Development On Demand — Improving Employee Adoption of an Integrated Learning Management System

HR organizations understand the important role that a Learning Management System (LMS) can play in increasing the knowledge base of their workforce. And moving the learning experience online makes good business sense — a well-implemented LMS can potentially enable 25 to 35 percent improvement in learning operational effectiveness and efficiency.[1]

 

In many organizations, however, the overall effectiveness of e-learning delivered through an LMS remains an issue because of low user adoption of the system. Why? The reasons are many — it may be due to a lack of integration of e-learning into the wider learning and talent management strategy, insufficient planning, or a poor user experience reported with the LMS technology. Failing to achieve prolific user adoption will prevent the organization from achieving the best possible ROI of the LMS technology, and can result in:

·        Low or limited employee usage

·        Users expressing frustration and experiencing difficulty with the new system

·        Poor performance results at the individual and division level

Despite these risks, implementing an integrated LMS can fundamentally change the business and improve the ability of individuals or groups to do their jobs. Before going forward with implementation, take into consideration the following key factors for the greatest success of an integrated LMS — culture, communication and customers.

 

Culture. Give plenty of thought to the readiness of your organization for accepting the new system:

·        Do executives and line managers support the new technology, and how will they visibly promote the importance of its use? Getting active buy-in from the leaders of your organization can address perceived concerns over the value of the new system.

·        Prepare employees for the differences they’ll experience between traditional classroom learning and e-learning. E-learning through an LMS emphasizes that the employee is responsible for their own learning, and some employees may not be equipped with the discipline necessary to complete online coursework. Unleash your LMS internal champions to help employees understand the value an LMS will bring to their role and their career aspirations.

Communication. Prepare and evangelize a PR and communication plan for your LMS implementation early on, and use different mediums to spread the word and inform your audience. But be wary of over-engineering your communication strategy. As Mark Twain once said, “The more you explain it, the more I don’t understand it.” Keep communications simple and straightforward, and talk about what your audience will find meaningful rather than what’s important to you. Tap into your company’s intranet or internal social media channels to generate learning and development discussion and spark conversations with your internal community.

Customers. Consider the “personas” of who will interact with the system, what they will uniquely need to be successful, and how the LMS will help them improve and grow in their career. When the LMS is fully integrated with the organization’s broader talent management strategy and performance management systems, your employees will see compounding benefits and a “familiarity of use” from these learning tools. For example, an LMS can bridge information from the employee’s performance appraisal to the creation of a customized development plan. When e-learning coursework and activities are specifically targeted to grow competencies or improve performance, the employee will be positively reinforced for completing their learning and development plans when performance improvement is recognized and rewarded in subsequent reviews. And with rich, Web-based e-learning content available online, employees can access and integrate learning activities into their work at their moment of need, wherever they may be.    

A fully integrated Learning Management System is a smart investment for any company looking to boost organizational performance. Before unveiling a new system in your company, create a detailed user adoption plan to ensure that your implementation garners a positive reception from everyone in the company.

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[1] Clarey, Janet. Choosing an LMS: Differentiating the Needs of the SMB Market. Bersin & Associates. August 2011.

Forget Policies and Paperwork — the 5 Things Business Leaders Really Want From HR

Read beyond the headlines of any leading Human Resources or C-suite trade journal, and you’ll understand why talent has replaced technology to become the game changer for edging out competition in the 21st century. Despite the dialogue and debates covering this trend, one lingering question continues to raise the hackles of both business leaders and Human Resources practitioners — who takes primary ownership for acquiring and developing the arsenal of talent within the organization?    

It’s a classic chicken-and-egg story. Line managers can create the greatest positive impact on employee engagement and performance, but only if they are provided with the right tools and support to effectively lead their teams.  

The most successful HR professionals are moving beyond paperwork and policies and stepping forward into more strategic roles to deliver what business leaders need most today:

1.      Bold Innovator. It’s considered “table stakes” for HR to have the fundamentals of core services like benefits administration, compensation and compliance nailed down. While these processes are necessary to any business, they do little to support breakthrough performance or results. To deliver more value, the human resources function needs to spend more time accelerating operational improvement.[1] Forget turf-protecting activities that quash outside-the-box workforce management ideas; instead, HR should work closely with business leaders to help incubate pilot programs that have the potential to improve products, services or results.

