Developing your people is one of the most valuable investments an organization can make. Investing in your employees allows them to develop, so your business can continue to grow.

As such, more businesses are focusing on the power of their people by helping them create a personalized learning and development program. This begs the question: how can you align learning and development with business strategy?

By failing to align the two activities, you risk wasting money and resources because you’re upskilling employees in ways that aren’t beneficial to your border business goals. While it’s important that employees complete training related to their goals and interests to maximize engagement, it’s just as important to ensure this training aligns with your organizational goals.

With this in mind, we’ll explore how aligning learning with business strategy can improve the ROI of your training. We’ll also examine why you shouldn’t create a training program after your business strategy, and what steps you can take to ensure your learning program works in tandem with your business strategy.

Why you shouldn’t create a learning program after creating your business strategy

Creating a business strategy is a vital step for any business. Doing so gives you a roadmap outlining your business direction, goals and objectives, and how to get there.

At this point, many businesses begin to create a learning program. While this is fantastic and will no doubt yield positive changes, this approach means your learning program won’t be as effective as it could be. This is because:

You risk missing opportunities that you could have included in your business strategy.

You may not be able to provide the exact training you need to suit your strategy, which means you can’t follow through on your strategy effectively.

You won’t have a solid understanding of the resources or budget required.

It prohibits proactivity and innovation, which risks you falling behind your competitors.

It delays upskilling your employees, which can impact efficiency and productivity.

It can be more challenging to set targets and ways to measure results.

To avoid issues that impact your strategy and affect your learning and development program’s ROI, you must create your program alongside your business strategy.

How to create a learning program aligned with business goals

When devising your business strategy, you should create a learning and development program at the same time to ensure the two align and support each other. To do this, there are several things to consider so that everything works toward the same goal.

What skills do your employees need to achieve your business goals? Are they hard skills or soft skills? Are they critical to the overall success of your business?

Use data-driven employee reviews to identify skills gaps. This will give you an idea of the scale of training needed and whether this aligns with your goals.

Speak to stakeholders throughout the organization to thoroughly understand what is needed from a training program so it can be as effective and inclusive as possible.

Senior leaders can provide insights into business objectives, including short-term and long-term priorities.

Department heads can share how their teams contribute to these goals and how upskilling in certain areas can align.

Managers can offer feedback on capacity and how training will impact their teams.

Business development can share information on target markets, strategies, and customer demands and behaviors. 

Even customers and clients can provide valuable input, telling you what they need from your business.

What learning opportunities can your employees take advantage of that align with your business goals? While creating your business strategy, it’s imperative to clearly understand what resources you need to deliver the appropriate training. By understanding budgets and timeframes, you can put yourself in the best position to align with your strategy.

For example, if you determine that it’ll take your sales team 12 months to upskill in negotiation tactics, resilience, confidence, and active listening, don’t set a goal to increase conversion rates and average customer value by 5% within eight months.

Establish what KPIs and metrics you’ll use to measure the success of your program, focusing on how they will contribute to your business goals.

Communicate to employees the role they play in the company’s future

Open and honest communication with employees about their role in your organization’s future plays a massive part in the success of a learning program. When employees know their personal growth is a significant contributor to the company’s growth, it can increase engagement and motivation.

Use data from your LMS to track employee engagement and encourage managers and team leaders to offer support or guidance where necessary. 

Technology will play a vital role in how your learning program supports your organization’s business strategy. For example, your LMS can collate data that contributes to key decisions, tracks engagement, and measures KPIs. Online training platforms such as Go1 also integrate with LMS’ to provide instant access to thousands of courses that can upskill your workforce in soft and hard skills. With the right integrations, you can automate much of the process, meaning it doesn’t require additional time or resources. Automation makes personalized learning at scale achievable, affordable, and a key contributor to your business’ success.

Regardless of your experience or expertise, your business won’t get everything right 100% of the time. So, be prepared to make changes to your learning program (as well as your business strategy) to get as close to 100% as possible.

