We live in a digital world and that fact encouraged many businesses to bring in an LMS to facilitate training and education within the organization. However, just bringing in a program isn’t enough to get your employees excited about logging in. There has to be more to it than just being present.
If the only time your workers log in to the LMS is to take required training, you aren’t getting the full value out of the program. While education in required areas is important and should be made a priority, this isn’t encouraging employees to dig deeper. In fact, it could leave them less enthusiastic about the system.
To get your users excited about your LMS, you need to entice them and clearly demonstrate the value beyond ensuring compliance with certain policies. So, how do you peak their interest? Here are some tips to get you started.
Understand the Importance of Professional Development
The first step to increasing the use of your LMS is to understand how important that system really is, and not just in the context of your company. We all know that skilled workers improve your bottom line, but providing opportunities to grow professionally helps your staff too, in more ways than one.
Yes, additional training can give them the tools to be more productive during work hours, but that isn’t the only benefit. In most cases, your best and brightest crave challenges and are looking for support as they reach for their goals. And failing to provide employee development opportunities leads to early exits from your company.
High achievers want to learn and grow, and an LMS can be an ideal vehicle. You just have to make sure it is accessible and offers courses that excite your employees. And that means looking past mandatory training into something more comprehensive.
Remove Position-Oriented Limits
Even if you have a plethora of courses, you aren’t getting the full value of you LMS if you limit who can take what. Often, managers only open training to individuals working in a particular job category, figuring it’s wise to limit access based on theoretical relevance to their current duties.
However, by opening up the full catalog to the entire organization, you may see something surprising.
Interest in a course isn’t always cut along job titles. For example, an executive assistant may appreciate a greater understanding of technical or scientific aspects of the department, as they are often tasked with taking meeting notes, compiling reports, creating presentations, and other similar support work.
If they don’t understand the subject, their effectiveness is limited. And, when faced with an option to alleviate their confusion and improve their understanding of the nature of the business, many will take advantage of the opportunity.
Similarly, there may be employees throughout the company who would like the opportunity to move up the ranks or change departments to follow an interest. By giving them access to everything your LMS has to offer, you’re encouraging them to explore new areas of knowledge or careers. And that may be the ideal inspiration to help them move forward.
So, if a current IT employee is interested in project management, why not let them give a Project Management for Information Technology course a try? They’ll get to learn more about a subject of interest and your company benefits from having an enthusiastic employee with more knowledge.
Find Your Cheerleaders
Did you know that word-of-mouth marketing is considered one of the most effective approaches for connecting with customers? If so, did you realize you can use the same principles to increase interest in your LMS?
Once your LMS has the right offerings, finding a few cheerleaders to help spread the word can be an effective method to get people logging in. And, when you choose employees from all levels within your company to do the talking, you might reach the largest percentage of your workers.
In many cases, management informs employees about options like LMS, they don’t necessarily discuss it. However, an employee that is excited about online learning won’t just send out an email to their co-workers telling them to try it; they’ll TALK about it with them.
They’ll sell the benefits, explain the system, and encourage people to explore the courses themselves. From a marketing perspective, this is hard to beat. And it’s a technique you can use to bring people to the LMS.
Then, once other people start getting excited about the opportunities, they’ll talk about it too.
You can begin this process by looking for your current top users of the system or those who’ve expressed an interest in learning more about their positions or the organization. Make sure they get a chance to have a great experience and encourage them to spread the word once they’ve gotten their hands dirty a few times.
“Sell” It Right
If your go-to move is an email that doesn’t say more than “here’s a link to the LMS” and provides login information, it shouldn’t be a surprise people aren’t flocking to the site. You need to sell the LMS as a great opportunity. And that isn’t necessarily hard to do.
Start by keeping emails concise, but use more personal language to connect with your employees. Let them know the system is “ready for you” and that it will “help you learn and grow as a professional.”
The word “you” is especially powerful here, as it lets them feel as though you are speaking directly to them.
Feel free to include employee testimonials, such as some created by your cheerleaders. This helps other workers see that people just like them value the LMS, and it will encourage them to take a look.
Using some of the tips above, you can dramatically increase the interest in your LMS, allowing both your company and your employees reap the benefits of these great offerings. So, take the time to talk it up right, gather your cheerleaders, and make sure every knows the sky’s the limit when it comes to training opportunities.
