According to research conducted by Siemens, a business with 100 employees averages 17 hours of downtime a week clarifying communication. Annually, that translates to a cost of $528,443. Putting it mildly, yikes!
Training and eLearning initiatives aren’t immune to poor team communication. How often are new employees slow to pick up the procedures they need to effectively learn their jobs? And how often are new processes or rollouts delayed simply because one little question takes days to get answered? Better communication should solve these problems, but many learning management systems are ill-equipped to handle this task. Fortunately, LMS extensions are available that can fill the gaps plaguing your communication efforts.
The Communication Technology of Yesteryear
Consider the technologies employees might have used 10 years ago to engage in team communication. Instant messaging was the rage, but it usually required outside programs and was not integrated into company systems. Texting was just taking off, but typing on a cell phone with a standard numerical keypad was a pain. Aside from the telephone (and face-to-face conversations, of course), email was the primary way employees communicated with each other. But push notifications were all but nonexistent and email wasn’t quite adapted to mobile devices yet, so if you sent an urgent message, you had to cross your fingers that the recipient was checking his or her inbox to see it in a timely manner.
Of course, communication methods have evolved in the last decade, to the point that we take texting and everywhere email access for granted. However, an LMS designed for 2004 technology may not be well-suited for the technology of today. That gap can hamper team communication and, ultimately, productivity.
The Team Communication Possibilities with an LMS Extension
An innovative extension can introduce the team communication tools an LMS might be lacking. Among the possibilities:
- Direct messaging: Employees won’t need to inform their superiors on a training problem and wait for their comments to go up the ladder; direct messaging will allow feedback to reach the appropriate manager without any middle steps.
- Quicker team communication: Instead of asking a question and waiting for a reply, communication becomes a dialogue that can take place in minutes instead of days.
- Content-specific feedback: Have you ever received an email directing you to another piece of content, necessitating some digital gymnastics while repeatedly reading the message and switching to the other medium? A quality LMS extension allows comments to be attached to directly to training content so you aren’t bouncing between programs.
- Advanced media: Certain extension will allow for audio and video messaging. Imagine watching a video, shot by front-line employees, of a rollout in progress rather than just reading about it, thus giving you valuable insight on what’s working and what needs tweaking.
The Advantages of Better Team Communication
Once an LMS extension enhances the way communication operates within your training initiatives, the benefits will be obvious:
- Instant feedback: Previously, employees might have hesitated to offer their opinions or ask questions simply because there was no easy method to do so. The right solution removes that barrier, thus allowing workers dynamic communication that improves their jobs and helps the company’s bottom line.
- Instant answers: When team communication improves via an LMS extension, the ability to provide guidance back to employees will become more efficient as well. Inevitably, productivity should increase as processes and procedures are learned faster and more efficiently. Moreover, managers can offer personalized praise and encouragement this way.
- Company-wide communication: Say that a field employee in New Hampshire notices a problem with a training process. He or she relays comes up with a solution and includes this information within the LMS. Now, employees around the country will have access to that solution and apply it at their locations. This sort of collaboration fosters best practices from the workforce itself.
How does team communication fit in with your LMS?
