GoodHabitz Alternative for Small Business Teams

A GoodHabitz alternative for a small business is mostly a question of size. GoodHabitz is built around a large training library and the tools a learning and development team uses to run it. If you are an owner or a team lead with no such team, you may want something lighter: one short lesson, one habit, done on a break.

What GoodHabitz is

GoodHabitz is an online workplace learning product. Its own site describes a library covering leadership, teamwork, wellbeing and digital skills. The content is made of videos, quizzes, exercises, activities and dilemmas. Items range from short activities of a few minutes to courses that take several hours.

Some points the company stresses on its site:

  • Content is adapted to local language and culture, not only translated, and it is offered in many languages.
  • It runs as its own platform, with a mobile app, or inside a company's existing learning system.
  • Organisations get a dashboard for engagement, plus guidance and campaign tools to help people take part.
  • The company states that it follows recognised information security and privacy standards.

For a company with several hundred employees in many countries, this is a strong set of features. A central team can choose content, launch a campaign, watch the numbers and report back to management.

Where it does not fit a small team

Those same strengths can be extra weight for a team of ten.

  • Someone has to run it. Campaigns, dashboards and content choices assume a person whose job is learning. In a small business that person is the owner, after closing time.
  • Choice is work. A big library asks you to decide what to learn. A small team usually knows the problem: replies are late, meetings go nowhere, a mistake was hidden for three days.
  • Length. A course of several hours has to be scheduled. People on shifts, on the road or behind a counter do not have a quiet hour.

Again, this is a matter of fit, not quality. A large library is a good thing when you have the people to use it.

What five-minute lessons do instead

Skill5 gives each person one lesson of about five minutes, on a phone or in a browser. Each lesson has slides, a spoken presenter and a short check at the end. Lessons make up a track, and the track follows a clear order, so nobody has to pick from a catalogue.

The track "Professional Behaviour" is a good starting point for a team. It covers what professionalism looks like, reliability and respect, boundaries and workplace norms, handling mistakes, and building a reputation people trust.

Here is a worked example. Say a florist shop has four staff. Last week a delivery went to the wrong address and the person who noticed said nothing for two days. The owner does not need a course library. She needs all four people to share one rule: when you see a mistake, say so the same day, say what you know, and say what you will do next. The lesson on handling mistakes teaches exactly that, and it takes less time than the staff meeting about it.

A week later, the owner asks everyone to finish the lesson on boundaries and norms. At the Friday meeting she asks one question: what is one thing from the lesson you will do differently? Each person answers in a sentence. The whole exercise takes fifteen minutes, and nobody had to book a room or a trainer.

Side by side

GoodHabitzSkill5
Main formatLibrary of videos, exercises, quizzes and coursesFive-minute lessons in tracks
Time per sessionFrom a few minutes to several hoursAbout five minutes
DeviceDesktop platform and mobile appPhone first, also in a browser
LanguagesMany, with local adaptationEnglish, in plain language for second-language readers
SetupPlatform, optional connection to an existing learning systemInstall the app and follow a track, or invite people to a team plan
Management toolsDashboard, campaigns, guidance for learning teamsTeam plans with invite links
Price modelCustom pricing from the providerIndividual plan and team plans

Check each provider's own site for terms before you decide.

Questions to ask before you buy any training

Whichever product you look at, four questions save money.

  1. Who will open it? Name the people. If you cannot, the licence will go unused.
  2. When? Find the real gap in the day: the first ten minutes of a shift, the train ride, the break. If there is no gap, a long course will not happen.
  3. What changes on the job? Write one sentence, such as "customers get an answer the same day". If the training does not point at a sentence like that, it is general reading.
  4. Who follows up? A lesson without a conversation fades. Even two minutes at the next team meeting helps.

Who should pick which

Pick GoodHabitz if you have a learning lead, staff in several countries who need content in their own language, or a need to connect training to a company learning system.

Pick Skill5 if you have a small team, no training department, and a few clear habits you want everyone to share. It is also a good fit for staff who learn on their phones between tasks.

Some companies use both: a broad library for the head office, five-minute lessons for the people on the floor.

Learn this in five minutes

The Skill5 track "Professional Behaviour" has lessons of about five minutes each. They practise reliability, respect, boundaries, owning mistakes and building trust with colleagues.

Questions people ask

Is GoodHabitz too big for a small business?

Not necessarily, but its tools are designed for a team that manages learning full time. A small business may use only a small part of what it offers.

What is the simplest way to start training a small team?

Choose one habit, give everyone the same short lesson, and talk about it at the next team meeting. Then repeat with the next lesson.

Can I compare more options?

Yes. See GoSkills, Udemy Business and our list of the best soft skills training apps for small business.

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