Collaborative Strategies for Corporate Learning

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  September 1, 2015  / 

 corporate-learningYou may be familiar with our previous post on leading through change during the roll out of a new software platform, where we discussed the challenges associated with adapting to a new software. While leading through change is essential, collaborating with other members of your organization will help you to increase the rate at which you can get everyone up to speed.

Three collaborative strategies for corporate learning during a software rollout

Provide clear expectations and purpose

If you want your team to embrace change, you must cut out ambiguity and communicate how the software rollout will ultimately impact each role, department and the company at large.

Instead of relying on your team to play the guessing game, be direct and clear in exactly what is expected from each team to make this transition smooth. This may include providing clear instructions, a timeline for getting up-to-speed with the new software and ways in which learners can engage and learn as a group.

Empower employees through peer-educating

While many enterprises have unlimited resources for training employees on software rollouts, small businesses usually do not. So who can take the role in getting team members up-to-speed? The answer is simple: Management and team members can work together to perform more effectively. In other words, consider implementing a "champion" program to help employees gain a deep understanding of the solution. According to the staff at Microsoft: "Champions are not only passionate about what they do, but are also excited to evangelize and help their peers to learn more effective solutions."

To accomplish this, encourage your employer to target champions in your organization for additional formal training to increase their depth and breadth of knowledge. It's also essential to empower management to guide and educate peers, as well as provide positive reinforcement regarding their individual efforts. Microsoft reiterates this notion by stating that you need to "measure, share success and iterate" to be successful during an adoption. Consider sharing KPIs and success stories to demonstrate and emphasize this success.

While peer learning and education is a useful collaboration strategy, especially for businesses with a smaller budget for training, please note that it often doesn't scale like other methods. It relies on the skills of your champions, who may not always have the time to devote to training. Small businesses, however, should encourage their champions to document their training methods and what they have learned so that when it comes time to onboard employees, management can capitalize on these outcomes.

Host corporate learning online

When you're in the midst of a software rollout, you ultimately want team members to become significantly more efficient and comfortable with the new solution. With online training, for example, your organization can modify the rollout by combining training, coaching and problem-solving. This way, learners can interact with their peers and champions to solve a specific problem or grow their skills more dramatically, becoming well-versed in the new software and its capabilities.

 

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