For lasting success, companies undoubtedly need to implement well-structured training programs and regular development strategies into their employees’ work life.
Creating a successful online training program for employees requires lots of things.
However, it’s not impossible with the right LMS platform.
Having an informative and educational training program for employees is a competitive advantage in today’s working environment. Not only is that beneficial for employees, but also for employers. For employees, it increases job satisfaction and gives them confidence. And for employers, it is important to have a staff who is well-informed and trained for new challenges.
So, in this guide, you will find everything you need in order to set up a successful online training program for your employees. You will learn how to assess your training requirements, select the most appropriate LMS platform, design engaging materials, and assess outcomes for sustained impact.
Identify Training Needs
Assessing training gaps and understanding employee skill gaps is the most important step in developing a training program for your employees. In today’s fast-paced world, acknowledging skill gaps is perfectly normal. Meanwhile, it’s not normal to not cover those areas with the right training methods.
You might wonder, how can someone identify the skill gaps of their employees in a clear and measurable way?
So, there are some methods that can help to identify those skill gaps:
- Employee Surveys and Self-Assessments
You can simply ask your employees to rate their confidence in specific skills. Also, you can give open-ended questions that uncover areas they want to improve. - Manager and Team Leader Feedback
Managers and team leads who work closely with employees can give insights on their performance. They can identify skill issues that employees do not notice. - Skills Gap Analysis Tools
There are some interactive tools that can measure your employees’ skills without pressure. Those tools are quizzes, online assessments, LMS analytics, etc. - Customer Feedback
And, lastly, if you work in a service-based company, you can gather customer feedback and reviews for quality control.
So, these are very effective and practical ways that you can use when identifying training needs.
Set Clear and SMART Objectives
After identifying training needs, the next step is setting clear objectives.
The SMART method, used in many fields, is highly effective for setting clear goals for a successful employee training program. Let’s now see how!
1․ Specific
Do not set general and abstract goals. You must be very specific and understand what result you want in the end. Define exactly what you want to teach your employees.
See the difference between abstract and clearly defined goals:
Abstract Goal:
“Improve employee communication skills.”
As you can see, this is too general. It doesn’t specify what exactly we want to achieve.
Specific Goal:
“Train all customer support staff to respond to live chat inquiries within 2 minutes and achieve at least a 90% satisfaction rating in the next quarter.”
This specifies what to improve, how success will be measured, who it applies to, and when it should be achieved.
2․ Measurable
Decide how you’ll measure your success. For instance, you can use LMS reports to understand completion and employee engagement rates and assessment scores.
For example, the FoxLMS analytics section shows all the necessary information in numbers to understand the performance of the online training program of employees. Everything is visible there in numbers. You can find useful information there: completion rates, what part of employees has started but not completed, how many employees are in progress, and so on.
3․ Achievable
Creating a successful training program for employees starts with setting achievable goals.
You don’t need to establish too many objectives at once. Instead, focus on one attainable goal.
In this phase, it is also important to decide what tools you must use and what resources you need.
4․ Relevant
At this point, you can analyze if this training goal aligns with your employees’ skill gaps.
If a goal does not resolve the training issue at hand or contribute to an increase in performance, then that goal is most likely irrelevant at this time.
To reiterate, relevant goals resolve an employee’s skill deficiency while also meeting the needs of the organization’s objectives.
5․ Time-bound
At this stage, you may incorporate a deadline for this training which adds a sense of urgency. Moreover, you may divide the larger time frame into smaller milestones for easier tracking (for instance, finishing the first chapter by a certain date).
Using the FoxLMS plugin, you are able to assign a time limit for your course.
Choose the Right Training Platform
Choosing the right LMS platform is as important as setting your online training program objectives.
When searching for LMS platforms, you may find many options, but the one that really is worth your attention is FoxLMS. Let’s see why!
FoxLMS is a WordPress LMS plugin that is easy for everyone to use and has an intuitive interface. FoxLMS is a tool that works well for any size of organization. With FoxLMS, you can easily create a great online training program for your staff members.The FoxLMS plugin allows you to do a lot. Using the FoxLMS plugin, the quality of your lessons and courses will not be downgraded even if you add an unlimited number of lessons and courses.
FoxLMS allows you to make your courses more interesting and engaging by adding YouTube videos, images, attachments, and even quizzes.
The built-in certificate creation tool is a standout feature of the FoxLMS plugin. After completing a course, your staff can receive a professional, branded and personalized certificate. Accordingly, it is a very powerful way to recognize achievements and motivate your staff. Watch here how to assign a certificate to your online training program.
Besides, with FoxLMS, tracking the staff progress and getting important information couldn’t be easier. Watch here how to get important analytics with the FoxLMS plugin.
Develop Relevant Content & Incorporate Interactivity
The quality of the online training content is another very important factor. The training content must be relevant and engaging for your staff members. You must carefully plan quality content for your staff to make the learning process effective and valuable. The training course material must be directly connected to your staff’s work.
Also, it is important to capture your employees’ attention. This can be done with interactive elements that you can integrate into the course program. For example, quizzes are considered to be highly engaging, and with the QuizMaker WordPress-based plugin this can be done very easily. Apart from being interactive, quizzes are a perfect tool to assess your employees’ knowledge and determine what they have learned after each course.
So, this powerful combination of FoxLMS and QuizMaker plugins allows you to transform traditional quizzes into active learning tools.
Track Progress and Measure Effectiveness
Here comes the most important part of creating a successful training program for employees. Here you gain insights you might not expect.
Tracking team progress is all about understanding how quickly your staff learns. You learn about your team’s capabilities and how fast they pick up new skills.
Also, it is important to measure training’s effect on business outcomes as this turns learning into a strategic tool. This helps you refine future programs and keep them in line with long-term objectives.
As we mentioned before, the FoxLMS plugin analytics tab gives you a clear, numbers-based view of your team’s training progress. You can see completion rates, how many employees are in progress, who hasn’t started yet, and assessment results.
Encourage Continuous Learning
Encouraging continuous learning is another key part of creating an online training program for employees. Cultivating a culture of learning in the workplace enables staff to take on new challenges and further develop their capabilities.
There are some crucial methods that can assist to encourage continuous learning:
Recognition and Rewards
Show employees that their learning is valued. To do that, employers and managers can reward them with certificates, promotions, and other forms of recognition.
Growth Mindset Culture
Inspire employees to shift towards a growth mindset where learning is prioritized alongside performance objectives. Besides, make employees view failures as learning opportunities.
Alignment with Career and Business Goals
Create an online training program that is relevant to employees’ career development. Employees are more motivated when they can apply what they’ve learned directly in their work.
Measuring Effectiveness
Continuous learning becomes valuable when you know how effective it is. Employers should regularly track learning progress and measure results. This data can improve training programs.
Conclusion / Final Thoughts: Creating Online Training Program Promises Lasting Success
Now you have all the steps to make a good online training program. You know how to find what your employees need to learn. You can set clear and SMART goals. You can pick a good platform like FoxLMS. You can create interesting lessons and check how everyone is doing.
Don’t wait. Start today. A good training program makes your team stronger and helps your company grow. Your team will be happier and work better. It’s time to begin.
Try FoxLMS and see how simple and effective employee training can be.