2.      Talent Consultant. Outperforming today requires that managers have greater insight into every aspect of the business, including their people. Human Resources can deliver tremendous value by providing best practices in performance management, acting as the gatekeeper of cultural development trends, and providing relevant analytics and quantitative data to help managers gain efficiency and make better decisions.

3.      Trusted Adviser. Managing a team of people is challenging, even for seasoned leaders. When dealing with unique personalities, performance and work preferences, managers often feel they need to be all things to all people. What they really need is an objective consultant who can support their development to be the best leader possible. HR business partners earn respect as trusted leadership advisers when they provide constructive guidance that’s candid, honest and substantive. By asking for and responding to feedback in return, the HR practitioner also models and reinforces effective coaching techniques for the business leader.  

4.      Credible Expert. Backing up their deep and broad functional expertise, HR professionals must also have good business acumen and a sound understanding of their organization’s vision. With this blend of knowledge and experience, Human Resources can forge the critical link between the strategy of the business and the identification and development of talent to meet those needs. But earning a reputation as a credible expert among the management team doesn’t come easy. It requires HR partners to demonstrate:

·        Leadership courage under pressure

·        Unwavering conviction to champion employees

·        A sense of urgency in their actions

·        Commitment to achieving results

5.      Solution Strategist. More than anything, managers value HR partners who can help them achieve success for their teams. When involved in operational meetings or strategy sessions, they want HR to present relevant, straightforward and streamlined solutions, not risk-avoidance barriers or complicated science projects. HR professionals can lead through complexities by clarifying situations, distilling scenarios down to their root cause, and focusing on innovative outcomes that benefit both the business and its employees.

What do business leaders want from HR? Control over the tactical administration that comes with the role, yes. But there’s also a seat at the proverbial executive table for Human Resources professionals who embrace their strategic role as business leaders rather than policy practitioners.

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[1] Power, Brad. Focus HR on Process Improvement. Harvard Business Review. February 2012.

Your Smart Goals Aren’t Smart Enough — 3 Ways Your Goals Can Be the SMART-EST

Maybe your company has identified and communicated the high-level strategic and operational targets that are critical to achieving its long-term performance goals. As well, your departmental leaders and line managers can articulate and translate the organizational strategy and goals throughout their work teams, and every employee has an individual performance plan with specific assignments that follow a SMART goal format. If this process is familiar to your organization, you’ve established a foundational performance management best practice that’s supported by most high-performing organizations. But did you know that your SMART goals may not be smart enough? You need to focus on putting in place the SMART-EST goals to achieve the best possible outcomes for your organization’s success.

Boost your SMART goals by adding these three elements to achieve the SMART-EST results: 

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-bound                                                                                                  

1. Establish a baseline: For each goal, use objective data to establish a stake-in-the-ground metric to measure and compare performance over time.

2. Set targets: Establish mini-milestones to review performance and provide coaching and feedback so that performance remains aligned and on track.

3. Test: Review goals regularly for continued relevance, and adjust quality, quantity or time measures as needed to keep pace with strategic goals.

Goal setting represents an important aspect of the broader process of performance management. Managers collaborate with their employees to establish appropriately leveled goals that are aligned to the organization and within employees’ span of control. While it’s common to develop SMART goals to coincide with the start of the organization’s fiscal calendar year, reviewing these goals shouldn’t be put on a shelf until it’s time for the annual performance appraisal process. Neglecting to adjust goals as the business changes can reduce the focus and structure they give to achieving strategic results.

There’s good reason to follow the SMART-EST goal-setting and review process. Companies that revise and update goals quarterly generate more than 30 percent greater impact from their performance management processes than those that simply adhere to an annual review.[1] To make the goal-setting and review process easier and more efficient for both managers and employees, consider implementing a performance management technology platform to track, realign and revise your SMART-EST goals as needed to keep pace with the changing needs of your business.

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[1] Garr, Stacia. High-impact Performance Management: Part 1 — Designing a Strategy for Effectiveness. Bersin & Associates. August 2011. To purchase the report, visit http://www.bersin.com/Practice/Detail.aspx?docid=14467&mode=search&p=Talent-Management  

Hit the Bull’s-eye on Performance Management — Total Goal Alignment From Any Distance

The 2012 Summer Olympics are in full swing, and among the mass of global athletes will be those taking aim in the archery competition. With pinpoint precision and nerves of steel, they train their eye on a 12-centimeter bull’s-eye 70 meters away. With clarity of vision, unrelenting focus and a will to succeed, these athletes demonstrate the ultimate in cool and make winning look like a walk in the park.

