Increase LMS Acceptance By Influencing Organizational Culture

The implementation of new technology, such as a Learning Management System can be a large shift for employees. People are used to their workplace routines, and changing their workflow is not easy. In this article, we will discuss how managers and executives can influence organizational culture to increase the value and acceptance of learning and development tools, such as an LMS.

Participation from management and executives:

Workplace culture and expectations are much more impactful when they are visibly adopted and exemplified by executives and managers. Simply telling everyone that they need to complete a training isn’t very compelling. It becomes a part of the job but not part of the company culture. However, embodied excitement and participation of a new product by upper management is meaningful and infectious. 

What can management do to participate?

• Ask employees for their feedback
• Recognize successes
• Summarize the biggest takeaway from a training

What do all of these points have in common? They all stem from a focus on communicating with employees about the new technology. 

Marketing the tool

When bringing a new, complex tool into the workplace, businesses should approach it like they approach marketing for a new product. You need to sell your employees on the tool.

How does a marketing approach help acceptance of a new technology?

WIIFM- What’s in it for me?

The first step in marketing a new tool is to identify and convey the benefit to your target audience. An LMS enables employees to further develop their current skill or learn new ones and can provide avenues for growth.

Explicitly listing the advantages to employees about learning and development will promote long-term, sustainable motivation to continually learn through an LMS.

Consistent communication keeps it top-of-mind

Make sure to communicate the value of learning and development to get employees excited. Create multiple announcements from different seniority levels explaining how the learning and development will benefit them.

Don’t be afraid to tell your employees that you are excited to make this investment in their professional development and what your goals are with the implementation of this new tool.

Check out this article to learn about other ways to create an impactful virtual learning environment.

Familiarity leads to more use

• Once you have sparked the interest of your employees, it’s time to get them engaged. Often times, we shy away from trying new things because it takes more conscious effort. To overcome this barrier, employees need to spend time on the platform and get familiar with the tool.
• Encourage employees to spend time in the platform by designating a few hours a week for them to do so. Management can also create fun competitions or give rewards to employees who have learned the most on the platform.
• One easy way to test this is through a free slack application called QuickQuiz which allows you to build and deploy quizzes to your team via Slack.

These three points show that influencing organizational culture is a process. It takes consistent messaging and familiarity to engage users. Once you start to see the engagement, the next step is to listen to feedback.

Ask for and Listen to Employee Responses

As employees start to engage with the LMS, make sure to ask for and listen to their feedback.

Issues will occur and it is important to listen to employees complaints and act quickly to avoid frustration. Employees want to feel valued and heard. By asking for their feedback and making a conscious effort to fix any problems, you will be supporting the development of a culture that values learning and development.

Implementing a new system is a difficult process and engaging your audience can be even harder. However, being proactive and quickly handling any issues that arise will satisfy your employees and create a culture that values continuous learning. 

About Knowledge Anywhere 

Knowledge Anywhere is an eLearning company focused on providing flexible, modern learning and development solutions that enable organizations to harness the power of an engaged, knowledgeable workforce.

Our Learning Management System, Virtual Reality Training, and Course Development services, combined with our experience and customer support enables our users to create a learning and development program that boosts sales and drives company growth.