Your Online Learning May Be Doomed To Fail

Will you be doomed to failure and fall into the e-Learning abyss if you don’t take the time to create a strategy for the organization? At some level, I would say, “Yes,absolutely!” Does it have to be a “formal” strategy as I suggest in this chapter? Probably not. However, if you are “feeling” your way through this and “flying by the seat of your pants,” then pay close attention to some of the key areas where you might look to avoid:

• Failure to establish some plan that you can measure:It is hard to take credit for events that happen with or without influence from the learning organization. Lance Dublin wrote that, “The road taken is often the one that was better sold, the cheapest,or the easiest to agree on — rather than the best choice for your organization. Such decisions fail to reflect a strategy of any kind. They are happenstance.”
• Failure to recognize the importance, interdependence,and connections of people, process, and
  technology within the organization to attain learning goals.
• Failure to recognize that, above all, what matters are the people affected by the programs and systems put in place for learning. Very rarely does a person turn to an LMS when he or she needs to solve a problem quickly.
• Failure to consider learning across the organization (the think big — act small syndrome).
• Failure to recognize the importance of learner motivation, attitude, and ownership over content
  and processes.
• Failure to recognize organizational values, culture, and the mission.
• Failure to measure progress.
• Fail to START and STAY FOCUSED on the strategy.

As previously stated,the process of developing and tracking an e-Learning strategy is relatively straight-forward. The success of that strategy, however, will depend on a well-thought-out approach and support from key individuals within your organization. The learning strategy and the e-Learning strategy documents should be navigational maps that you adapt and improve along your journey.

Take the time to invest in the development of the strategies, even if you don’t have adequate resources to do so. I’ve never seen a learning group within an organization receive a budget, people, and time to do their work twice! A powerful, valuable, and highly accurate strategy from the beginning is a magic bullet!

In the last installment, I’ll give some final words about your e-Learning strategy. I will also provide three keys that ensure your learning initiative will thrive.

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