Snackable Learning – why businesses should adopt this power learning approach
Friday, 24 July 2020 | Vaughan Reed
Friday, 24 July 2020 | Vaughan Reed
Have you ever been to a workshop for a full day of learning only to scratch your head when someone asks you just days later what you
learnt? Long term retention of key learning is the biggest challenge organisations face when it comes to using traditional methods of
learning and development such as face to face training, online workshops and online learning systems.
Fortunately there is a way to overcome these challenges by combining traditional and modern learning methods to form a 'power learning strategy' to improve the long term retention of key learning.
You may not have heard the term ‘Snackable Learning’, however this is the special ingredient that will help you reach your magic long-term learning formula. Snackable Learning blends the best parts of microlearning (delivering short bursts of snackable content for learners) and nudge learning (positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions as ways to influence behaviour) to powerfully combat the natural tendency for people to forget what they have learnt.
The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve highlights the decline of memory retention over time when there is no proactive attempt to consciously review or put into practice what was learnt immediately after training.
The curve implies that a large proportion of information is forgotten within the first few hours of learning, and only 25% of information is retained by the end of the week. In short, humans can't retain all of what they've learnt.
Many organisations are already aware of the issues surrounding the retention of information. As a result they are adapting their training, using methods like the 70:20:10 method, which focuses on experienced based learning.
The weighting of theoretical techniques versus practical techniques used in training depends on the subject matter and the extent to which
reasoning (theory) and experience (practical) matters or is possible. Whichever learning method(s) you use within your organisation, there
is one common denominator for them to be effective long-term and that is reinforcement. Whether learning is theoretical or practical, there
is a clear need to reinforce key messages taught during those phases in the form of regular reminders and repetition.
Repetition "the mother of all learning" is the
cornerstone of learning because it delivers the deep seated retention of information; transitioning the learning from conscious behaviour
to subconscious habit.
Traditional methods of learning provide the context of information, which is an important part of the learning process, but where workshops and online learning fall short, is the ability to deliver the frequency of key messages over time.
Snackable learning presents key messages in a bite-size format, which are easily seen and understood. This information is carefully planned to be delivered at the right intervals that will achieve the kind of spaced repetition required for key messages to be retained over time.
Most organisations battle with finding ways to deliver key messages so that they reach and engage their entire workforce. From learning and development programmes through to more general communications such as; culture, health and safety, wellbeing and performance insights, it’s all information for the workforce that is critical for businesses to communicate effectively.
At Vibe, we’ve learnt there are 5 fundamentals for delivering effective communications within the workforce. These 5 fundamentals are the cornerstone of our Snackable Learning Framework©.
Read more about our 5 fundamentals for effective communication
It is extremely difficult to deliver these 5 fundamentals using standard communication methods, such as emails, intranets, noticeboards, posters or even collaboration tools like Teams, Facebook Workplace or Slack.
Just imagine pushing out a message via email or a collaboration tool and then needing to send the same or similar message 7 or 8 times to achieve ‘frequency’. Not only would it be time consuming and infuriate everyone, but the tool would become cluttered an ineffective for its originally designed purpose.
Vibe's Snackable Learning Framework© delivers programs and messages in a way that cuts through the noise and significantly improves the reach and retention of key learning, which is essential for driving long term change.
Here at Vibe, we have developed a specialist internal communication platform that transforms the way organisations influence people performance through effective communications and learning & development initiatives within the workplace, using these five fundamentals.
Vibe complements the learning process by delivering the well-timed repetition needed to reinforce take-away messages and actively places these messages in front of the workforce on a daily basis, in a highly visual and engaging format.
Article By Vaughan Reed [LinkedIn]
Vaughan is the Managing Director @ Vibe.fyi. Vibe makes it easy for organisations to communicate
business critical information in a way that will inspire today’s workforce.
Vibe helps us drive engagement. Definitely a very positive tool!
It has enabled us to display life-saving rules, incentive tracking and information that hasn't been available to non-wired staff previously.
Vibe has worked during COVID-19; and beyond.
As an essential service, needed Vibe in all Distribution Centres during the first lockdown to provide H&S information. It's been the solution we needed to reach all of our staff in a timely manner.
It has helped raise awareness around services we offer.
The screens have not only been a great visual aid for residents, they have also been an excellent marketing and sales tool.
The Vibe team are great to work with - super proactive, super helpful.
Infact we haven't needed them too much because it's really easy to use and very simple and effective.
We can easily share information to staff across New Zealand that isn't always available to them.
The different templates are a bonus - there's always a layout that works with what you want to share.
With uncertain times, we have another communication channel to ensure our business key messages are been seen.
Specifically for those that communicate with our customers.
I'm not an IT person at all, but the Vibe system is super easy to use, requiring minimal input.
The screens are fabulous and have been a great tool for improving the accuracy of information, removing a lot of frustration around the village.
Their customer service is exceptional.
