Tuesday 18 December 2018

LMS Awards Just Got Better: A New Way to Celebrate Learning Systems Excellence

As 2018 draws to a close, the technology awards season is in full swing. So I’m not surprised when Talented Learning fans ask me when we’ll announce our annual LMS Awards. (Spoiler alert), I’m not revealing awards today but they are coming soon in an updated form!

Why is this a good time to rethink the way we recognize learning systems excellence? Well, if you’ve followed the market in recent years, you know the LMS landscape has changed dramatically. We want to reflect those changes and provide more value to both learning systems buyers and sellers.

But before I share details about what’s ahead, let’s take a quick look back:

Setting the Stage for Extended Enterprise LMS Recognition

Exactly 5 years ago, we opened the doors at Talented Learning. Our simple mission was the same then as it is now. We wanted to be the most trusted independent source for insight and advice about extended enterprise learning systems. (“Extended enterprise” involves solutions for non-employee audiences such as customers, channel partners, association members and individuals seeking continuing education from commercial training companies.)

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Before Talented Learning, LMS analysis and commentary focused primarily on talent management issues. However, after 20 years of front-line experience with extended enterprise learning systems and content, I knew this space was real, profitable, large and growing rapidly.

In fact, between 1999 and 2013, the overall LMS market exploded from only a few dozen systems to hundreds. Nobody was sure why this was happening, but we had a theory.

We suspected that most of the growth was coming from new solutions designed to address extended enterprise use cases that were largely overlooked by classic talent management providers. To test this theory, we began investigating LMS vendors, documenting their extended enterprise capabilities and client case studies in detail.

Now, five years later, we’ve assessed more 200 vendors and shared our findings publicly through hundreds of blog posts, webinars, podcasts and research papers. We’ve also seen scores of solutions up-close while helping more than 50 clients evaluate and select a learning system.

LMS Awards: More Than a Popularity Contest or Participation Trophies

So what does all this have to do with this year’s LMS Awards? Again, it helps to look back before looking forward.

We waited nearly 2 years before publishing our first awards at the end of 2015. Although we might have received more attention by recognizing big-name brands, we weren’t interested in rewarding popularity alone – especially if it kept rising stars and unsung heroes from receiving their share of attention.

Instead, we did our homework. And our research revealed an impressive selection of solutions for niches like customer education, channel training, continuing education, compliance training and talent development. They deserved special recognition.

SEE ALL THE 2017 WINNERS!

However, three years later, those categories no longer adequately reflect the evolving LMS market or the way buyers choose systems. Many vendors have expanded their capabilities, and could justifiably fit into multiple award categories. At the same time, large talent management players are adapting to extended enterprise opportunities after watching specialized competitors get footholds in their accounts.

What does that mean for LMS awards? We could feature many of the same vendors on multiple “best” lists, or spread titles around like participation trophies, but that would make a complex market seem even more confusing.

Besides, smart buyers know that choosing the “best LMS” isn’t really about picking award winners. Instead, it’s about finding a solution that fits their use cases in terms of specific functional, technical, service, support, license and business requirements. While these requirements vary significantly from one organization to the next, vendor solutions vary significantly, too.

Introducing the 2019 Learning Systems Awards

As fiercely independent analysts, we want to continue celebrating learning systems excellence wherever we find it. In an expanding world, that means we should cast a broader net. At the same time, what sets us apart as industry analysts is our ability to identify and articulate the special attributes of each solution we evaluate. So it makes sense to incorporate more of that value-add into our awards process.

With those goals in mind, here are some of the changes you can expect in 2019 and beyond:

WHAT:
Because the market scope now includes an increasingly diverse spectrum of learning-related platforms and applications, our awards materials will use the term “learning systems” rather than “LMS.”

WHO:
Awards will focus on two distinct extended enterprise learning systems categories:

CORPORATE EXTENDED ENTERPRISE:  Solutions focused on customer education, sales channel training and internal/external workforce development.

CONTINUING EDUCATION:  Learning-related solutions designed for associations, mission-driven non-profits, commercial training providers, trade schools, academic outreach and subject matter experts.

HOW:
Each vendor we recognize will be identified as a category “winner” or “runner-up.” All vendors will receive the same “Learning Systems Excellence” award badge. We will no longer designate 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners or honorable mentions. Instead, I will describe in a few sentences the unique strengths that distinguish each solution.

WHERE:
We will publish two blog posts with all the details. Also, we will talk about these reimagined awards on an episode of The Talented Learning Show podcast early in 2019. (To receive email alerts when we publish new blog posts or podcasts, subscribe now.)

WHEN:
Feb 5, 2019 – Corporate Extended Enterprise Awards
Feb 12, 2019 – Continuing Education Awards

Conclusion

Hopefully, this new approach will give buyers more actionable information, at the same time it gives vendors meaningful feedback about the value we see in their products. If you’d like to learn more about our awards philosophy and how it has evolved, or if you’re interested in past winners, we invite you to review previous award posts:

• LMS AWARDS 2017
• LMS AWARDS 2016
• LMS AWARDS 2015

We look forward to honoring even more learning solutions in the future. Onward!

Thanks for reading!


Learn More – Join Our Live December Webinar

Rising Above Continuing Education Barriers: How to Overcome Innovation Obstacles

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In-person courses remain the most common form of continuing education, but digital experiences are gaining popularity. So, how can your association overcome typical learning innovation barriers?

Join this in-depth roundtable with experts from the University of Vermont and the Drug Information Association, along with our Lead Analyst John Leh and Community Brands SVP Education, Tamer Ali. You’ll learn:

  • Why it’s time to rethink your continuing education strategy
  • How to articulate a compelling business case
  • How to define and prioritize technology requirements
  • Pricing, packaging and competitive considerations
  • Common implementation pitfalls and solutions
  • How to overcome barriers to adoption and growth

All live webinar attendees qualify for 1 free CAE credit. Plus, if you miss the live session, we’ll send you a link to the recording.

RSVP NOW


Need Proven LMS Selection Guidance?

Looking for a learning platform that truly fits your organization’s needs?  We’re here to help!  Submit the form below to schedule a free preliminary consultation at your convenience.

The post LMS Awards Just Got Better: A New Way to Celebrate Learning Systems Excellence appeared first on Talented Learning.


LMS Awards Just Got Better: A New Way to Celebrate Learning Systems Excellence original post at Talented Learning

Tuesday 4 December 2018

How Do Associations Drive Lifelong Learning? It Depends

According to the most recent IRS reports, nearly 64,000 professional and trade associations are based in the U.S. As you might expect, many of these organizations operate in similar ways. But when it comes to supporting lifelong learning, they’re definitely not created equal.

