Dead Trainer Walking: Making a Business Case for E-Learning
John Johansson, mild-mannered training manager, gathered his folders, PDA, pen, and brochures, and headed towards the office of Chip Brock, the Vice President of Sales. The cloth-padded cubical walls and the non-distinct brown carpet muffled the impending doom of John as he moved towards his final destination—the training proposal meeting. John didn't realize it, but Chip had already decided that if his predictable training manager made another recommendation for a three-day training session or retreat, that John was a dead trainer walking.
When John said, "I've found a great place for the next sales-training retreat," his fate was sealed. He was punishing his employer and would have to be removed. Nobody saw John after that. He was there one day and gone the next.
The scenario above is of course full of hyperbole, but it isn't as far from the truth as you might imagine. In this day and age it can be very hard justifying total classroom solutions when there are fewer people in organizations doing more work, and when many companies have double-digit new product and service growth annually. Think about it. If you are a technical support person in a company producing fifty new products a year, you could conceivably be in traditional classroom training forty to fifty percent of the time. And if you're in the classroom, you can learn but you're not providing the service that your customers are demanding, and there is an opportunity-cost associated with it.
If you are facing with this kind of issue more and more each day, how can you make changes that will positively affect your organization and enhance your current offerings? One way is to make e-learning part of your solution. And the best way to do this is by demonstrating the value of e-learning for employees. Following is a step-by-step process to make the case for e-learning.
Educate your organization and the key decision makers about e-learning. E-learning is a brand new field that is evolving daily. People have a lot of questions, even in the training industry. And for the non-training people in your organization who may have very little knowledge of this topic, you can provide a definition or a white paper on e-learning. You can even create a simple Web page that defines it and provides hyperlinks to examples of e-learning on the Web. There's nothing like having someone experience something to help explain it.
Identify and explain the benefits of e-learning to your organization. This is a key point. There has to be some benefit to the organization to help support your case for implementing e-learning. It's also important to remember that the key benefit often varies from organization to organization. For instance, Company A may want to reduce fulfillment and travel costs associated with traditional learning and use e-learning for that benefit. Company B might want to use e-learning as a way to increase the amount of access learners and employers have to learning opportunities. Other companies might want to focus on the efficiencies that are gained with e-learning. Still, other organizations might want to have greater impact with learning or greater consistency in the delivery of training. Some organizations might want to use a combination of the benefits of e-learning to make the case for e-learning.
Discuss the state of the e-learning industry. For people that aren't in the e-learning or training business, there might be a lack of awareness about the e-learning industry. It is a multi-billion dollar a year business and will continue to grow for many more decades. You can get information on e-learning businesses from organizations such as Corporate University Xchange, ASTD, and financial organizations such as ThinkEquity Partners.
