No-one Talks About Safe Training
When you want to create training that makes an impact, you need to be bold. You need to find a creative way to engage your audience and capture their interest. Show them something unexpected that makes them laugh. Something they would tell their peers about.
When people see the same kind of compliance training or advisory posters, they tend to switch off. They know what to expect and want to get through it as quickly and painlessly as possible. This can present an issue with something like safety training. If people just push through the training because they’re indifferent, they might unintentionally expose themselves to hazards.
This doesn’t mean you have to throw away traditional methods of delivering training. It’s about finding inventive ways to use existing channels so learners become engaged with your content. You want something out of the ordinary that will stick in people’s heads.
There are some great marketing examples that use disruption to promote their products. The Terry Tate Office Line Backer series of commercials from Reebok took a different approach and didn’t explicitly mention their product. Sports star Terry Tate keeps employees on track to boost productivity. Only, rather than meetings or memos, he uses sports tactics, such as full-body tackles.
Similarly, the Panda Cheese series of ads break with what you expect. Each video starts out innocently enough with someone declining a Panda Cheese product. They’re then confronted by a panda who stares them down and proceeds to destroy everything around them.
These commercials are an excellent demonstration on how to improve your message by delivering it in an innovative way. They used video as a traditional delivery method, but altered the content in an unexpected way. Both series of videos have lived beyond their initial advertising release and have gathered millions of views online.
Humour can be a powerful way to reach your audience. It can be a delicate balance to figure out how far to take your content so that it will still appeal to your audience. It still needs to be relevant and meaningful so your message doesn’t get lost in the execution of your disruptive idea.
Both series of videos took risks by using violence in a comical way. Some people may have been offended, but your message doesn’t have to be right for every audience. The risk can be worthwhile if everyone talks about it. People don’t talk about safe or nice training.
So, next time you need to deliver training, try something you wouldn’t normally do and offer your learners an unexpected experience that they’ll remember for a long time.