Over the past few years, I’ve helped more than 50 organizations choose a learning platform as a backbone for continuing education programs. They all want to help members develop valuable knowledge and skills throughout their careers. However, the way they combine strategies and systems is as unique as the organizations, themselves.

Lifelong Learning: Two Views

How different can continuing education methods be? I found out several months ago, when I hosted a roundtable with leaders from two prominent member-based organizations – Kevin Pierce, Manager of Digital Learning at The American Academy of Dermatology and Jake Gold, Director of Education at The Community Associations Institute. Here’s a brief profile of both:

American Academy of Dermatology - AAD - Association learning leader explains how this organization supports lifelong learningThe American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) – Founded 80 years ago, this medical specialty society combines education, research and advocacy to keep its 20,000+ physician members at the leading edge of their profession.

Community Associations Institute - CAI - learning leader explains how his association supports lifelong learningThe Community Associations Institute (CAI) – This organization helps build homeowner communities by supporting its 40,000 members, including association boards and management firms, homeowner leaders, community managers, association management firms and professionals that provide related products and services.

As my conversation with Kevin and Jake unfolded, similarities and differences quickly surfaced. Both organizations:

  • Primarily serve a U.S. member base, but are expanding their footprint internationally
  • Are strategically committed to providing lifelong learning
  • Do a stellar job of educating their members, and
  • Rely heavily on an LMS as a foundation for their learning technology stack.

However, even though both deliver strong lifelong learning experiences, each has a very different way of making that vision a reality.

Kevin and Jake generously shared lessons from their experiences, as well as their goals for the future. So if you’re developing a continuing education program for your organization – or if you want to improve your existing offerings – I encourage you to consider the following factors that are shaping decisions at AAD and CAI:

8 Keys to Lifelong Learning Program Success

1) Be Prepared to Adapt Over Time

KEVIN SAYS:  20 years ago, physicians took one exam and were certified for life. Continuing education was a choice. Our members decided what they wanted to learn, or if they wanted to continue learning at all.

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But now, lifelong learning is a mandate. Our members are state-licensed doctors with board certifications they must maintain. We still offer plenty of educational choices, but medical specialty societies require recertification in 10-year cycles. Given this changing landscape, we align education activities with board requirements through the full spectrum of our dermatologists’ careers, from residency to retirement.

We realize that our members must meet specific board benchmarks, in terms of the number and types of credits they receive. But we include other topics of interest, as well. All of our courses are created by physicians for physicians. It is specialty content that must be accredited by the ACCME. In other words, it isn’t generally available from other sources.

JAKE SAYS: Over the past few decades, community associations (homeowners associations and cooperatives) have experienced explosive growth. In 1970, there were only 10,000 associations representing 2 million residents. Today, nearly 350,000 community associations represent 70 million residents. Now 20% of Americans are part of a community association.

We provide education and credentials that help community association professionals advance their careers, increase their earning potential and manage communities effectively. We offer 17 courses – both instructor-led and online – on topics like leadership, communications, budgeting, finance, insurance and law. The more courses members complete, the more credentials they earn.

But who actually plans to become a Community Association Manager when they grow up? No one. People typically find their way to this industry as an outgrowth of their primary profession. Many grow to love this field and they learn to forge a rewarding career.

So part of our strategy is to continuously develop new programs to keep members interested and coming back. For example, our Contemporary Issues in Community Association Management series explores hot topics, and its focus changes every year. These are consistently among our most popular courses.

2) Strategy Drives Design

KEVIN SAYS: We offer two formats, live and digital, with over 200 online courses. All of our content must be evidence-based, timely, relevant, and as I mentioned, aligned with recertification and licensure requirements. And because our members are busy medical practitioners, we aim to provide learning experiences that are innovative and engaging.

Currently, we’re building what we call the “core curriculum” for dermatologists. This isn’t required. However, because our portfolio has grown organically, we know there are gaps. So we’re taking a step back to assess the content end-to-end and build a more complete, ideal curriculum.

JAKE SAYS: Our LMS includes more than 300 elearning courses and webinars, tagged by topic. You’ll find all kinds of topics from cloud computing and energy conservation to parliamentary procedure and service animals. Members are free to take any course that interests them, either for pure knowledge or for CE credits to earn or maintain a credential.

We’ve worked really hard to improve access to our learning content. We record live training on video to make it available through our LMS. Constantly adding fresh content keeps people coming back and keeps them interested.

Also, we encourage collaboration in our elearning courses, even though it’s an asynchronous learning experience. People engage at their own pace. But we embed specific questions about the course content and encourage learners to see what other learners have posted and respond. This pulls them into a little dialogue that we facilitate through our association’s discussion board.

3) Learning Paths Help (Or Not)

KEVIN SAYS: Our learners value self-service, so we offer courses on an a la carte basis. Since dermatologists have already completed prescribed learning as medical students and residents, our LMS catalog doesn’t include learning paths or levels, and we don’t pre-package credentials. Although members must meet requirements for total credits and topics, they want to find specific topics of interest within our environment as quickly as possible.

JAKE SAYS: We lean toward learning paths, but with some flexibility. Our learners appreciate a well-thought-out pre-developed curriculum and guided path, so we provide a framework that specifies required courses, exams and completion timeframes. But many members prefer to complete courses at their own pace, so we offer the flexibility to do that in the classroom or online. They’re also free to take any courses in any order.

4) Content: Less is More

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KEVIN SAYS: Our members want microlearning. One of our most popular activities is what we call the “Question of the Week.” We host a one-question quiz in the LMS and send an email blast linking back to the quiz. Respondents earn a quarter-hour CME credit. So if they participate once a week over 52 weeks, that adds up to some serious credit.

JAKE SAYS: We’re also looking at developing shorter, bite-sized content because our courses typically are 1 or 2-day training experiences. That’s a real challenge when people want to watch a 5-second YouTube video and move on to the next thing.

5) Digital Credentials = Work In Progress

KEVIN SAYS: Because our members have completed formal education and training as physicians, they don’t require digital badges or credentials from us to advance their careers. However, they are very conscious of their colleagues. What are their peers doing? What topics are they interested in? So I can see badging that embeds game logic, leaderboards or other feedback at an activity level, so peer behaviors are more visible.

JAKE SAYS: Although new members are joining our organization all the time, many have been with us for decades. They’ve taken most or all of our courses, they’re committed to our mission, they’ve followed our education track and they’ve earned all of our credentials. Many long-time members take pride, for example, in being among the first 20 people to earn a credential that thousands now hold.

We don’t currently offer digital badging, but our credentialing program could translate to this format. Digital badges could be a great way to recognize online all our members who’ve invested years of hard work at significant expense to earn certification.

