I talk to organizations (Fortune 100s, 500s, SMBs) every day that ‘train at a distance’ and many are seeing excellent, real results both in terms of effectiveness and cost. Those that don’t do it (orientation or other) well tend to not do it well face-to-face either.

So what sets those organizations that struggle with remote training apart from those who do it well? We called up Clarey to find out, and she boiled down the distinction between the two groups to one main difference: appropriate instructional design. Those that struggle with onboarding and developing talent at a distance, she explained,

Oftentimes try to take something that has already existed that they’ve taught in a face-to-face classroom and simply put it online, not understanding that it’s an entirely different way of teaching. You don’t have body language. You can’t tell what people are actually doing. Are you reaching people? So a lot of times organizations fall down and that really points to not approaching it with any sort of sound instructional design process.

And while a bevy of new e-learning tools make it easier than ever before for non-training pros to share their skills and knowledge at a distance, this very simplicity of use sometimes contributes to the lack of carefully designed materials, says Clarey.

The tools have become easier to use, and that’s a good thing in that you can have someone who’s not in a training role that’s still able to create content. But with that trade-off of simplicity comes perhaps some problems in how content is delivered. People who don’t have any sort of instructional design experience don’t understand how adults learn, and you can run into some very bad e-learning that way.

There is a middle way, Clarey goes on to explain, where area specialists create content and learning specialists support them and vet the materials they produce. “Typically, the companies that are doing better with supplying e-learning authoring tools to people right in the field are able to give them direction, to serve in a supervisory role, giving them the tools they need to properly deliver the training,” she says.

What else are companies that have success with training at a distance doing differently? Employing “blended learning solutions,” according to Clarey:

So let’s say it’s for orientation. Today it would include something like a community or expertise matching, some way a remote employee can stay connected. It might also involve some instructor-led training. It might involve some self-paced e-learning that you complete on your own, so usually where it’s very successful is when it’s part of an integrated program.

There have been a couple of organizations who have taken some of the more mature technologies that have a lot of advanced features that might mimic the classroom a bit more, like break-out rooms, and have done some incredible things with those. But still there’s always some other form of connection with others involved.

Do you agree that the trouble with training at a distance isn’t the distance itself but the lack of thought that is sometimes put into how content is delivered?

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Onboarding any employee into a company can be tricky, and as we’ve covered here on WebWorkerDaily before, getting new virtual employees up to speed is even trickier. In fact, the process has so many potential pitfalls that some experts on remote work recommend you skip it entirely, opting instead to train your remote workers face-to-face.

Speaking to MoneyWatch’s Laura Vanderkam recently, Mom Corps CEO Allison O’Kelly suggested managers bring new hires that will be working at a distance into the office for the first week or two:

Train in person. If you’re hiring someone into a virtual position, awesome. You can find a great person without having to pay moving expenses! But “training is the most difficult part,” says O’Kelly. You have to explain exactly what it is the person needs to do, as well as your culture. “We have had some people who we have tried to train virtually and it really is difficult,” O’Kelly says. The solution? Spend time together. O’Kelly is in Pennsylvania, and recently hired a CFO in Atlanta who spent two different weeks with her. Spread out over several weeks, those two weeks have been “invaluable,” she says.

Donna Wells, CEO of online company Mindflash, concurred with this position last year on Mashable, suggesting managers should:

Plan to have new remote teammates spend their first days or weeks at HQ. As good as collaboration tools are, they are not effective in building the personal relationships and communication shortcuts that come very quickly face-to-face. For the employee, it’s a chance to feel a strong sense of belonging and to establish a positive bond with the boss and whole team. For managers, it’s an opportunity to convey the company culture, to set expectations and start building the trust you’ll need later on to hit mutual goals.

Even here on WebWorkerDaily where we’re usually focused on figuring out how to do nearly everything better at a distance, my colleague Darrell Etherington has conceded that when done virtually, “training is tricky. Orientation for new remote workers, especially if they’re new to the job or company and not just making the shift from being an in-office employee, can be very difficult.” Though there are plenty of tech tools to ease the stresses of training remote workers and keep them closely connected to the office during those crucial first weeks if a trip in to get to know the team is impossible.

