Navigating the process of transforming old content into a modern learning ecosystem
If your business has been in the industry for a long time, it is likely to retain a “dead horse.” This could be a compliance course that produces less than tangible results, an outdated onboarding system, or a feedback collection system that no one uses anymore. The challenge often lies not in recognizing these ineffective practices, but in making the bold decision to move beyond them. To update redundant processes and introduce innovation into L&D strategies, you must do more than simply delete an old system and replace it with a new one. You need to establish a strategic process to help identify problem areas, implement necessary changes, facilitate a smooth transition, and most importantly, ensure long-term success.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to take to identify and rehabilitate the “dead horses” in your organization.
7 steps to introduce innovation into old L&D strategies
1. Identify the problem with the learning audit
Fixing a problem requires first identifying it. While there are certainly signs that indicate when a learning program may be ineffective, it is important to have a systematic process in place. In particular, we recommend conducting regular learning audits to take a closer look at your L&D strategy and determine what’s working, what’s missing, or what needs improvement.
What do you need to include in this learning audit to ensure that? Think of it as a complete inventory of your L&D portfolio, from courses and modules to systems and content in all forms. Once you identify your pass, you can analyze who uses those elements, how often, and how valuable they are to day-to-day operations. Additionally, evaluate how each training course supports organizational goals and its impact on employee performance. Combine this quantitative data with employee and management feedback to better understand the actual effectiveness of each component in your L&D strategy.
2. Make a list of priorities
The biggest mistake when trying to introduce innovation into your L&D strategy is trying to tackle all aspects of it at once. For this reason, once you’ve completed the audit, you must create a prioritized list ranking each ineffective item that needs to be refreshed, redesigned, or retired entirely. This approach helps you manage your team’s workload and minimize disruptions to day-to-day operations.
If you’re wondering which item belongs in which category, the following questions will clarify things:
- Is the training content accurate and useful to employees but in a format that fails to engage them? Next, consider refreshing the content with a new shorter visual or module.
- Are you seeing low engagement rates due to outdated content and ineffective learning methods? If so, your training program needs a redesign to update the content and introduce a modern learning framework.
- Is the training material outdated, redundant, misaligned with organizational objectives, and consistently producing poor learning outcomes? In this case, retiring the program may be a wise option.
3. Collect employee feedback
One of the most common reasons organizations end up with learning “dead horses” is that they are not collecting feedback effectively. This happens when inadequate communication channels are in place or when employees do not feel safe using them. However, it’s invaluable for employees to say, “This strategy isn’t working and we need to change it,” without worrying about any negative consequences. In addition, L&D programs are designed for them, and their feedback is vital in making them as effective as possible. So, start by creating a supportive environment where employees feel safe to speak their minds, and then conduct regular surveys and one-on-one meetings. You can also include questions about the company’s L&D strategy in retention and exit interviews to gather additional insight.
4. Reshape the measurement of success
To reintroduce innovation into your L&D program, you may need to redefine the metrics that measure its effectiveness. In many cases, ineffective strategies go unnoticed because they achieve high attendance or completion rates. However, when you consider that many training initiatives are mandatory for employees, monitoring these metrics alone has little to do with the real value gained.
If you want to truly modernize your strategy and maximize learning effectiveness, you need to focus on metrics like skill application, behavioral impact, performance improvement, increased confidence, and engagement. These factors show how much employees have learned and how training initiatives have improved their performance. To gather this information, you should consider learning management systems that can track a variety of qualitative information about the learning experience.
5. Redesign with agility in mind
A modern L&D strategy that keeps up with technological advances and learning needs must, first and foremost, be agile. This means you can’t see it as a collection of disjointed content and activities, but as a cohesive learning ecosystem that takes into account not only the content but also the learning experience and feedback. This will allow it to evolve holistically and adapt to the changing needs of your organization and industry.
There are various elements that can ensure an agile learning ecosystem. For one, it is important to keep up with modern learning trends to keep learning engaging. For this reason, you need to provide learners with microlearning experiences as well as blended learning options that combine self-paced learning with virtual instructor-led training (VILT), peer learning, and other methods. Moreover, you can use AI-powered tools to personalize learning recommendations. Finally, as mentioned above, feedback is important, which is why it needs to feature prominently in your L&D strategy.
6. Ensure a smooth transition
Introducing innovation into your L&D strategy is a long process that will not go unnoticed by employees. Still, it doesn’t need to cause discomfort, confusion or disruption to your normal activities. But how can you make sure it doesn’t? The secret is to be transparent and maintain communication.
Before starting a change, clearly define the reasons behind it and what employees should expect to see by the end of the change. It can also be helpful to identify advocates, such as managers and instructors, who can provide guidance and support when needed. This support can also come from knowledge bases that help employees better understand new tools and processes. Finally, it’s important to celebrate any successful milestones in modernizing your L&D strategy. Recognizing progress fosters a positive environment and reinforces their efforts.
7. Focus on continuous improvement
A final point to remember is that the process of innovating your organization’s learning and development strategy never really ends. Even after everything is updated, new technologies or learning trends will eventually make some learning courses or modules obsolete or outdated. Therefore, you need to create a continuous improvement loop that will ensure that your training programs are always up to speed with industry needs.
The continuous improvement loop consists of four steps, called the PDCA cycle:
- The plan Analyze the current situation to identify problem areas and brainstorm possible solutions. This refers to the learning audit we described earlier.
- do it In this step, test small groups of learners with beta versions of the training programs you plan to implement. This allows you to collect data on the effectiveness of your entire audience without involving them.
- Check. Compare the results with what you were expecting to improve and improve to increase effectiveness.
- Act When the previous steps are complete, even if you have to repeat the first three multiple times, you can create a full-scale version of your advanced training program. Do so only when you have sufficient evidence to support its effectiveness.
The result
Gracefully ending your organization’s learning with a “dead horse” is easier said than done. It’s a conscious effort to let go of what no longer works for you to make space for new content that will make your L&D strategy more innovative, efficient and impactful. In this article, we discussed how to successfully reintroduce innovation into your L&D strategies by systematically assessing your situation, gathering feedback, testing new learning strategies, and redesigning L&D with L&D agility in mind. Couple that with a culture of open communication, and your organization will be able to consistently identify and remediate ineffective strategies.