6) Choose Learning Systems Wisely

KEVIN SAYS: Our learning technology stack has three main components: LMS, AMS and CMS. Our LMS (Crowd Wisdom) gave us a platform to advance our digital activities. Before that, we were kind of doing piecemeal on our CMS, but the LMS is tailor-made for digital learning activities. We use Aptify AMS as the source of record and we use our own shopping cart in our CMS.

JAKE SAYS:  Our LMS (also Crowd Wisdom) has been key for us as a platform to host and sell our education products. It’s the centerpiece, and our learning business pretty much revolves around our learning management system. Once that was in place, it opened a whole new world of possibilities for us. We’ve been using the same platform for seven or eight years and never looked back. We also leverage a social component that helps us reach out and engage our members to make our online courses successful.

In addition, we use an AMS (Abila NetForum), which is fully integrated with the LMS for both single sign-on and the ability to pass exam scores and credit information back and forth. This helps create a real transcript that our learners can access and use in real time.

Our technology stack also involves working with a lot of third-party vendors, including elearning developers, course manual producers and more.

Bottom line, technology has allowed us to expand the reach of our education programs, so we can generate more revenue, increase our membership and deliver more high-quality training than ever.

7) When Pricing, Lead With Value

KEVIN SAYS: Most of our digital content is offered free to members as a benefit with their dues. It’s a fundamental part of our mission – education, advocacy and research. However, we do charge for select premium activities.

JAKE SAYS:  Our approach is a bit different. In our industry, we strongly believe education has value and it’s okay for members to pay for education the same way they budget for other essential services.

But that said, we always offer discounts to members over non-members, so we set the expectation that you’ll save in the long run by joining our organization. The numbers prove that this strategy is working. For example, most registrants for our 200-level series and higher are CAI members.

We’re also experimenting with bundling, especially for conference content, so those who don’t attend live sessions can purchase recordings at a discount. We actually give conference attendees access to recordings at no additional cost. But those who don’t attend can pay for it.

8) Metrics Matter: Quantify Your Success

KEVIN SAYS: It’s important to continuously improve your user experience. That requires enough of the right kind of data from your LMS. You can create great content, but if users can’t easily access it when and how they need it – mobile, desktop, tablet, WiFi or no WiFi – then you’re efforts as educators are wasted. Finding and removing roadblocks is critical, and admin-level LMS data is the way to pinpoint and improve those issues.

JAKE SAYS: We measure results in several ways. For example, when we launched our first online course 10 years ago, about a dozen people registered each month. Now, our community manager track serves more than 6000 learners a year, and nearly half of our learning population consumes some training online.

Also a decade ago, our members had to wait for training until an instructor-led course came to their city. Now with online courses available 24x7x365, our numbers prove that members are earning credentials at a much faster pace.

What’s more, our salary survey reveals that individuals who earn our organization’s highest designations are also among the highest paid professionals in our industry. There’s a direct correlation.

Conclusion

No doubt about it, these guys are way ahead of the curve in understanding how to bring together all the essentials for continuing education excellence. So where is your association on this curve? If you’re ready to move to the next level, I invite you to learn more.

WEBINAR REPLAY: How can you support lifelong learning, as a continuing education provider? Replay this expert panel discussion led by independent learning tech analyst, John LehReplay the EntireWebinar!

Find out how your association can be more effective at supporting lifelong learning. You’ll discover additional ideas and advice from Kevin and Jake, along with thoughts from me and perspectives from by Tamer Ali, SVP of Education at Community Brands.

Replay the entire free webinar now: “How to Capture Lifelong Learners: A Holistic Approach to Continuing Education.”

Thanks for reading!

The post How Do Associations Drive Lifelong Learning? It Depends appeared first on Talented Learning.


How Do Associations Drive Lifelong Learning? It Depends original post at Talented Learning

Thursday 29 November 2018

You Just Selected a Shiny New LMS. Great! Now What?

Remember the excitement you felt as a kid when you opened a holiday gift? Even as adults, there’s nothing quite like the joy of adding something new to our lives.

But sooner or later, the thrill wears off. Most of the once-shiny objects that made us feel so fulfilled eventually find their way to a garage sale, donation center or recycling bin.

Sadly, this happens all too often with software. As learning systems consultants, we’ve seen our share of organizations abandon LMS platforms that once seemed like ideal solutions. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

How to Keep That “New LMS” Feeling Alive

There are plenty of things you can do to be sure a new LMS doesn’t meet an untimely end. For example, when you sign your next LMS contract, consider my best advice:

1) Take a deep, cleansing breath

Choosing an LMS can be a difficult, political and highly visible decision. You’ve likely endured heated internal discussions, unwelcomed vendor surprises during demos and unforeseen contractual confusion. And if you’re like most learning decision makers I know, you’ve invested long days and weekend hours trying to keep up with your “day job” when you’d rather have been catching rays on a warm Caribbean beach.

But all of that is behind you. Now is the time to clear your mind of negative thoughts about the selection process, your colleagues, the vendor or anything else that might stand between you and a positive mindset.

A new chapter is beginning. Recognize that your journey will pose new challenges, including delays and disagreements. Letting go of negative baggage will help you prepare for the road ahead.

2) Ask an external expert to join you

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Even if you haven’t relied on a consultant for LMS selection, it’s critical to put an independent advisor on your side now. Why?

A third-party expert can save you considerable time and money throughout the implementation process. You’ll have proactive guidance to help you avoid missteps with early-stage configuration and deployment decisions. You’ll also have assistance with documentation, project management and other details that are often overlooked. Plus, you’ll gain an ally who can apply “good cop/bad cop” negotiating tactics with your vendor, if necessary.

Look for an external resource who knows your vendor, understands your requirements and is willing to advocate for your business needs and priorities.

3) Review and refresh original goals

You’ve probably spent the past 3-12 months developing LMS requirements, researching potential vendors, reading RFP responses, watching demos and testing features in a sandbox. Meanwhile, your organization and industry environment continued to change.

Have new factors come into play, such as management changes, new legal/compliance mandates or even merger and acquisition activity? What about the “I’ll-know-it-when-I-see-it” factor (also known as IKIWISI)? In other words, did vendors demonstrate capabilities that your team hadn’t previously considered, and now these features have become “requirements” for your new LMS?

Before you push forward with the original scope of work, be sure to verify old and new first-phase priorities.

4) Create a project game plan

Planning helps with all new endeavors. Sports teams rely on their coach to map-out a strategy for each game. New parents plan to save for their child’s college education. The same concept applies for LMS implementation success.

