LMS for Continuous Professional Development
As a business owner or HR professional, you know that continuous professional development is important for keeping your workforce motivated and dedicated - but it’s no secret that it can be a challenge for employers. Whether it’s struggling to find time to fit CPD in, employees who are unsure where they should focus their efforts, or managers who don’t have the resources to best support their teams, you may already have faced some obstacles around CPD in your business.
When you can overcome the challenges around CPD, there are myriad benefits for both employers and employees. You’ll have a better-qualified, happier workforce and improved staff retention, and they’ll be able to keep on top of their commitments, improve their career prospects and fulfil the requirements of professional bodies.
A learning management system can be used to support employee CPD, allowing staff to work through their personal development plans whilst tracking progress.
Challenges around CPD
Challenges can come in many different forms, from both employees and an organisational perspective.
For employees, there may be:
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A lack of clarity around what CPD is (for both employees and manager)
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Employee resistance to CPD when it’s seen as being enforced by management
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Confusion around the difference between mandatory training and personal development
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Difficulties in carrying out self-directed learning if employees are more suited to guided learning
Whilst from a business level, you may find:
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It can be difficult to create the time for staff to focus on CPD
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A lack of consistency between external trainers, particularly if you work in a niche industry
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That training in the past has been delivered without a needs analysis, or that managers are unsure how to identify training needs in their teams
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When training is outsourced, it’s more difficult to assess its effectiveness if there are no follow-up assessments
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It’s difficult to organise company-wide training whilst ensuring that business doesn’t grind to a halt
How can an LMS solve these challenges?
You may not have considered using an LMS for staff CPD, but it could be the solution to all of the challenges you’ve been facing.
Tailor the training
With an LMS you can tailor the training to individuals by creating modules that suit their needs, learning styles and development goals. Reduce reliance upon external trainers who don’t know your employees, and say hello to engaged, motivated staff who see that the training is for their benefit and has been tailored to them rather than to the organisation.
Easy content authoring
Similarly, an LMS allows you to create content modules that reflect your business and its values, rather than opting for generic training put together by an external company that doesn’t know the ins and outs of your organisation. It also enables you to create bite-size modules that will be easier for staff to fit in around their work.
Assess progress
When you’re in control of training rather than an external company, it means you can schedule follow-ups to test learning and understanding or assess behavioural changes. Build these tests as part of the learning module, or schedule assessments for a later date: when you use LMS technology, you can adapt it to suit the needs of your business and employees.
Assess needs
Not only can you use an LMS to identify training needs, but you can also use the wealth of data collected as users progress through your courses to determine how effective the training is, whether there are any other needs and if the courses need to be adjusted in any way.
Issue rewards
An LMS allows you to issue rewards based on the number of hours spent on CPD, as well as certificates, ensuring you know who’s completed essential modules, and allowing them to keep their professional portfolio up to date.