Trendlines

Recession-Proofing With E-learning

In tough economic times, those who can create more results with fewer resources — as e-learning can do — will win.

However, convincing your senior management team to adopt and implement an e-learning system will require a clearly defined strategy. (See article beginning on page 18.) According to a whitepaper developed by GeoLearning, here are some suggestions:

1) Develop a clear e-learning strategy that offers a clear statement of the business problem(s) and your proposed solution(s), as well as provide measurements of success.

2) Align your strategy with the goals, along with business unit managers’ and senior executives’ “points of pain.”

3) When you’re working with the decision-maker in your organization, measure results. The most important step in measuring performance is pinning down the business manager’s answer to the classic question: “What’s in it for me?”

4) Determine what your project sponsors will accept as persuasive evidence that the program produces the agreed-upon result. Then estimate the expected dollar value to be gained by eliminating deficiencies and make tangible projections from those outcomes. Make sure you get agreement on the expected outcomes, how they will be measured, and what constitutes good performance.