Think of all the various logistics involved. For example:

  • Scheduling (How will you track and coordinate resources, timelines and milestones?)
  • Meetings (What structure and frequency do you prefer? How will you define participant responsibilities and decision-making ground rules?)
  • Communications (Who, when, why and how should team members interact?)

Even the best-laid plans can go awry. But if you create a tactical roadmap and relevant rules, you’ll be better prepared to adjust without losing momentum.

5) Assign understudies

Having been involved in performing arts for much of my life, I can assure you that understudies are absolutely critical to the success of every theater production. Your LMS implementation is no different.

How will you deliver the next milestone on time if the internal project manager wins the lottery and resigns immediately? How will you finish the new elearning content module when your subject matter expert gets the flu? Who will handle SSO implementation when your designated IT liaison is out for months after the premature birth of her child?

When an unexpected crisis affects your LMS project, an understudy may not be immediately available. However, alternative resources should be identified in advance. Each “backup” team member should be familiar with how to find relevant documentation, how to access appropriate files, how to log-in to the system admin account and so forth. Although this is actually part of project governance, it deserves to be highlighted because it is so vital for overall project success.

6) Store all files in a central digital repository

This may seem straightforward, but several related items are often overlooked:

  • Use a commercial cloud-based backup system like Box or DropBox. If you don’t already have an account with one of these services, you may want to use their free version to set-up a dedicated project account. The amount of space you’ll need isn’t likely to exceed the free limit.
  • Be sure to give everyone (including the LMS vendor) access to this storage location. Your vendor may set-up a similar storage site for your project, but I recommend creating a repository you control for items that are critical to you.
  • Speaking of storage, if you aren’t sure whether to add a file to the central folder, do it! Don’t forget meeting notes, work-in-progress documents and any other items that make it possible to review the history of the project. Why is that important? What if you’re audited or you’re asked to provide historical evidence for legal or compliance purposes? Create a coherent storage structure, but save it all.

7) Be loud and proud

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We all love to tell friends and family about a new job, a new car or even a successful new recipe. And they enjoy hearing good news. Why not apply that same concept to your new LMS? As soon as the contract ink dries, let people in your organization know that their learning experiences will soon improve.

Of course, change isn’t always received well. But ongoing communication is one way to prepare others and gain their support. So don’t just talk up your new system at the project outset. Continue to spread good news as implementation proceeds.

For example, you could send a series of “What to Expect from Your New LMS” emails. Each week, you could showcase a feature that people “wished” to see in the old system. Include screenshots and explain not only how the new feature works, but how it will add value to the learning process.

8) Keep finding ways to improve

You did it! You bought and launched your new LMS. Now your organization is interacting with it daily and you’re ironing out initial wrinkles.

But don’t stop with your rollout and debugging process! Stay informed about what’s on the horizon by reading your vendor’s release notes. Attend user meetings and industry conferences. Subscribe to related blogs and newsletters to read about learning technology standards and trends. You might even want to ask an industry expert to perform a periodic LMS “health check” and suggest ways to further enhance the learning experience for your users.

Perhaps most importantly, establish an open line of communication with the learning audiences you serve. Let them know that you care about their needs, and proactively seek out their ideas. Create a process for reviewing, prioritizing and implementing enhancements, so you can continuously improve your infrastructure.

Closing Note: Don’t Let Your Next LMS Revision be a Replacement

There are many more suggestions I could include. But here’s one last takeaway I leave with all my clients:

Whenever you choose a new LMS, you won’t know if you made “the right decision” on the day you finalize the contract. Instead, look for that answer 3 years down the road. That’s when you’ll decide if you should replace your LMS because it hasn’t met your expectations, or keep it because it has evolved effectively with your organization.

Keep adding value. That’s how you keep a learning system fresh. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.


Want more insights? Check this on-demand webinar:

Insider’s Guide to LMS Selection Success

The LMS landscape is crowded, complex and difficult for potential buyers to navigate. What should learning technology buyers do?

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Join Talented Learning Lead Analyst John Leh and Docebo North American Sales Director Corey Marcel as they explain what you should know before you choose the right LMS for your organization.

You’ll learn:

  • What an effective LMS selection process looks like
  • The factors that matter most in choosing a learning platform
  • Where to find the most reliable LMS vendor intelligence, and
  • How to avoid common LMS selection missteps

If you’re selecting a new LMS this year (or are only thinking about it), replay this on-demand webinar, and start putting your selection strategy to work!


Need Proven LMS Selection Guidance?

Looking for a learning platform that truly fits your needs as a continuing education provider?  We’re here to help!  Submit the form below to schedule a free preliminary consultation at your convenience.

The post You Just Selected a Shiny New LMS. Great! Now What? appeared first on Talented Learning.


You Just Selected a Shiny New LMS. Great! Now What? original post at Talented Learning

Tuesday 20 November 2018

Business Impact of Learning: What is Customer Experience Worth to You?

For years, I’ve said that connecting employee learning with business impact doesn’t have to be a mind-bending challenge. In response, training professionals often ask me to illustrate what I mean. The following story from my personal life is a good example.

Recently while traveling in Santa Barbara, California, we visited two high-end wineries with friends. In both cases, employee learning directly influenced our customer experience. In both cases, learning also affected business outcomes, but not in the same way. Let me explain.

Wineries depend heavily on customer discretionary income. In other words, on any given day, visitors are free to choose whether they will visit a specific winery and whether they’ll purchase wine from that source.

Successful high-end wineries know which aspects of their business directly influence customer decisions. They realize that people who spend discretionary income on fine wine expect attention to detail. Their visitors expect personalized treatment and they want to be informed.

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The best wineries understand that an effective customer experience involves a blend of education, enjoyment and product excellence. Visitors look forward to tasting various wines and learning about them before selecting one or more bottles to purchase.

When these ingredients work together to create a successful customer experience, they directly affect business outcomes. And in our case, as customers and learning practitioners, we discovered just how strong the connection can be.

Winery Visit 1: Our Customer Experience

After being seated, we were eager to order our tastings, but first we had questions for our young server, Kayla. Noting that she was new to the job, Kayla warned us that she might not be able to help, but she would try. So with limited assistance, we made our initial selections.

This wasn’t the first impression we expected from a reputable, high-end winery. Why place uninformed employees on the front lines without adequate preparation? As Kayla began pouring, we asked additional questions, but she was unable to provide more information.

Kayla’s lack of knowledge and experience left us unsatisfied. So we moved on, regretting that we had wasted time and money at this location, and agreeing never to return. Worse, our California companions vowed never to recommend this winery to others.

