Like many organizations, you have probably at least explored the idea of e-learning and found many benefits, such as reduced overall cost, decreased employee downtime, and increased retention and performance. These are terrific selling points, and I am hooked on it from my experience with seeing companies gain a competitive edge. However, I have seen and heard about enough failed initiatives to know that sometimes organizations jump in head-first, without testing the waters first. Thus, the topic for today is readiness and one technique in understanding how to reap the benefits while avoiding the pitfalls.

Like other consultants, before I visit a potential client, I do some homework on the organization to find out if they are initially a candidate for e-learning. Certain factors eliminate a potential right away, such as if they do not have computers, or if they are not connected to the internet or intranet. You may be thinking “Oh, there’s no way that companies don’t have computers today” but you’d be wrong. To have the biggest impact, e-learning must reach out to the masses, and sometimes the largest populations are in the field or are factory workers with limited computer skills. So for certain ty../a> of organizations, e-learning just does not make sense in their current state.

After I have identified a corporation or non-profit entity as a target, I meet with management to further determine if they will reap the rewards of online learning. Using some simple forms, I get into further detail about some cultural aspects and human resources issues, while digging into more of the technical infrastructure.

For managers realizing that e-learning is a significant investment of both time and money, there really is no substitute for a full-blown readiness assessment. Whether this is performed internally with qualified employees or by a consultant with this expertise, I recommend an assessment to any organization seriously considering this path.

A readiness assessment identifies all of the key success factors and compares the current state of affairs to the desired outcome. There are so many options available today, that a desired state is necessary to ascertain. For example, if an organization determines that the desired state is to communicate with field personnel through webinars (seminars held online), the resource requirements may be relatively less than those for a fully-blown online career development program.

My readiness assessments consist of 3 key areas: cultural readiness, technical readiness, and resource readiness. Cultural readiness is key because the shift from management-driven to learner-driven training is a big change. Not every employee is ready to take hold of his or her own career development and furthermore switch to an online method. Management may not be culturally ready to take on this initiative, with other projects going on at the same time. For example, it may not make sense to launch a new e-learning system at peak business cycles. And a switch to an web-based solution that can be accessed from home brings up a whole new set of off-hours training issues.
Technical readiness is a little more obvious, but the behind-the-scenes factors are not always apparent if the IT department is not involved in the beginning. For example, web-based learning systems often require a new dedicated server and someone to administer this machine for thousands of new users. Also, bandwidth is usually a concern when multimedia content is being distributed. Your assessment should examine all aspects of the technical infrastructure, in order to remove last minute surprises.
Resource readiness refers to the people that are going to be administering the e-learning initiative. It can be a full time job for a team of 20 or more for a large base of learners. This includes project managers, developers, training administrators, and support staff, to name a few. If resources are not aligned with the initiative, the project can be doomed to fail because the masses will not tolerate mistakes and downtime for long, and they could revolt or stage a coup.

Some of this might scare some of you that were planning on jumping in. I applaud your enthusiasm, and I am not saying that you should not enjoy the benefits of e-learning in your organization. I am just saying that you should prepare for what you are about to undertake. Even cliff-divers (experienced ones, that is) carefully and constantly explore the conditions beneath the water before making the leap. With a readiness assessment, you will either decide to wait for cultural, technical, and resources issues to be resolved or you will go ahead and move forward, at least knowing what to expect. With a readiness assessment, you will have a clear picture of your current and expected state in the palm of your hand, and you’ll know what’s underneath that water before you make the leap.

Sheldon Murphy
E-Learning Consultant
Solid State Learning
www.sslearn.com
sheldon@sslearn.com
724-452-6945