In your experience is trying to train at a distance a hopeless undertaking or can it be done well?

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Zombies, Run! is a game in that you have virtual goals to accomplish, which will help you further the cause of your virtual persona. But it’s a training app in that to accomplish those goals, you have to get out and run; doing so will let you collect items like supplies, medicine and ammo, which you can then put to use back home at your “base.” The app is designed for all levels of fitness, so you should be able to play whether you’re just getting started with an exercise routine or gearing up for a marathon.

The app provides you with “missions,” which take around 20 to 30 minutes to complete, and which feature radio messages and pre-recorded voice communications that provide feedback on what you’re doing as you run. Don’t worry if you prefer running to music, either; your own custom playlists integrate just fine with the mission audio. In Season 1 (the first content pack), you’ll have 30 unique missions to accomplish, and more seasons (with additional mission packs) are planned as future updates.

Zombies, Run! looks simply but smartly designed, without overly elaborate graphics (you won’t be looking at your screen while you’re playing, after all) and a flexible mission system that works with routes and paces determined by runners, not by the game. It also doesn’t need any special equipment, just an iPhone, and works equally well on the treadmill or on the park path. The app keeps track of your distance, time and calories burned, and you can hear notification of those stats throughout your workout.

This is a clever spin on a category of apps that already pretty much represent a perfect match for the iPhone’s capability set, and adds in a gamification element. Location doesn’t seem to play as integral a role as in something like Shadow Cities or Please Stay Calm, but it could play a more significant role in the final shipping product. The concept of home bases that you can stock with things collected on your run is a good idea for extending the app’s appeal beyond just an exercise session, too.

Having already blown away its funding goal of $12,500 with a week left to go, Zombies, Run! has expanded planned availability to Android for later in 2012, and says it will go after top-tier voice talent for in-game mission recordings. Can’t wait to check this one out when it arrives next February, but for now the video trailer will have to do:

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The latest developments with Knoodle include:

• You can now add surveys, quizzes, video and audio on the fly at the time you create a presentation, instead of toggling to another screen to pull them in.
• The ability to drag-and-drop multiple files for easy bulk uploading.
• The ability to fine-tune slide syncing: If you have the time code, you can type in the exact time you want a slide to appear in your video or your audio track.
• A new feature to manage your presentations so you can see all the presentations you’ve created in a single viewing window to help streamline the editing and publishing process.

According to the Knoodle folks, today’s workplace looks like the Web: social, integrated and on-demand. There is an increasing need for fast knowledge sharing, particularly with the rise of virtual companies. And learning within virtual teams must come from everyone regardless of location, role or function. Everyone has the responsibility to be both teacher and learner. The demand from virtual companies is that the tools they use resemble social tools: they are more familiar and easier to adopt and use. The challenge when using a holistic, social approach to knowledge sharing and information flow, within a virtual or dispersed team in particular, is to manage the chaos. Tools must be pervasive, organized, and offer some measure of control and preferably with a dashboard view.

So where does Knoodle fit in to this concept of holistic, social learning? It’s easy to implement, even for people who are not professional producers of presentations. You can create content on the fly or take pre-existing content, including slides, audio, graphics and text, straight into the Knoodle application. If everyone can capture their knowledge from the field, from their home offices, from their cubicles, and make it readily available to the rest of the team, there is less “silo-ing” of information and learning.

Pricing is flexible and based on customer needs and required hours per month in terms of viewing of presentations. You can ramp up your plan or downgrade it based on actual usage. If you export your video presentations, viewing is done out of the Knoodle system so doesn’t count against your subscription plan.

How are you capturing knowledge within your organization to foster social learning?

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Here are a few reasons why side projects make good business sense.