Winery Visit 1: Near-Term Business Impact

Let’s quickly calculate the immediate business impact to the winery (known to L&D professionals as “Level 4” on the Kirkpatrick Training Evaluation Model) as a result of Kayla’s poor performance (or Kirkpatrick “Level 3″):

Our visit to the winery generated revenue of about $100. Therefore, I estimate that the profit was about $35. This assumes that the cost of the wine = $25 (75% gross margin), Kayla’s salary attributable to serving us = $15, and other overhead expenses = $25 (25% of gross margin).

The downside for Kayla is that she received a substandard tip of less than 10% (we gave 10% and our friends less). Had she provided knowledgeable service she could have earned a tip of 20% or more.

More importantly, no one else stepped in to offer the kind of individual attention high-end winery visitors expect. The owners never greeted us to ensure that we (and our disposable income) were enjoying our visit. As a result of this weak customer experience, all four of the people in our group left without purchasing even one bottle of wine. The average price per bottle at that winery is $80. So assuming $80 x 4 customers, the winery never saw at least $320 in additional revenue they could have otherwise captured.

Bottom line: $100 revenue – $320 minimum uncaptured revenue = $-280. In other words, the immediate business impact of our visit was really a loss of at least $280.

Winery Visit 1: Long-Term Business Impact

Now let’s estimate the potential long-term business impact from lost recommendations, or worse, from negative word-of-mouth. We may not be able to forecast the future with 100% certainty, but why would any business ignore the possibilities?

According to a study by ZenDesk, 54% of customers tell more than 5 others about bad experiences. So based on this statistic, it’s likely that the 4 people in our group will tell at least 20 other people about our bad experience.

If you multiply these 20 connections by the $25 tasting cost per person, that represents more than $500 of lost sales from would-be visitors who hear our story. What’s more, this doesn’t include lost potential bottle sales of more than $1,600 from people who might have otherwise visited.

Plus, there’s an incalculable cost to the winery’s reputation. Over time, this kind of experience can spell disaster for a high-end brand in today’s competitive wine market.

Winery Visit 2: Customer Experience Makes All the Difference

Fortunately, the news is not all bad. After our group’s shaky start, we moved on to a second winery that exceeded our expectations in every respect. The service was exceptional, staff members were knowledgeable and the overall impact was memorable.

Not surprisingly, this directly influenced our buying behavior. In addition to purchasing tastings, three of us purchased wine totaling nearly $500. We also look forward to returning in the future and recommending the winery to others.

How Learning Improves Business Impact

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For whatever reason, L&D practitioners often fail to recognize how learning contributes to business results. Connecting training with impact doesn’t need to be overly complicated.

Here are three simple (but essential) ways to develop learning solutions that make a measurable business impact:

1) Know Your Customer

Our poor customer experience at the first winery was not Kayla’s fault. The owners and managers could have avoided this by providing her with better product knowledge, as well as ongoing guidance about how to engage and educate discerning customers.

On-the-job training and performance support could help new servers like Kayla understand why customers visit, and how to offer an experience that leads to wine purchases, return visits and glowing recommendations. Framing training efforts around the right skills can make all the difference. Obviously, the second winery makes this a priority.

2) Know Your Decision Maker

Business leaders expect to make a profit. However, profits depend on the ability to generate sales while appropriately allocating scarce resources. Knowing that Kayla was inexperienced, the first winery should have supported her with an experienced wine expert as a temporary “shadow” or ongoing mentor.

By appealing to a business leader’s profit motive, you’re much more likely to win support for the appropriate allocation of training resources. Start with profit and sales as a common goal and the rest should follow.

3) Know Your Employee

Did anyone ask Kayla what she expects to learn about the wine market in general, the winery she represents and the wines it produces? Did the winery assess Kayla’s existing level of knowledge before or after she was hired? Was Kayla’s training designed to focus on what she needed to know? Or was she overwhelmed by too much unfiltered information?

Only the managers at Kayla’s winery can answer these questions. But it’s not unusual for organizations to develop learning content without focusing on an employee’s existing knowledge, skills and job priorities.

Ready to Uncork the Possibilities?

It’s time for L&D to own its responsibility as an internal business function that can deliver business value through employee training. As my winery tour reveals, it happens when you connect deeply with customer needs, reconcile business expectations, and respect what each employee must do to help your organization succeed.

As an experienced accountant, let me assure you that employee learning isn’t about cost recovery. It’s actually about leveraging existing resources to improve employee performance. If you do this consistently, you’ll also improve organizational performance, and business results won’t be far behind.

Now that’s worth a toast. Here’s to better business through learning. Cheers all around!


Want to learn more? Replay this webinar:

Franchise Performance and the Modern LMS

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Training plays a central role in the world’s most successful franchise organizations.  But what does it take to deliver effective learning programs to a network of independent partners?

Join John Leh, CEO and Lead Analyst at Talented Learning as he hosts a roundtable with franchise learning experts:

  • Trista Kimber, Director of Training & Design at Hooters of America
  • Christine Shanks, LMS Administrator at International Dairy Queen

You’ll get practical, proven advice about training best practices that lead to franchise business success. Including how to:

  • Balance your organization’s learning objectives with those of franchisees
  • Leverage your LMS as a marketing and demand generation tool to recruit new partners
  • Engage learners in onboarding and ongoing experiences that ensure compliance
  • Streamline content development, delivery and other operational tasks
  • Identify key LMS features that drive franchise partner performance
  • Measure learning progress and tie metrics to business results

REPLAY THE WEBINAR NOW!


Need Proven LMS Selection Guidance?

Looking for a learning platform that truly fits your organization’s needs?  We’re here to help!  Submit the form below to schedule a free preliminary consultation at your convenience.


EDITOR’S NOTE:  This post has been adapted from an article that was originally published by elearningindustry.com.

The post Business Impact of Learning: What is Customer Experience Worth to You? appeared first on Talented Learning.


Business Impact of Learning: What is Customer Experience Worth to You? original post at Talented Learning

Friday 9 November 2018

Government eLearning Falls Behind the Standards for Instructional Design Technology

If you pay attention to techies talking, you will commonly hear them point out ADDIE. What they are in truth discussing is Instructional Systems Design (ISD) which is the specific roadmap an organization will certainly make use of to make certain that their employees are satisfying their efficiency objectives via learning provided in formal, casual as well as nonformal networks. Evaluation, Design, Growth, Execution, and Assessment after which the acronym ADDIE forms, are the vital columns of any type of procedure.

For several years, the greatest problem for trainers was to produce training courses that fulfill the requirements of the student. When developing a training systems layout:
Forget web content as most individuals tend to broach in training as well as instead, welcome context.

The viewpoint of a target market need to dictate the instructions of a training initiative. The end objective right here is to ensure that individuals obtain training that connects to what they are paid to do.

