Editor's Note: Lance Dublin will present the third and final of a series of Webinars, (co-sponsored by WorkplaceXpert newsletter, Infocus and Presenters University) on the topic of the future of e-learning. To register to attend this free Webinar, scheduled for April 21, at 10AM PST (1PM EST), by  clicking here.

*  business case and e-learning strategy
*  ROI (return on investment) & ROE (return on expectations)
*  e-learning components - and mix of delivery methods
*  content and instructional design
*  tools, technologies and infrastructure
*  organization and processes
*  marketing and communication programs
*  change management programs
*  evaluation and metrics - both qualitative and quantitative
*  sponsorship and governance
*  roles and responsibilities

The e-Learning tune-up process is straight forward and consists of just three steps: 1) data collection; 2) data analysis; and 3) recommendations.  Data collection typically includes interviews, reviews and audits. It might also include surveys and focus groups.

You want to look at not only the specifics of your e-learning, but also at your organizational culture and operational environment.  In data analysis you want to look at your past successes and failures as well as the new data to identify trends and opportunities. And, finally you want to develop a prioritized and ranked list of recommended 'quick-hits' - actions you can take immediately to increase both the efficiency and effectiveness of your e-learning - as well as necessary long-term improvements or fixes. An e-learning tune-up should typically take from 3-6 weeks, depending on the complexity and scope of your e-learning program.

It's important to also consider who should do this work for your organization.  Although you know your e-learning program better than anyone, you may, in fact, be too close to it.  We are all only human and it is very difficult to be objective about something that is so near and dear to our heart - and career! So, consider bringing in experts from either outside your immediate organization or from outside your company. These experts should know their way around e-learning and have access to a wide network of technical specialists for support. As with any talented mechanic, it will be beneficial if they've been under the hood of many an organization's e-learning, knowledge management, performance support, and training systems. They should know what's worked and what's failed in other organizations. Their diagnostic tools and processes should be able to pinpoint where e-learning programs and corporate objectives are out of alignment and help you spot immediate opportunities for cutting costs, increasing participation, gaining executive support, and delivering meaningful business results.

Here are some things for you to think about as you consider ways to tune-up your e-learning program.

Alignment
Alignment is critical to cars and also to e-learning programs. If your program is not aligned with your organizations business strategies, you can't be successful. All too often company's e-learning 'strategies' consist of independent and un-related purchases from over-eager vendors. It's imperative that your e-learning strategy supports your organization's learning strategy which in turn supports its people or human capital strategy.  To do this, you need to make sure you understand how your organization works and what's important to it today - and into the future. You need to think like an MBA and not a trainer.

Vision
Oftentimes, e-learning programs fail to generate the necessary enthusiasm that is the fuel for their success.  In order to generate support and enthusiasm, you need to define a compelling vision.  Not some impossible to reach and understand statement of hopes and dreams. But, rather something that is easy to understand and put into practice. A vision that speaks to learners, managers and the organization as a whole. 'On-time performance' or 'Right Knowledge at the right time in the right way' are good examples. Please note, cost reduction is not one. Cost reduction is a benefit. But, it does not inspire or excite. Everyone wants things to be as cheap as possible.

Systems
Just as there are critical systems in any automobile, the success and performance of your e-learning program depends on its own set of critical systems.  The 'systems' that I feel are essential to the performance of your overall e-learning program include: culture, technology and systems, governance and leadership, skills and capabilities, content and curriculum, and organization and processes.  It's imperative that you understand how your current e-learning program is working and where the specific gaps exist. Tweaking any one of these systems can often produce the most significant results.

Choices
Every day there are more and more choices to choose from. New technologies come to market. New suppliers appear. New tools are available. It's important to understand your choices and make informed decisions that work for today and are aligned with your future directions.  It may be that you are missing just one critical element that will take your e-learning program to the next level.

Management Support 
No matter how motivating your vision, well thought out your strategy or appropriate your content, you still need to ensure the ongoing support of senior decision-makers and key influencers.  Without their support you may not get the chance to make the necessary adjustments and improvements.  Key to getting and maintaining their support is understanding what is important to them and then communicating to them in their language.  For example, it can be as simple as translating the usage reports from your LMS into business terms and tying them to critical business initiatives and results.

Change Management
No e-learning program implements itself. The truth is quite the opposite. e-Learning is a big deal because it represents a change that ripples through an organization. And, change is always a big deal to adults because most of us react to it based on emotion rather than logic. With e-learning you are changing the process of learning in an organization. And, by definition, the technologies, management systems and structures, competencies and culture are also being changed - oftentimes without an explicit understanding or agreement. Your choice then is whether to try to manage these changes, or ignore them and just let them happen.  An effective change management program needs to be in effect all of the time, not just at the initial roll-out.

Becoming Invisible
Getting your e-learning to work - completing the installation - is really just the first step. And, it is the easiest.  It's the next two stages, implementation and finally integration that are the really difficult ones. You know you've succeeded at installation when you e-learning runs error-free. You know you've succeeded at implementation when your targeted audiences are using the e-learning you've made available. But, getting to the next stage, integration, is the hardest. You know you've succeeded at this stage when your e-learning is invisible.  You are at this stage when no one even talks about e-learning or knows the name of your vendors. When e-learning becomes just the 'way things are done around here'.

Learning
To be successful you need to be in continual and over-lapping cycles of preparing, launching and sustaining. And, within each of these cycles you must be in process of learning - planning - developing - implementing - supporting - learning. Almost as soon as you have done the preparation and launched version 1.0 of your e-learning program, you should begin the preparation for version 2.0. And, in parallel, you need to be working within the organization to sustain the initial momentum. This is then repeated with version 2.5 or 3.0 and on and on. Think of e-learning as organizational software rather than a static program.

Clearly, being successful with e-learning is not magic. There isn't one approach that fits every business or organization.  e-Learning enables you to not only change your current learning processes to be more efficient and more effective, but also, literally transform the performance of your workforce and your organization as a whole. This is big stuff. It requires the best thinking from the best people inside and outside your organization. It requires constant attention and on-going maintenance.  And, bottom-line, it just makes good business sense to regularly tune-up your e-learning program to ensure its running at peak performance.

The other two articles of this series of Lance Dublin can be read at:

The Nine Myths of e-Learning Implementation: Ensuring Your Return on Your e-Learning Investment

  "If You Don't Know Where You're Going, Any Road Will Take You There: Lessons on e-Learning Strategy from the Cheshire Cat", 

About Lance Dublin
Lance Dublin has been an advocate for innovative approaches to learning and change throughout his career.  He went from designing a weeklong 'Experiment in Free Form Education' program in high school to co-founding one of the nations's first fully accredited 'University Without Walls'. Then recognizing the impact of new user-centered technologies on people, business and learning, he founded and built a company which became a leader in improving individual and organizational performance and implementing large-scale change.

Lance is now an independent management consultant based in San Francisco, California. He specializes in corporate learning and change management. His emphasis is in strategy development, program design, and change implementation. He brings to his work more than 30 years' experience in adult education and training, communication and change leadership, and motivation and innovation.  Lance can be reached by email at: ldublin@pacbell.net or by visiting his website: www.lancedublin.com.