The metaphor of the wall is widely used to describe various issues in society. For instance, the wall of caste, race, and gender. Walls denote barriers and obstacles that prevent the establishment of any sort of communication and connection.
In the corporate world, we may see walls too, which reflect the natural or artificial railings that restrict employees and the organization from growing. In this article, we’ll particularly discuss the walls of the training system and how we can break those and work towards effectively training employees.
For our readers’ understanding, we’ve divided the article into the following sections:
- What are the walls in training?
- How do these walls affect employees and organizational development?
- How to break the walls?
- How an LMS can help in breaking down the walls?
- Why you should invest in an LMS?
So let’s get started!
What are the walls in training?
The world has suffered huge losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has taught us one lesson; life is uncertain, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. Various organizations across the world have been in the process of training employees in numerous ways. They have followed both traditional and modern methods of training.
By traditional method of training, we mean training in an enclosed environment, where the employees and trainers were present physically in the same space and at the same time, and hence had the opportunity to interact with each other face-to-face.
There was no need to connect on phones or video calls (unless there was something important to be discussed). Everything happened inside the boardrooms or training rooms with big walls, with no one on the outside knowing what was actually happening inside.
By modern method of training, we mean training without walls, where employees and trainers are in two different spaces and yet interact with each other face-to-face but through different modes of communication.
The participants aren’t locked up inside rooms. They’re free to move around in the virtual space at differential speeds just like particles move freely in the space. The modern method of training we’re talking about here is online training (commonly known as eLearning).
Online training is a new normal now which destructs all the walls that are present in the traditional method of training. Online training is all about training without walls which is equivalent to training without hurdles and obstacles.
How do these walls affect employees and organizational development?
The question that now arises is why are we talking about the “Great Wall Of Training”? Why are organizations and employees happily embracing online training?
As mentioned earlier, the walls in training are both naturally and artificially created. Walls are ought to be constructed naturally when the organizations were unaware and ill-equipped with technology. Walls were created by the organizations (artificial walls), to administer and control the training of employees.
They created walls to provide a conducive atmosphere to facilitate effective training by employing the best learning techniques and trainers. But training inside the walls came with a huge setback. Some of them are:
- Costs–
Training inside walls means constructing walls to create a physical platform where training can take place. With the building of walls, other costs emerge like the cost of benches, chairs, projectors, instructors’ fees, electricity and water bills, and refreshments, among others.
- Fixed schedule-
Training inside walls means everyone needs to be physically present at the same time, no matter what. If the training is supposed to begin at 8 in the morning, it will start at 8 no matter what. Just because you got stuck in traffic and reached late to the classroom, doesn’t mean the trainer and your colleagues will wait for you to get started. The traditional method of training follows strict rules and a fixed schedule to manage training.
- Lack of usage of technology-
Training inside walls means less usage of technology. How can an employee be trained on technology without technological aids? Especially in this digital era, the usage of technology is a necessity to create a strong and sustainable workforce. Cloud computing, artificial intelligence, robotics, the internet of things, and other such modern technologies are what employees need to learn and use; otherwise, the survival of both the organization and employees will be more challenging than what you anticipate.
How to break the walls?
Now that you’ve understood the pitfalls of the traditional method of training, you should crush down the “The Great Wall Of Training” and break free. But now you’d be wondering, if I break the walls, how would I train my employees? How can I ensure my organization’s growth? The answer is- online training or eLearning.
How an LMS can help in breaking down the walls?
An LMS or learning management system is a tool used to provide online training. Using this tool, eLearning professionals can design and develop eLearning courses and content.
An LMS is like a painting tool of a painter with which he/she can create unique designs, textures, and shades on the wall; it is like a digital tool that helps people connect, learn, and work on their skills without having to be at a particular location.
An LMS helps in breaking down the physical walls that hinder both the organization as well as employees’ growth. It is used to impart new and relevant skills to employees that can bring a huge difference to the organization and thereby help them climb the ladder of success.
Why you should invest in an LMS?
Modern problems require modern solutions; an LMS is a modern tool that provides modern training to employees in a modern style. Regardless of the size and niche of your organization, you should invest in an LMS if you want to keep your employees engaged and motivated. Still not convinced? Well, we’ve many reasons to tell you why you should invest in an LMS today.
- Boosts efficiency-
An LMS offers the opportunity for employees to set the speed of their training and decide when and how they want to learn. When employees are given this amount of freedom, they’ll be driven by a different level of energy that will boost their efficiency.
- Scales up engagement-
An LMS scales up the engagement of employees because the eLearning courses and content are developed using a variety of multimedia formats like videos, audios, podcasts, and infographics. Also, the integration of mobile learning features into the LMS makes training resources more accessible.
- Drives motivation-
The gamification feature of an LMS drives the motivation of employees. When employees are rewarded for their achievements with virtual coins, points, and badges, and their names appear on the eLearning dashboard or the company’s dashboard, it ignites the fire in other employees to perform better. Hence, it establishes a healthy competition where employees can learn and grow.
- Reduced workload-
Remember, training employees isn’t an easy task. You’ve no idea what trainers or instructors have to go through to train employees. From marking employees’ attendance to recoding their scores in registers, instructors have so many duties to perform which actually distracts and prevents them from focusing on key operations.
But an LMS automates the entire training process, like conducting online training assessments. It sheds off various duties and responsibilities of eLearning professionals and enables them to focus only on creating eLearning courses and content and providing training.
Wrapping up
Training inside walls leads to isolated learning, which distances learners from the real world. Walls make employees feel trapped and helpless. Hence, if you want your employees to understand and utilize their potential, then you must embrace a learning management system.