Why Corporate Learning Management Systems (LMS) Suck

Why Corporate Learning Management Systems (LMS) Suck!

Has your company implemented a learning management system (LMS), but you still have an anemic learning culture? Here's why.

Having the mindset that your corporate LMS will solve your on-the-job performance problems is a trap that many L&D and executive leaders fall into.

L&D leaders must execute workplace training, learning, and development holistically. Yet the corporate LMS represents a single dimension of development. It gives training and talent development leaders information like:

• Learner Engagement Data: An LMS collects data on learner engagement, such as the number of logins, time spent on courses, completion rates, and assessment scores. Analysis of this data can help learning and development managers understand learner behaviors and preferences. For example, they can identify courses or modules that are highly engaging and popular among learners and those that may need improvement.
• Performance Data: LMSs capture data related to learner performance, including assessments, quizzes, and evaluations. Learning and development managers can analyze this data to evaluate individual and group performance, identify knowledge gaps, and assess the effectiveness of training programs. By identifying areas where learners struggle or excel, managers can tailor training interventions, provide additional support or resources, and track improvements over time. This analysis helps optimize training content and identify areas for reinforcement or remediation.
• Learning Progress and Completion Data: LMSs track learners' progress and completion of courses or training programs. This data provides insights into the pace of learning, bottlenecks, and overall course completion rates. Learning and development managers can analyze this data to identify potential barriers to completion, such as challenging content or ineffective learning strategies. They can intervene to provide additional resources, adjust course sequencing, or offer personalized support to learners who need to catch up.

The above three points offer valid information regarding how well learning content performs, how employees interact with the content, etc.

However, the LMS falls short because it cannot do everything we need. The purpose of the learning function is to help the business achieve its goals. In other words, how does a training intervention help save the company money or make more?

Examples.

1. Some estimate that hiring a new employee with benefits costs up to 40% of an employee's base salary. How does workplace learning impact employee retention? This information is stored in your company's human resources information system (HRIS).
2. If executives set the annual sales goal to capture an additional 3% of the market, how does on-the-job training help reach that goal? This information is stored in your customer relationship management (CRM) system (e.g., SalesForce or HubSpot).
3. The executive team may decide that in order to reach business goals, the company must increase organizational efficiency by 5%. With that, key leaders are trained in Six-sigma, and a project management office (PMO) is established. When decision-makers check in at the end of Q1 and Q2, they pull data from the organization's business intelligence (BI) tool.

In each example, performance is the metric. Not the performance of the learning content but the employee's performance in their job. A learning management system alone can only provide a one-dimensional view regarding workplace employee training, learning, and development.??

When corporate executives count the learning function as a strategic business unit (like R&D, sales, product, marketing, etc.) and invest in it appropriately, it empowers learning leaders to operate strategically.

Workplace learning interventions are not about how many butts we can get in the seats (or how many squares we can get on Zoom). L&D can be the lifeblood of an organization, but only implementing an LMS falls short.

Big and relevant training programs must be tied to business KPIs, meaning companies' executives must expand their perspective and build a robust learning and performance ecosystem. xAPI, with the right technology, can connect the LMS, HRIS, CRM, LXP (learning experience platform), WMS (warehouse management system), business intelligence (BI) tools, and marketing systems. Building the proper ecosystem overcomes the limitations of the corporate learning platform. Do this, and your LMS won't suck anymore.

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