The business world is fast-moving, so even if you get it right initially, you might be wrong again in a few months. So, keep up with trends, evolve when necessary, and make positive changes to keep your business at the forefront.

Learn how to overcome these hurdles and achieve success from your learning programs in our eBook, 5 new thinking habits for a smarter, stronger L&D. 

Without support from your senior leadership team, you will never maximize the value or ROI of your learning program. Senior leaders must be on board with this approach, as their input is required to interweave employee development with your business strategy.

During challenging times, one of the first things to get cut is the L&D budget. Yet, cutting this budget will stunt growth when it is needed the most. Focusing on your organization’s learning culture will ensure employee development remains a priority at all times because, without your people, your business simply cannot flourish.

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We’ll explore how aligning learning with business strategy can improve the ROI of your training

How to align your employee learning program with your overall business strategy, and what steps you can take to ensure your learning program works in tandem with your business strategy.

How to align your employee learning program with your overall business strategy

During a recent webinar powered by People Management in partnership with Go1, the panel explored how leaders can use L&D to empower employees, build capacity, and address skills gaps within their workforce. Featured guests included Sebastian Tindall, Director of L&D Operations at Vitality, and Ollie Browning, VP of Sales EMEA at Go1. We’ll recap the highlights of this insightful discussion below. 

To kick things off, host Daniel Wain from People Management reflected on LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning report, highlighting the increasingly centralised, cross-functional, and strategic nature of L&D. The report found that 83% of organisations want to build more people-centric cultures, while 93% of employees are concerned about retention. Most business leaders recognise L&D as a critical way to boost retention and lower attrition, yet only 16% of executives support implementing L&D, according to Go1’s 2020 State of Learning Report. 

Daniel followed these insights with an audience poll, which found that just over half (51%) of the audience are satisfied with the L&D opportunities their workplace currently offers. This result begs the question: how can agile L&D strategies help increase engagement and effectiveness? Sebastian stressed that implementing L&D is merely one part of the learning journey, adding that organisations should focus on building skills proactively to anticipate future demands. 

Following this, Sebastian discussed the biggest mistakes he has seen in L&D and how to overcome them, explaining that L&D should not be perceived as a compliance-driven initiative pushed by the organisation, but as a solution driven by line management with tangible benefits for individuals. Sebastian continued, noting that learning is an organisational requirement that happens organically and can’t be controlled or limited. Ollie added that businesses must promote talent mobility and fluidity and recognise learning outside of formal experiences. 

Transparency in outcome goals and leading by example can help workforces prioritise their L&D journey and understand learning as a shared responsibility. The panel emphasised that managers should be responsible for fostering supportive learning cultures and tapping into existing talent potential. Encouragingly, the earlier audience poll reflected this need for accountability, with 72% of the audience saying their managers encourage their pursuit of learning. 

In response to an audience question about approaching global L&D while considering different cultures, the panel emphasised the shared goal of people wanting to learn in their roles, while acknowledging cultural nuances. They added that developing a global L&D strategy means understanding the specifics of the audience being served on a local market level and prioritising consistency to unify wider teams.

To conclude the webinar, the panel predicted upcoming L&D trends. While AI and personalisation will continue to be prevalent, Sebastian emphasised the importance of analysing automation and infrastructure design across the people portfolio. Coherence of implemented L&D systems and consideration of their integration across platforms, data, and teams is crucial for success.

As a key takeaway, the panel agreed that a successful L&D strategy should align with current and future business objectives and begin with a comprehensive analysis of individual business needs. Deciphering what’s critical from a performance perspective and the challenges on which learning will have a quantifiable impact is vital to revolutionising L&D. 

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs. 

During a recent webinar, the panel explored how leaders can use L&D to empower employees, build capacity, and address skills gaps within their workforce. We’ll recap the highlights of this insightful discussion.

People Management: Building effective leadership through L&D

When developing your employees, a one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective if you want to get the most out of your workforce. Rather, personalized development plans are essential to ensure your organization remains competitive and upskills and develops employees. 

