Online Training – A Democratic Solution?

As cultural trainers, we oversee the delivery of high level cultural training to large multinationals.

The benefits of the training extend beyond the company and help individuals to build skills and awareness which help in the long term.

Since we are proud of what we do, we are presented with an ethical dilemma when NGOs, small businesses and private individuals approach us with their training needs as they typically lack the budget to pay our fees.  

So what happens when we are approached by an entity without the budget? 

Well, driven by our mission to ‘increase the peace’ and drive understanding between cultures, we are always keen to help in whatever way we can but our interventions for such organisations never deliver the same value as the interventions offered to our corporate clients.  It’s as simple as….  A sad, but honest truth.

Personally, I think it’s a real shame as these face-to-face workshops are not only an essential part of today’s global workforce competences development, they are also a much needed self-reflection and self-awareness time-out. But as mentioned above, they are expensive and the majority of the world cannot afford to commission face to face intercultural coaching sessions.

So this is where online training comes in – quality content at an affordable rate which anyone with an internet connection can access.

Much like a guided meditation, an online cultural training course covers the same content as an in-person session but the trainee is put in control of the pace at which they absorb the information.  For example, if the trainee wishes to spend more time on a particular exercise, they are able to do so, without being forced to move on prematurely due to group dynamics. Trainees are also able to engage in online training sessions at a place of their convenience – whether sitting in the departure lounge, on the train home, whilst having breakfast or, even, when tucked up in bed at night!

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So here are our top reasons why online training is a democratic solution for cultural training

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Price:

•    Online training costs a fraction of a face-to-face training
•    Trainees don’t need to travel to partake in the training which saves the company expenses

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Accessibility

•    All that is needed is a computer or tablet device, and an internet connection to get started
•    Depending on the platform, trainees can access the online course on the go and make use of travel/commutes  

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Content Ownership

•    Once trainees have purchased the course, most retain the license for life

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Learning Implementation

•    Trainees can stop, rewind and fast forward as they please, making it easier to implement key learnings into their day to day work
•    When they confront something particularly interesting, they can share it real time with their colleagues – interesting facts are more likely to be swallowed up in the course of day long face to face training session
•    Trainees can refresh their memory anytime by playing parts of the course again

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Although face to face training is part of our bread and butter offering, we welcome advances in online training as it opens up the training arena to all – regardless of their budget.  

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Training should always be a democractic offering and online tools make this possible.

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Photo by Samantha Borges on Unsplash

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