15 New Tips For Multigenerational Workforce Training

Finding tips for multigenerational workforce training is hard to do because new generations of people have been added to the workforce over the last few years, some generations have left, and some have even come back from retirement. Add that to the plethora of multigenerational training done remotely, without supervision, and through learning management systems. You have a lot of confusion, problems to work through, and strategies that don’t work anymore.

So what can you do? Most people don’t have the option of starting over from scratch, nor are they able to ignore the plethora of problems that need to be addressed. HR leaders aren’t only drafting multigenerational leadership training or product training, they are tasked with things like multigenerational diversity training or sensitivity training, which can be even harder.

We’ve looked at case studies for training multigenerational workforces, the key needs and learning styles of most workforces, and even thought about how we handle our own training to bring you fifteen NEW tips for multigenerational workforce training.

Managing Multigenerational Workforce Training: Easier Than You’d Think

It isn’t necessarily hard managing multigenerational workforce training, you just need to be prepared and ensure that you have done thorough research. Younger generations, in particular, are extremely connected and understand how to look up information on their own. Older generations need to be guided a bit more through training, especially when done digitally.

However, the problem comes with engagement. You need to keep Millennials, Gen Z, and even some of Gen X engaged, which can prove difficult when they have phones, social media, and everything going on in the world distracting them. Older generations have those same distractions, but they are easier to engage. 

Bridging this gap is hard, but these tips can help:

Talk To Different Members Of Your Workforce

If you’ve already had a training session that didn’t work out as you’d hoped, it might be time to bring in different members of your workforce. Talk to your managers and mentors to see what has worked for them in the past. You have plenty of opportunity at your fingertips, you just need to seek it out.

You may also want to talk to managers about what types of training are really needed. They have their eyes on the workforce. If something is truly necessary, it is more likely that they will be engaged and participate in the training.

Focus On Upskilling & Growth

To get people interested in their training, focus on growing their skills and upskilling them, don’t teach them things they already know. This might mean that you have to be more intentional in your enrollments. Maybe you only enroll certain departments in courses or you make some training optional. If you create good training programs that are effective, people will want to take your training, so making it optional won’t hinder your numbers.

Find places where most of your workforce is struggling and build training there instead of just building training to build it.

Gamification Reaches Everyone

It’s human nature to be competitive. Gamifying your training can help to bring the generations together and encourage them to work together in ways that maybe they wouldn’t before – and it helps them get their training done.

Even better, gamification and everyone working towards a goal can help with retaining what everyone is learning, building bonds, and finding value in the training.

Clearly State Goals & Motivations

Why are you enrolling your workforce in training? You need to tie in back to the work they are already doing, upcoming pushes, performance improvement plans (PIPs), or performance reviews.

When you connect Trakstar Learn to Trakstar Perform, you can enroll people in your training programs right after performance reviews. This allows you to give them the training they need when they are motivated to do better and be better. Maybe you’ve given them something to strive for, like a promotion or a pay increase – or maybe it’s the opposite: you had to give them a bad performance review. Whatever the situation may be, clearly stating why someone has to go through training can help motivate them to actually make the steps to take it – no matter what their generation is.

Personalize Training Where You Can

Wherever you can, personalize your training. Whether this is recording videos with voiceover of real people in your workforce or simply putting your logo on the training. If you are creating multimedia training materials, you can use photos and clips of people in your workforce, use real-time examples of problems they’ve faced, and more.

Another tip is to update your training regularly with new personalization.

Leverage Employee Talents

Does one employee have a particular set of strengths? Ask them to create training! Not only is this a fun way to give your employee something new to do, it can help vary training and upskilling to reach different generations. Younger employees may do something fun with multimedia, whereas older employees may replicate training they received in the past. The result? Varied forms of training that meet different needs.

Show Diversity In The Workforce

When you are creating training programs, be sure to reflect your workforce. If you have a diverse workforce, you need to show them off in everything you create. Be sure that your training materials, even if they use stock photos, represent the people you actually have in your workforce – and anyone you could have in your workforce.

This will help prevent random updates when there’s a need to have specific images. 

Batch Your Workforce When Appropriate

Not everyone needs to take every training. It’s easy to create training fatigue that leads to less engagement if you train every single person on every single thing. Batch training for the people who really need it. 

…But Know When To Bring Them Together

When in doubt, however, enroll someone in training. There’s nothing worse than working with someone who should know something, only to have them say they don’t understand or know how to do it. This can breed animosity between the generations instead of bringing them together.

Promote Digital Literacy

Training can be challenging, particularly when you have employees who don’t know how to use computers well. This primarily impacts older employees, but it can trickle down when you use systems people don’t know. 

Other than choosing a tool that is easy to use, you want to show your employees how to use the training materials. Avoid saying things like, “Everyone will be able to do this,” because it prevents people who need help from asking questions. Instead, keep room in the schedule for questions and guides.

Consider Microlearning

If possible, break your training into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Instead of training sessions that last all day, break them up over a few weeks. Using a learning management system makes it easy to break things up, track who is taking lessons, and ensure that people get the materials they need on their terms.

Choose The Right Tools

This one is simple: better tools make it easier to train people, regardless of age. Finding the right learning management system will help you to reach everyone in your organization. These are tools that make creating courses, enrolling your workforce, and tracking progress easy.

Trakstar Learn is one of those products. As part of the best-in-breed Trakstar Platform, Trakstar Learn is an easy-to-use solution that allows you to be creative with your training while keeping a streamlined interface that people of every skill level will be able to use.

Interested in learning more? You can schedule a free demo today.

Bring In Professionals For Difficult Topics

If you need to cover complex topics in training, for example, you need to hold multigenerational diversity training or sensitivity training, it is okay to admit that you don’t know everything. Bring in professionals who have the breadth and depth to cover topics you may not know about or have the tact to talk about. 

One thing to note is that if you need to bring in a professional to talk about a topic, you need to ensure that you take the training.

Reflect Company Culture

All of your training should reflect your company culture. If you say that you stand for something, you need to preach it in all that you do. Be careful about making your training enjoyable with jokes or memes that could be culturally insensitive.

You also want to focus on making your training more inclusive. Even if it is online, be sure that everyone can get the material. Offer captions or alternative training options for people who can’t hear. Focus on creating training for different learning styles.

Allow Collaboration

Collaboration is a great way for everyone to become involved in the training process. If there are certain projects that teams can work on together, particularly teams that don’t work together on a regular basis, combine them. This doesn’t have as much to do with training, but it does help when training does happen. Why? People are excited to see the training materials their peers put together, they are excited to work with those people again, or if you hold training in person, they get to see new faces.

Which of these tips are you most likely to try?

Share this on