You want to grow your business, but a few things might be holding you back. One of the most common is knowledge. Your employees need to be trained, but if you took the time to train each of them yourself, you wouldn’t have time to do your own job.
As a business grows, your time becomes more valuable and scarce, but you must make the time to educate your team the way they need to be.
The real question is: how do you accomplish this while still doing your own job?
Set Up Your Learning Management System
The first key is to set up your learning management system or LMS. There are a number of eLearning platforms out there that will aid you with free LMS software selection, and you can choose from several systems to find the right one for you.
Evaluating an LMS means looking at several factors:
- What do you and your team need to learn?
- Do you need to be officially certified, or is completing a course enough?
- What courses fit both needs and requirements, and what products or services offer them?
- Is the product easy to use, and is the interface intuitive and adaptable to different learning styles? Try a free trial if the product offers one.
Once you have evaluated and set up your LMS you can get started learning yourself and teaching your staff.
Choose Your Courses
Once you will have evaluated the learning management system to make sure it has the features you need, ask yourself: What do you need? Where are members of your team struggling that better education can fix?
This is an important distinction: some members of your team may be stronger in sales than software development. This does not mean everyone needs a software development course. However, perhaps your sales team needs a refresher on communication or overcoming obstacles.
This may include familiarization with the product, so don’t try to be one-size-fits-all. Choose courses by department and job description, as well as individual strengths and weaknesses.
Set Expectations
One of the most important things about an LMS is that you need to set the right expectations for employees. Are courses required or optional? What is the incentive for completing optional learning?
Some employees will only do what you tell them, and will take courses when they are both required and there are real consequences for not taking them.
You also need to hold employees accountable for the application of the knowledge provided. The purpose of the LMS is to inspire company growth through education. The adoption of new approaches and policies is the only way to win.
Continuing down the same path despite data telling you change is necessary will result in nothing. Let employees know you expect not only participation, but adoption too.
Reward Accomplishment
How do you reward the accomplishments of those who complete courses and modules in the LMS? There are not always promotions available, and offering raises every time is not practical. This means being creative:
- Time Off
- Public Recognition
- Gift Cards and Movie Tickets
- Cash Bonuses
- Office Equipment Upgrades
As users progress with learning, it is important that recognition comes with it. The more employees know, the more valuable they are to your business, and it is important that you let them know they are valued. Talent retention is essential to business growth.
Training your team for business growth does not have to be a challenge that stretches your own time and resources. With the right LMS structured correctly, learning and growth can happen organically and help you become the type of business you want to be.
