If You Build It, Will They Come? (Improving Compliancy Among Your Learners)

This morning I had an interesting chat with “Chris from Tweeter”:

We had the opportunity to discuss ways of improving course compliancy among corporate learners.

Chris: Curt, some folks just don’t see the benefit of taking time from their busy schedule to do their e-learning courses.  Do have any suggestions on how to keep course compliancy high among our salespeople?

Curt: Chris, I’ve heard every excuse as to why folks won’t take their dose of e-learning.  Do any of these sound familiar?

• I don’t have time.
• I don’t see the benefits.
• I don’t know how to access the platform and launch the course.
• I don’t like the content. (It’s boooring!)
• I already know about the topic.
• I don’t have easy access to a computer.
• I need to be out on the floor, selling; not standing in front of a computer, taking courses.

Many organizations face the same problem: Their instructional designers build course offerings that receive little or no interest from the field. Of course, the IDs and management cannot understand this dilemma: “Why would anyone NOT want to retrieve additional knowledge necessary to improve their success in the workplace?” Well, in addition to the points mentioned above, many learners may not see the direct benefits that online training can offer. It simply is not visible to their personal bottom line.  So, how do we turn this around? The answer is quite simple…

The Carrot-and-Stick Approach to E-Learning Compliancy

Adopt a carrot-and-stick policy around your e-learning initiatives. On the stick side, you must get management ‘buy-in’ to mandate that your e-learning offerings are required, full participation is expected, and that it will be tracked and reported upon. Follow up on your mandate by running the reports and submitting them to the appropriate individuals who can then follow up with their team members. You may even pitch the proposal to your HR group and/or senior management to tie in course compliancy with performance management. How’s that for an incentive? (Hello Johnny…I see its time for your annual review upon which your bonus is based. I see you’re also interested in advancing in your position. Hmmm… it looks like you’ve taken fewer than 50% of the requisite online offerings. What do you have to say about that?) Also, it’s not enough to simply mandate that your offerings be completed fully and in a timely manner. You should establish stringent guidelines around your business process and communication. One good way to do this is through a regular and consistent corporate-wide announcements (e.g., email) regarding the status of online offerings: Be sure to communicate who is required to take them, when must they be completed, what will be the value and benefit to the learners, how will compliancy be measured and reported upon. The key here is consistency so that it establishes a precedent which soon becomes a habit among your associates. Be sure to stress the requirement of complying with the organization’s mandate along with the repercussions of non-compliance: “It is expected that all sales managers will successfully complete the ‘Strategic Sales Strategies’ course by Friday, Sept. 7th. All department managers will receive notification of their direct report’s compliancy. Those who have not completed the assignment as required, will be scheduled to meet with their manager to discuss issues surrounding their non-compliance. “  Okay, I might not word this so harshly but I did it to illustrate my point.  Now then, we’ve discussed the ’stick,’ which dictates the repercussions from not participating in the requisite online offerings.  Let’s chat briefly about the ‘carrot’ which identifies the incentives surrounding course compliance.   Incentives can take many forms and can be as simple as communicating that compliancy will be considered when establishing bonuses or reviewing applications for advancement in position.   Sometimes these incentives are more tangible and provide immediate gratification to the student:  “All those enrolled in the ‘Advanced Sales’ course who complete the offering with 70% or above will be eligible to win a new Garmin GPS Navigation System.”   Or, how about this example  “All associates who complete the ‘Negotation Strategies’ course by next Friday will receive a 20% discount on all iPod accessories.”  We have seen such direct, “money-in-your-pocket” incentive programs improve online course compliancy by as much as 80%.  (As for retention….. well, I’ll discuss that in another post.)  

Try the carrot-and-stick approach to improving compliancy among your learners.   You’ll like what you see.  I personally guarantee it!