With the rise in the popularity and accessibility of eLearning tools, employee training has become an accessible undertaking even for small businesses.
What was once an affair that was only seemingly reserved for big companies with endless budgets has now become more necessity than luxury. That’s right, training employees is quickly becoming a mandatory practice.
A study conducted by IBM revealed that an employee that feels their career cannot develop in an organization is 12 times more likely to quit their job.
Now, the availability of tools has surely made training employees possible even for smaller businesses. Yet, there are a number of areas where entrepreneurs and their HR departments may need expert help in order to make their training impactful and engaging.
So who are these experts and how can they help make your first employee training program amazing?
Let’s find out:
LMS Consultant
A learning management system (LMS) is perhaps the most important tool needed to deliver any kind of online training. A LMS enables training providers to manage and share training content, track results, prepare reports to measure effectiveness of training, and basically control the entire online training experience that is provided to the learners.
Modern LMS are complex software and picking the wrong one can not only be an expensive mistake, it can also turn into an administrative nightmare to implement such an LMS.
This is where an LMS consultant can help. These experts know everything there is to know about learning management systems and can help you find the right software.
LMS consultants help their clients figure out their training needs and provide them with unbiased options that fit said needs. Moreover, an LMS consultant can also help with the smooth and effective implementation of the LMS in your organization.
Instructional Designer
An instructional designer is a professional trained in creation of learning systems and experiences that don’t just boost comprehension and retention, but also lead to practical applications of the skills and knowledge being taught to learners.
In simpler words, you will need the help of an instructional designer to design a training curriculum that is both relevant and effective for your learners (employees).
Not to forget, the otherwise time consuming process of creating training material can be sped up with the help of a professional instructional designer.
Subject Matter Expert
Most training curriculums are created as a result of a collaboration between a subject matter expert and an instructional designer.
A subject matter expert, as the name suggests, is the person responsible for imparting the knowledge that will be included in the training curriculum.
The subject matter expert’s knowledge is put in a ‘learnable’ curriculum by the instructional designer.
In many cases of corporate training scenarios, like product training, subject matter experts are usually found within the ranks of top management of the company.
However, for other subjects like compliance training, you may need to bring in an external expert.
Professional Instructors
Just because you are providing a virtual training experience to your employees doesn’t mean you will not provide them with instructor led training sessions.
Studies have proven that blended training, training that combines self-paced learning with instructor-led training, is one of the most optimal approaches to deliver training.
To employ blended training at your organization, you will need to enlist the help of professional instructors.
Don’t worry, you will not be required to invest in a classroom space or in the travel and lodging expenses of the instructor.
Simply get a web conferencing tool and turn your instructor-led sessions into virtual instructor-led sessions.
Conclusion
If anything is worth doing, it is worth doing right. Now, it is entirely possible to create an employee training program without the help of these professionals. However, keep in mind that the effectiveness of such a training program will be questionable at best.
