There are four important things to consider when establishing a learning management system for your business.
Factor #1: Cost
Implementing an LMS at your business must be done with careful thought.
“You need to have your homework done ahead of time so as to make the implementation process as trouble-free as possible,” Amit Gautam said on The Upside Learning Solutions Blog, which discusses “innovation, design, development, and trends in the Learning Solutions domain.”
As a first step, Gautam suggests creating a team to carry out the plans for starting a learning management system. “Early on, it is very important to clearly define a team for configuration and implementation of the LMS. Ideally, the team should include individuals from all stakeholder units, key ones namely HR/Training, Management, IT,” he said on the blog.
It also important to make this process as clear and as streamlined as possible.
“Identify a clear owner of the team and define roles and responsibilities clearly. Set some milestones at a macro level to begin with but leave the team to come up with the plan in consultation with the vendor,” he said.
Factor #2: How much of a commitment is involved?
Goals for your business may have justified purchasing an LMS in the first place. Therefore, it is important to know what commitment you will have to make to get the program off the ground and keep it going strong. From inception to managing the reliability of your system, you will need to realize that there are about five steps you will have to take to get your system from start to finish.
Latitude Learning outlines these phases as:
- Inception
- Elaboration
- Construction
- Transition
- Production
All five detail the commitment you will need to make when you are proposing an LMS for your business. However, management of the system is not completed after the production phase. In fact, all phases after transition are the most important. During the transition phase, the LMS accessibility will be tested, which will determine whether your employees will feel comfortable using the system.
Making sure every employee is “on-board” will allow you to assess the support and commitment of your long range plans.
Factor #3: How can LMS’ increase employee morale?
LMS’s may cut costs for businesses, but they also heavily enforce compliance by utilizing performance measures to the highest degree.
“An LMS allows an organization to identify individuals who contribute to its success,” Kurt Salmon Associates, a global management consulting firm, stated in a whitepaper, entitled “Top 10 Reasons LMS Implementations Fail.”
“Companies often opt to share the financial benefits of a performance management program directly with associates through an incentive pay added to the hourly wage,” a representative at Kurt Salmon Associates stated. “If done correctly, this will maximize the efficiency gains of the program.”
LMS’s can increase employee morale by adding a monetary incentive, or morale can be increased by having every employee meet the same compliance standards equally, ensuring fairness.
Factor #4: How can you make it work at your business?
Linking learning with business does not have to be complicated and difficult. The key to making an LMS work has to do with many steps after implementation. Gemini Performance Solutions used follow-up surveys sent to participants, they assessed how the skills taught to employees would apply in a real-world situation and they also utilized company reports. These three aspects assessed the training and allowed Gemini to gain a better understanding of their system to meet the needs of their employees. At the same time, such a follow-up allowed the company to make the system work.
