A guide to employee learning styles

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Joining a new company can be intimidating for both the employee and the employer. Often, an employee is overwhelmed with a deluge of information being conveyed to them in a short time, and employers are looking to ensure that the new worker is a good fit for the company and its needs. However, the training process does not have to be scary if employers are willing to cater the training experience to the employee’s unique needs.

A more personal approach to teaching employees

Rather than managing employees while training and leading them, business leaders should aim to coach them. The difference between managing and coaching is that, when managing employees, the leader gives them the answer; when coaching, the leader guides the employee on how to find the answer themselves. Although there are some areas in which precise directions must be followed — such as with safety issues or legal compliance — it is often beneficial to allow employees to solve problems in their own way.

As a company grows, it can be easy to allow the training process to become more generalized as the amount of time for one-on-one development is reduced. However, generalized training does not accentuate employees’ personal creativity and decision-making skills. A robust training program should provide employees with the basic information and skills they need to empower them to make their own decisions when the time comes.

The most successful organizations focus on coaching their employees and helping them to learn early, but it is also important to remember that growth is a continuous process. As employees gain experience in their roles, they will continue to learn ways to make themselves more effective and efficient at what they do. However, a focus on coaching employees before they even begin to work with clients will ensure that they are ready and comfortable for those interactions.

One of the main goals of a trainer during the training process is to find a way to keep employees engaged. Studies have shown that engagement while learning is necessary for knowledge retention. Although these studies primarily focus on learning in a classroom setting, the same principle applies to learning during employee training. Employers have tried different methods to keep employees engaged during the training process, such as incentives and gamification. However, the most effective — and perhaps easiest — way to ensure engagement is to adapt the training process to the employee’s unique needs.

Adapting the coaching process to different learning styles

Within the academic community, there has been much discussion about the different types of learners and the same archetypes manifest in employees. Kinesthetic learners learn best by doing, auditory learners learn best by hearing, and visual learners appreciate learning by seeing and reading. In large training classes, there is likely to be a combination of all three learning styles.

An activity that might be helpful for one type of learner may be entirely ineffective for another. Standing in front of a group of employees and giving a lecture will be effective for auditory learners, and with a visual aide, this may be sufficient for visual learners, but it will be completely disengaging for kinesthetic learners. Effective leaders know how to balance learning and coaching activities so that every trainee has their unique needs met.

The easiest way for a business leader to know if their coaching strategy works is by listening. Leaders should ask questions throughout the learning process to ensure their employees fully comprehend the information. And this does not mean simply asking questions like “Do you understand/?” These questions lead employees to one answer — generally “yes” — as they may be embarrassed to answer in any other way. Open-ended questions such as “What did you find most interesting about what we discussed today?” or “What else would you like to know?” are a great way to facilitate a genuine conversation around the training process.

Related: Job development and skills training key to employee retention, new report suggests

Creating engagement during the training process is the key to employees retaining the information they learn and, ultimately, being satisfied in their position. To effectively engage employees, business leaders must ensure that the training process is flexible and caters to the unique learning needs of each individual. Although this may seem daunting, embracing different learning styles is a necessary step that will significantly benefit the workforce.

Hannah Lloret, vice president of Learning & Development — Cyberbacker