Communication Project Magazine

Volume 3.1 Summer 2000

Is Your Organization Ready for E-Learning?

Seven key questions you need to answer

Michele C. Minton

© 2000 The Communication Project, Inc.

As business cycle times compress, workers from the plant floor to the executive offices require new skills almost weekly. On-line learning is increasingly perceived as a source of competitive advantage for these companies, especially for multinational and geographically disparate organizations. Learners access information as needed, and new skills can be applied immediately, thus reducing delays and lost productivity. Remarkably, by 2003, it is estimated that half of corporate training is anticipated to be in the form of e-learning.  [1]

With this much change in corporate training, is your organization prepared to make the leap towards e-learning? Answering the following seven questions and properly planning to embrace e-learning will help achieve near-term benefits and engage the workforce.

1.  Do you understand the changes e-learning will bring to your organization?

Today, companies are stretching to provide their geographically distributed organization increased capabilities via training and education. More and more often, these groups are hoping that the promises of e-learning will fulfill their training needs. Many, however, are overlooking how implementing these new training technologies will affect both the organization and the individual. Let’s consider what these new training methods will and will not do for the organization.

Implementing e-learning promises substantial benefits for organizations: it will potentially eliminate corporate training travel budgets, save 50% in training time (one to three weeks versus six months), and cut an estimated 40% to 60%  [2]   from conventional classroom training costs. [3]   Furthermore, the printing of large training manuals is virtually eliminated, and because e-learning is infinitely flexible, courses can be completed during scheduled downtimes (which is, of course, important for a variety of industries.)

Besides cost benefits, e-learning promises to increase employee retention by ensuring that employees always have the right knowledge and tools to work effectively.   [4]   The nature of the media allows for rapid course development and deployment, meaning that the key messages are always up-to-date. Learning can occur across borders and time zones with a continuity of message not ordinarily found in classic instructor-led training. On top of this, studies suggest that comprehension levels and retention rates derived from e-learning may be up to 250% better than traditional methods. [5]

E-learning is not without its detractors, however. Web-based training cannot be the only means of corporate training. E-learning addresses only some of the development needs of the organization. Without a comprehensive approach to employee development, the organization remains lacking in important competency development.

E-learning is susceptible to technological failures and barriers. Most online classes require substantial bandwidth and current browser versions. Instruction that includes video and audio may work well in one corporate location, but may be untenable from a dial-up connection. Until these barriers are eliminated, e-learning is unlikely to accommodate every employee’s natural learning style.

Finally, e-learning cannot be the "silver bullet" for all training needs. It is inappropriate for complex manufacturing tasks and instruction in which collaboration is integral to the learning experience. Also, trainers may find communicating with instructors and other students through electronic media difficult and intimidating, especially at first. Supporting the inherent flexibility of e-learning is costly, as well: corporations may not anticipate the investments required to operate e-learning and associated support systems on a 24/7 basis.  [7]   

[7 Key Questions]

2.  Is e-learning part of your organization’s integrated training strategy?

For decades, organizational development professionals have struggled to align training curricula with the corporate goals and objectives. It is common knowledge that corporate training fulfills several needs within the organization. E-learning is just one aspect of   today’s human resources development capabilities and should be considered as part of an overarching training strategy for the organization.

Most often, training is delivered in order to transfer some specific competencies to the individual employee. Presumably, these competencies are aligned with the overall goals of the organization and relate directly to providing an improved capability to the client. In many cases, unless the topics are highly technical or best understood by some collaborative experience, distance learning seems feasible.

Oftentimes, training provides other benefits for the organization. It can be validly used as a reward for good performance or "time off" from a stressful situation. Many new employee orientations have a primary goal of indoctrinating individuals into the organization. Classes may be one of only a few ways employees can socialize within the company or network to make important contacts. In the extreme, training can be a "rite of passage" for a group; that is, the organization uses a collective experience to cultivate loyalty and shared perspectives among employees. (Think of an "outward bound" adventure, as an example.) For these experiences, organizations rely on more traditional models of training in order to meet all of these disparate goals. Distance learning would be inappropriate as a primary medium, but may serve auxiliary purposes.

The challenge is to balance the learning experience to align both primary and secondary goals. When e-learning is implemented, and some aspects of the socialization and enculturation experience are forfeited, the organization needs to cultivate other opportunities outside of training to support these needs. This will lower resistance and facilitate the acceptance of Web-based distance learning as a viable, credible addition to the learning environment.

[7 Key Questions]

3.  Is there appropriate leadership throughout the organization to support e-learning?

The primary force behind all successful initiatives is undoubtedly leadership. Without the leadership providing visible and sustained support for new training implementation, organizational acceptance would be slow if not impossible.

• Leaders at all levels must model desired behavior outwardly, so participation in an actual e-learning session would be preferable.
• Leaders at all levels are expected to recognize, reward, and reinforce participation across the organization.
• Leaders in the organization should have ownership of the overall change management plan for implementing e-learning. They should assist in its full development, execution, oversight, and performance.
• Leaders have the responsibilities to coach others on the key messages around the implementation and to initiate communications around the effort.

In the end, leaders will be responsible for helping employees embrace the changes in the organization: first through the development and use of performance incentives (change behavior), and later through the cultivation of buy-in and acceptance (sustain behavior).

[7 Key Questions]

4.  Are the organizational support systems in place to sustain the adoption of e-learning?

What can the organization do, then, to ensure the successful adoption of e-learning? Like any change management effort, large or small, there are three organizational levers that either facilitate or hinder acceptance of organizational change:

• Performance Management;
• Organizational Design; and
• Communications Planning, Execution and Feedback.

When these areas support each other and act in concert, organizational change becomes rapidly embedded throughout the organization and resistance is minimized.