So, how do you effectively create personal development plans in an organization with thousands of employees? Creating personal development plans at scale may seem daunting, especially if your business has remote employees or global teams. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. You can create a personalized development strategy for every employee, which is neither expensive nor a logistical nightmare.

We’ll look at how your organization can create personal development plans at scale, analyzing the benefits of this approach, key considerations, and a step-by-step guide for creating personal development plans for your business.

What does personalized learning at scale mean?

Personalized learning means creating learning and development plans that help individual employees grow in a way specific to their goals, strengths, weaknesses, and interests. This strategy should align with your organization’s overall goals and objectives so they can work in tandem to ensure your business is on track. 

Because personalized learning allows employees to develop in unique ways, it improves engagement, increases retention, and ensures employees are in the best position to be productive and successful in their roles.

Personalized learning at scale takes this approach but with your entire workforce. However, in an organization with hundreds or even thousands of employees, this would be a long, inefficient, and laborious process if done manually. Thankfully, tools are available to automate and streamline the process, making it not only possible, but vital if you want to remain competitive.

A one-size-fits-all approach to learning is possible for some topics, such as mandatory compliance training in a specific industry or safety training such as fire or first-aid. However, taking this approach with general learning and development isn’t an effective use of time or budget.

Personalized learning empowers employees to take control of their development, leading to a more engaged and productive workforce.

What are the benefits of creating personal development plans at scale?

Switching to a scaled approach to employee development doesn’t need to be a logistical challenge or an expensive drain on resources. Many aspects can be automated, relying on data your organization likely already collates. Here are some benefits of creating a personal development strategy at scale.

Employee development aligns with your organization’s goals

Offering your employees a blanket approach to learning can stifle growth. Personal development ensures that employees with a range of skills, strengths, and interests develop in unique ways that contribute to your organizational goals.

When employees have a customized learning plan that is specific to them, they’re more likely to engage with learning materials and retain what they’ve learned. As such, they’re in a better position to utilize their new skills, thereby increasing your team's overall skill set.

Improved efficiency and productivity business-wide

If you allow employees to develop in areas that interest them, they will have higher levels of efficiency and productivity, positively impacting your team’s overall output and performance. 

When employees are more engaged, they’re also happier and more confident, which improves job satisfaction.

Creating personal development plans can also increase your return on investment. Due to the greater efficiency and output, your business should be able to increase its offering to customers.

Increased opportunity to promote from within

By upskilling employees in ways that transform and develop your organization, you will have more opportunities to promote from within and retain top industry talent for longer.

More job satisfaction and the opportunity to progress within your organization leads to lower employee turnover. Accordingly, there’s less disruption to operations, reducing the need for lengthy and expensive recruitment processes.

Scaled personal development will produce data you can use for future business decisions, including data related to ROI, progress, engagement, and skill gaps.

Key considerations when scaling learning 

If your organization is new to scaling personalized development plans, there are several hurdles you should be aware of to help with quick and effective implementation.

Ensure you have all the necessary resources and tools, such as your LMS being integrated with relevant systems to allow you to produce useful data.

Communicate this new strategy to your workforce, detailing what it means for them and the future of your organization.

Ensure you have enough learning content - or the ability to quickly source relevant courses - to cater to a wide range of development needs and paths. At Go1, we have thousands of eLearning courses that can be accessed instantly.

Be mindful that as well as having unique goals and objectives, each employee will also learn differently. Employing a wide variety of learning materials, such as micro-learning and gamification, will further improve engagement and retention. 

Keep overall business goals and objectives in mind with every decision, ensuring your new strategy aligns with these goals.

Utilize your LMS to see how employees engage with their training. Support struggling employees and work with them to increase their motivation.

Use data to continuously improve your learning and development strategy so it’s as efficient and effective as possible.

Ensure your workforce has enough time to dedicate to learning and development.

Set goals and objectives for learning as part of performance reviews, but don’t pressure employees as it can lead to anxiety, stress, and burnout.

