by Brian Clark | DOTS LMS, learning management systems, LMS, Performance, performance management
In DOTS LMS you have the option to use the Performance Management module. This module has a number of features that help support performance with tight integration to learning. This integration includes the Position Management module that acts to link learning and performance for each and every person in your organisation. The position management module must be used in order to use the DOTS performance module. When building a position in DOTS you are creating the inputs necessary to activate and execute the automated online performance appraisal. Position management includes the position description and the elements including environment, decision making, relationships etc.
The primary linkages between learning and performance are established when the Key Result Areas are added including ratings for the various levels of performance. I recommend the Key Result Areas include learning objectives for the position. You can add any type of learning objective including those that are achieved in the LMS environment as well as external formal, informal, social and conference based learning activity. By adding these as Key Result Areas with performance indicators you are driving home the message that learning in all forms is important to the organisation and aligned with its culture and values. I also recommend you align these Key Result Areas to your strategic objectives and definitely include the learning areas in this alignment.
Behavioural performance may also be included in the Position Description and Performance Management module. You achieve this by adding your behavioural performance criteria in the DOTS Competencies module. You should consider how you group these competencies [as well as all the others] to ensure greater accuracy and efficiency using the LMS. You assign behavioural competencies to each position. These may be universally shared or specific to business units, departments, groups or individuals. These behavioural competencies will also be linked to a rating scale to permit the manager to provide feedback and comments to the employee. You align the behavioural competencies to your strategy, your values and other cultural and business initiatives that may be active in the organisation.
There is no hard and fast rule that you must do performance reviews annually. If you can convince your managers to retain a more interpersonal coaching style to performance you can set dates or time cycles in DOTS LMS to remind persons that they are due to have a meeting to review performance and progress. It is important that you not use the technology as a ‘crutch’ to simply tick the box for performance management. The DOTS LMS needs to be a support tool and not a replacement to effective interpersonal relationships between managers and employees.
by Brian Clark | Business Process, DOTS LMS, learning management systems
There is an excellent info-graphic developed by CertifyMe.net titled ‘The E-Learning Revolution.’ Here are some of the interesting facts that are included on this info-graphic and they really paint an interesting picture of the growth and pervasiveness of e-learning in our organisational environments.
- 77% of American Corporations use online learning. I have not seen any statistics for Australian corporations.
- According to the CertifyMe.net info-graphic, e-Learning started in 1998 and is now 13 years old.
- The United States and Europe utilise 70% of e-Learning and the Asia Pacific region is growing fast.
- e-Learning is a $56.2 Billion business and is likely to double by 2015.
- Corporations save 50-70% when they replace instructor led training with online learning.
- e-Learning classes are typically 25-60% shorter in duration than instructor led sessions.
- 72% of corporations surveyed report that e-learning supports their need to maintain awareness of changes affecting their business.
These are some pretty interesting insights into a major change impacting organisations across the world. e-Learning has impacts that ripple throughout an organisation into areas such as sustainability, talent attraction, retention, resource planning, productivity and competitiveness.
by Brian Clark | Business Process, learning management systems, LMS, performance management, strategy
First of all I guess you might wonder why I used the term ‘high performance’ in the headline. What does that mean? I see a few characteristics that distinguish a high performance sales team from others and capability frameworks contribute to the development and sustenance of high performance in any team.
One attribute of high performance is measurement. Each sales person should be measuring themselves against key performance targets and the team is measured collectively. These measurements flow up to management and are linked to the business strategy. High performance sales people strive to nail targets and prefer this to floating in an undefined operating environment.
Collaboration is sometimes a neglected capability in the highly competitive sales profession. However one thing I took away from attending Dreamforce ’12 last year was this is no longer negotiable. Collaboration is imperative both within the business as well as outward to prospects and clients. The range of technology platforms and collaboration tools is staggering. The sales professional must not only understand how to use the technology, she must also be able to leverage its power in a competitive sales cycle.
Collaboration also extends to the capture and sharing of best practices in the sales team. Knowledge capture and sharing somewhat mitigates risks of ‘brain drain’ when high performance sales people move on. This knowledge also facilitates more rapid on-boarding of new hires.
Clear strategy is based on a cascade of goals and objectives from the c-suite to the sales professional. The sale professional must have the capability to translate the business strategy to their operating strategy. The operating strategy is often defined at sales team level but not always in the case of persons managing large territories or working with a small number of clients in high value enterprise sales. The capability framework must include translating strategy to tactics and these tactics incorporated in an operational plan.
Tactical execution is one that capability that is easily identified in our behavioural assessment tools. The best strategy and tactics are worthless without execution and sadly this is one capability that is rare in the world of sales professionals. There are plenty of people out there who work ‘ad-hoc’ and seem to make some sales but these people are not high performance and they tend to be more difficult to manage and measure.
The capabilities around information management usually become obvious when we have a look at a business’s CRM. Information is often old, inaccurate or insufficient. The power that can be leveraged from a well -managed CRM is too great to compromise. The capabilities that support this include personal management and work flow practices.
