Although learning has been moving online and to various hybrid models for many years, the coronavirus pandemic pushed the pedal to the floor, accelerating the move towards blending learning at Autobahn speeds.

This is great news for both the learner and your organization. 

When you approach learning as a fully blended experience with the virtual component at the center, you can build a program that makes a bigger impact and endures long after the session ends. 

And it’s flexible, allowing you to weave together the right elements to meet your learning objective, drawing on these approaches:

• Independent learning
• Synchronous learning (either in person or online)
• Social learning (in pairs and/or cohorts)

Blended learning programs provide the most potent method. By combining asynchronous video learning with synchronous webinars and/or in-person workshops, along with other engaging elements, you’re creating opportunities to tailor and personalize the messages.

It’s an invaluable tool for upskilling high potential employees and other valuable team members.

This enables learners to better understand and apply what they learned and ultimately turn those actions into results.

What Is Blended Learning?

Blended learning provides unique benefits that are absent when an employee just logs on for a few hours of individual recorded training or sits through a single group webinar. 

Blended learning is the best learning and will become the dominant style of professional development for most companies in the new world of work because it:

• Is cheaper than all in-person programs, where travel expenses comprise about 40% of the cost. According to video platform Panopto, IBM shifted 50% of its in-person training to online learning and saved $579 million over 2 years. The concern isn’t just about cutting costs; it’s about improving return on investment. These costly events by themselves are far less effective at turning learning into action and action into results for the learner and the organization.
• Takes place over time. By extending training over a longer time period, you allow for repetition, which is essential for learning. Thanks to the work done by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus on the forgetting curve, we understand the importance of repetition. Just seven days after a training session, employees will have forgotten 65% of the material covered. According to ShifteLearning, only 12% of employees apply the skills learned in training to their jobs.
• Supports different types of learners. This makes it more effective for your entire organization. Auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners all benefit from a blended approach.
• Allows for new habits to be established and skills to be applied to work. New habits are acquired over time through practice. In fact, it takes about 66 days to fully establish new habits. Learning new information in a one- or two-day event won’t lead to new habits because there isn’t enough time for application.
• Is more flexible than synchronous learning alone. This gives the learner more control about when to fit learning into the rest of their schedule. In the new world of work, talent will have more decision-making power over all elements of work.
• Allows you to deliver the right content in the right format. Not all content is best delivered in-person or on-demand or on video or via an app. By building blended programs, formats, and platforms, you can deliver every element potently.

Blended Learning Programs: How to Leverage Blended Training

Since the topic I train on is personal branding, most of my experience with clients is in building and delivering soft skills programs. 

An ideal blended learning program for soft skills includes these components:

Assess 

This helps the learner establish a baseline awareness of knowledge and skills. It’s helpful to launch with a Get Acquainted/Get Started synchronous session, which sets the scene.

For example, for a digital personal branding program, you can get your people started with the LinkedIn Profile Type Indicator (LPTI), a quiz that measures their LinkedIn profile’s likability, credibility, and unique personal branding.

Launch 

Instead of a deluge, I prefer rolling thunder campaigns, which drip out content and information, furthering the intrigue. 

Reminder messages help participants get ready, especially if they include some easy and fun pre-work.

Socialize 

It’s helpful to create accountability pairs and establish cohorts. 

A study done by ATD revealed that people are only 25% likely to complete a goal when they commit to it. That number increases to 95% when they have a specific accountability appointment with someone else. 

In addition to pushing employees to learn, this also helps build confidence at work and allows them to receive feedback on their learning.

Learn 

On-demand video learning gives participants the flexibility and control they need to fit learning into their busy schedules. 

Including quizzes, a fillable “playbook” PDFs, games, etc., can make learning more fun and impactful.

Play (Interact) 

Live sessions bring learners together. By including breakouts, polls, word clouds, Q&A, etc. participants deepen their learning and connect with colleagues.

Plan 

Action planning ensures that learners commit to integrating learning into accomplishments. 

These goals are best achieved when accountability partners make commitments to each other and pursue this step together.

Reinforce 

Reminder texts, emails, and other nudges help keep commitments top of mind.

Evaluate 

All learning programs should be measured against the individual’s objectives. This helps produce more relevant programs and outcomes over time.

4 Tips for Creating Blended Trainings

Digital learning is not all sunshine and rainbows. There are challenges in delivering learning on the same device that houses your people’s email and other work. 

The temptation to multi-task is significant. To ensure engagement in the virtual elements of programs, there are 12 techniques guaranteed to make the program sticky and effective. 

Here are the four most important:

1. The Startling Start

Learners need to know that this is going to be different from anything they’ve experienced before. 

With employees spending most of their days on Zoom, delivering learning that seems like those monotonous meetings will be met with an eye roll.

2. The Curiosity Chasm

This is the gorilla glue of learning. It’s the gap between what participants know and what they want to know, keeping participants glued from segment to segment. 

It’s the technique Netflix uses to keep us binging on Bridgerton. Mixing up the way you deliver the intrigue throughout the program keeps it sticky.

3. The Psychological Power of 3

Marketers know that people remember things that come in a series of threes. And the most powerful application of this technique is the Aristotle Triptych: Say what you’re going to say, say it and say what you said. 

When you use this technique that’s thousands of years old, you add the important element of repetition.

4. The Disney World Effect

Learning science tells us that people learn more when they’re having fun. As long as you’re getting all the key learning into the program you’re building, there’s no limit on the amount of fun you can inject into your program. 

Multiple, varied opportunities will ensure you fulfill your people’s varied definitions of fun, just like Disney knows that some guests prefer Space Mountain while others like Expedition Everest.

Blended learning will become the most common way to build skills and adopt behaviors. If it’s done correctly, it’s excellent news for your company and your learners.

Are you ready to upskill your team with blended learning? Get them started with the BrandBoost to uncover their unique personal brand and jumpstart engagement.

A version of this article was originally published in my Forbes column.