Reuters Events | Pharma

Thought leadership and innovation for the Pharmaceutical Industry

Recently I visited a client who explained that their latest product launch included giving reps 2 days off the road to do 8 hours of e-learning training. Can you imagine actually doing that?

Recently I visited a client who explained that their latest product launch included giving reps 2 days off the road to do 8 hours of e-learning training. Can you imagine actually doing that? Funnily enough, the pass rate and retention of knowledge was not satisfactory even after that mammoth session! It's funny how often we see this - planning how others should change their behaviour, without putting ourselves through the same jounrey. If the designers of that programme had actually thought about the reality of sitting through 8 hours e-learning (which was basically 200 powerpoint slides and some pointless animation) maybe they would have done things a bit differently. We must think very carefully about what is the right medium to transfer knowledge. Probably in that case, a book or folder may have been better (and a lot cheaper). And, there are so many better ways to use electronic media: videostreaming, video casts, virtual classrooms, blogs, interviews, forums. The basic attitude is common sense and to really step in the shoes of target audience, rather than see them as compliance statistics. Furthermore, organisations run a risk of creating "e-learning hatred" and destroying what is actually a very effective medium in the right circumstances.