Each of these attributes and possibly others must be included in the capability framework. The capability framework will greatly enhance recruitment and on-boarding of new sales team members. I use a tool to provides a behavioural analysis against each capability. When a shortlist is determined, each person is assessed against the defined capability framework. This has reciprocal benefits for the candidates and the company. The candidate is clear on the expectations of the position and is provided a scientific assessment of their behavioural match to the framework. The company reduces the risk of bad hires and the huge cost and cultural impacts these have.
When it comes to developing a capability framework it is a huge advantage to have a technology solution to support it. A learning management system is the most compelling platform but others include some performance management systems and some HRIS software. Regardless of what you use to create the capability framework, you need to consider the following;
- Link the framework to job titles.
- Ensure there are learning and development opportunities to support and enhance the capabilities.
- Development plans should have at least some focus on the capability framework if not be totally focused on it.
- The performance management process must be integrated with the capability framework.
Get in touch if you would like to explore developing a capability framework for your sales team or any other part of your organisation.
by Brian Clark | Business Process, learning management systems, networking, Performance, strategy
The difficulty facing many learning and development teams in organisations is the lack visibility in the executive team and board. There are a number of reasons for this and I have spoken with some who have resigned themselves to the ‘this is the way it has always been’ mindset. It is partially true but this should not prevent you from changing this situation if you and your team are working in such an environment.
The tactics to employ are pretty basic; there is no magical formula to change this reality other than coup d’état or your career taking you to the c-suite. Anyway here are some ideas that I have discussed with a few of our clients and the results have usually been positive if not transformative.
The most obvious way to gain some visibility is to approach members of the executive management team directly. Of course you may have met and mingled but have you taken an opportunity to schedule some time and really talked about your learning and development projects? This is not a meeting that is undertaken without preparation. You need to ensure that you link everything to what is important to the executive, for example;
- Reducing risk with better compliance tracking.
- Enhanced productivity.
- Training cost reductions [careful with this one but good if you have recently implemented an LMS!]
- If you have an LMS or similar, take this chance to show the person the types of information you are able to supply with your reporting capability. This one always causes raised eyebrows.
That all sounds ok but what do I do if there is a moat between me and the executive team? I do not know any of them and doubt the gatekeepers would grant a meeting. In this case you need to plan your approach using your network within the organisation. You need to find a person that supports your cause and is well connected. These people are not always obvious; strong connectors can be in any role.
Recently I heard an example of a IT support person with a husband who played tennis with a CFO. The IT person had no hesitation in saying a hello to the CFO and mentioning how impressed she was with the LMS implementation undertaken by the l & d team. Guess what? The CFO responded with, “What LMS?” The rest is happy history that depended on some synchronicity. People are more connected than ever and you will find it easier than you think to get an intro to a senior executive and gain some visibility.
One more tactic that has shown some success uses technology. If you have an LMS consider enrolling the executive management team in a course that demonstrates what you are doing. Corporate induction courses are always good for this as you can justify the enrolments in the interest of gaining valuable feedback and ensuring awareness of the content included in the induction programs. Surveys are also an excellent tool to gain better visibility for your learning and development team. One government agency we work with conducts regular surveys that are designed to communicate the learning and development strategy and gain input on planning future initiatives.
by Brian Clark | Business Process, DOTS LMS, learning management systems, LMS
There is always risk with the implementation of an enterprise learning management system. The risk starts early in the planning process with such factors as:
- lack of or inaccurate resource planning
- failure to engage key stakeholders, influencers and decision makers
- business requirements are not specified, incomplete and/or inaccurate
There are two primary facets to an LMS implementation project; technology implementation project plan and the change strategy/management plan. If either or both are deficient in any way the risk of an unsuccessful LMS implementation increases dramatically. It has been my experience that it is more common that organisations fail to plan and execute an effective change strategy than it is to fail in a software implementation, although both are common. In the past month our company has been approached by two companies seeking assistance wtih implementing other vendors’ learning management systems. In one case the vendor has attempted an LMS implementation project with a lack of expertise ‘on the ground’ in Australia. This implementation was attempted from an overseas office with a prescriptive generic project plan that did not address the client’s business requirements. In the second example the vendor completed the implementation and failed to assist in the change strategy implementation. The client team was poorly trained and the user experience suffered horribly. In this case it is going to be an uphill battle to win back the hearts and minds of the end users as well as senior stakeholders.
Learning management systems have evolved to have an enormous breadth of capabilities. Not all clients need all these capabilities but every organisation has unique business requirements, cultures, and operating environments. As a key enterprise software solution it is vitally important that both the vendor and the client are realistic in their implementation project planning to meet clear business requirements. Without this commitment the client is under enormous risk of a failed implementatiion. If you would like further informatoin about learning management system implementation strategy, project planning and business analysis, please send us an email or use the form on this website.
