LMS and Change Management

You know the eye rolls. The restlessness. They come just after you announce a training class. It’s training malaise! And it isn't welcome in a training-intensive medical environment.

Developing a corporate attitude that welcomes training is just another type of change management. We've all had to learn new policies and procedures and eventually they become second nature.  Training will follow a similar course in an anti-training environment. There will be resistance. People will say they don’t have time. Eyes will roll. Management needs to take action. How?

1)      Is your staff tech-savvy?  Unless your office is tech-savvy, your change management could meet with fear and frustration. Make sure you get over that hump before dragging an LMS in the mix (Pssst! www.smartteam.com can help).

2)      Hold managers accountable. You know what? If my manager thinks a program is a joke, I’m not wasting my time on it. Period. Tackle your managers first, get them on board and the rest will follow.

3)      Meet on it. Taking courses in solitary confinement can make for drudgery and less learning. While the act of sitting through an online course might seem independent and self-contained (headphones, a quiet study area), people don’t often learn like that. Hold offline meetings before or after lessons to review key takeaways. The social interaction will encourage teambuilding and make the lessons more meaningful.

4)      Certificates! I love certificates. I want to reach milestones, get documentation and check items off my to-do list. I’m not alone. Track what training everyone takes and reward good behavior. Our LMS makes it so easy and quite powerful.

5)      Communicate. Even the most training-centric corporate culture will forget about the LMS if you do. We have a million other things to get done, how are you going to hold my attention long enough for me to train after that first month?  Remind me. Email me. Leave posters in   the break room. Post reminders on the intranet. Create contests. Update me in the newsletter. Add a bill-stuffer to my paycheck. If   you continue to be on board with the program, so will I.

Purchasing, creating and perfecting your LMS takes so much time.  But it doesn't end after the programmers send it over. You’ll need to manage it on an ongoing basis like anything else. RedVector will take care of the courses, but you need to take care of your employees.