Key Points

Instructor Led Training (ILT) and Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) are essential for tasks requiring human interaction, especially for soft skills and safety-critical tasks.
Effective ILT and VILT can be tailored to meet specific training needs, ensuring alignment with company goals and measurable outcomes.
The human element in training is irreplaceable, as it fosters engagement and allows for real-time adjustments to address challenges.

Many job specific, industry-specific, and task-specific needs require in-person learning. (Or, they require virtual instructor led training (VILT), which is the next best thing. ILT is often cited as the ideal modality for soft skills and also for safety-critical tasks. Think of how pilots must log a certain number of hours in an accompanied flight in order to get their license. Besides soft skills and safety, there’s more: there are countless other quality applications for this classic, irreplaceable workplace custom. Certain tasks require instructor led training. Certain jobs have a lot of these in-person tasks. The need for in-person training can also hinge on the employee’s experience level. For example, marine welding–at least at the start of someone’s career–needs to be taught and supervised by a person. As for soft skills, rote practice from technology or printed materials (as valuable as those can be) isn’t enough: immediate feedback or other in-person benefits are too important. For example, according to Nature magazine, there are sixteen facial expressions seen across different cultures but for the same situations. This is where the human element is irreplaceable. Computers have only the crudest capacity to recognize human emotion AND attach it to the almost involuntary manipulation of one’s face. At the very least, certain tasks require seeing someone face-to-face, even if it’s on a screen. ILT is clearly important. It’s easy to send a Slack message to a middle manager, instructing them to do a 60-minute presentation and then thinking the matter has been resolved. Since employee development through company training is important, we’d argue that in-person training is more complex than doing it through pixels and text. That’s because humans are naturally complex. There’s a liability in imperfect ILTs. Experts in a topic might be so good at their specialty that they lack presentation-level communication skills. Finally, ILT needs to get along well with other trainings and the company’s overall L&D style and personality.

training soft skills like communication: there are 16 universal human expressions that, across various cultures, all look the same for the same situations

Table of Contents

Quality ILT and Virtual Instructor Led Training for Real Skills and Knowledge Is Possible

In-person employee training, whatever the reason it’s needed, can be done the right way: on budget, on time, with clear objectives, easily measurable KPIs, and a clear ROI estimate. What is the right way? You know your company. Trainers know training. Technology-when used the right way-is a quantum leap for job training in general. And when companies who know their employees team up with trainers who know training, the same can happen.

There are trainers who have enough experience to account for the many, many specifics that need to go into an instructor led training or a VILT. Those trainers can maximize the best parts of in-person and virtual training programs and minimize the challenges.

Many high-quality training and training content firms have already considered the biggest variables in crafting a perfect ILT. Variables like:

The career stage of the trainees
How much skilled communication the task being trained for involves
Verbal communication, interpretation, and body language
The level of risk involved in learning the given skill sets
The amount or the portion of training that needs to be ILT/VILT
How to leverage ILT/VILT with other learning modalities
Ensuring this ILT complements other modalities
Ensuring the ILT aligns with the company’s L&D philosophy and brand
Help the company nail down quality with ROI-focused training objectives

All of this, and more, can be done. However, let’s consider some workplace data points and how ILT remains indispensable.

5 Data Points and Their Implications for ILT & VILT

1. Jobs Requiring Lots of Social Interaction Increased by 12% from 1980 to 2020, and Training Has to Follow Along

→ Good ILT Will Be Designed And Presented To Match The Audience, Including Social Dynamics Jobs Requiring Lots of Social Interaction Increased by 12% from 1980 to 2020, and Training Has to Follow Along Who are we kidding? A group of aerospace engineers will approach workplace training with certain social and content expectations. A group of car dealership salespeople will approach it differently. A highly skilled trainer who knows the topic, how to teach it, how people learn, and who’s good with a crowd will adapt accordingly. And they’ll do it ahead of time. Planning to speak to car salesperson will mean different content, social communication, structure and interactivity than training aeronautical engineers.

2. The Average Parent With A Child Under Six Has About 19 Minutes Of Free Time Daily, According To Popular Science.

→ An In-Person Experience Fills The Gap Of “At Your Own Schedule” Modules That Fall Through The Cracks “At your own schedule” sounds great if it’s only your schedule. There are probably several caregivers in your workforce. And there’s a good chance that if your training is purely eLearning slides, those slides are being clicked through on an iPhone as your employee sits on the bleachers at their kid’s noisy peewee soccer game. An in-person, be-here-at-this-time training lets you gauge the actual enthusiasm and lets you get a sense of the learners’ comprehension level. The metrics you get from how the employees handled the eLearning or how they do with the slides? Those figures get a lot of helpful context if you take just 60 minutes during an afternoon or evening session. → Bonus: Pizza lunch or dinner is the double-banger if your employees are parents or caregivers: an excuse to eat delicious, unhealthy food and a dinner they don’t have to cook.