As a business leader, how close is your company’s performance to hitting the target? Is your team piercing every critical business goal dead center? Perhaps you can clearly see your strategic priorities in the bull’s-eye; but take 10 steps back — is the target just as clear, or do you start to lose focus?

Hitting the bull’s-eye on performance requires total goal visibility from any distance within the organization. That starts with a clear business strategy and operational plan at the top, alignment of goals down the hierarchy of the company, and ownership and accountability shared by all. Successful goal alignment follows a three-step process:

1.      The organization sets a strategic plan by establishing a reasonable number of business initiatives — ideally no more than half a dozen — designed to move the business forward.

2.      These top-level business initiatives are cascaded down the organization as goals, with specific performance measures identified for each function or business unit.

3.      Managers work closely with their employees to identify team and individual goals that closely align and directly support the company’s strategic initiatives.  

While creating total goal alignment may seem like a reasonably simple and straightforward process, it takes near Olympic-quality focus and commitment to see the process through to a winning result. Business is in a constant state of change, and undertaking a “one and done” approach to goal setting won’t win your company any medals. High-impact performance management organizations review and revise goals regularly and experience better business outcomes. Yet a surprising 54 percent of companies still consider goal setting as a once or twice a year activity.[1] To be effective, goal-setting activities must be exercised on a frequent and consistent basis.

Once the organization’s high-level initiatives have been reinforced with aligned individual performance goals, your people managers become the real champions for keeping performance on track by:

·        Staying informed of changes to the strategic business initiatives

·        Communicating specific expectations with direct reports

·        Providing continuous coaching and feedback

·        Recognizing accomplishments and recording activities for consideration during the annual performance appraisal process 

So while it may seem easy, creating total goal alignment from any distance in the company takes practice, persistence and an unwavering desire to win — attributes that are inherently familiar to every athlete competing in the 2012 Olympic Games. 

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[1] Garr, Stacia. The Performance Management Framework: Evolving Performance Management to Fit the Modern Workplace. May 2011. Bersin & Associates.

The 5 Hidden Land Mines of 360-degree Feedback

Venturing down the path of implementing a 360-degree feedback process for performance assessments or development purposes? Better detect the hidden land mines before charging ahead. The process you hope will bring added value to the business may erupt as a destroyer of employee engagement.

For companies that are looking for more complete insight into their employees’ performance, gathering feedback from a broad range of perspectives seems to make sense. But, as is the case with any new, unfamiliar process, the devil is in the pre-planning details. Pay attention to these five hidden land mines:

1.      Lack of planning. Before taking any action toward implementing a 360-degree feedback process, ask the question, “Why do we need this?” If you can’t articulate a strong business case describing how adding a 360-degree feedback process will solve an existing or anticipated problem or advance your business strategy, you shouldn’t go forward.

2.      Disjointed processes. A 360-degree feedback process is rarely used in isolation from or as a substitute for a broader system of performance management. When your 360-degree feedback process brings added value to your existing performance or talent assessment programs, managers and employees are more likely to accept the new process. Train managers and employees in the art of delivering and receiving feedback to alleviate fear or apprehension before implementation.

3.      Poor participation. Involving the right people in your 360-degree feedback program is critical, and successful adoption requires the support and visibility from top executives in the company for the best success. Ideally, involve five to seven raters to provide feedback for employees, but don’t limit feedback to just those names provided by the employee. Determine a mix of colleagues, customers or suppliers that both the employee and the manager feel represent a balanced picture of performance. 

4.      Limited perspective. In addition to seeking feedback regarding “what” the employee has accomplished, solicit feedback that demonstrates “how” their behaviors support the specific competencies needed for success in their role.

5.      Wrong presentation. Regardless of the level of transparency your culture supports, 360-degree feedback is best presented back to the employee anonymously. By clarifying the anonymity up front, you’ll receive more survey returns and more honest feedback. Summarize key themes from the feedback rather than providing verbatim responses. Tie these themes into specific performance coaching, then monitor improvements and revisit progress on a regular basis. 

With careful planning up front, you can avoid getting tripped up in a land mine of employee concerns when you introduce your new 360-degree feedback process. And one of the best ways to ensure your focus remains on strategic outcomes is to shift the administrative burden to an automated performance management system. When too much time is spent creating paper-based processes or searching for confidential ways to route and store forms, you may lose sight of the real purpose and value of the entire process — developing your people to provide the best service and products to your customers.