and an overflow of information, grabbing employee attention has become harder than ever. Here’s a fix: Have you considered microlearning?
Microlearning—a learning approach that delivers content in digestible chunks—has emerged as a practical solution to these challenges. This approach helps simplify messages, making them easy and accessible for employees anytime.
In this article, we’ll delve into what makes microlearning an effective approach for internal communication, some notable benefits, and sample applications for different corporate scenarios. Stay tuned—if there's one change that can profoundly amp up your communication game at work, it might just be this!
Corporate communication includes all forms of interactions between an organization and its internal and external stakeholders. It covers a wide array of activities aimed at creating and sustaining a positive image of the business among these stakeholders. It all starts with a corporate communication strategy that defines the company's messaging and tone. Then you choose corporate communication tools that will deliver the message to employees, partners, and shareholders.
Considered these areas a part of your corporate communication strategy:
Internal communication - interactions with employees at all levels. It's focused on building a company culture and informing staff about company policies, updates, and changes.
External communication - all interactions with people outside of the organization, from customers, partners, and investors to media and the public. Think of public relations, investor relations, marketing communications, and messages on corporate social responsibility.
Brand communication is built around a company's values, mission, and brand identity to form and maintain a positive image in the eyes of its stakeholders and the public.
Crisis communication handles unexpected events and everything that could negatively impact the company's reputation or financial health. Effective corporate crisis communication strategy is crucial for minimizing damage and sustaining healthy business operations and healthy in times of crisis.
Media relations is the management of interactions with the media: press releases, interviews, and press conferences. It shapes the narrative about the company in the public domain.
Investor relations is communication with shareholders and potential investors regarding the company's financial health, performance, and strategy that can help maintain or increase investment.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a company's efforts in social and environmental areas to build a positive image and encourage a favorable perception of the business.
The digital era has transformed our workplaces considerably. As we adopt virtual channels for collaboration and transition towards remote or hybrid work models, several challenges pop up.
Take emails. With emails piling up daily, important messages get lost amidst promotional materials and notifications. Genuine dialogue seems like a mission impossible.
Plus, with today's rapid news cycle, employees can get overwhelmed by content overload through all the platforms or corporate communication tools. Getting or maintaining sustained attention feels like fighting against a tide.
Moreover, we fight with thousands of informational inputs that people choose to get distracted by, all stemming from the ever-present smartphones in their hands.
This all begs the question: Is there something we could be doing better?
Microlearning can help us navigate these communication roadblocks. Instead of long messages or info-loaded presentations, if we start sharing bite-sized updates, it will make a world of difference.
For starters, micro-updates are highly digestible. They're short yet comprehensive enough to get the message across clearly. They're typically designed with multimedia elements like videos, graphics, and quizzes that inject an element of engagement into the knowledge-sharing process, which ultimately promotes better understanding.
And let's not forget—we love our smartphones! So naturally, mobile-friendly modes of corporate communication is a must-have today.
Lastly, by delivering communications as "micro-briefings", you're able to smoothly integrate into your employees' workflow, which respects their time.
Learn how Green Tweed used microlearning for internal communication in times of change
Microlearning, broken down to its simplest definition, is a bite-sized learning method that provides just the information necessary at any given time. Now, imagine applying this approach to your team's everyday communications!
Here are some ways microlearning with a nifty tool like 7taps can revolutionize your corporate communication strategy and flow.
Unlike traditional learning methods, microlearning delivers small packages of knowledge specific to certain topics, one at a time. Share company info or train employees on key business values via 7taps Microlearning to help them retain what they've learned. Research suggests that offering compact learning material significantly improves retention rates because it aligns closely with our brain's cognitive architecture.
Developing full-scale corporate communication programs for an organization can be both time-consuming and expensive. But repackaging content in digestible chunks reduces development hours and requires fewer resources, which saves you money. Moreover, with expertise agnostic corporate communication tools like 7taps, anyone in the company can create that content.
💡Learn how to measure the effectiveness and ROI of your learning initiatives
Microlearning gives employees quick access to information when needed, but also reaches them when you have an urgent message to share. Always accessible via smartphones (or tablets or computers), employees can go through company content anytime, anywhere.
💡Check out this course example on navigating the CRM Upgrade
Microlearning fits seamlessly into attention-challenged workplaces. It keeps communication short but on point. Incorporate interactive elements in your micro bites to engage employees into a dialog - ask them for feedback, facilitate idea exchange, or test their knowledge on recently shared updates.
Remember, communication isn't meant to be overwhelming; it should be fun, relatable, and easy to understand. This fits with what 7taps delivers through its science-backed microlearning platform used by thousands of businesses worldwide for education and communication.
In this section, let's delve into the practical applications of microlearning within an organizational setting.
Traditionally, lengthy emails or large "town hall" meetings have been utilized to share company-wide news. Instead, try leveraging the power of microlearning by delivering compact, meaningful corporate updates directly to employees' mobile devices via a microlearning platform like 7taps.
Sharing key points about exciting developments, with links to learn more, can ensure important messages get across without wasting valuable work time. This approach facilitates quicker dissemination of information across the organization.
