Gaining an Edge Through Learning

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and critic Mark van Doren once said: “Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportioned to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I recall that piece of knowledge and use it better.”

Successful organisations today understand the importance of capital training in creating and maintaining a competitive edge in a challenging marketplace. But in today’s reality of increased training requirements, diminished training budgets and rapidly changing training content, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain and sponsor capital training.

E-learning is seen by many to be the ultimate solution to traditional training challenges. E-learning is cost-effective, it is interactive, it is rapid, it is cutting-edge, and it can cater for different learning and training styles. However, many organisations rush into the implementation of an e-learning solution with little or no consideration of a long-term solid e-learning strategy that will result in successful e-learning.

Organisations must invest the time and effort to develop an e-learning strategy that defines what they want to accomplish in terms of training down the road. It must align to the business goals and the overall organisational strategy, and can be achieved by following a tactical implementation plan and defining success factors and measures. In developing the e-learning strategy it is recommended that the following steps are taken:
Step One: Analyse the organisational training needs in connection to the organisation’s overall goals and objectives. This will allow in-depth understanding of learning objectives and training requirements.
Step Two: Develop and identify skill sets and competencies in context to the learning, performance and business objectives of the organisation. This will ensure training is delivered to the right audience, at the right time and for the right reasons.
Step Three: Select development and delivery tools and techniques that cater for diverse learning and management styles. Having the right content built using sound instructional design methodologies and principles, and delivered through a learning management system that provides flexibility for the learner and control for the stakeholder, allows the organisation to deliver training to the many and personalised learning to the individual.
Step Four: Identify success factors by setting clear measures to the success and failure of a training programme within the organisation. The most important measurement of success or failure from a strategic point of view is return on investment (ROI), which can be quantitative (such as the amount of money saved on e-learning versus traditional training), or qualitative (such as a reduced project lifecycle due to increased performance efficiency).
 
Implementing an e-learning strategy to achieve business and organisational goals and objectives is a process that might take months or years to complete, and although having great technology, content and management systems is necessary for the success of an e-learning initiative, they are not sufficient to ensure success. Organisations must engage learners, motivate managers and build an environment that stimulates learning and identifies e-learning as the preferred method. Successful organisations implement strategies based on principles of change management, a combination of processes, activities and approaches that manage the people of the organisation through the transition from the old way of training to e-learning.

A combination of a limited budget to design, develop or purchase the right content and technology to deliver and manage training, combined with a significant investment in time and effort to develop a learning strategy derived from the organisation’s business goals and objectives, and enforced by a change management plan that keeps learners aware, engaged and committed, is the key to ensuring e-learning success. In other words, organisations will be able to get the most out of their training budgets when they spend it on technologies and techniques that allow them to deliver targeted on-time training.

With a firm believe that ‘knowledge is edge’, humansoft Learning Solutions is dedicated to being a regional leader in delivering innovative learning and training solutions that bring edge to knowledge, and help human resource, training and IT managers implement effective learning solutions that will increase a return on investment in training.