How to create individual learning plans that are effective at an organizational level

Creating a scaled personal development strategy at your organization shouldn’t differ drastically from your current learning and development program. But, by using the data you likely already have, you can customize learning for everyone to not only benefit your employees, but your entire organization.

Step 1: Have a clear understanding of what your organization needs to meet its goals and objectives

Ask yourself: what organizational goals and objectives will contribute to growth and profit? Once you know this, you can outline the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to make that happen.

Step 2: Use data to identify individual employees’ strengths, weaknesses, and professional goals

Collate comprehensive data on your employees and their performance to date. Then, analyze this data to identify knowledge and skills gaps that learning and development can address.

Utilize this data as part of performance reviews so employees can work with managers to set goals that align with your business goals. You can then use eLearning courses and other resources to achieve these goals.

For example, if your goal is to increase the average customer value and an employee in sales would like to increase their confidence, a negotiation course will allow both to achieve their goals.

Step 4: Monitor progress and provide feedback

While a personal learning and development plan naturally encourages greater engagement, monitoring progress allows managers to provide support and guidance when needed.

Regular feedback from employees and managers will also allow you to make continuous improvements to refine development plans and to ensure they always align with broader business goals. 

While adopting a scaled approach to personal development will undoubtedly yield better results than a standardized development plan, chances are there will still be room for improvement. Continue to use data to analyze and review outcomes, so you can make changes to improve your efficiency and effectiveness.

Following the above steps will allow your employees to expand their knowledge, develop their skills, and increase their confidence to be more effective at an organizational level. To start, all you need is the data that should already be available to you! 

At Go1, we can help your organization create customized personal development plans for your entire workforce with an extensive library of online courses across multiple industries.

Download our 5 essential tools to help you develop a future-fit organization, or speak to an expert to find out how Go1 can support your organization’s learning and development plan.

We’ll look at how your organization can create personal development plans at scale, analyzing the benefits of this approach and key consideratons.

How to create effective personal development plans at scale

We’ll look at how your organization can create personal development plans at scale, analyzing the benefits of this approach and key considerations.


How to create effective personal development plans at scale

Some people see performance reviews as a simple box-checking exercise that disrupts the day-to-day operations of a business. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth - especially when performance reviews are data-driven. 

While a subjective approach to performance reviews can lead to issues such as inconsistency and biases, using data ensures every member of your workforce receives an honest and fair review. It also allows your management team to use this data to make improvements that resonate across your organization.

So, we’ll analyze how you can use data-driven performance reviews to identify your employees’ strengths and weaknesses so you can make solid, data-led strategic decisions for the betterment of your business.

The issues with traditional performance reviews

The traditional approach to performance reviews has focused on how superiors perceive an employee's performance, attitude, and work ethic. While this method of assessing performance is standardized across multiple businesses and industries, it leaves vast room for improvement for several reasons.

By not using data, a traditional performance review is open to subjectivity. What might be perceived as a good performance by one manager may be perceived as poor by another. However, without data, there is no way to determine which review is more accurate. The relationship between employees and managers can also heavily influence a performance review, leading to biases and a lack of transparency.

With subjectivity also comes inconsistency, which means any information collated in traditional performance reviews can be unreliable. There’s also the risk that different managers use different criteria to assess their teams, resulting in a lack of standardization.

A negative impact on engagement and workplace culture

Performance reviews relying so heavily on subjectivity and the biases that come with it can harm employee engagement, leading to a workplace culture built on resentment and anxiety.

Similarly, traditional performance reviews usually focus on the negative aspects of an employee's performance, which can cause reduced productivity.

Many businesses limit traditional performance reviews to annually or twice annually. With such long stretches between performance reviews, issues can go unnoticed, achievements can be overlooked, and growth opportunities can be missed, which can all have negative impacts.

Traditional performance reviews often focus on the past rather than the future. Plus, when your performance reviews are subjective, you can’t implement accurate goals and development strategies. As a result, your employees’ effectiveness and efficiency will stagnate.  

What are data-driven performance reviews?

Data-driven performance reviews are a method of delivering employee performance reviews that forgoes the subjective approach of traditional reviews and instead relies heavily on data.

