How to build a business case for your new learning platform

丽塔代理

战略学习伙伴经理

In your eyes, the case is clear: your learners need the best. Yet even when learning is high on the strategic agenda, it can be challenging to convince senior stakeholders to commit to the budget your learners deserve.

So how do you help them see the future, where the 45% of people who’d move jobs for better learning，正在向你走来? Where your online learning platform is at the heart of a business-wide 学习文化?

一切从学习开始. Learning where your organization is headed, 您现有的工具是如何执行的, 你的员工怎么想. 并利用这些数据来证明改变的合理性.

Here are the 8 steps to building a bullet-proof business case for your learning platform.

步骤1
理解学习的战略作用

At this stage, your job is to underst和:

• 现在的业务在哪里?
• 我们想在5年内达到什么水平?
• How will learning get us there efficiently?

答案可能是这样的:

我们不能 预测未来，但我们可以为此做好准备. The more you know how your organization could evolve, the easier it is to assess which providers will support you best on that journey.

步骤2
评估现有L的质量&D程序

Even if you don’t have a platform, learning is happening in your organization. 这种学习是什么样的呢? 它对团队的服务有多好? Here are some questions to help you underst和 your baseline.

学习反馈

• How do we measure the efficacy of our learning initiatives?
• What feedback do we have on our current L&D程序?
• 我能追踪别人的吗 参与水平 完成率?
• Do our courses allow people to go at their own pace? 如果不是，它会帮助完成率吗?
• 我们想要增加社会学习吗?
• Can we measure the impact of learning initiatives on business performance?

学习方面的技术协助

• 平台的响应能力如何? If someone is struggling with course content, how does the platform help people to improve their knowledge?
• 学习数据有多好 整合到我们的技术堆栈中， 例如人力资源系统或crm?
• 我们如何促进在线学习?
• What percentage of our learning admin tasks require manual work?

实践时间

• How long does it take to create prep live sessions?
• Can we author our own sessions, or do we have to pay an additional fee?
• 我们得到了很好的客户服务吗?

Once you have the answers to these questions, compare your findings to the business scenario you uncovered in step one. Will your existing learning platform or current initiatives help you reach those 5-year goals?

步骤3
戴上你的发现帽

发现 is a process that agile product teams use to help them build the right things for their customers. 这个过程的关键是客户调查.

在L&D，我们的客户是我们的学习者. The better we underst和 their world, the greater our chances of choosing the 正确的数字学习平台.

This is where quantitative 和 qualitative data come in. The quantitative data show you what your customers are doing or thinking. For example, how much learners use or appreciate the learning program you have today. Qualitative data tell you why they behave 和 think the way they do. Together, these data can provide 强大的 evidence for change.

对你的员工进行定量调查

Surveying is a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with HR or Marketing. And you don’t need an advanced HR stack to do it. 一个快速 谷歌形式, typeform 或者Slack的民意调查通常就能做到.

潜在的调查问题:

• In the past month, how many times did you take part in any voluntary learning?
• 从1到10分, how would you rate the quality of the course content in the last m和atory training you took?
• 从1到10分, how would you rate the quality of the platform based on the last m和atory training you took?
• On a scale of 1-10, how interested are you in learning from other students (colleagues)?
• 从1到10分, how relevant are our organization’s current learning initiatives for your current role?
• 从1到10分, how relevant are our organization’s current learning initiatives for your future career interests

在你调查的最后, invite employees to leave an email address if they would like to participate in follow-up interviews.

Get qualitative - find personal stories that resonate

1:1 interviews are more than a research tool. 他们告诉你的员工，L&D cares 和 takes their feedback seriously. Aim to hold at least 5, so that you can start to uncover recurring themes.

潜在的1:1面试问题:

• When you applied to work with us, how important was our learning program?
• You’ve said you don’t participate in many voluntary learning initiatives. 这是为什么??
• Walk me through the last time you used our learning platform. 这次经历怎么样??
• Do you have enough time to engage in learning? Would going at your own pace help you to engage in more learning?
• How well does our learning program help you to achieve your goals 和 build new skills?
• When you hear about a new training, how do you feel? 兴奋? 感兴趣? 无聊? 恼怒的?
• What do you wish we were doing with learning that we aren’t today?
• Are we living up to our Employer Br和 promise? 怎么这么? 你认为L&D对业务很重要? 这是为什么??

Ask an extra why at every opportunity; it’s where the golden insights lie. And remember: the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. If you ask how likely someone would be to do something in the future, they will give more optimistic or socially acceptable answers.

最后但并非最不重要的是，做大量的笔记. These quotes 和 stories will play a 强大的 role in your business case story—which we’ll come to in step 8.

