6 ways to convince your organisation to embrace digital learning

by Tess Robinson, Director, LAS

The latest Towards Maturity benchmark report makes rather depressing reading. Despite being consistently able to show that those organisations who embrace learning technologies perform better, be it through increasing revenue, improving productivity or job performance, the overall situation remains relatively static in terms of budget committed to digital learning or the range of technology used.

So how can you convince your organisation that investing digital learning is a good thing?

1. Embed the learning in your wider organisational strategy. What is the business problem you are trying to solve and what effect will this have on your organisation’s mission as a whole? Learning should not take place in a silo, it should be clearly linked to the organisation’s success.
2. Measure the potential impact of the learning – this might be in terms of money saved if you were to do the training face-to-face, performance improvements, strengthening of in-house skills and reduction of reliance on external consultants, increases in sales – choose whatever measures are relevant to your organisation’s strategy as a whole.
3. Don’t allow your organisation to stick to an outdated view of elearning. Make sure you are well-versed in the latest thinking – join a professional association (eLearning Network, ATD etc..), visit industry conferences and exhibitions, subscribe to the blogs of those who are at the fore-front of digital learning thinking, attend webinars (LSG ones are great) or join LinkedIn groups. Learning from each other and sharing best practice is key to moving digital learning on from dull click-next-to-continue stuff to really impactful, engaging interventions.
4. Today’s technology makes digital learning more agile, relevant and immediate than ever before. With huge improvements in mobile technology, job aids can be delivered into your learner’s pockets. Social and collaborative learning is also attracting a lot of interest, if not yet being actually translated much into the work environment. In our private lives we learn socially – through Facebook, YouTube, TripAdvisor etc… If your organisation is reluctant to try these new things – pilot them, produce prototypes – allow them to see and experience the benefits before committing funding.
5. If cost is an issue, often your existing technology can be adapted to accommodate new ways of learning. Always start with what you already have – it may surprise you.
6. Check out award winners’ projects for inspiration and ammunition, they are often profiled online following awards ceremonies. Awards criteria usually stipulate that a project must show considerable impact – this can be in a number of ways, not just financial. If you can go to your organisation with concrete proof of the way digital learning can have a substantially positive effect on overall business performance, that’s a very powerful argument.

This blog is now also available at www.las-hq.com/blog