Rolling out an employee development program for your organization is a big initiative, and requires the support of your company influencers to be successful. These influencers are the top 3-5% of your organization who, despite being a small group, influence close to 40% of the morale and engagement of your total organization.
As digital learning and development professionals, it’s critical to understand why your learning program needs company influencers, how to identify and engage them, and how to measure success. We’ll explore all of these topics in our three-part series in partnership with Performica.
6 Key Strategies
Launching an employee development program for your organization is a major initiative – one which you now see may be more successful if you enlist the help of company influencers. In Part 1 of this 3-part series, we focused on why influencers are important and how to identify them. Now, let’s explore strategies for gaining the support of your company’s influencers for your learning initiative.
It’s clear that company influencers have a vital impact on the ebb and flow of morale and engagement at your company. As you roll out an employee development program, it’s essential that you get these key employees on board with your new learning initiative. As we mentioned previously, it’s important to identify and engage them early in the process because they can be helpful in shaping not only the rollout of your initiative, but the initiative itself.
Here are five key strategies to keep in mind.
1. Build Relationships.
First, start by building relationships with these influencers. Ideally, set up one-on-one meetings with them to make it clear that a relationship with them is your priority. Discuss your learning initiative and how they can use their influence to help with your goals. Ensure that they know you want to add value where you can for them as well, looking for commonalities, and genuinely building a good working relationship with them.
2. Make Influencers Feel Valued.
Make sure you let these influencers know how much you value their contributions to the company. Explain how their involvement can positively impact their colleagues’ professional development, and how their support of the learning initiative can help the company reach its goals.
3. Communicate the Benefits.
Clearly communicate the benefits of the learning initiative, both for the company and for the employees. Provide detailed information about how the initiative can improve employee skills and performance, and how it can lead to better productivity, customer satisfaction, and overall business success. It’s also important that you communicate the benefits to them personally–improving skills, increasing odds for receiving promotions and additional compensation, learning more efficient and effective ways to do their jobs, etc.
4. Provide Incentives.
Consider offering incentives like recognition and rewards to your company influencers for their support of the learning initiative. You could also offer them the opportunity to lead or facilitate some of the learning sessions, or give them a special badge in the LMS as recognition for their support. You may also want to recognize them for completing some of the courses, and promote those as courses they particularly enjoyed to the broader community. This offers the added benefit of encouraging others to enroll in the courses.
5. Involve Them in the Process.
Include these influencers whenever possible in the development of the learning initiative and the rollout plan. Truly listen to their input and incorporate it into your strategy. This can help them feel invested in the initiative – and make them much more likely to champion it to their colleagues. It will also improve your initiative, as they bring a different perspective that can provide a voice to your larger community.
6. Use an LMS to Connect.
A learning management system (LMS), like FACTS Learning Management System, can help you collaborate effectively with your company influencers, gather their insights, and enhance your learning initiative. No matter how large your company is, communicating with and capturing valuable feedback from influencers will be simple with this helpful tool.
Using these strategies will help you develop a learning initiative that will speak more directly to your employees than if you hadn’t involved your company influencers. You’ll also have the support of these influencers as you roll out your initiative, increasing the chance that employees will be receptive and interested in engaging with your program. Just remember to continually communicate to your influencers the importance of the initiative and the value of their support throughout the process.
Wondering how you’ll be able to measure the success of your learning program with company influencers? Stay tuned. We’ll cover that in Part 3 .
