5 L&D Priorities Chief Learning Officers Should Set For 2017
First and foremost, online training should further your company's success and improve online training ROI. It should give employees the information and skills they require to be their best in and out of the office. This requires organization, planning, and prioritization. And a bulk of this burden falls on the Chief Learning Offeficers. Here are the top 5 focal points for Chief Learning Officers in FY 2017, as well as tips to help you implement them in your online training strategy.
1. Personalize The Online Training Experience
Your organization needs to meet its objectives and goals. However, you must also foster individual talent and allow employees to seize control of their own development. This involves online training personalization and customization. Incorporate clickable maps so that employees are able to choose their own online training activities, or online training repositories that feature a broad range of materials for different learning preferences. First and foremost, you need to research your audience. Conduct surveys, interviews, and observations to determine their needs, expectations, and personal goals.
What is personalization?
Personalization means providing just-for-me learning experiences with personalized dashboards, course recommendations based on skill aspirations, and customization of language and delivery type.
- Personalizing recommendations: Learners should be able to personalize the learning recommendations they want to receive from the LMS based on must-have skills required to do well in their current job or new skills for an aspirational role they are targeting within the team or in another function.
- Personalized revision notes: Learner should be able to revisit through personalized bookmarks and revision notes. Notes should be taken in real-time and span across multiple modules. These notes act like microlearning bytes that learners can email to themselves for easy access.
- Personalizing language and delivery type: Learners should be able to personalize their experiences by selecting their language of choice and preferred delivery type based on the learning style that works best for them — eLearning, instructor-led training, or virtual classroom.
Top Tip: Pre-assess your employees to identify gaps early on. Use qualitative online assessments to gauge their level of proficiency and comprehension. This also gives you the power to provide supplemental online training resources targeted to their needs. For example, online training tutorials to boost proficiency, or simulations to build work-related skills. Adobe Captivate Prime is one such LMS focused completely on personalization.
2. Create More Flexible Online Training Programs
Employees are busy, overworked, and stressed. They need an online training program that suits their schedule, instead of the other way around. As such, you might consider a flexible online training schedule that allows employees to go at their own pace. Clarify your expectations beforehand and give them a deadline to complete the online training course. Then, let them access the content, whenever it's most convenient for them. To facilitate the process, opt for a responsive design LMS and create mobile-friendly online training courses. You can also opt for microlearning online libraries that offer bite-sized online training activities, modules, and assessments. For instance, a 4-minute serious game to refresh their skills, or short interactive videos to illustrate the point further.
Top Tip: Certain employees may lack the necessary determination and drive. You can give them the nudge they need with gamification. Integrate badges, points, and other rewards to fuel their intrinsic motivation. This also allows them to work asynchronously and focus on their own performance gaps while earning incentives.
3. Increase Workplace Productivity And Proficiency
There are two common factors that compromise workplace productivity. The first is using a "one-size-fits-all" online training approach, which falls into the purview of personalized training. Every employee has their own strengths and areas for improvement. As such, they require a corporate eLearning plan that caters to them. The second factor is a lack of real world application. Employees have the knowledge and skills they need, but don't know how to use them in real world settings, namely, the work environment. You can remedy this issue by incorporating online training simulations, scenarios, and stories. Encourage employees to put their skills and knowledge into practice by mimicking workplace challenges. For example, appeasing an angry customer or troubleshooting a tech issue.
Top Tip: Use true-to-life images, sounds, and characters to make your interactive online training exercises even more engaging. Employees must be able to relate to the situation and put themselves into the role. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by forming an emotional connection. For instance, the pressure or stress they might face while resolving a conflict.
4. Uphold Company Standards And Quality Assurance
This falls into the category of compliance, and we all know that violations can result in steep penalties and fines. Even breaching a company’s protocol can compromise your brand image and customer loyalty. Thus, every employee needs to adhere to company standards and be aware of QA guidelines. For this to happen, you must have a set of rules in place and an online training strategy to go along with it. Meet with stakeholders, managers, and department heads to get their input and ensure that everyone's on the same page. Finalize your QA standards and company policies, and then create your online training course materials to get employees involved.
Top Tip: Offer periodic knowledge refreshers that reinforce key ideas and concepts. For example, health and safety simulations that reiterate spill containment protocols and the gear that's involved. Microlearning online libraries are also ideal for this purpose, as they feature quick and convenient online training resources.
5. Foster A Supportive Online Training Community
Employees must know how to use online training resources to their advantage. This gives them the opportunity to continually develop their skills and knowledge base. A supportive and communicative online training community emphasizes the importance of ongoing professional development. Employees can reach out to their peers in order to solve problems and fill the gaps. They also have the ability to benefit from each other's experience and address common concerns.
Top Tip: Online training can be lonely, especially for geographically dispersed employees. You can make them feel like they're part of something bigger with the help of social media integration. Set up social networking groups, corporate eLearning blogs, and online forums to keep them in the loop. These platforms also facilitate peer-based feedback and group collaboration. For example, employees are able to upload links to useful articles and videos, or share their ideas with co-workers to get their honest opinion. Just make sure that you set some ground rules so that everyone feels comfortable voicing their questions and concerns.
Have you already made these areas a top priority? Do you need to add them to your online training to-do list? Use these 5 tips to maximize your Return On Investment and improve employee satisfaction. That translates into lower turnover rates and a wider profit margin.
Adobe Captivate Prime LMS helps you deliver stimulating learner experiences. Go live instantly with the Fluidic Player that plays virtually any eLearning content seamlessly regardless of what format may be; PPTX, video, PDF, and DOCX files, or AICC, xAPI, SCORM packages. Improve retention by allowing learners to make revision notes in the Fluidic Player for future referencing. Enable learners to consume content in online or offline mode, on any device, and track their progress using a personalized dashboard. Apply your enterprise brand colors to key interface elements or choose from attractive themes to change the look and feel of your UI.
