One report published by Human Capital Institute revealed that most learning and development (L&D) programs are only about 50% effective because they lack “design thinking.”
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Instead of developing programs that focus on their individual learners and what the learners need and want to learn at their organizations, as well as how their learners prefer to consume learning materials, L&D professionals tend to focus more on what is trendy or expensive or shiny and new.
Is it a real surprise, then, that most L&D teams struggle with gaining advocates for their initiatives and programs? Why would employees want to advocate for L&D initiatives and programs that don’t fulfill their learning needs or wants and that don’t engage or interest them?
Essentially, the best way to mold your employees into L&D advocates is to change how your entire organization thinks about learning and does learning. Here are a few things you can do.
Build a Learning Culture Across Your Organization
If you truly want your employees to advocate for the various learning initiatives or programs you’re developing and managing, get employees across your entire organization excited about learning by building and promoting a learning culture. Here are a few ways you can implement an effective learning culture:
- Develop well-planned programs with metrics.
- Secure executive buy-in.
- Focus on the “why” and “how,” not the “what.”
- Constantly stimulate a growth mind set.
- Endorse collaboration.
For more details and information about building an effective learning culture, read “How to Implement an Effective Learning Culture for Your Company” Part 1 and Part 2.
Incentivize Participation in Beta Programs
Sometimes, you won’t know if a certain L&D program or course will gain traction with your employees until you test it out and receive their feedback. To get employees to participate in newly launched or beta programs that may or may not be ideal for them and their learning goals, offer them incentives or small rewards.
You can offer them gift cards to coffee shops, points toward a certificate, a raffle ticket for a vacation package, etc. This will make participation worth their while and fun and will give you the information, data, and feedback you need as you’re building out a new program or course.
Include Employees and Managers in the Content Development and L&D Process
As you’re developing new programs, always solicit feedback from managers and employees and get real data and information about the learning content that yields real-world results. Ask employees what they like and don’t like about your programs’ content and learning platforms, as they will be more reticent about and reluctant to participate in programs that don’t have interesting content or content that’s worthwhile for them to learn.
Additionally, ask managers whether employee participation in certain programs improves their work performance or increases their engagement levels while they’re at work. And ask managers for their assistance as you develop learning content for employees they help manage and coach on a daily basis.
If you want your employees to become advocates for your L&D programs, do some of the things listed above to change how your entire organization thinks about and implements learning.