4 Ways a Learning Management Systems (LMS) Fosters Employee Engagement
Learning Management Systems (LMS) have been growing steadily in popularity as a toolset for companies to offer remote training sessions, performance management, career planning, and more – all in one centralized, mobile-accessible system. While many companies were already exploring remote training and employee engagement tools before the pandemic, the need for these functionalities has only increased alongside the number of companies shifting to work-from-home models.
While remote work has distinct advantages for businesses and employees overall, one of the challenges of working from different, remote locations is keeping employees engaged with your business initiatives and fostering a strong connection with their work and their colleagues.
LMS solutions provide many tools and features that help support strong employee connections and foster higher levels of employee engagement while working and training remotely. Here are 4 key LMS features that help boost employee engagement.
Training, Learning, and Certification Tools
Creating and delivering online training materials can be a challenge for companies who need to onboard a new remote employee or conduct ongoing training sessions to improve employee skills and understanding necessary to perform optimally in their roles.
However, an LMS solution makes online training much easier and helps your trainers, administrators, and employees stay organized with centralized training and learning tools. Trainers and administrators can use an LMS to organize training course content and information easily. This includes methods to arrange scheduling of training sessions and supports user management from the employee perspective as well.
Understanding information retention of online training sessions and materials is key to successful employee engagement. The testing functions in an LMS allow companies to gauge employee knowledge, both as individuals and as a whole company overall. Reports can be useful in identifying weaknesses in employee knowledge to address in future training sessions.
Many businesses need to ensure employees have completed specific training modules, some of which may be mandated by law. With LMS certification features, course creators can build certification procedures into the course to meet industry guidelines and ensure proper employee certifications.
Group Video Training and Peer-to-Peer Connection Tools
Learning in groups can help enrich the training process by encouraging questions, interactions, and employee involvement in their training sessions as a team. Many LMS solutions offer integrated video conferencing technology so your company can lead live training sessions remotely, providing employees with the opportunity to train as a group, ask questions, and interact with others during their training.
Learning Management Systems also offer tools for helping employees stay connected, such as employee directories, org charts, skill communities, mobile apps, and more.
Performance Management and Career Planning
If employees feel like they are building a career, and not just doing a job, they’ll ultimately feel more engaged and be more motivated when personal and professional goals are aligned.
In addition to training features, LMS software can also include tools for employee performance management and career planning. These features can help ensure that employees are on track with their personal and company goals and provides tools for different levels of assessment, from self and peers to management.
LMS solutions also often provide career planning modules that can help employees meet objectives and set milestones for career progression and growth. Managers can help guide employees through higher-level training or certifications necessary for developing their careers while also keeping track of how well employees are performing as a result of ongoing training and mentoring.
Multiple Training Delivery Options, Including Gamification
Employees will have all different types of learning styles to account for when you’re structuring training for optimal retention and application on the job. Some employees may learn best by reading, others by watching videos, and others by personally practicing skills. It’s important to offer training materials in different modalities and delivery methods to enrich training sessions and make sure that all the different learning styles are nurtured. In LMS software, training content and materials can be uploaded in a variety of different formats including HTML, Flash videos, PDFs, and more.
Research consistently shows that people learn better through games and contests. Gamification features allow companies to incorporate badges, leaderboards, point systems, and other tools for gamification to improve information retention and build some fun into training sessions.
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