If they make use of stories as well as examples to show their factor, learners take extra from a trainer. It is just natural that people keep in mind stories more than they do facts-leverage on this connection point. To cover up the process of training system design, urge social eLearning where individuals develop for themselves finding out methods without needing to sit down for hrs to hear it from a person. Learners will value it a lot more if you outlined the fundamentals and afterwards develop circumstances also outside the training area where they can complete the gaps.

With Instructional Industries, individuals can use activity mapping as a layout tool to help in the recognition of content type that will satisfy learners individual performance enhancement demands.
What they are in fact chatting about is Instructional Style which is the particular roadmap an organization will make use of to make certain that their staff members are satisfying their performance goals via finding out provided in official, nonformal and also informal channels.

Evaluation, Style, Growth, Execution, and Assessment after which the phrase ADDIE types, are the key pillars of any Instructional Design process.

Whether you as the end customer needs an Instructional Systems Layout is for a business or educational function, there exist two extensively identified models to make use of.

Thursday 8 November 2018

Social Learning Experiences: Making Better Connections

It’s no secret – recently social media has had a rough ride. So why should we celebrate technologies that enable social learning experiences? Maybe the answer lies in the beauty of a simple human truth:

“Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.”
-Bill Nye

Think about that for a moment.

After a decade of affordable high-speed internet access, smartphones, mobile apps and social networks, it’s easy to take our digital connections for granted. Yet there’s no denying that technology introduces us to countless people we would otherwise never meet. And each of those people has the potential to teach us something new.

In a sense, we’re all part of a grand social learning experiment. Sure, we’re bound to hit some speed bumps along the way. But clearly, this is powerful stuff.

Are We Socializing Responsibly?

Of course, the true value of social learning experiences depends on whether we keep our minds open to new ideas. Each of us has the responsibility to show up. And each of us must choose when, where and how we’ll engage.

Which leads me to another question:  When was the last time you checked social media? What did you see the moment you logged in?

Were you bombarded by a wave of heated political rhetoric? That energy seems impossible to avoid these days. But it wasn’t always that way. Remember?

Not long ago, the hottest “free range” debates I encountered involved L&D professionals arguing about the merits of learning systems in networked business environments. Even now, those debates roll on. It may take more effort to find them below the politically charged surface of your favorite social channel. But they’re still alive and kicking.

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Occasionally, an LMS hater recommends abandoning these platforms in favor of learning record stores or other alternatives. (Although with 700+ learning systems on our watch list, we don’t see that happening anytime soon.)

Others obsess over semantics. Which label is technically correct – learning experience platform or learning engagement platform? And while we’re on the subject, which acronym is best – LXP or LEP? The hair-splitting name game possibilities are endless. And I can’t help wondering how many eyes are rolling in response. Nevertheless, these are signs of an engaged professional community.

We All Learn, Even If We Don’t Agree

Although these conversations sometimes lack direction or consensus, they are genuine and unfiltered. Plus, they connect real people who share common interests. At best, they provide market education. But at the very least, they offer food for thought.

This is the same kind of appeal that drives social learning in the workplace. As digital learning platforms have evolved, smart organizations are transforming one-dimensional online learning silos into multi-dimensional social learning experiences. And they’re seeing strong results.

In fact, according to the Association for Talent Development, the ROI of social learning compared with web-based training is as high as 75:1! So, what are the fundamentals that support this kind of transition? Here’s a four-pronged strategic framework to consider:

4 Pillars of Social Learning Experiences

1) Connections

Do you believe more minds are better than one? If not, tell me this – if you could invest in only one learning experience this year, which would you pick?

a) Two days with 10,000 industry colleagues at a live conference featuring a who’s who of expert speakers, or
b) Two days of private, uninterrupted access to a library of popular industry books, courses and related information.

Each has its own merits, but evidence shows that exposure to diverse people with similar interests will lead to a far more enriching learning experience. Why? Because interacting with others, exchanging ideas and processing feedback help us build stronger connections between topics as we learn.

Here’s another way to think about it. If people simultaneously complete the same online training in isolation, most will remember only basic information. But if you give them communication tools to share related questions and ideas while they’re interacting with training content, you’ve created a social experience that reinforces learning through interconnectedness. You can expect much better recall.

2) Content

We’ve all heard the adage, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” But learning organizations can’t afford to leave content to chance. The more relevant, dynamic and useful your core content is, the more effective your social learning experiences and outcomes will be.

REPLAY THIS WEBINAR NOW!

Obviously, you need a sufficient quantity of compelling baseline content. On the other hand, too many options can paralyze participants with information overload. Seek balance. Get to know your audience in advance, then provide off-the-shelf and custom content that maps to their specific interests, goals and behavioral patterns.

But above all, be sure to leverage a central advantage of social learning – the opportunity to cultivate user-generated content. For example, you could encourage participants to create “work out loud” journal entries, checklists or other related resources. Or you could challenge them to enhance their learning by teaching others through “how to” videos or blog posts.

3) Channels

To understand how to motivate and educate someone, it’s important to speak their language. Start by studying learners in their natural habitat. Where do they spend their time online? What social environments do they already visit each day? What communication channels and tools fit into their flow of work?

Consider how you can leverage these existing channels with pathways to and from a social learning hub. The answer is likely to vary from one organizational culture and initiative to another. Also, your approach is likely to need adjustments over time, as social tools and preferences shift.

If your existing learning system doesn’t support APIs or microservices that help you easily integrate third-party social apps and tools, you may want to look closer at what’s possible from today’s most innovative learning platforms. For a sustainable infrastructure, you’ll need a system with the flexibility to change along with dynamic social business requirements.

4) Context

It’s one thing to understand the big-picture reasons for your organization to invest in social learning strategies. But there’s no guarantee your participants will share your vision.

Why should they show up regularly? Why should they share questions or ideas? Why should they develop user-generated content? How will they benefit in the long-run?

The most effective social learning experiences are built on a foundation of community – a sense of belonging and commitment to a common purpose. Does this make sense for your initiative?

Think about how you can set expectations from the start and offer feedback and guideposts along the journey. What kind of communication and processes can help remind individuals that their ideas and contributions matter in the broader scheme of things?

In Summary: Social Learning is an Adventure

Social learning experiences may seem more complex to manage than standard online courses. They may stretch your existing knowledge and toolset, but they can be well worth the effort, as many successful programs are already demonstrating.

Sure, you’ll find uncertainty and risk when you give learners more control over their learning process. You can’t predict how engaged they will be, how much content they will generate or whether the quality of their contributions will meet your expectations. And that’s okay.

