Training Should Trump Tech for Employee Learning

It is becoming increasingly easy these days to get swept up in each new wave of business tools and technology. With each passing year, it seems that we are introduced to the latest buzz-inducing tech trend that is being touted to transform your business. And while in many cases this is true—and new innovation should absolutely be embraced—it comes with an important reminder not to get swept away and forget the intended purpose behind introducing new tools. Too often, managers will overwhelm their employees with complicated new tech that actually makes their job more difficult.

In no area is this more of a hidden problem than in training. Most corporate training companies have embraced technology in a good way—creating or utilizing mobile learning management systems (LMS) that allow for a more effective training process. However, when incorporating a new LMS into your company’s training, it is important to make sure that your first priority is training. How? Here are a few tips that will insure that, when incorporating new tech, training always comes first.

Test A Few Systems Before Committing

The first thing to remember is that there are a ton of different LMS options out there, which means that they will all inevitably fall on a scale from least to most effective. This makes it absolutely crucial that you do your research before introducing one to your company. Any time spent trying to incorporate a confusing or useless system is time wasted, detracting from your productivity and your bottom line.

Direct Your Training With Your LMS, But Don’t Let Your LMS Direct Your Training

Keeping the tool’s ultimate purpose in mind is essential when looking at tech solutions for your business. If you find a new LMS that you think is brilliant, but which you soon realize is requiring widespread change and special allowances in order to work properly, you may want to evaluate whether it is actually adding to, or detracting from, your training goals. Your main drive should be to create an effective training program, and your LMS should facilitate that; don’t try to find an LMS that requires you to build your curriculum around it.

Make Usability a Priority

The number one thing that you should look for in a new LMS is usability. Your employees should be able to pick it up immediately and, without any prior knowledge, be able to navigate it easily. If it is an overly complicated system, you enter an area where you will have to use someone to teach the new hires how to use the LMS, which creates a rather redundant scenario where you are training employees in your training LMS. It almost goes without saying that this is both ineffective and a waste of time. The solution for this harks back to our first point—make sure that you test out a number of LMS, and have a few different people try them before settling on the best one.

Be Quick To Scrap Something That Isn’t Working

The whole point of new technology is to enable us to do things that we would not have been able to do otherwise; it is supposed to make our lives (and our jobs) easier, not more difficult. As such, you should make sure that it is doing just that. And if it is not, you should not be afraid to scrap it. As mentioned, you do not want to waste time and money on something that is simply not working, so if you have an ineffective system, cut your losses as soon as possible and try something different instead.

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