Four tips for ‘on the job’ training with GRAVITY

GRAVITY’s enterprise learning software makes employee onboarding and IT rollouts much easier. But to reach its full potential, GRAVITY needs your input. There’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution, but we want to share four principles to help you best sync GRAVITY with your team’s work process.

1. Design for “flow.”

A continuous, uninterrupted workflow keeps users motivated and engaged. Ensure your employees can complete their work and receive all needed instruction via GRAVITY with minimal intrusion. Make GRAVITY’s appearance simple – with few, carefully-designed steps – so that the user experience is more about completing the task at hand and less about receiving instruction.

2. Encourage employees to own their GRAVITY experience

A few tweaks can help build user confidence and autonomy. First, update users on their progress. Employees may get discouraged if they think the training will be onerous, with no clear end in sight. Show them where they are in the learning trajectory to give them ownership and control. Second, reduce the number of callouts as users progress. It’s a proven way to expedite user adoption. Third, avoid callout language and content that’s patronizing or overly congratulatory. Users will be more receptive to a straightforward and business-like tone.

“Here’s the formula if you want to build a billion-dollar internet company. Take a human desire, preferably one that has been around for a really long time. Identify that desire and use modern technology to take out steps,”
Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, XOXO conference.

3. Stay in ‘perpetual beta’ mode

Always ask users what added features could improve their experience. If you can deliver them without breaking the bank or destroying your delivery timeline, make it happen. These wish list items are often painless to deliver – no custom code or hours of additional build time. They can be simple tasks, such as conditional formatting on a SharePoint list, custom email notifications for items that have been completed, or a filtered view that shows only items assigned to a specific user. These customized creations can go a long way toward securing user buy-in.

4. Make announcements in-app over email

The only time users care about new features or improvements is when they’re in the relevant applications, so that’s exactly where you should announce them. By comparison, email notifications 1) break the flow (see point 1, above); 2) compete with whatever else the user has on their mind; and 3) risk being filed or tabbed away by the email software.

You have the user’s full attention in-app. For example, if you launch a new search feature, announce it to the user when they enter the web application, via an in-app GRAVITY announcement, and highlight it with an information callout. Include a video with a high-level overview of the feature, including instructions to get started, so users can click around, test it out, and respond with any questions. An email would struggle to send the user back to the app; in-context notifications strengthen the user flow, provide value at the right moment, and engage your employees in the application.

We talked in our article on Effective IT Rollouts  about how GRAVITY’s software replaces the need for training manuals and costly in-person workshops. It boosts user enthusiasm for – and reduces user frustration with – learning new applications and software. However, GRAVITY can only achieve this with thoughtful input – not just from learning managers but from users as well.

The results? A customized approach to employee onboarding, quick user adoption, and IT rollouts for a fraction of the cost.

Haven’t seen it yet? Contact us for a free demo of GRAVITY.

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