You've got management backing you up. You've got your new learning platform. Now, all you want to do is get started and publish your new employee training. We get it. But we encourage you to hold your horses a little bit.
A lot of companies are tempted to take shortcuts and jump right ahead to the implementation because they are eager to get started. But unfortunately, many regret this choice further down the line. It's all about getting your digital learning strategy right.
With some research, you can avoid the regrets and get your learning done properly. Almost all digital learning projects start with some ideas. But how can you go from ideas to solving the real needs in your organization with learning and development?
Let us give you 3 quick pieces of advice.
- Know Your Needs
Start by investigating what your company needs. Chat with the managers who are in charge of a lot of employees. It is often here you can make a big difference with fewer resources.
If you want your digital learning solution to be a success for many years to come, it must make your company more efficient. When you hear about a need for training, then ask: Why? Keep asking why, until there is a clear connection to the value you create for your customers.
When you know the needs it is time to make define it even more. What must the learners know more about or what should they do better after taking the training? And can the new skills be used to capture the vision and mission of your company?
Clear goals will simplify the grand ideas you get along the way. Write down clear goals and use them again when your learning goes to the design phase and evaluation. - Get Evidence for the Needs
If the need, for example, is to reduce costs for training of new employees, start by estimating resources spent on training: Not just the training itself, but the over-the-shoulder training too.
Over-the-shoulder training can, of course, not be eliminated in total. Digital solutions work in most optimal circumstances in a mix with on-the-floor training – also known as Blended Learning (which we will get back to).
But the time a co-worker spends on over-the-shoulder training can be reduced a lot because efficient digital learning also works as an encyclopedia for the new employee, and then the co-worker will not be disturbed at every little doubt.
Read Learningbank’s Build a Bulletproof Business Case for Digital Learning for the Employee Journey and get specific calculations you can use to determine the need. - Prioritize
Your discovery of needs can reveal more than one thing that could be great to solve in your organization. But be careful! Every little thing takes up more time than you would think.
And your internal resources are not limitless, of course (even though the excitement might be). Try to prioritize the most important. Start with a smaller implementation, where you in great comfort can make your first experiences before you go all the way.