With data-driven performance reviews, employees get a fair evaluation that focuses on the positives and how they can improve. Accordingly, employees can grow and develop, allowing your organization to deliver ever-improving service to your clients.

How can your organization approach data-driven performance reviews?

Unlike a traditional performance review, a data-driven approach ensures that both your employees and your organization will see the benefits. That means it takes a strategic and thoughtful approach, not a one-size-fits-all.

To do this, consider the following steps:

Outline the KPIs - The first stage is outlining which employee KPIs align with your organizational goals. These KPIs will vary depending on an employee’s role, responsibilities, and seniority and should be measurable and objective.

Establish a way to gather data - Use reporting tools to gather qualitative and quantitative data related to your KPIs. Many tools let you automate this process so it doesn’t impact efficiency elsewhere. Data can include reports, project updates, evaluations, and feedback.

Analyze the data - Analyze the data with your KPIs in mind, evaluating how the two align. At this stage, you will be able to identify where employees are performing well and which areas need more attention. It will also enable you to spot skills gaps and opportunities to offer training to improve their performance.

Set employee goals - Based on the data you have gathered, you can collaborate with employees to establish clear objectives that align with your overall business goals. By following this step, you will also create data you can use in future performance reviews.

Offer continuous feedback - Infrequent performance reviews aren’t reliable, so switching to quarterly or monthly reviews will ensure continuous improvement.

Offer managers training - Switching to a data-driven approach may not come naturally to all your employees, so offering training will ensure managers use data effectively to drive performance reviews.

Using data to assess employee performance makes it easier to ensure employee growth contributes to the overall success of your business. Data-driven reviews also encourage transparency, celebrate the success of your employees, and establish a culture focused on development.

What data do you need to ensure performance reviews contribute to your business goals? 

To ensure your organization’s performance reviews align with your business goals, you need to understand what data is most valuable. The data examples below can provide key insights:

Individual performance data - Data related to each employee offers the opportunity for a fair and objective review. For example, data could include timesheets, sales targets, error rates, task completion rates, conversion rates, customer feedback, or sales targets. This data offers a clear and transparent view of how employees are performing and the areas in which they could improve, leaving no room for subjectivity.

Quantitative performance metrics - Objective and quantitative performance data are imperative to evaluate how an employee’s performance contributes to the success of your business. Examples include customer lifetime value, monthly revenue, response time, project completion times, and conversion rates. Using this data in performance reviews allows you to spot trends and ways employees can grow to improve these results.

LMS data - Data from your learning management system (LMS) allows you to see how learners engage with your content and identify how you can offer employees additional support.

Feedback - Feedback from across the organization, as well as from customers and clients, can provide a dataset that doesn’t risk the bias that can come from only using one source. Feedback can also include any data related to employee recognition and rewards.

Employee satisfaction survey data - Using this data will allow you to determine how your employees perceive your organizational culture and correct any issues that could impact performance, efficiency, productivity, motivation, or engagement.

Best practices for managers running data-driven performance reviews

Adopting a data-driven approach to performance reviews can seem daunting at first, but the benefits to your employees and business mean it should be a priority. Managers will have to switch how they approach performance reviews to ensure a fair, consistent, and standardized approach across your organization.

Here are some tips for managers and business leaders who want to adopt this approach:

Ensure your managers are familiar with your overall business goals so they can build an employee's performance review with these goals in mind. 

Collate a comprehensive set of data that aligns with your KPIs, so managers can deliver a complete and objective review. This ensures employees receive goals and development opportunities that benefit themselves and the business.

Remove biases and favoritism from the process, and don’t be afraid to be honest with constructive criticism just because you may be closer to some members of your team than others.

Don’t compare the data of one employee with the data of another. The goal of data-based performance reviews isn’t to increase competition among employees, as this can lead to cultural issues. Data should remain confidential.

Offer continuous feedback to ensure it’s timely, relevant, and open. It’s equally important to offer positive feedback as constructive feedback.

