In the ever-evolving landscape of training and development, there’s one constant you’ll notice when searching for organizations that have improved operational efficiency: a well-implemented learning management system (LMS) that helps them manage, deliver and track training programs that support employees in their day-to-day job roles.
The implementation phase of an LMS is critical. From planning and design to testing and deployment, a well-planned implementation phase can help organizations avoid common pitfalls — such as building the wrong content in the wrong format for the wrong audience.
But how do you ensure your LMS implementation is quick, smooth and successful? Here are four proven strategies you can consider, inspired by our top customers.
Strategy No. 1: Identify your requirements from the top down and anchor them in corporate and compliance training requirements.
This strategy involves identifying the holistic training requirements of your organization and ensuring your LMS can effectively deliver training programs that meet those requirements. Employee onboarding, DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging), cybersecurity, compliance, and health and safety are typical examples of immediate training requirements your LMS may need to satisfy.
This top-down approach will help your organization optimize time invested in frequently recurring training and reduce related costs. It’s beneficial for organizations with a large number of employees or substantial turnover and in need of delivering training programs regularly.
By asking simple questions like, “What do we keep repeating over and over again with no added value?”, you can tailor your LMS to deliver training programs relevant to your organization’s needs while ensuring your learning and development (L&D) resources are used efficiently.
One hack when planning your LMS implementation is to automate requalification cycles in areas such as compliance. In doing so, you’ll set up your organization to ensure seamless regulatory adherence — with minimal effort.
Strategy No. 2: Ask employees what they need to succeed.
If you’re following this strategy, you’re going directly to the heartbeat of your organization and supporting your employees with what they identify as gaps in their training.
The first step is to ask employees what they feel is holding them back from reaching top performance. The second step is tailoring your LMS to design and deliver programs bridging these needs.
By involving employees in the development of training programs, you can ensure the adoption rate of those programs increases as employees understand what’s in it for them from the beginning.
Strategy No. 3: Let your SMEs drive implementation.
This strategy is all about optimizing the time and impact of your internal experts on your workforce’s skills level and knowledge.
First, create an inventory of your subject matter experts (SMEs) and their domains of expertise. Next, empower them to leverage their knowledge to develop short and actionable training content for their colleagues. Microlearning is often best suited for this strategy as SMEs typically aren’t instructional designers (although they’re often happy to share what they know). The approach makes it easy for anyone to share their skills and knowledge. You’ll want to be sure that microlearning can be easily integrated into your LMS, as this is not always the case.
Use this strategy to transform your SMEs from silent contributors to vocal advocates of a culture where knowledge flows seamlessly. This can help cultivate a learning culture where expertise is shared, celebrated and continuously refined.
Strategy No. 4: Find and collaborate with your champions.
Working to optimize early adoption by building project champions early on is crucial to help with change management. Early adoption improves when you identify key stakeholders and get them involved in the implementation process.
Project champions are passionate about the project, influential to others and can help drive adoption and change within the organization. Those champions will frequently be SMEs who long for a day when they won’t have to answer the same questions from colleagues repeatedly.
That said, anyone can be a champion for an LMS project. For example, many companies have success using well-connected employees as a driving force in LMS implementation.
Building project champions early on can help ensure that the LMS is successful and that employees are engaged in the new training process.
Implementing an LMS is crucial for organizations looking to improve their training programs, standardize people operations, and increase employee engagement and overall performance.
The four strategies shared here are all effective in their way of supporting those ambitions. They can be applied in any business, regardless of the industry you are in. Luckily, you don’t have to pick one, as you can implement an LMS leveraging all of these strategies at once if you want to go all in.