1. New skills. I love to use side projects as a way to stretch myself and learn new things that I wouldn’t normally do as a result of my regular work. In the past, I’ve had side projects where I co-founded a nonprofit to organize community technology events, co-founded a location-based startup, wrote a book about community, wrote a cookbook, started blogs and much more. Out of each of these efforts, I’ve learned many new skills that I’ve applied in my day job. I’ve personally benefited from each of these efforts, but the companies I’ve worked for have also benefited from the skills learned in my off-hours.
2. Connections and networking. Most of my side projects have given me an excuse to meet new people. I’ve made friends and valuable industry connections that I can talk to about new ideas or trends. Especially for those of us working in technology, many of these connections bleed over from one project or company to the next. Having additional contacts in your industry gives you a broader base of people to talk to about new side projects or interesting things that you are working on in your day job.
3. Sense of accomplishment. While many of us are lucky enough to have great jobs where we get a sense of accomplishment from our regular work, it isn’t always the case. There is nothing quite like launching a fun project to boost your overall mood and give you a sense of excitement. For me, the accomplishments from my side projects tend to have a positive impact on my regular job, too, since my improved mood makes me even more productive when it comes to other work. Employees with improved self-confidence from a big accomplishment can often become better workers in other areas.
4. Safety net. In today’s economy, we need to be prepared for a potential job loss. The people who have wrapped their entire identity and life around their job at a company can be devastated when they lose a job. Those of us with healthy side projects can throw ourselves into these existing projects and maybe even generate a little income while we look for a new gig. Having some projects to fall back on and keep your skills current can help to maintain your sanity and prevent you from becoming despondent over your loss.
5. Fun. Most importantly, side projects should be fun! In many cases, side projects can be hobbies that you enjoy spending your free time on. If your side projects start to suck the energy out of you, then it’s time to find a new side project that leaves you energized and with a sense of enjoyment. This is part of why I organized tech events in my spare time for so many years. They were hard work, but it was great to get all kinds of different people together and create an amazing and fun experience. After a while, I had done so many of these that it ceased to be much fun, which is when I dropped them from my side projects and moved on to other projects.

What types of side projects do you most enjoy?

Photo courtesy of Selena Deckelmann

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In the book I talk about one of the major oil companies. They equipped people with new, more portable devices and new smartphones and then the next day, 25 percent of people disappeared. So you’re a middle manager. You’re used to seeing people coming into the office and all of a sudden they vanish, and I think one of the key issues is middle managers learning how to manage when you see people far less than you ever used to. How often should you meet them? How do you keep an eye on them? Obviously, it brings up this whole issue of judging people on results and outputs rather than inputs.

Companies are starting to realize people are unused to this way of managing people. What they’re finding is that the biggest block to digital working is that middle managers aren’t skilled to do it. Organizations have learned that you actually do need to train managers in how to manage people in a virtual environment.

Miller went on to cite companies such as BT and Microsoft in the Netherlands, which have had improved success with virtual working after training their middle managers, so he’s certainly correct in his basic point that the training makes a difference, but is this news?

Five years ago, articles were already noting that when it comes to any sort of telecommuting, “the real impediment is the resistance of middle managers” and arguing that “more managers should be trained.” Back then Chuck Wilsker, president of the Telework Coalition, estimated that no more than 15 percent of firms were training managers for remote work. Based on Miller’s account, more companies have jumped on board, but certainly not as many as would be expected to have gotten with the program over half a decade. Perhaps the real story is how little progress has been made.

Why aren’t more companies training middle managers for the realities of the digital workplace despite repeated calls to send them to web work boot camp?

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The breakdown of virtual activities outlined in the survey include training (42 percent); customer engagement (36 percent); internal collaboration (34 percent); lead generation (29 percent); and networking (8 percent). Nearly half of the respondents predict an increase in “hybrid” corporate events within two years.

Marketing and customer outreach aside, how can organizations with remote teams looking for more effective ways to train new team members and collaborate make use of virtual environments? I’ve previously outlined how my virtual team collaborates, including the use of the virtual world Second Life for both meetings and socializing. Yes, Second Life is still in use, only now without the hype. Some virtual work-related activities that take place in Second Life include:

1. Team meetings. Many organizations take advantage of the sense of “presence” in virtual worlds to conduct effective virtual team meetings. Examples include a vibrant nonprofit community run by TechSoup (Nonprofit Commons); corporate meeting places for executive teams and shareholders, such as the Air France-KLM space; and small virtual teams bringing together global team members for “face-to-face” exchanges, such as Conversify’s quarterly meetings which are held in Second Life. Communications can take place easily with Second Life’s audio and IM chat features  as well as the ability to display multimedia presentation materials. You can explore tools to import Google Docs and other applications as well as live streaming by visiting the I-Zone Virtual Collaboration Environment (VCE) in Second Life. Don’t have a Second Life meeting space built yet? There are many available ready-built options including the Ginny Business Center and the Alpine Executive Center (where you can also ski virtually when your meeting is done).
2. Collaboration sessions. Whether you interact with your team in existing collaborative virtual spaces such as those created by Orange22 Design Lab LLC or you start from scratch and provide your team with the tools to create and build an environment together, virtual worlds can boost those “a-ha!” moments by providing the ability to push past the limitations of the real world. Providing a sandbox in a virtual world can deliver truly “out-of-the-box” thinking by your team.
3. Training and learning events. Learning in a virtual environment can take the form of formal classes in classroom or auditorium settings or even simulation environments such as SuperBuy, an mock retail store environment that provides new employee orientation training by letting them engage in immersive role-playing activities related to their job. Virtual university campuses abound, including University of Texas and San Diego State University. Companies such as Bevill Edge provide virtual training services via SpotOn3D‘s Biz Grid (you can view a video about their services).
4. Hybrid virtual and “real world” events. Many major conferences have added virtual components to real world events, including the women’s bloggers conference BlogHer. The online versions of these events usually consist of panel discussions and keynotes streaming into Second Life from the real world event, or concurrent live events taking place solely in Second Life, or both. Companies such as Virtualis offer ready-to-go conference and convention environments for virtual events.

Second Life isn’t the only virtual environment, of course. There is also OpenSimulator, an open source multi-platform, multi-user 3D application server, and SpotOn3D. Or you can explore the specialized virtual meeting and events platforms offered by companies such as Unisfair, VenueGen and newer player Kitely. While the upsides to holding virtual meetings, trainings and events include lower travel costs, there can also be challenges such as connectivity issues and lack of attention. Respondents in the Unisfair survey cited the ability to multitask as a plus to attending virtual events (58 percent) so you do run the risk of inattention from attendees. But in our current world of overly accessible social networks on mobile devices, even real world interactions face that challenge.

How are you integrating virtual worlds and platforms into your business, particularly interactions with your virtual team?

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Sure, there are web conferencing services, such as GoToMeeting, where you can share your desktop, present audio over phone or VoIP, and even push out polls, but what if you want to produce a more media-rich presentation that you can share with your virtual team for training purposes? And archive it? And repurpose it?

Knoodle offers a training solution that provides a presentation with a split screen; you can have text or PowerPoint slides on one side of the screen and video on the other, then sync the video and audio with the slides so they automatically advance at the right time. The Knoodle presentations are more engaging than screencasts or audio slideshows.

You can combine multiple assets — PowerPoint slideshows, video, images and text — and also add also add test quizzes or surveys into your presentations to allow viewers to become active participants in the information exchange. You can capture video as you produce your presentation with your web cam, or opt not to use the video component and just sync up audio.

Once your rich-media presentation is complete, you can share a link to it, export it as an MP4 file and email it, or embed it on your site, your blog, or within your intranet. You can also reuse and repurpose assets you’ve uploaded to create new presentations quickly and easily. As an admin, you can create and manage groups, invite group members,and manage and track who has viewed the presentation you’ve created. You can share the presentations internally (for training your team, for example) or externally (for providing publicly accessible training, demos and educational tools).

Knoodle offers a 30-day free trial. Pricing ranges from $14.99/month to $149.99/month, based on usage and the number of people watching the presentations. You can upgrade or downgrade at any time.

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Distributed Training Technology

With screencasts, webinars and all the other online training tools out there these days, you can address many of the problems that slow down virtual training. For many team members, you may find that the most difficult part of learning a new tool is getting to see it in action, but screen sharing technology (available in many tools, including Skype and join.me) can help here.

