Training Millennials Series Part 3: Millennial Learning Trends

In Part 3 of our blog series, we are taking a look at how millennials like to learn. Though this age group frequently gets knocked for having a low attention span, they are challenging companies like yours to think outside of the box, and reevaluate your training materials into easily digestible segments. Millennials are highly visual learners and are drawn to easy to follow, user-friendly trainings. They are passionate about personal development, and are finding ways to do that inside and outside of the workplace.

Check out the results below to learn more about how millennials prefer to learn, and how to best engage them with your training content.

Millennials Prefer mLearning

• 20 years ago, training manuals were common in the workplace, and often expected if you started a new job. Today, if you give a millennial a 40-page training document to read, chances are they aren’t going to make it past page 5. Learning has shifted so much in this digital age, primarily for millennials. With this age group switching between laptops, phones and TVs 27 times per hour, it’s no wonder there is a shift in how they like to learn. They want to be viewing training courses on whatever device they are most comfortable with, and want to do it on their own time. When designing your training content, know that millennials are largely visual learners that prefer short, five minute or less courses with large amounts of text and visual elements, such as infographics and videos.

They Are Active Learners

• With so much information at their fingertips, millennials are constantly learning. They enjoy watching Tasty tutorials, taking courses on Lynda.com, or searching YouTube for help with their next project. These sites encourage learning, but do so in a way that is visually appealing, humorous, and easy to follow, which is the best type of content for your millennial audience. Before clicking on a video or course, millennials will assess whether or not this would be a good use of their time – how long will it take, how beneficial will the information be, etc. When training millennials at work, it is important for managers to clearly explain why training courses are important to their job duties up front – whether that be continuing education, learning a new skill, or maybe that it’s a required course about company policies and procedures.

Online Training Courses Should Incorporate Assessment & Feedback

• Millennials appreciate opportunities for feedback – whether it’s coaching, constructive criticism, or praise for a job well done. They crave performance reviews, and use that feedback to work towards their next goal. As you design your training materials, allow managers to check their employee’s progress and address any issues they see along the way. This age group wants real-time results, so ensure you are providing them with same day feedback, if not immediately.

For more information about engaging millennial audiences, stay tuned for Part 4 of our series coming next week! Have questions or want to find out how we can enhance your current training program to better reach millennials? Contact us!

Source: L&D Meets OMG: Learning and Development for Millennials eBook