From our very first introductory meeting, they have always been on hand to offer information and support. They proactively step-in to find ways to make things work. Friendly, knowledgeable and very responsive!
We're saving time and increasing team efficiency!
Vibe.fyi has had a positive impact on team meetings – the duration of meetings has reduced by approximately 30% because of not needing to cover the tracking of core services.
Vibe has been a hit from the beginning! Better collaboration, visibility, sharing and accountability.
We’ve also experienced a 60% increase in awareness of upcoming events in the business calendar and were able to celebrate at least five times more staff achievements than we could have using email.
There was a lot of printing of flyers and posters which is both costly and environmentally unfriendly.
With Vibe's on-screen format it’s easy to make changes instantly on the fly without the need for a reprint. No more excuses from staff not reading internal emails. Messaging is right there, on the screen.
This software has helped stop geographical office separation and team silos.
Meetings are shorter. We get immediate reporting to the whole business on performance without having to send more emails to get the data required.
Our people love the wellbeing program content!
Our people are impressed that we are providing them with communication that is timely and will help improve their safety, health and wellbeing.
It's transformed our communications for our non-wired staff.
The comm's tools we used previously for our non-wired employees weren’t up to the same level as those for wired.
You can just have it all on Vibe.
Even when you’re at home, you can have these snackable bits of content you can retain, instead of having to check an email, look at an announcement, go from one platform to another.
We’ve experienced a 20% reduction in volume of emails.
With an obviously more positive, interactive, connected and engaged workforce, who appear a lot happier!
We originally needed a mechanism to push out health and safety information to all of our people.
After a few years, we now use the screens for Health & Safety, general notices, reporting dashboards, news, financial and wellness programs.
I haven't seen a solution this powerful before!
Our people absolutely love it and it's helped us transform how we communicate.
Vibe helps us get internal messaging to staff in a fun, graphic format.
As well as the serious stuff, slideshows of staff events are very popular. Plus, promote our outward-facing social media content inwardly to staff and visitors.
Being a construction project we also use Vibe to show our office-bound staff what’s happening out on site.
This helps promote a greater understanding of progress and gives a feel of inclusion.
It saves us time, plus it's a very modern solution and it helps engage and inspire our people.
Vibe provides a way of supporting the key messages around safety, wellbeing, operational updates and employee recognition.
It's a really simple and effective way to help communicate key messages to all workers on our construction sites.
Rather than settling for basic posters that don't get updated often, Vibe's moving imagery and fun colors catches the eye.
Vibe is a great internal communications tool that is user-friendly and customised to our business.
Their customer service team is friendly and quick to get in touch if you have a query or issue.
Vibe gets cut-through
Vibe is now officially part of our channel mix and is becoming one of our main channels of communication (and has the potential to become the main channel).
Really great for providing snackable and understandable content, it’s visually a great way to communicate.
The impact when people see our big digital wall at reception is great.
If we took it away now, there would be a riot!
Being able to set all the screens up differently is fantastic. It provides a real 'feel-good' factor for residents.
We started with COVID messages, but by mid-Nov we were communicating other business events on site.
We're using Vibe for EVERYTHING. Facebook groups, café menus, surveys (with a QR code), internal videos, welcoming our summer interns, Christmas messaging from our CEO + more!
We are now able to share general company information and specific site information to large groups of people.
It suits our teams and contractors in different locations, which in the past has been difficult to communicate with.
I like having the ability to control what content is displayed on each screen with playlists.
We have screens across two different locations with a different audience requirement for each one.
Vibe is a great tool for bringing staff together and sharing news and event footage internally.
When choosing a product, Vibe.fyi ticked all the boxes.
Vibe was head and shoulders above the rest, because it offered the best and simplest application.
The results have surpassed our own expectations.
Our key stakeholders have wanted to know how we implemented such a stunning platform. Our CEO has been raving about it!
We have found Vibe very effective as an implementation model for dashboard content.
It helps us visualise data. It’s a great system and I would definitely recommend it.
The flexibility of the Vibe.fyi solution impressed our project team
Some screens show events; others display news, weather and quizzes; and others a ‘personal touch’, with birthdays and anniversaries.
People love Vibe. I would say using Vibe.fyi has been 100% effective!
Employees stop and look at the screens. Our deskless workforce say they feel more informed, as they saw something before their team leader told them.
It's very cool and a great way to communicate with and engage my non-wired employees.
The digital templates are extensive and the Vibe team support is outstanding. The feedback I get from my team tells me we're on the right track.
Vibe.fyi has helped the team improve resident engagement
The MATV feed is hugely popular with residents who don't have to leave the comfort of their own room to access information about what's going on in the village.
Great way to engage with our team. Different to standard notice boards where the team don't look at it.
Keeps areas noise-free and are able to just have a tv screen with rolling information.
One of our favourite features is the ability to show social media feeds - with Yammer.
Our people can keep their finger on the pulse of what's happening and they don't have to be stuck behind their desks all day.