Practice Makes Perfect

If you consider how training usually works when everyone necessary to the process is gathered in one place, you may still see some potential problem areas. When it comes to learning a new tool, many organizations follow a similar training pattern. The trainer goes over how to use the tool, following some sort of guidelines that the trainees will have access to. Then the group breaks up, and the trainees have a chance to put what they’ve learned into action, asking questions and helping each other along the way. That group dynamic is difficult to replicate online.

Estimating the Time You Need

There’s no iron-clad rule that states distributed teams needs X more hours of training on a new tool than an in-office team. But because of the nature of a distributed team, it makes sense to budget a little more time for training, even if you’re only making a trainer or an expert available to answer questions when you’re putting training into practice.

There’s no perfect training method that can speed up online training, either. Different team members learn at different speeds. Fortunately, those who push to be allowed to work out of the office on their own may have an incentive to work harder to get a new tool down pat.

Photo courtesy Flickr user Zak Hubbard

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Training

If you can’t make a presentation in person, explaining the ins and outs of your company and work process to a new team member, there are numerous effective multimedia tools that can help. Here’s a selection:

• Adobe Connect 8. Connect is a Flash-based enterprise web conferencing tool and supports high-resolution video and two-way voice calls. Read our review here.
• GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, GoToTraining. Citrix offers a suite of web conferencing and online meeting tools, covering all the bases when it comes to training remote workers. We recently wrote about the company’s integrated HD videoconferencing.
• Mindflash. Use this application to create training materials and presentations. You can even embed quizzes into the training to make sure your new team member understands what they’ve learned. You can read our review here.

Documentation

If you have a lot of documents to share with a new team member, here are some tools you can use that are far more efficient than email.

• Dropbox. Share a folder or nested folders containing important documents using a company Dropbox. We covered the launch of Dropbox 1.0 recently.
• Box.net. This enterprise-ready, cloud-based file sharing service allows remote workers to view and collaborate on files and access files both through web browsers or via mobile devices. We recently reported on its simplified UI here.
• Glasscubes. This virtual workspace also allows uploading, sharing, and downloading of files and documents as well as document approval. You could create a workspace just for onboarding new team members. Here’s a recent update of new features on Glasscubes.

Access to Others

Instant messaging is a great, in-the-moment way to reach out to a new worker or give them access to the rest of the team, especially as they are getting acclimated. But of course, nothing replaces the good old phone call or conference call. Here are a few popular IM and phone applications.

• Skype. Free conference calling plus video calls plus IM makes Skype a popular VoIP application. We’ve mentioned Skype in a number of recent articles about virtual work, including The Challenges of Being a Modern Employee, Working Together: How My Virtual Team Collaborates, and How to Recognize and Praise Remote Team Members, in addition to Georgina’s most recent piece.
• GTalk. If you’re already using Google Apps for your virtual team, new workers can have access to the rest of the team through the GTalk IM tool, and add voice or video as needed. And if you need to make a call for free and in a flash, there’s always Google Voice, which has extended free calls through 2011.
• VoxOx. VoxOx is an “all-in-one” solution that handles phone calls, IM, video chat, Skype messaging, conference calling, even incoming faxes. Check out our recent review.
• eVoice. This company offers a virtual phone number and virtual PBX system along with other useful call and messaging services. When you bring on a new team member, you can give them a “direct” line on your company’s virtual phone system and also use the eVoice conference call system for a welcome call between you, them, and the whole virtual team. I mentioned that my own virtual company was trying out eVoice in a post last April, and we’re still happy with the service.

Indoctrination Into Your Culture

No tool or app can provide a “magic bullet” to help you indoctrinate a new team member into an already-established company culture. It takes time and genuine effort on the part of everyone to bring a new worker into the fold. I recently suggested using virtual worlds such as Second Life to provide some of the feeling of a face-to-face meeting, and even as a way to socialize by the virtual watercooler. Even the effort of getting a new team member an avatar and helping them navigate a strange, 3-D world can be a team-building exercise and help a new worker feel welcome into your organization.

No matter what applications you choose, always keep in mind that the most effective way to bring a new team member on board to your virtual team is to keep the lines of communication open. Effective communication and training over the distance isn’t just about the tools you use, but more importantly the way you use those tools to make real connections and help your team members truly feel connected.

What tools do you use to bring a new virtual team member on board?

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