3 Reasons Why Your Learning Management System Might Not Be Delivering the Best Frontline Training Results

Learning is vital to any organization’s success because it equips the workforce with the latest knowledge and developments in the industry, drives business results and boosts overall organizational growth and productivity. Furthermore, more and more industries are undergoing digital transformation or disruption. According to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report, 50% of employees need reskilling by 2025 to keep pace with existing new technologies. The ongoing pandemic has further accelerated the need to upskill the workforce. To address this need, organizations need a robust learning platform which not only fulfils the learning needs but also enhances the learning experience.

However, the question arises - are Learning Management Systems (LMSs) effective enough to deliver the best learning experience & outcomes to learners or do organizations need something more than that? It has been observed that traditional LMSs have not been very successful in addressing the varied learning needs of the distributed workforce, especially for frontline sales, customer service and operation teams. Today’s workforce is mobile, in need of information in an instant and highly influenced by social media. They need on-the-go, bite-sized learning which is easily accessible, and highly engaging. Most LMS platforms ‘one-size-fits-all approach seems to be not delivering the desired results when it comes to frontline readiness – continuous upskilling, engagement and enablement.

Let’s explore some of the limitations of traditional LMS systems which come in the way of enhancing the learning experience for frontline teams.  

1.    LMS design constraints: Most LMS platforms have been designed to deliver static training courses where content does not change frequently. However, today’s learning needs are varied and demands dynamic and user-centric approach. The training needs of the frontline salesforce are specific and in need of constant calibration and unfortunately, traditional LMS platforms are not designed to make changes on the fly.

2.    Not delivering microlearning content: Today’s millennial workforce want learning on the go and short training bits which they can access from anywhere, anytime. However, traditional LMSs have not been able to seamlessly create microlearning content. Creation of dynamic and mobile training content becomes a major bottleneck and renders traditional LMS platforms more designed for macro learning – learning in long form content which are delivered in more conservative formats like PDF and PowerPoint slides.

3.    Absence of gamification and interactive experience: Traditional Learning Platforms mostly serve linear, non-engaging and non-interactive content which offers no incentive and encouragement to learners to continue self-paced learning. Hence, learners do not feel motivated to complete their eLearning courses and assessments. This results in unnecessary administrative effort & time by trainers, content creators and even on managers to push frontline teams to engage in self-paced learning for the sake of course completion. Instead, an effective & engaging learning experience should result in time saving across the organization that allows the workforce to focus on more strategic priorities rather than administrative follow up, among other things.

So, what’s the solution then? How do business leaders and Chief Learning Officers select the right learning management platform which will equip frontline reps with the right knowledge, skills to drive business outcomes? Apart from traditional LMS platforms, there are various types of online platforms available like Sales Enablement, Sales Readiness, LXP (or Learning Experience Platforms) as well as Microlearning platforms which offer comprehensive and engaging solutions to maximize learning outcomes. So before selecting any system, leaders need to keep certain considerations in mind to arrive at the best decision:

1.    Is your learning management system aligned with your business strategy & future plan?

2.    Is it possible to create a learning content as and when needed in both detailed and microlearning format?

3.    Is it possible to access more insightful and actionable inputs from a learning management system beyond course-completion progress?

4.    Can employees access & seamlessly switch viewing learning content on multiple devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones?

5.    Is your learning content engaging enough to motivate learners to complete & repeat training? Are there effective elements of gamification that can drive repeatability?

6.    Is there any way to track and assess learners’ performance and pit them against each other in a healthy competitive way?

7.    Can learning analytics be leveraged to predict future business outcomes?

Master-O, a frontline readiness platform, answers most of the questions above. The platform has aided several sales enablement & frontline readiness programs for enterprise customers and has been a key driver of sales strategies for many industry leaders. Master-O equips the frontline sales & non sales workforce with the right tools and information for having compelling customer conversations that lead to higher conversions & better customer advocacy. To make the learning experience more personalized, Master-O helps sales managers tap into various data points and analytics for coaching & upskilling their team. This gives sales leaders and managers much-required objective perspective to reimagine their coaching approach and realign it with performance metrics.

To learn more about Master-O, please visit masteroapp.com or schedule a demo to discover how Master-O can redefine sales enablement for your organization.