Create e-learning that succeeds – how to get started with digital training

After every New Year, the gyms fill up with motivated people who have decided to get their fitness in order. They buy new workout clothes, attend classes, book sessions with a personal trainer, and then one by one they drop off during February and March.

The reason is usually that they try to make too big a change all at once. And the same applies when it is time to structure learning and the flow of information in your organisation.

Many come to us motivated, with ambitious goals of rolling out a complete digital training programme for the entire chain. That is a good objective, but how do you avoid the trap of trying to take too big a step in too short a time?

Research suggests that the secret to creating new habits and behaviour patterns is to take it step by step. To set smaller milestones that are achievable within a foreseeable timeframe. To return to the gym example, consistency is important to get used to actually going to the gym. But equally important once you are there is to set your training at a level you can sustain in the long run, even on a bad day.

What can we learn from this when creating e-learning?

Building effective learning in your organisation is something that will give you a competitive advantage in both the short and long term. So keep the goal of building a comprehensive training programme, but put it on a longer time horizon and then do not think about it for now. Instead, break it down into small goals that you can easily achieve at short intervals. If you just take one manageable step at a time, you will get there soon enough.

Rather than starting with a thoroughly researched and well-produced first course, our experience is that you will benefit from starting with a short and simple course, and then moving on to a larger production. The reason is that it will help you actually get started much faster and gain valuable insights about what works for you much sooner.

Examples of common smaller first courses include:

• Company policies or other important governance documents
• Goals and focus for the coming period
• How a particular system that many people use works
• Product training for salespeople
• and more.

This will give you, the course creators, the habit of working with Evercate. Creating and launching a first course will give you a wealth of learnings and understanding of how to get the best results from the work you do going forward. When you look in the rear-view mirror, you will probably wish you had done certain things differently. This is completely normal, and is it not better to draw those lessons from a shorter course that is easy to redo?

Starting with a simple and short course also gives you another key to success going forward.

Get your employees used to learning with e-learning

It is easy to use Evercate as a participant, and it works just as well on a phone, tablet, or computer. It is tempting to think "if I just create a course and send out invitations, everyone will complete it straight away". That is certainly not impossible to achieve, but it is a behaviour you need to create and encourage. The same principle applies here as with the gym-goers after New Year – to create a new behaviour pattern, you need to take it step by step and set reasonable goals along the way.

Creating your e-learning and adding users is one thing, but the change of adopting e-learning also needs to be anchored in the organisation for you to get a good outcome. If you start with a simpler, more contained piece and gradually get the organisation used to the new way of working, you will get a better effect when you later scale up.

Three tips for increasing course completion rates:

1. Communicate expectations
   Communicate in advance that a digital training course is coming and that everyone is expected to complete it, and why it is important. The more directions that information comes from, the better. This creates buy-in across the entire organisation and removes the surprise of a course invitation from an unknown system suddenly landing in the inbox.
2. Set goals
   Both internal goals for how many should complete the course, and goals that you communicate externally, such as a target date for when participants should be finished. Your internal goals make it easier for you to follow up, and the completion deadline will make it easier for course participants to prioritise the course.
3. Reminders
   Working with reminders after the course invitation has been sent is both simple and effective in Evercate. This will also align with the expectations you communicated earlier. As the deadline approaches, it may be time to start sending personal reminders – ask each department manager to follow up with those under them who still have not completed the course.

Following these steps will be easy if you start on a small scale. If you also take advantage of the automation in Evercate along with reports and the Teamleader role to engage your department managers to help out, not much hands-on work is needed from your side once the ball is rolling. At the same time, your course participants learn that completing training is easy, and soon every part of the organisation has a routine for working with e-learning.

Some organisations we work with tell us that their employees start actively requesting e-learning once they have got going. That they themselves find it such a convenient and effective way to receive information from the organisation. So it is possible to get there.

Learn what works for your e-learning

When the course has been launched and completed, it is time to learn from the results about what worked well and what can be improved. Follow up on what your course participants thought of the first course, follow up on what your department managers thought. Reflect on what you would have done differently in the entire process from course creation to follow-up, and then use all that information when it is time for the next course.

In many parts of the business world, agile and lean are popular buzzwords. These philosophies are something we advocate for when it comes to learning as well. Iterate to find what works best for you, in your organisation, with your conditions and challenges. It usually turns out much better in the long run than if you bet everything on getting it perfect right from the start.

Summary -- how to succeed with e-learning in your organisation

1. Start small
   Create a small, simple, and contained first course that you can easily redo once you have learned what works and what does not. Do not be afraid that it might not be perfect from the start. The first course provides many valuable learnings for the future, and many times you will want to redo it down the line. Better to redo a small course and learn quickly than the other way around.
2. Anchor it in the organisation
   Communicate that a digital course is coming, its purpose, and your expectations of the participants. Get buy-in at all levels of the organisation. This is another step that becomes much easier with a small, contained first course.
3. Remind and follow up
   Use the automation in Evercate for reminders and follow-up. Enlist others in the organisation to follow up personally toward the end to catch any stragglers.
4. Learn what works for you
   Iterate your way to a workflow that works for you. Take small steps, learn what works, and change what does not along the way, instead of betting on getting everything right from the start.