3. A Study In The Medical Journal Resuscitation–Which Included A Retention Test–Found That “instructor-facilitated training remains the best method” for AED lessons

→ For Certain Things, In-Person Ilt And Vilt Company Training Help Encode Retention Spaced repetition, in-the-moment guidance and redirection, amidst other presence-based benefits, are all useful features of ILT. With the right cameras, technology, and even haptics devices, most of these ILT benefits can translate to VILT: there are actually AED appliance inspectors who, using web cams and live demonstrations, perform device certifications entirely digitally.

4. Six Sigma–The L&D Diamond-Standard Workplace Training–Suggests That Sometimes You Have To Adjust For Unplanned Successes. However, Unplanned Challenges Are Possible, And Ilt Can Help.

→ Instructor Led Training Allows For Real-Time Adjustments Or Time To Address A Persistent Point Of Confusion In their article on Process Flexibility in Manufacturing, Six Sigma mentions volume flexibility. If your business skyrockets, you’ll have to be flexible. You’ll need to be ready to address that demand and move product in real time. When it comes to training, unexpected success and unexpected challenges are real possibilities that can require on-the-fly adaptations. Sometimes the training will be entirely ILT. But if there is a broader learning path that includes other modalities, ILT can be a pulse check or a way to address a widespread sticking point. Being right there with the people makes that training jiu-jitsu easier. Whether it’s unexpected successes or (more likely) unexpected challenges, seeing it in real time is always an advantage.

5. According To A 2023 Gusto Small-Business Survey, 86% Of Smbs Said They Were Hiring Internationally

→ Human Factors Of ILT And VILT Are Increasingly Important As Workplaces Become More Spread Out Roundtable Learning’s Nick Day, VP of Sales and Marketing, has noted that businesses will always need some element of the human touch. As great as technology is for countless needs, this urge for irreplaceable human contact translates into company training as well. Suppose the trainer leads a VILT company training from Australia. In that case, the human touch comes through when their dog noses into view of the camera, and everyone in the group chat can playfully acknowledge it. Seeing a row of John Steinbeck books on the study shelf behind your boss shows they might have a similar interest, creating a contact point for collaboration. As businesses spread out and become more digitized, keeping the human experience is central to the company, but also the workplace.

Like All Company Training (or any Company Employee), ILT Has to Get Results and Play Well with Others

Your company already knows that training needs to have results and it also needs to be compatible. Roundtable Learning knows this too. We’re a, Cleveland-based omni-modal business+skills problem-solving firm. We’ve shown we can deliver industry-defining in-person company training that gets results, precisely matches skills gaps, and is compatible with your existing L&D. In the heart of the Rust Belt–in the state that brought you the Wright Brothers, Rock n Roll and LeBron James–we definitely know about hard work; but we also know that quality matters.

VILT Success: a Quarter-Trillion Dollar Investment Firm Taps Roundtable for Leadership Corporate Training

Lincoln Financial holds over 300 billion USD in assets. Like most companies, a few years ago, they suddenly needed to adapt their working environment. They needed online training. But it had to involve some communication-heavy skill sets and training modules. For a company of their scale, scope and operating budget, they definitely wanted more than “remember people’s names” by way of leadership training. Roundtable Learning immersed ourselves in Lincoln’s specific needs for its corporate leadership: the firm’s guiding principles and expectations for those at the top. We delivered a quality, 8-week program that included VILT. We ultimately landed high reviews from the learners.

Will apply what they've learned to their job

99%

Gained new knowledge & skills

91%

Would recommend this training to others

86%

🔌The More Lincolns, the Better:
in addition to Lincoln Financial’s leadership training, we developed a welding simulator for Cleveland’s own Lincoln Electric 🔌

Increase Productivity and Employees Skill with Adaptable Company Training

Save Time and Money by Staying Laser-Focused on Job Specific Skill Sets:

Roundtable spends extra time communicating and adjusting; for ILTs and for all our trainings. We program in numerous progress checks, emails, revisions and other formal collaboration measures. It’s an interesting angle, spending more time at the start to save time later. Nonetheless, your company will appreciate this collaborative “down payment” that–like cars and houses–ultimately saves money too.

