My organisation wants to go down the elearning path mainly because of our geographically dispersed workforce.
The main barier I am hitting is that many people see putting powerpoints online with a test managed through a LMS is elearning and why waste money in making the training engaging.
How have others combated this?
Do you have some reference material I could refer to?
Although I haven't found a book or resource I am in the same boat as you. We have a geographically dispersed workforce and lots of old school trainers and SME's that don't understand the effort that goes into Instructional Design.
We have taken a show and tell approach. Before I began my manager created a program on a needed topic that he knew about. He did it independently of internal SME's. This allowed him to show the difference between PPT and Engaging. It also created a business case for me to be hired. (woohoo) I still in some ways do this when working with newer groups.
It is also important that you are sharing the material and ideas with the right people. You need decision makers to buy into your ideas and concepts.You have to sell you product just like an outside vendor would. Check out this Blog post i thought was right on par. http://bit.ly/lSKs58
It is a long road and a major culture change. Throughout the process there are many that will not buy in right away. Some times you will have to give in. But persevere. As we continue to work with new individuals in our org we have to sell our product over and over. I know eventually everyone will "get it" but for now it is one group and one program at a time.
I look forward to hearing about your adventure in eLearning.
First off thanks for fighting the good fight! As Zara points out, it is not always easy. But it is worth it.
There are lots of tactics that can lead to the kind of culture change needed. I will share one that I've had some success with...
Focus on the chief stakeholder(s) and what thier goals are. Listen carefully, then try having them "force rank" a list of 5 or so goals you've created. At least 3 of the goals should come from their own words, then slip in 2 that you feel are critical. Put them in front of them and have them rank them in order of importance.
Quick Example:
Mrs Stakeholder, thanks again for your interest in making the training project successful. So we can move foward with a clear direction and not have to come back to you for unneccessary steering corrections along the way, (ha!), I've created 5 goals based on the vision I heard you share for this project. If you could simply rank them in order of most important to least important, that will help crystalize your vision for all of us. Thanks.
Reduce soft costs by limiting training time (hers)
Create portable solution that scales with company growth (hers)
Increase retention of key concepts to improve performance (yours)
Improve relevance for each employee to increase adoption (yours)
Reduce hard costs by reducing travel expenses and logistics (hers)
If done correctly, it puts the stakeholders choices into clear focus for THEMSELVES as well as you. If it turns out that the things you think are truly important are still ranked at the bottom, then you have your marching orders; like it or not. But you may be surprised how willing most stakeholders are to "do the right thing" when it's presented in a manner like this. Even if your goals are not ranked first, you may come away with some form of mandate to include them in your recommended solution.
3 Replies
Although I haven't found a book or resource I am in the same boat as you. We have a geographically dispersed workforce and lots of old school trainers and SME's that don't understand the effort that goes into Instructional Design.
We have taken a show and tell approach. Before I began my manager created a program on a needed topic that he knew about. He did it independently of internal SME's. This allowed him to show the difference between PPT and Engaging. It also created a business case for me to be hired. (woohoo) I still in some ways do this when working with newer groups.
It is also important that you are sharing the material and ideas with the right people. You need decision makers to buy into your ideas and concepts.You have to sell you product just like an outside vendor would. Check out this Blog post i thought was right on par. http://bit.ly/lSKs58
It is a long road and a major culture change. Throughout the process there are many that will not buy in right away. Some times you will have to give in. But persevere. As we continue to work with new individuals in our org we have to sell our product over and over. I know eventually everyone will "get it" but for now it is one group and one program at a time.
I look forward to hearing about your adventure in eLearning.
Hi Craig,
First off thanks for fighting the good fight! As Zara points out, it is not always easy. But it is worth it.
There are lots of tactics that can lead to the kind of culture change needed. I will share one that I've had some success with...
Focus on the chief stakeholder(s) and what thier goals are. Listen carefully, then try having them "force rank" a list of 5 or so goals you've created. At least 3 of the goals should come from their own words, then slip in 2 that you feel are critical. Put them in front of them and have them rank them in order of importance.
Quick Example:
Mrs Stakeholder, thanks again for your interest in making the training project successful. So we can move foward with a clear direction and not have to come back to you for unneccessary steering corrections along the way, (ha!), I've created 5 goals based on the vision I heard you share for this project. If you could simply rank them in order of most important to least important, that will help crystalize your vision for all of us. Thanks.
If done correctly, it puts the stakeholders choices into clear focus for THEMSELVES as well as you. If it turns out that the things you think are truly important are still ranked at the bottom, then you have your marching orders; like it or not. But you may be surprised how willing most stakeholders are to "do the right thing" when it's presented in a manner like this. Even if your goals are not ranked first, you may come away with some form of mandate to include them in your recommended solution.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Thanks for the replies guys.
All good information
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