“We adopted 7taps to support corporate learning and communication at our organization a year ago. Thanks to its simplicity and the framework that saves time spent on content creation, we found it impactful for several activities within the company.”
Microlearning proves particularly useful when introducing new products or services within a company. Employees can quickly learn about product features, benefits, and uses through bite-sized content modules delivered on their preferred devices.
Using interactive approaches such as quizzes can enhance comprehension and retention. It also allows for continuous reinforcement whenever needed without requiring extensive retraining sessions.
“7taps helps us create short, practical job aids and resources that our team can actually use day-to-day, right where they need them.”
Providing asynchronous updates is another way to leverage microlearning for corporate communication. It helps team members across time zones receive vital information at their own pace without feeling out-of-sync with the flow of work.
These could be short briefings on project advancements or even snapshots of quarterly performance metrics that help keep everyone informed and engaged regardless of their geographical locations.
💡Learn how Cisco uses microlearning to drive asynchronous learning.
Creating safer workplaces involves acknowledging mental health concerns openly. With microlearning modules dedicated to self-care tips, stress management techniques, or burnout symptoms awareness organizations show empathy toward employees' well-being while subtly boosting productivity levels.
These resources can be made accessible on-demand so that employees feel supported as they navigate any mental health issues.
💡Learn how a public state mental health agency supports healthcare workers with microlearning.
Whether it is preparing for a product launch, an industry event, or even an internal reshuffle, checklists are brilliant tools. Compiling key tasks in a compact format helps focus attention on immediate requirements without the stress of going through long briefing documents.
Checklists can also act as progress indicators with simple completion tracking features that create interactivity and employee satisfaction—again easily implemented via platforms like 7taps.
“I've turned several field engineers’ training "how to" lessons into checklists with 7taps and have integrated them into LMS learning modules. Well-loved is a 7taps that includes a video of how to set up a piece of testing equipment.”
Short, interactive surveys make it easier to engage employees in providing their feedback. Analytics linked to such survey responses can then provide insights into employee sentiments easily.
Sending regular internal company micro newsletters can be a great way to foster company-wide camaraderie and connection. These could include project achievements, team milestones, individual shout-outs, or departmental updates.
Staying updated on industry trends, policies, and regulations can be overwhelming. By breaking down these updates into palatable chunks delivered as needed via microlearning modules, organizations ensure important industry changes are communicated promptly.
Not all corporate communications need to be formal. Inject some fun using game-based microlearning activities to encourage team bonding while learning new skills. With teams now being spread across multiple locations, virtual escape rooms or trivia contests can become excellent vehicles for engagement and collaboration across borders.
Experiment with different formats like quizzes, videos, and infographics while keeping the essence of microlearning intact: simplicity and brevity.
💡Check out a microlearning course example defining the goals of a corporate conference
Access to the right information at the right time is key. This holds not just for interactions with consumers but also in terms of internal communication within a business.
Identify your learning objectives from the get-go. Whether it's enhancing employees' product knowledge, communicating policy changes, or simply streamlining work processes, your goals should guide your content development.
Ask yourself: What is the key message you would like to deliver?
Once the learning goals have been solidified, the next step is to create impactful content that aligns perfectly with your business's communication intentions. Make the content attractive and approachable - with 7taps, it's easy to add GIFs, images, video, audio clips, bite-sized text, or other interactive features.
The mission doesn’t end at curating great content —equal emphasis should be placed on its delivery. For today's workforce who are constantly on the go and struggle against dozens of distractions each day, a mobile-friendly platform enhances accessibility.
Delivering digestible modules directly to mobile devices makes it easier and more convenient to take in new information. Use 7taps to test various communication channels - share your info bites via QR codes, SMS, emails, Microsoft Teams, or Slack.
To determine whether your microlearning initiatives are effective, carrying out data analysis and setting up adequate feedback loops are important. Microlearning platforms like 7taps stand out with tracking features that show the metrics of your micro-courses. Paying attention to your engagement rates will let you know if your strategy is working or needs improving.
As much as we might all like to disconnect from the internet and live in 1990 again, we can't (at least not until Doc Brown builds a lot more time-traveling vehicles). But we can meet today's corporate communication challenges with a strategy that works with dwindling employee attention spans.
That's precisely where 7taps microlearning enters the scene, providing a solution that is digestible, engaging, mobile-friendly—and importantly—fits naturally into an employee's workflow. The benefits are many: improved knowledge retention and skills development, fostering connection and cooperation among workers, reduction in delivery time, and development overheads for training programs.
As our professional landscape evolves with advancements in technology we need to adapt our comms strategies to keep pace. Enhancing your approach to corporate communication with microlearning can revolutionize how your teams network, collaborate and grow together.
Take a look at the examples we mentioned above and think about which ones you would incorporate into your corporate communication strategy. All you need for a quick test of any scenario is a free trial of the 7taps Enterprise Plan. Create an account to build and send out content in as little as 15 minutes!
💡Explore more ideas for microlearning
