Change Employee Behavior in the Workplace

with These 5 High-impact Corporate Training

Strategies
The purpose training is to change employee behavior in the workplace,
and only true learning results in behavior change. However, learning is not
an event but a process, and changing behavior requires more than surface
learning objectives and a one-time training event.

Here are some strategies that can help you change employee behavior in
the workplace:

How Can L&D Teams Identify the Right Approaches to Drive

Change in Employee Behavior in the Workplace?
Employee behavior is what drives the success or failure of any business.
Company culture is made up of the small everyday actions of employees,
and as they say, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Without changing employee behavior, training is in vain. It results in wasted

time spent in eLearning modules or in face-to-face and virtual classrooms.
It’s a waste of time for the people who consume the training as well as the
people who design, develop and deliver it.

Learning and development (L&D) teams should look beyond training

delivery and seek to modify employee behavior in the workplace. One way
to begin this process is to identify the behaviors that drive key business
metrics and results. Training solutions that seek to change employee
behavior in the workplace are focused on learning outcomes aligned with
those desired behaviors.

L&D teams can work with key stakeholders and subject matter experts
(SMEs) to compare desired behaviors with current behaviors and identify
performance gaps. Once they have identified the correct behaviors, they
can develop training solutions to promote them. Next, L&D professionals,
working as performance consultants, can collaborate with stakeholders to
identify the most effective actions to modify employee behavior. It might be
as simple as a job aid in each employee’s inbox or as complex as a
blended program that includes messages from the executive team and live
classes and workshops, followed by microlearning nudges and reminders
of the desired behavior change.

We know that high-performing employees consistently demonstrate

behaviors that drive key business metrics, tactics and strategy. Using
learning strategies that modify employee behavior in the workplace can
mold high-potential employees into high-performing employees. However,
creating an environment that drives healthy behaviors lifts the performance
of not just high potentials but all employees, even low-performing ones.

What Are the Key Strategies That Enable Behavior Change?

In any endeavor to improve employee behavior in the workplace, starting
with the “why” is vital. When employees understand why their behavior
should change, they’re more willing to learn and practice new procedures,
practices and innovative ways to accomplish corporate goals.

Without changing employee behavior, training is in vain.

Here are five strategies that will help you successfully change employee
behavior:

1. Experiential Learning

In experiential learning, employees are immersed in simulations, role-plays

and case studies, creating an atmosphere that is conducive to behavior
change. Experiential learning gives employees a safe place to practice
new behaviors, identify where they need additional practice, receive
feedback and practice again.

2. Feedback

Feedback is vital to any effort to modify employee behavior. Without

feedback, employees don’t know when their behavior is incorrect.
 Managers, supervisors, change managers, training teams and coaches all
play a vital role in the feedback loop.

3. Follow-up

After receiving feedback, employees should have the opportunity to follow

up, ask questions and try again. Employees who can iterate are more likely
to achieve desired behavior changes.

4. Nudges

While active coaching and feedback is useful, small nudges throughout the

flow of work can also be effective. Strategically placed microlearning
opportunities can serve as reminders for employees, helping to modify their
behavior. Short videos and infographics shared through email or
a corporate social learning platform will also refresh the behaviors learned
in formal training.

5. Modeling

Modeling by executive sponsors and champions serves as an effective

method of changing employee behavior in the workplace. When combined
with microlearning, follow-up messages from leaders will remind
employees of expected behaviors and can help modify norms, reward
appropriate actions and reduce undesired behaviors.

All these actions lead to new behavior that rewires the human brain,
creating new neural pathways that lead to better habits. Once the behavior
becomes a habit, it is engrained in employees’ day-to-day actions.

What Learning Strategies Can You Adopt to Drive Behavior

Change?
There are several strategies that lead to behavior change, including:

 Microlearning, formal training, nudges, practice, feedback and experiential

learning are all a natural part of a learning and performance ecosystem.
 Within the learning and performance ecosystem, microlearning and mobile
apps create a social learning space, which serves as positive
reinforcement for correct behaviors.
 Mobile learning, especially for employees in younger generations, is an
effective way to continue learning experiences and enhance behavior
change. Mobile apps, in particular, can strategically nudge and remind
employees of desired behaviors and can be used for gamified learning
opportunities as well.
 In a healthy learning ecosystem, blended learning solutions that
incorporate coaching and mentoring serve as an additional nudge to
change behavior.
 Cohort learning, or learning in small groups, creates additional
accountability for employees as they seek to improve their behavior.
Learners within cohorts can serve as peer coaches, following up with each
other, providing support and giving feedback.

Modifying employee behavior should be the goal of any training solution,

and the strategies and practice articulated here will help accelerate that
change.

Want to learn how you can use a learning and performance ecosystem for
employee development? Take a look at this infographic, which will show
you how you can use the ecosystem to lay a strong foundation to support
employee learning and performance improvement.