The short answer is yes you can!  The long answer is how you do it.

I talked about reduction techniques in a previous induction blog but this focus is on faster uptake and longer retention of material.

As the saying goes ‘time is money’ and the longer you have new staff tied up with induction the more it is costing you.  Don’t get me wrong here, I am not saying cut your induction altogether I am passionate about induction plans as I believe they are such a vital part of a new staff member joining. What I am saying is make sure that if you have resources tied up in an induction plan that it is for the right reasons, the right time and the right results.

Companies that fail to impress new staff risk losing them quickly with research pointing to 25% of new starters deciding to leave their new company within the first week. This increases to 47% deciding to leave after three months with a poor induction process being blamed for those wishing to leave early.

So what can you do right now that can make an immediate impact?

Repetition

Most adults think repetition is a bad thing however the opposite is true.  The more ways you can find to repeat the key points of your message the more reinforced it will become.

 That neuron in your brain is waiting for a repeat signal of the information; without it, it resets itself.

“Once and done does not work!” Repeat after me (out loud I dare you): “Once and done does not work”.  Get away from ‘silos’ of information and start to link your material together so it interlocks and creates a bigger picture.  Thread these common key points throughout your programme.

Visuals

Text is boring, hard work and just downright tiring.  If you give your new staff member a binder 8 inches thick packed with A4 sheets of type written text then you’ve just lost them.  The same applies to our trusty friend PowerPoint!  Repeat after me: “Less is more”.

DR. JOHN J. MEDINA is a developmental molecular biologist focused on the genes involved in human brain development and the genetics of psychiatric disorders.  Dr Medina states the following:

• We are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.
• Pictures beat text as well, in part because reading is so inefficient for us. Our brain sees words as lots of tiny pictures, and we have to identify certain features in the letters to be able to read them. That takes time.
• Toss out your PowerPoint presentations. It’s text-based (nearly 40 words per slide), with six hierarchical levels of chapters and subheadings — all words. Professionals everywhere need to know about the incredible inefficiency of text-based information and the incredible effects of images. Burn your current PowerPoint presentations and make new ones.

Immediate recall: Pictures win

Within seconds of exposure, pictures beat sentences and words for recall. And in memory tests where people are shown hundreds of photos, they can remember 90% three days later and 63% after a year.

A rule of thumb for presenters

You’ll get 3x better recall for visual information than for oral. And you’ll get 6x better recall for information that’s simultaneously oral and visual.

Conclusion

• Take a look at your training material and decide how you can turn that PowerPoint slide of text into a diagram.
• Review your induction training plan and decide what are your messages and how you can repeat them throughout to reinforce them.

Follow these steps and watch your staff members enjoy your material more, have a higher recall rate and become productive much faster.

For more information on assistance with your induction programmes visit www.rapid-results.com or call us on 0800 338356