Focus on employee growth while ensuring it aligns with their career goals and your overall organizational goals.

Encourage personal development and self-awareness.

Ensure your team members are accountable by keeping records and encouraging them to follow through on their development goals.

Continually seek to improve your performance review process. This tip is vital if your organization is new to data-driven assessments.

For managers new to this approach, there are eLearning courses on managing performance that can develop and upskill managers so they’re confident using data in performance reviews.

Using data to follow post-review progression

Adopting a data-driven approach to performance reviews is just the first part of the process. Creating a culture centered on continuous improvement means using data to monitor employee progression.

Your HR department or learning and development specialist can grant managers admin access to monitor engagement with your LMS. They can then use this access to collate data, including training completion rate, time spent using the platform, and assessment scores. With this data, managers can further personalize employee training plans and offer additional support when needed.

You could also introduce a micro-credentialing system, which enables employees to learn in small chunks over time to master a new skill or topic. Using employee feedback is also crucial, as this feedback can help make improvements to employees’ learning and development strategies.

Now that you know how data-driven performance reviews benefit your employees and your ability to meet organizational goals, why not adopt this efficient and effective approach?

Download Go1’s Future Fits eBook to learn more about how to support your teams in building future skills. Or, you can speak to one of our experts to find out how Go1 can support your organization’s learning and development strategy.

We’ll analyze how you can use data-driven performance reviews to identify your employees’ strengths and weaknesses so you can make solid, data-led strategic decisions.

How data-driven performance reviews enable organizational transformation

We’ll analyze how you can use data-driven performance reviews to identify your employees’ strengths and weaknesses so you can make solid, data-led strategic decisions. 

Giving your teams access to education is more important than ever, but getting employees to participate in a learning program can be challenging. That’s why it’s important to engage employees by building a culture of learning at your company. 

According to Forbes, companies with strong learning cultures see a higher ROI on their training programs via increased productivity, better retention rates, and more collaborative environments. Despite this, a recent report by Docebo found that just 31% of people believe their organization currently has a culture of learning to a ‘high’ or ‘very high’ extent.  

So, the question becomes: how do you establish a culture of learning? To shed light on this issue, we spoke to some of our customers to find out how they build learning cultures in their businesses. 

One way to engage employees in a learning program and establish an effective learning culture is to tie learning directly to performance. This is what ASL Aviation Holdings did in 2022 when they implemented their new learning program, the ASL Learning Academy. 

The ASL Learning Academy “is available for everyone, either to enroll in as a compulsory training school, to self-enroll in other trainings that they might feel are needed, or to just develop and grow and enhance their skills, experience, and knowledge,” said Susana Pires, Group H&S Manager at ASL. 

The program has set a new company-wide standard for learning and development. This new standard is thanks in part to the company’s decision to launch a competency framework called “The ASL Way” in conjunction with their new learning program. Managers use The ASL Way to measure employee development and encourage upskilling through the ASL Learning Academy. 

“More and more people are now using the ASL Learning Academy and moving away from tools such as Excel files or any other internal tool that we used to have, so I'm very proud,” said Susana. “We do get a lot of ‘hearts’ on the trainings, which is good. It means that people are happy.” 

To learn more, check out our article on building a sustainable learning culture.  

Boring, outdated learning programs can lead to low engagement rates, so Wave Utilities ensures they offer content employees are truly excited about. 

“Before we had Go1, we used to do old-fashioned, back-in-the-dinosaur-days compliance training,” said Mandy Rutherford, L&D Manager at Wave Utilities. “It was very long and boring, and people were just not motivated to do it – even though it was mandatory.” 

Mandy and her team introduced micro-learning through Go1, delivering shorter, more approachable, and more interesting content to her team. By partnering with Go1, Wave Utilities gives employees access to a much wider selection of content, ranging from role-specific training to personal interest learning. Since implementing these changes, Mandy has seen content completion rates jump from 78% to 98% and engagement scores skyrocket from 2 out of 5 to 4.36 out of 5. 

