Learning outcomes can be measured based on how a learner applies them in practice. That’s what reveals the true efficiency of educational courses. Seemingly good ones, with well-structured materials and knowledge-rich infographics, may be totally useless in your case. What a good web design course can bring you if you need to design a game character, not a website? So, while knowledge in various areas can be useful, it’s when talking about learning in general, not corporate learning. For the latter, high specification and 100% practice orientation are must-haves, and that’s why workplace-based learning is the main topic of our talk today.
Learning at work is possible when you have a strategy of connecting learning and work processes. It means clear transitions between learning something and then applying it at work, measuring results, and then continuing this cycle again. Use a learning management system such as CleverLMS, whose peculiarity is the high customizability. So, you can adjust this system based on your brand and specialization, ensuring that its tools will focus specifically on solving your problems.
Theory and practice
Theory is when you learn some information, be it rules or concepts, to memorize it and think about it. Practice is when you do something, expecting to obtain some result. In general, when talking about workplace learning, you need to focus on practice, as that’s where you create the value that will enrich the company. Therefore, theory and practice should be deeply interconnected.
The theory here is a set of well-structured information about what should be done and how. Short videos depicting the desired process and infographics with clear descriptions of what to do, step by step, are especially valuable. After watching each video in the section and becoming familiar with infographics, the learner can try the task. It’ll be their practice, where they apply the knowledge while driving your workflow and, therefore, bringing you value. You’ll measure the work efficiency using KPIs, and correct them if necessary.
That’s how it works…, but we need a plan, and you’ll have it!
Training at work: Connecting the flows
Remember, even if the course fully complies with the theory/practice requirements, it can still be useless. So, here we’ll talk about connections. Let’s write down the three parts of our learning guide.
📋 The first part: The workflow definition. A workflow is a series of work items that should be completed. It includes projects, tasks, and events. It can be very different, but to be relevant and beneficial, it should create value when completing its stages. Usually, it includes earnings for the company, such as selling production, reselling goods, or providing services. They also include quality assurance and other activities that maintain company standards: you can read more about workflow types here.
🎓 The second part: The skillset definition and learning path development. Each workflow is driven by competent people. To increase competency, you need to create learning plans, enabling people to learn something new and improve existing skills. A learning path is a personalized series of learning activities, such as video watching, reading, reviewing, surveying, and testing. It starts from learning the basics of some concept or skill and then continues with practice, enabling the learner to master it. In the end, they should pass the test and complete various tasks, showing what they’ve learned and how it helps them at work.
🔗 The third part: Connecting them. When you have a complete picture of your workflows, to have all the benefits of workplace learning, you can connect the learning and working activities. For example, after learning some theory, an employee can instantly complete several working tasks. It’ll reinforce the knowledge, increase productivity, and you’ll measure the efficiency of the learning program and correct it when necessary.
Therefore, building a learning strategy includes writing down the scheme of your company’s workflows. Each of them requires a person or a team to conduct it, and based on them, you can figure out which skills they use for that. Write these skills close to each person involved in your workflows, so you’ll see which levers and buttons are responsible for driving your company and, thus, how to improve their activity.
Also, don’t forget about team member relations and the connection between people in various positions. For example, the sales manager and the developing team manager in the mobile development company should be in contact to ensure that their software is relevant and sells well.
So that’s how you create a learning program that will work exactly as you need, improving your workforce quality and ensuring that no learning minutes will be wasted. A good program is self-correcting and practice-oriented, with learning materials dedicated to mastering the best industry activities.
It’ll create many competitive advantages for you!
Benefits of e-learning in the workplace
When you learn something at work and then apply it simultaneously, you don’t lose time and efficiency. Along with that, everything learned can be probed instantly, so no low-quality stuff will pass your vigilant eye. As soon as you see no changes after the education, you have no reason to continue and can change the education plan shortly.
Using platforms such as CleverLMS helps a lot, and you can explore a variety of companies that adopted such an approach. Many of them created their own corporate learning apps, distributed among employees, so they are always refreshed and competent. A good learning platform not only organizes your corporate education and motivates employees, but shows you its results in a comprehensible form. Making your educational program future-proof is what you need to achieve here.
Let’s see more about the implementation.
Organizing the learning in the workplace
So, you have a diagram of your company’s internal processes with persons attached to each and skillsets. That’s good, as you see what you need to train. Then, use the third element of our plan: connect work and learning activities. Let’s broaden it.
● Search for the learning materials using exactly those skills that you need to drive your workflows and create value.
● Search for the best practices and industry hacks, such as design trends, the usage of AI for content development, and persuasion/influence techniques for salespeople.
● Create tasks for your employees where they can practice their skills during work processes and track their completion.
● Lastly, collect their feedback and, together with gathered metrics, make decisions about correcting learning paths so they may serve your purposes even better.
See the vivid diagram[1] [2] , generated by DALL-E, showing schematically the workflow diagram and the path from raw materials to values, moved by people.
Platforms for digital learning in the workplace
In our world, more and more digital tools emerge to shape new activities and optimize existing ones. You’ve seen how the fine adjustment of CleverLMS enables you to create your personal corporate academy, and many companies, including Kärcher and ECCO, used this opportunity. Other platforms, however, have their own strong sides. For example, some can provide robust AI tools for content generation and scrupulous content source analysis, so you’ll select the content you need. Others have exquisite project management tools. Each platform has its advantages and disadvantages, and you need to count them.
Selecting the tool for e-learning in the workplace depends on your purpose, the industry where you work, the number of people working with you, and your budget. That’s a workplace learning guide, not the LMS selecting one, so we’ll limit it to general advice here. Review the skills you need to train, imagine the whole process, and figure out which features you need to actualize it. Check user reviews of various platforms. And lastly, don’t forget to connect with the chosen LMS’s support team! That’s where you’ll find guidance and an exhaustive list of what the platform can offer you.
The future
The advantages of e-learning in the workplace are so numerous that connecting the work and learning flows is a necessity for businesses. The position of L&D manager is dedicated to that delicate matter. This person is the one who can map your company, elucidate which skills drive it, and connect the work and learning activities to the right points. When the learning program is launched, each of its stages will end in the actual work process, so involved employees won’t be detached from their jobs and you’ll measure their success.
We hope that the implementation of this guide will help transform your workplace, making it future-proof and optimized.
Autor: by Veronika Sinitsa