What you lose in control may be far outweighed by the benefits to your participants and your organization. Think of delivering social learning as an iterative learning process, itself. Focus on creating the right conditions, and then stand back and see what unfolds. Chances are, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Social learning is an adventure. Fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride!


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Putting the Pieces Together: How to Deliver Effective Integrated Learning Experiences

RSVP FOR THE NOVEMBER WEBINAR NOW!

What does it take to develop work skills in today’s fluid, fast-paced business environment? Even the most extensive course library isn’t enough to meet learners on their terms.

That’s why many organizations are turning to integrated learning experiences. But with so many innovative content formats, methodologies, tools and platforms to choose from, how can you achieve the best results?

Join experts John Leh, CEO and Lead Analyst at Talented Learning, and Paul Morton, Regional Director, Continental Europe and Americas at CrossKnowledge, for a closer look at best practices and real-world examples. You’ll discover:

  • What to expect from integrated learning experiences
  • Why these solutions are so effective
  • Essential elements for an integrated approach
  • Common pitfalls to avoid when developing an integrated strategy
  • How to measure, analyze and interpret results

If you want a more effective way to support workplace skills development, be sure to join us for this session!

RSVP NOW!

NOTE: Live webinar attendees qualify for 1 CAE credit.
ALSO: If you can’t attend the live online event, we’ll send you a link to the recording.


Need Proven LMS Selection Guidance?

Looking for a learning platform that truly fits your organization’s needs?  We’re here to help!  Submit the form below to schedule a free preliminary consultation at your convenience.

The post Social Learning Experiences: Making Better Connections appeared first on Talented Learning.


Social Learning Experiences: Making Better Connections original post at Talented Learning

Tuesday 30 October 2018

Podcast 16: Integrated Learning Experiences – With Paul Morton of CrossKnowledge

WELCOME TO EPISODE 16 OF THE TALENTED LEARNING SHOW!

To learn more about this podcast series or to see the full collection of episodes visit The Talented Learning Show main page.


EPISODE 16 – TOPIC SUMMARY AND GUEST:

Today we’re drilling down on a hot topic – integrated learning experiences. If you think this is only a buzzword, you’ll have a different opinion after listening to Paul Morton of CrossKnowledge.

Paul is a smart, passionate learning technology professional who brings 20 years of hands-on instructional design, development and delivery know-how to customer challenges. He’s also a compelling storyteller who will entertain you from start to finish.


KEY TAKEAWAYS:

  • “Itegrated learning experience” is not just a fancy term for an elearning course. It has a unique meaning and purpose.
  • An effective learning experience reaches individuals on their terms and influences their behavior in specific ways.
  • Even with a limited scope and budget, organizations can achieve measurable success through integrated learning experiences.

 

Q&A HIGHLIGHTS:

Could you tell us a bit about yourself, so we understand your perspective?

Well, my mom was a teacher. During her 35 year career, she taught 5001 kids. That’s an amazing accomplishment, to educate all those children. But in the digital learning world, reaching 5001 people takes 35 seconds, not 35 years. And CrossKnowledge touches something like 12 million learners. We have the potential to make such a broad impact.

Your career started in the classroom, correct?

Yes, I started as a classroom trainer. (Thanks mom, for the inspiration!) And over more than 20 years, I developed online training, learning systems, websites and documentation before I came to CrossKnowledge.

That diverse background must be helpful with the integrated learning experiences you develop now.

Goodness, yes. Starting as a face-to-face trainer, I learned how effective it can be to have a good conversation in a class of eight people. When it’s done well, one-to-one training is the best way to learn anything. But it doesn’t scale. And over the years, working on so many projects with such a wide range of companies, I found it all comes down to one question – how can you scale?

It all comes down to one question – how can you scale?

Yep, that’s the central question…

How do you help a large number of people understand how to improve their skills, to do better work for their organizations and mostly, to better themselves? How do you get what they need into their hands as fast as possible, in the right format, in the right timeframe and within a controlled budget? That’s really where digital learning came from.

Great point. So, tell us about CrossKnowledge. It’s part of Wiley, right?

Sure. CrossKnowledge is a digital learning solutions company that has been around for about 20 years. A few years ago we were acquired by John Wiley and Sons, best known as the publisher of the “For Dummies” series of books. Wiley is actually one of the world’s leading education and research companies and it’s been around for 210 years.

You don’t get to be a 210-year-old company by accident. It takes a clear vision and careful planning. I like to think that’s why Wiley acquired CrossKnowledge. We’ve got about 400 employees, and the 12 million learners we serve come from about 450 Blue-Chip companies in 120 countries, so we have a broad reach. And we’re all digital learners at heart, so it’s a lot of fun.

I recently evaluated the CrossKnowledge application in-depth and was impressed. What does the term “integrated learning experiences” mean to you?

Well, let me ask you to think about the best learning experience you’ve ever had. I bet you don’t think about an elearning course, do you? Most elearning is absolutely dreadful! And I’ve seen a ton of it. Bad elearning kills you.

Sad but true…

On the other hand, good learning experiences will actually change human behavior and improve what people do on a daily basis. It’s the thing that leads people to the bright uplands of potential and hope.

So what should a good learning experience look like?

A learning experience is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s an experience that helps you learn. It’s something you do that is challenging, that allows you to reflect, that allows you to practice. It gives you an opportunity to be exposed to new information, and then hopefully, to try it and apply it. Maybe you’ll fail. Maybe you’ll reflect again. And then you’ll put that new learning into practice.

How does that differ from an integrated learning experience?

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I think an integrated learning experience ties together the best parts of the best types of education and training (and I’m not afraid to use the word “training”). You must understand who learners are, how they work, and then use the best technologies to deliver those experiences in the right places at the right times. You must tie these elements together in a way that compels individuals to go on the journey and change their behavior.

But “integrated” doesn’t just mean that you’re tying together online and offline content. It’s not a classroom lecture with a bit of elearning before and after. That’s old school. And it never really worked.

A truly integrated learning experience looks at the learner’s needs, goals and environment. Then it creatively blends different modalities, different content, whatever it takes to lead an individual from A to Z. It moves you through a learning process – from exposure, to exploration, to practice, to repetition, to reflection, to application, to improvement, to reinforcement.

So it’s a full-circle process…

Yes, but creating content isn’t enough. And if you expect learners to find a course in your LMS, you’re 20 years out-of-date. Learning experiences must be integrated into a learner’s digital life. You have to go to them.

How do you do that? Investigate their behaviors and tie experiences into the systems they use throughout the day. Put it on their smartphones, front and center. Plug into their intranets. Plug into their HR systems. Tie-in the experience to applications around the world, so learners have access wherever they are.

As an instructional designer from way back, that makes sense to me.

