I’ve recently been spending time reading about change management issues and placing them in the context of e-learning implementation. Nearly all of the problems associated with implementation are down to people and not technology. Thankfully, many now realise that considering learners is key to developing successful e-learning.

Yet so many organisations forget to consider internal stakeholders. As Don Morrison says in his excellent book:

“Adoption is a landmine on the road to e-learning. Other higher profile challenges you can see a mile off: management support, project management, infrastructure, security, vendor selection, system integration. When you’ve dealt with those – and are beginning to feel invincible – adoption will be waiting, ready to undermine everything you’ve accomplished. For e-learning to succeed, employees need to use what you’ve built; more than use, they have to adopt it as a new way of working that is capable of creating a fundamental shift in learning.”

Trainers are often the gatekeepers to learner use of e-learning. IT departments are often responsible for taking control of the management of a LMS after implementation. Yet many of these people are excluded from initial strategy discussions.

There is some fantastic information about IT-based process change in Cameron & Green’s classic “Making sense of Change Management” updated in 2009). The following quote rang very true for me:

“… IT management skills are critical to an organisation’s ability to incorporate the technologies… However, IT staff are often left out of the core decision-making processes and treated as implementers rather than strategists. … “

Similarly, Cameron & Green note that the traditional role of the IT department in an organisation needs to evolve in order to start to understand business strategy:

“The days of the highly specialised in-house technical IT expert are probably numbered… those IT people who can understand technology, be aware of what is ‘out there’ and what it can do for organisations, plus grasp how to create the changes desired by the organisation are highly valuable.”

C&G provide cautionary advice to those considering e-learning implementation in the absence of addressing cultural change:

“Problems come when senior managers and IT people believe that technology will automatically change behaviour. Often the reverse happens: the new technology reinforces the habits and attitudes already present.”

In my experience, time and again I meet companies looking for e-learning solutions, and focusing on comparisons of technology (which LMS, LCMS, VLE, authoring tool, development software?) whilst failing (or avoiding) the consideration of the more intangible questions (what do learners want? How can we integrate suggested changes with the training/IT/business strategy departments? Who can we involve to champion these changes in-house? What are the possible blockers and drivers to implementation?). These are the issues that take a bit more thought perhaps but actually cost very little, particularly in relation to their impact.

In November 2010 I was chuffed to get a call from Dennis C-M at PMI to let me know that our latest set of Six Sigma e-learning modules had won a silver Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning award. Fantastic news! Dennis had the pleasure of jetting off to SanFran to collect the award, whilst I juggled the end of maternity leave and tried to remember what it was like to get dressed up for awards ceremonies!

I’ve worked with PMI for nearly eight years and I can’t think of a better organisation to have as a client. They really practice what they preach in terms of managing a process and striving to make it better. They always consider the ‘people’ as well as the ‘process’ aspect, and they always highlight the importance of data collection and monitoring. I learn as much from them as I hope they do from me. Here’s to the success of many future projects.

Welcome to the new Timmus Limited blog! You’ll probably notice that we now have a new website and logo. This marks a return to work for me, following the second (and final ) bout of maternity leave.

The last year has seen many changes, notably in the closure of many of the education quangos that I often worked with. There are some great people who were made redundant, many of whom are now heading off to work in the e-learning and education sector in the Middle East. It’s a real loss of skills for the UK, but I wish them loads of luck with their new ventures.

On a brighter note, I’ve had a number of discussions with corporate organisations in regard to the design / redesign of learning and training systems. The current climate has focused attention on the importance of sound strategy, usability, and the importance of testing and leaner-centric design rather than thoughtless big budget spend. Let’s hope 2011 sees some clear thinking and some true success stories.