步骤4
从L那里学习团队需要什么&D

Once you’ve interviewed your customers (employees), it’s time to 与同事合作. The stakeholder workshop is an ideal format. You can gather representative leaders from all core functions. Collectively explore how you work with skills development now, 和 what will be needed to deliver the business’s mission.

Workshop questions to explore current 和 future skills

• Are there roles that you’re struggling to fill? 这改变了吗?? 为什么?
• 今天我们如何衡量技能? 我们希望它在未来是什么样子?
• Do people prefer to learn at their own pace? 为什么?
• 我们应该在什么时候衡量技能?
• What types of new skills will we need in the future?

Workshop questions to explore current 和 future partnerships

• 我们现在的L有多好&D roll-out support our mission 和 vision?
• What do your teams say about our learning initiatives 和 tools?
• How easy is creating courses 和 scheduling assignments?
• What is the feedback HR gathers about existing learning initiatives?
• • How well are we meeting employee expectations?
• • How well does our LMS represent our employer br和ing?
• 什么能让你的生活更轻松?

小贴士:试试 100美元的运动. It’s a fun way to underst和 where your colleagues would prioritize spending, 和 why.

After the workshop, look for recurring themes. Just as with your employee interviews, you’ll want these in your business case.

步骤5
创建一个学习提供者的候选名单

电子学习市场价值连天 2021年将达到3150亿美元. 有很多供应商. 你该如何评价他们? When assessing who to shortlist, make sure to compare:

• 公司使命和价值观
• 当前特性集
• 产品愿景和路线图
• 伙伴关系的兼容性

Behind every great platform is a team of people. 这些人是你想要共事的吗? This question is more important than you think.

步骤6
Demo providers with your highest-impact team

你面试过你的员工. Now it’s time to get them in on the action 和 let them try the 你正在考虑的平台.

Using your highest-performing team is a great tactic. Present the team with your shortlist of providers, explaining the benefits 和 limitations of each. Listen to 和 underst和 what this team needs from a digital learning platform, what high quality courses look like to them, 让他们来指导每个供应商, 以及他们喜欢的反馈.

If you’ve chosen your shortlist well, you should be happy to work with any provider on the list. 让证据, 奖状, 和 feedback from this highly engaged team narrow that list down to a clear winner.

步骤7
量化无所事事的成本

In any negotiation, your audience needs to know the cost of inertia. Even with all the positive examples you present, you need to be able to demonstrate how inactivity will damage the business.

销售:

"It currently takes us 3 months to onboard 和 skill new Sales Development Reps (SDR). 每SDR要花费我们XXXX英镑. With an agile online learning platform, that 与我们的人力资源技术堆栈集成，我们可以:

1. 为每个SDR量身定制培训, meaning only necessary trainings are allocated, 减少总训练时间20%
2. Provide HR with insights about each SDR, reducing review prep time by 15%
3. Update SDR training in real time, saving 1 month staff time every year"

Time 和 cost savings like these are hard to ignore. If you’re struggling to run the numbers, call in a favor from Finance. After all, these figures will benefit them too in the long run.

步骤8
把你的故事结合起来

要说服他们，数字是不够的. To make your final business case document or presentation, 你需要一个合乎逻辑的故事, 强大的, 和令人信服的.

Here’s how you bring together everything you learnt through the previous steps.

第一部分-抓住他们的注意力

• Is a change in your industry keeping your budget holder up at night?
• Is there a risk the company should be turning into an opportunity?
• 为什么学习是答案?

第二部分-陈述事实

• Statistics from your survey that highlight any low engagement
• Employee quotes from your interviews that prove the need for change

第3部分-突出危险区域

• 无所作为的总代价
• 公司目前的技能差距
• 雇主品牌的潜在风险
• The potential employee attrition 和 churn
• Time 和 cost wasted, for example in HR 和 hiring managers

第四部分-戏弄应许之地

• Your proposed learning platform as the solution
• 为什么 your new online learning platform will:
• • 解决员工的痛点
• • 缩小公司的技能差距
• • 保护雇主品牌
• • 节省时间和金钱
• • increase employee engagement 和 retention
• How you see the partnership evolving over at least 5 years
• Cost of the new learning platform 和 estimations of the business benefit
• How Learning will enable the company to achieve its strategic goals

一个结构化的故事会给你信心, shows your budget holders they are in safe h和s, 展示你的专业知识. You don’t have to build that story alone—ask your new learning platform provider for the support you need to get it pitch perfect.

Secure the learning platform your teams deserve

可靠的数据和细致入微的故事. That’s what lies behind a brilliant business case. It takes a lot of learning to get there, but that’s what L&D做得最好。.

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