But if it were easy, everyone would do it. This stuff is really hard. Do you know what I think one of the most valuable jobs of the future will be? I’d say learning experience designer or curator – somebody who makes sense of the world’s information so we can put it into practice. It’s about communication and motivation. It’s stuff you can’t automate or outsource.

How is this manifested in a platform?

Well, we created a beautiful consumer-grade learning experience solution called Blendedx. Why consumer-grade? If a digital environment is clunky, forget it. Learners will never come back. But you need them to come back because this stuff takes time and it’s hard. Learning is naturally a challenging process and you don’t want an awkward environment to get in the way.

So you enhance your platform with custom and curated content?

Yes. As I’ve mentioned, learning elements can take many forms. For example, a checklist. Or it could be topical content we create or curate from the world’s leading educators and experts in business, leadership, teams, sales and personal effectiveness.

Thanks to our ties with Wiley, we’ve built a library of something like 20,000 learning objects in 17 languages, including American English, British, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, you name it.

Impressive…

Or you could integrate a discussion forum. We recently researched the impact of various learning experience elements. What makes the most impact? It’s not our content. That’s number three! The biggest impact comes from participating in a topical online discussion. Taking part is key.

Interesting. You say Blendedworks with any learning management system. So is this complementary to an LMS, or a replacement, or both?

Both. As I’ve said, we work with some of the world’s largest companies, and often they have multiple systems. One company recently told me they have 14 LMSs! Six are proprietary and two aren’t even in English. What can they do?

They have choices. We can sit in the middle and talk to all these systems, pull it all together and be a single system of record. Or we can plug into their HR system and be a bridge. Our hub uses APIs that communicate with open and proprietary systems to connect with anything you like.

So yes, we can absolutely be a replacement. Or as with Pandora, we are the first global learning platform that all of their 70,000 employees use, worldwide.

So you not only enable delivery of learning experiences but also provide those experiences. I don’t see that in other learning systems…

We think it’s a compelling added-value service because skills are today’s currency. Ask anyone. People are concerned about their careers. They want to know how they can remain relevant. How can they protect themselves against the next recession? They need to improve their skills.

That’s what we’re about. We help people develop skills so they do their jobs better, and in turn, improve their organizations. Basically, we help individuals and organizations leverage learning to grow and prosper.

Can you measure the impact of these learning experiences?

If you want to prove learning ROI to an executive, we’ve got some ideas. In fact, you can provide some learning measurement and also a reason to believe.

Here’s an example. How many hours did you spend attending meetings last week? 10? 15? 20? 25? How many of those hours were well-spent?

Harvard Business Review says that U.S. companies waste $37 billion each year on bad meetings. Goodness. And I’ve been to a few of those!

U.S. companies waste an estimated $37 billion each year on bad meetings. Goodness. And I’ve been to a few of those!

So, why not do a quick-and-dirty online survey? Ask your employees, “How many meetings did you attend last month? Rate them 0 to 10. How many hours did you waste? How many hours did you gain?”

Next, build a bit of behavior-changing learning content for that audience. A learning experience designed to improve meeting skills:  How to write an agenda. How to run a meeting. Make it 45-minutes, maximum. Push it out and give people a couple of weeks to digest it. Then measure again, and see how many lives you’ve saved?

If each employee at a 10,000-person company is spared two hours a week of wasted time because they learned how to improve meeting effectiveness, how many productive hours are saved, overall? It can be that simple.

Nice…

Here’s another one. A Dutch pharmaceutical recognized that managers were creating budgets but they didn’t understand how money works. They didn’t know the difference between working capital and cash-on-hand. Not good.

So they developed a targeted learning experience. Again, a 45-minute learning experience pushed to every manager, explaining profit motive and how money flows through the company. Learners were asked to keep three key points in mind.

Well at the end of three weeks, nothing happened. They finished budgeting and moved on. But at the end of the quarter, they noticed 10% more cash-on-hand in the bank. And that directly affected their stock price.

Was it causation or correlation? Believe what you like. But the next time you’re seeking investment in a learning program, tell your CFO, “I can improve our stock price through some online training.” Then tell that story.

Worth a try. So what’s your best advice for professionals who want to get started with learning experiences?

Start small. Start now. Choose wisely. Don’t choose onboarding. It’s one of the worst places to start. It’s such an important journey. It’s too big, it’s too important and it takes too long.

Start with one of these little impactful things. Start with meeting measurement. Start with financials.

Here’s a third idea. Start with something tied to employee retention. People leave their managers. They leave because they don’t get feedback. Look at your retention rates. Teach people how to give feedback as part of the performance review process.

Push out a little experience – not a course. If it’s a full course, people won’t complete it or they won’t learn from it. Give them easy access to a short, meaningful experience that helps them help other people.

Ask your managers to gather feedback and build it into the process. Build that into a tiny, high-impact experience. Tie it to one of the most strategic challenges your business is facing. Let that challenge lead you down the path to a simple solution. Don’t think big. Think small. Think concrete. Do it now.

FOR MORE QUESTIONS AND COMPLETE ANSWERS, LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST NOW!

 


WANT TO LEARN MORE? JOIN OUR UPCOMING WEBINAR:

Putting the Pieces Together: How to Deliver Effective Integrated Learning Experiences

RSVP FOR THE NOVEMBER WEBINAR NOW!

What does it take to develop work skills in today’s fluid, fast-paced business environment? Even the most extensive course library isn’t enough to meet learners on their terms.

That’s why many organizations are turning to integrated learning experiences. But with so many innovative content formats, methodologies, tools and platforms to choose from, how can you achieve the best results?

Join experts John Leh, CEO and Lead Analyst at Talented Learning, and Paul Morton, Regional Director, Continental Europe and Americas at CrossKnowledge, for a closer look at best practices and real-world examples. You’ll discover:

  • What to expect from integrated learning experiences
  • Why these solutions are so effective
  • Essential elements for an integrated approach
  • Common pitfalls to avoid when developing an integrated strategy
  • How to measure, analyze and interpret results

If you want a more effective way to support workplace skills development, be sure to join us for this session!

RSVP NOW!

NOTE: Live webinar attendees qualify for 1 CAE credit.
ALSO: If you can’t attend the live online event, we’ll send you a link to the recording.


Need Proven LMS Selection Guidance?

Looking for a learning platform that truly fits your organization’s needs?  We’re here to help!  Submit the form below to schedule a free preliminary consultation at your convenience.

The post Podcast 16: Integrated Learning Experiences – With Paul Morton of CrossKnowledge appeared first on Talented Learning.


Podcast 16: Integrated Learning Experiences – With Paul Morton of CrossKnowledge original post at Talented Learning