How To Select The Ideal Corporate LMS For Your Employee Induction Online Training
Nowadays, most corporate training sessions happen online. It costs a fraction of classroom-based courses and can be scaled affordably. In a curious twist, a self-paced study can offer more one-on-one time than classroom formats. This is especially true if the training happens via a corporate LMS. For one thing, your content developer is just a few offices away, so you can always seek them out. And secondly, the digital structure of the course allows every learner to schedule individual sessions with instructors. There’s a clear listing of ‘consultation hours’ they can tap into. Here are some insider secrets to select the best corporate LMS for induction online training.
1. Focus On Mobility
Your primary responsibility for new hires is to ease them in. The sooner they stop ‘feeling new’, the better your office will function. Which boosts both your overall efficiency and your bottom line. To make their first day and first week easier, you should enable training before they arrive. This could mean sending them a link in their confirmation package. It will guide them on how to access their orientation software. Ensure your Learning Management System has mobile functionality so they can download it on their apps or tablets. They can initiate their training at home and continue before you assign them their official work-station.
2. Look For Social Integration
Some people believe opening and answering emails after midnight shows a strong work ethic. As opposed to poor work-life balance and bad time management. Others refuse to open the email at all outside side of work hours. And for employees of a certain age, millennials and below, email is ‘so last century’. Even the most conservative work-place now has WhatsApp groups and branded social media. Use them as part of your training process. Ensure that your new corporate LMS ties directly to social media and use its broadcast messages internally. It’s faster than a memo and more likely to be opened. Plus, it can help new hires identify and get to know their workmates. For example, Facebook’s ‘people you might know’ and Twitter’s ‘accounts to follow’ are based on a common denominator. So LMS linking can help them discover new colleagues.
3. Emphasize User Experience
Just because it’s functional doesn’t mean it can’t be pretty. New hires have a lot on their plates. They have to work with strangers and turn them into cordial acquaintances and collaborators. Maybe even friends. And they have to pick up new skills fast. Choose a corporate LMS that has a smooth, pleasant and intuitive user interface. It should be quick to learn, easy to use and fun to engage with. This not only enhances knowledge transfer. It positively influences your new team towards the software, their training material and the office as a whole. This attitude shapes how they do their work and how their workmates view them.
4. Ask About JIT Support
For older team members, though this isn’t necessarily about age, JIT modules are a helpful refresher. They might review a unit as they prepare for a meeting or refer to it during a client call. For new hires, it can feel like a life raft as it guides them through unfamiliar tasks. It helps them find their footing, assuages their ‘imposter syndrome’ and saves face when they’re feeling ‘dumb’. They’re usually in the form of how-to clips in video/audio or step-by-step text-based tutorials. They might be infographics or a blog series. Maybe even an eBook. Confirm your LMS has the necessary tools and features to generate a JIT library for your induction online training.
5. Ensure Your New Corporate LMS Is Resource-Rich
By resources, I mean reports that give you access to in-depth analytics. As well as built-in assets that allow you to create content for your induction online training without going over budget. Such as templates and images that enrich the training experience. When it comes to reports look for a corporate Learning Management System that features customizable metrics, data visualizations and other tools to help you curate and analyze Big Data more effectively.
6. Take A Team Test Drive
Get your entire team involved in the free corporate LMS demo or trial. Especially your eLearning team who’ll be developing and deploying content for your induction online training program. However, veteran employees can help you get valuable feedback based on their experience. For instance, they find that the new platform is less-than-intuitive or isn’t accessible on certain devices. At least, not the way it was intended. After the fact, schedule a meeting with the vendor to address any issues you encounter. They should be willing to discuss any issues with you to ensure that you get the best ROI. If it’s not up to standard, you can see if there are any add-ons or upgrades that can improve functionality.
Fresh employees are the most vulnerable members of your workforce. They’re bursting with enthusiasm and you want to harness it before the rat race possibly brings them down. Giving them a good introduction to your work-space could permanently shape their perception of the organization. It can also stretch the newbie energy long enough for some of their ‘older’ colleagues to co-opt it. So how do make sure your corporate LMS is the best fit to orient your new team? Check for mobile access and social media integration. Prioritize the user interface, ensuring it’s fun, aesthetically pleasing, fast-loading and easy to use. Pre-plan your JIT requirements and verify your that your LMS can construct them. Most of all, guarantee the option for discrete and immediate feedback options between LMS admin and new hires.
Getting new hires into the flow of your work-place is an essential corporate undertaking. How can you be sure you get it right? Download our eBook Making The Case For Corporate Training Software: How To Choose And Implement A New Corporate LMS For A Healthier Bottom Line and discover all you need to know so you can choose and implement a new corporate LMS.
