Properly Implementing a Learning Platform

The modern world is constantly changing. In recent years, technology has grown in leaps and bounds, improving upon itself in unprecedented ways. Techniques that were considered advanced are now trite. In order to be competitive in the business world, companies must keep up with this new technology, evolving to remain on the cutting-edge of their industry.

The race to maintain technological superiority is not an easy one to win. Businesses must have a consistent training program in place, to ensure their employees are up to date on the newest trends in their sector. But it is difficult to create a comprehensive education system for employees that is both cost-effective and time-sensitive. If the training takes too long to reach all employees, then it becomes outdated, and therefore, ineffective. Training also takes time and resources to create and complete. Having a dedicated training department can be cumbersome for smaller businesses.

There are programs that exist, however, to help facilitate the training necessary for your company. Utilizing these will help ease the burden of maintaining an educated and effective workforce.

Getting Started

You have decided to use a program to help expedite your company’s training. But what next? The first step would be to determine which type of program you would want to use. There are a multitude of options available, each with their own pros and cons.

There are a few things to consider before settling on a specific program. One aspect you need to be aware of is the size and scope of your business. The country (or countries) in which your business operates, specifically their laws regarding online information collection and privacy concerns, should be kept in mind when deciding on what program to use. The number of employees you need to train should also be a kept in mind. You will want a program that is optimized for your company’s individual needs.

As each business is unique and has their own requirements for a training program, the most effective learning platform will be able to be easily manipulated by its users. Practera is one such learning platform, a program that offers an intuitive user interface and is largely customizable.

Creating Content

Once the learning platform has been agreed upon, it is necessary to determine how to use the product so that your company achieves the most benefit. Depending on the size and scope of the training program you have in mind, it may be necessary to coordinate with other members of your company. Each department may have their own idea of what is the most important information for employees. Not only will collaboration between departments allow your managers to feel valued, utilizing some of their ideas will give them ownership over the new training program.

It will also be important to maintain the previous training records of your employees. The right learning platform will allow you to transfer the data from older training classes into the new system. This will not only help in the efficiency of the education initiatives, it will also improve employee morale, as they will not need to redo a class they already completed.

You may want to assign the responsibility of updating and creating content to one member of your staff. However, the right learning platform will let any number of people have access to change the training material. As such, this responsibility could be rotated among different employees, or could be assigned to departments conditionally, depending on individual training needs.

Benefits

Switching your company’s training processes to a learning platform provides many benefits, most notably, ease of access for employees and the ability to quickly update information. It also allows for real-time, real-world interaction between facilitators and employees. Using a learning platform provides a way for multiple people to contribute to a conversation, whether by providing first-hand experience to trainees, or by allowing the trainees to receive accurate, up-to-the-minute information.

A learning platform is also useful when looking at the project management side of the trainers and educators for your business. Having all of the training information stored in one, centralized location gives your trainers easy access to the content they need. Talking to fellow trainers and coordinating their efforts company-wide will allow them to create the best training programs possible.

Using a learning platform is also beneficial to your employees. Having consistent onboarding and continuing education processes are integral to creating a well-educated and supported workforce. By ensuring each employee receives the same information, you are protecting your company’s brand and establishing a standard that all employees must adhere to.

Conclusion

If you want your company to be competitive in today’s market, it must keep up with the changing times. One of the simplest ways to do this is by making sure your employees are aware of the most recent trends and technological innovations. This can be done by training them through an onboarding process and continuing education. However, training can be a burden to a company, as it requires significant time and money to create a good program. By using a learning platform to help facilitate the training process, you can ensure your company stays ahead of the curve.

About The Author 

Christine is an assistant for Practera and enjoys fine dining during her spare time among other things.