“We are at the forefront of learning,” said Mandy. “It's about people development, and if you get the people development right, then it drives your business forward.” 

To get the most out of learning programs, employees must have enough time to engage with them. CareerSource Florida has been intentional about prioritizing time for learning, designating Friday afternoons as learning time for all employees. The company has also set learning goals that employees can work toward during their designated learning time. 

“We have a staff-wide goal of completing 24 credits per year within our learning platform,” said Senior Human Resource Manager Rosa Espinal-Perry. “It is also mandatory that all leaders give one hour each month for their direct reports to complete their lessons.” 

Pictured: Senior Human Resource Manager at CareerSource Florida, Rosa Espinal-Perry

Setting aside time for learning has boosted interest and enthusiasm around CareerSource Florida’s training program – and contributed to the company’s learning culture. 

“I have managers coming to me all the time saying that their people have completed all of their training ahead of time and that they’re hungry for more learning content,” said Rosa. “I can truly say that we’ve built a learning culture at CareerSource!” 

Wondering how you can establish a culture of learning at your company? We gathered advice from three Go1 customers who have done just that.

How to build a learning culture at your company

When the time comes for your organization to implement a learning management system (LMS), having a thorough plan ensures seamless implementation, fewer issues, and is less likely to result in downtime.

With this in mind, we’ll explore everything you need to know to create an LMS implementation project plan, including establishing your goals, understanding your requirements, and the benefits of a well-thought-out implementation strategy.

What is an LMS implementation project plan?

LMS implementation is when your organization launches a learning management system to create a platform that employees use to access training courses. It’s a convenient and accessible way to help their learning and development. An LMS implementation plan is the steps your organization takes to ensure this launch is successful, on time, and on budget.

Many LMS’ can integrate with different platforms, systems, and databases, making them a fantastic and versatile tool to improve your employee development strategy. However, this also means that without a thorough plan, the implementation and integrations can cause time-consuming issues that lead to major disruptions.

What are the advantages of an LMS implementation project plan?

As well as ensuring the implementation goes smoothly, having an LMS implementation plan has several additional benefits for your organization.

Saves time - Yes, creating an LMS implementation strategy will take time, but it will save your organization much more time in the long run by ensuring you address potential problems early.

Saves money - An LMS implementation plan will highlight money-saving opportunities and address inefficiencies. Not only that, but delays can be expensive, particularly if you have to delay training that potentially risks making your business non-compliant.

Increases engagement - When your organization gets the most out of an LMS, employees will see the value of its use, thereby increasing engagement.

Provides better outcomes - It’s always better to have a plan as you’re more likely to meet all your goals - not  just a percentage.

Step-by-step: Creating an LMS implementation project plan

Below is a step-by-step guide your organization can use to create an LMS implementation and integration project plan.

As with any project, putting a team together with clear and defined roles ensures accountability, communication, and understanding. Depending on the size of your organization, this could be two or three employees for small businesses or five or six employees for larger companies.

Roles you’ll want to establish include:

A project manager who is responsible for overseeing the project, including implementation, timelines, and budget.

A learning and development specialist who is familiar with your learning and development goals, industry standards, compliance requirements, and what your employees want from a learning platform.

An HR specialist who can ensure compliance from an HR perspective.

An IT administrator who will be comfortable executing your strategy, including data migration.

Several end-users. These can be employees of any seniority level from across the business. They will help test the implementation and integrations and provide feedback on potential issues.

Before creating your strategy, you must define what your organization wants to achieve through the implementation. Possible project goals include:

Better mobile accessibility to training materials

Step 3: Identify which systems you want to integrate with the LMS

Once you have defined your goals, you’re in a better position to build your integration plan to ensure they align. The best way to do this is by establishing which systems you want to integrate with your LMS to increase efficiency, effectiveness, and communication.

If your organization wants to improve reporting, you’ll want to integrate your LMS with your reporting and analytics software.

We’ll explore everything you need to know to create an LMS implementation project plan, including establishing your goals, understanding your requirements, and the benefits of a well-thought-out strategy.