Learning Expert Designed ILT/VILTs Encourage Culture of Continuous Learning:

One-in-six of our company’s staff are learning or instructional design experts. The visual, auditory, and tactile elements of adult learning all matter, and Roundtable Learning’s team knows how to perfect each of them for ILTs. Company training designed and delivered this way will engender a company-wide eagerness towards skilling and learning.

How It Works

1. Collaborative Discovery

Find the Company Training Need and Explore Options: schedule a discovery session–or 🪩 disco-very) call–with an account executive. We get to know, in detail, your training needs; both ILT and otherwise. Whatever the industry or task you’re in, we can help. Proof? Besides Lincoln Financial, these trainings are a broad swath including how to deice a plane, how to sell hair coloring products, and how do welding repairs on a rollercoaster (thankfully, not all at once).

2. Co-Strategizing

Collaboration Starts for In-Person, ILT-Integrated, or Other Retention and ROI-Positive Training: our team comprises specialists in all modalities (including award-winning VR learning developers), and starts the journey with you. This starts with job-specific skill sets to be learned. It continues with translating those skill sets into clear training objectives.

3. Development and Rollout

Building and Delivering Targeted ILT/VILT and Other Company Trainings that Stick: Roundtable and your company team up. We develop the content through established progress points, meet-ups, revisions and sessions to pinpoint the training; this definitely includes Roundtable getting you industry-specific content (content and information matter: we keep hundreds of SMEs on deck). The training is delivered in the given format you need, including any digital, video, audio, interactive file format, live webinar, or even printed deliverables like workbooks, slicks and handouts.

4. Repeat

Future Company Training for Any Modality: Numerous companies we work with become repeat clients for any and all of our omni-modal business+skills training and problem-solving solutions.

Facing a training challenge? Let's solve it together!

For over 20 years, we’ve been the trusted partner businesses turn to for impactful corporate training solutions. Our team of experts knows what it takes to design training that drives results.

Roundtable Learning's Custom-BuILT Content

Custom Instructional Design

Collaboration with clients to define clear learning objectives and KPIs
Audience analysis (career stage, social dynamics, work-task risk level)
Alignment with company L&D philosophy and culture

Multi-Modal Integration

Seamless blending with eLearning, video learning, VR, and other modalities
Co-strategizing on the optimal mix of ILT/VILT and asynchronous elements

Expert-Led Content Creation

Involvement of subject-matter experts and instructional designers
Development of interactive materials: workbooks, handouts, slicks
Use of multimedia assets: videos, animations, simulations

Technology Enablement

Platform configuration and branding (Zoom, Teams, Webex, Adobe Connect, etc.)
Integration with Learning Management Systems for tracking and reporting
Advanced tools (virtual whiteboards, haptics devices, remote demo setups)

Live, In-Person Facilitation

Delivery by qualified trainers or facilitators on-site
Observation of nonverbal cues (posture, eye contact, facial expressions)

Dynamic Experiential Activities

Large-group discussions and Q&A
Small-group breakout sessions and role-plays
Hands-on practice with real equipment or job aids

Real-Time Adaptation

On-the-fly pacing adjustments based on learner comprehension
Immediate remediation of sticking points and misconceptions

Physical Training Materials

Printed manuals, job aids, and reference guides
Branded handouts and follow-up worksheets

Synchronous Virtual Delivery

Live sessions via video conferencing platforms
Support for both individual coaching and group webinars

Interactive Digital Tools

Virtual breakout rooms for small-group collaboration
Chat, polls, and “raise hand” functionality
Teach-back and Q&A modules embedded in the session

Multimedia & Engagement

Screen sharing of slides, videos, and simulations
Integrated knowledge-check quizzes and polls
Session recording for on-demand review

Scalable & Accessible

Cross-location participation without or without travel logistics
Session archiving and LMS integration for metric tracking

FAQ

What types of training do ILT and VILT focus on?

ILT and VILT focus on soft skills, safety-critical tasks, and other job-specific training that requires human interaction.

Why is in-person training considered important?

In-person training allows for immediate feedback, social interaction, and the ability to gauge learners’ comprehension, which are crucial for effective learning.

How does ILT adapt to different audiences?

Skilled trainers tailor the content, communication style, and structure of the training to match the specific audience, such as aerospace engineers versus car salespeople.

What are some benefits of using technology in ILT and VILT?

Technology can enhance job training by facilitating remote learning while still incorporating the human touch, allowing for features like real-time guidance and interactive elements.

ILT and VILT, Instructor Led Training: the Original Job Aid