An LMS is a platforms that helps in formalising organization-wide training and development activities in a way that is both structured (measurable, creates records, and provides relevant outputs) and accessible (mobility, train third-party bodies, and individual business units). This is why your organization needs an LMS.
As an HR and L&D authority in your company, training, monitoring, and improving your employees’ efficiency is an important goal for your organization to work towards collectively. As many of you can relate, this task can become cumbersome quickly, especially if you’re still using the traditional On-the-Job Training (OJT) and Classroom Training. Before we investigate what a Learning Management System (LMS) is and what it can do, let us look at some of the limitations of traditional OJT and classroom training.
- 1. Employee induction and training is a continuous process, taking place each time a new employee or a batch of employees join. Regardless of the number of trainees, the organization dedicates the same resources towards their training repeatedly.
- 2. OJT and classroom training rely heavily on the availability of a physical trainer. This creates a bottleneck and an issue of trainer availability, especially when the organization is low on trainers. Due to this bottleneck, some training may be delayed, or worse still, missed out entirely for a batch of new team members.
- 3. Traditional training is usually conducted once. It is up to the trainer and trainees’ ability to deliver and absorb the training, which decides how effective the training was.
- 4. The responsibility of documentation, taking notes, and the ability to refer to the training given is left to the trainee. This process may be subject to error and inconsistency, and in the event that the trainer is inconsistent, the entire purpose of training may be defeated.
- 5. OJT requires the trainee to learn while on the job. The ability to absorb new information while having to perform, hampers the training retention rate. It may even lead to new employees making mistakes, which may cost the company.
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Despite the limitation, OJT and classroom training are important and should not be eliminated from the overall mix of training methods used by organizations. However, keeping in mind the costs and efforts associated with both methods, and the benefits of self-paced eLearning or online learning, it makes sense to reduce the dependency on OJT and classroom training and increase the proportion of online learning.
This is where most modern organizations are moving towards Learning Management Systems. An LMS is a platform on which training and course material are created and stored for new and old employees to train themselves, and refer to the training when they need it, wherever they need it, be it over a desktop, tablet, or a mobile device.
Asking the question ‘Why does your organization need an LMS, and analyzing the answer, is the first step to build a business case for an LMS. This allows the L&D Team, HR Heads, and the top-level management to understand exactly what its requirements are, and effectively decide the kind of training needed and its method of delivery. It is crucial that the key stakeholders that are weighing in on the decision to implement an LMS very clearly outline their needs, and understand how the LMS is important for any organization.
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Why does your organization need an LMS?
- 1.
Create a framework for automating and optimizing your training and streamline processes/operations
Organizations have functional areas where processes/operations are followed which facilitate their daily functioning. These operations include Manufacturing, Sales, Customer Servicing, IT, and other small and big processes that are integral to the smooth operations of the organization. Often, the lack of proper training and defining of correct sequenced steps to follow lead to inefficient functioning of the various operations.
Having a fully-functioning LMS in place allows your business to firstly formalize their training function, instead of ad-hoc on-the-job training and inconsistent classroom sessions. An LMS provides a framework for an L&D team to organize and automate the delivery of training, schedule classroom training sessions, and eliminate paper-based assessments. Combined with regular training and monitoring, the LMS becomes the biggest tool which the organization has at its disposal, ensuring all employees, new and old, have a solid understanding of the operation at hand, and are better equipped to go about achieving the goals of the organization. Studies show effective and regular training increases the efficiency of any operation by 55%!
- 2.
Track employee competency
Employee competency is a term used to understand the level of understanding and efficiency an employee has at a given task. It also defines how well the employee can perform a certain task: with respect to their peers. Understanding how competent the employees are and giving them training in areas where they lack: should be the first task of any organization.
As employees are organized based on their competency, special or in-depth training can be provided to them: which more competent employees may not require. The LMS should be set up in a way, where courses and tests are primarily available: to test the employee’s competency. Identifying the capabilities based on tests and course completion rates, allows the L&D Team and HR to fully understand where an existing employee’s knowledge or skill gaps are and provide the training needed to bridge those gaps.
- 3.
Train new employees
Training new employees is a regular, inevitable process at every organization which the HR and L&D teams face. The ability to train new employees in an effective yet standard manner can be of great advantage to them. The LMS allows special training courses to be built specifically around the induction of new employees. This can be about the organization in general, its history, its products and services, its customers, its organizational values, or it can be an introduction to what is expected of the employee with regard to the position they are filling.
Allowing the induction and new employee training programs to work off an LMS platform helps the HR and L&D teams to impart standard, effective, and carefully crafted training to be delivered repeatedly, whether it be to a single or a group of new employees, without putting too much stress on the organization’s limited resources.
- 4.
Save costs and increase the ROI
Training programs involve costs that may include venue costs, guest trainer fees, travel costs, etc. Not to forget the cost of time and energy spent by both the trainer(s) and the trainee. In addition to this, costs become recurring every time a new batch of employees join or a new process is needed for the company’s latest venture. In the long run, if the company requires imparting regular training to its employees due to the nature and conduct of its businesses, it stands to benefit greatly from an LMS system.
Repeated usage of training material, access to training from anywhere, and the ability to host a trainer over the internet, save the organization a lot of costs as compared to traditional training.
- 5.
The need to deliver critical training in a timely, accurate, and consistent manner
The essence of good training is in the ability to deliver it when it’s most needed and be very accurate. With traditional training, it is very difficult to keep a track of both these parameters. Traditional training relies heavily on being a person-to-person process and the physical availability of a trainer. This creates an issue on two fronts. Firstly, the accuracy and consistency of training imparted (since a trainer may be inconsistent on different dates with different batches of learners). Secondly, getting trained when you most need it instead of when a training is available.
An LMS tackles both these issues effectively. Training can be created, checked, and tested for effectiveness and accuracy. It is stored on the LMS platform, allowing learners to access it when it’s most important and timely. This increases the impact of the training provided by almost 60%!
Once the need for an LMS is identified, it is imperative that the decision-makers put together a task force of key internal stakeholders to select the right LMS.
Our team of experts are always enthusiastic to help you make an informed decision. Contact Us today for a quick chat on how Abara LMS can help you address these challenges and make the most of your training.
