‘If you can't measure your processes, you can't improve them!’ A sentence that is etched in my memory like chilli in a room. The second I heard it in 2010, I thought to myself: there must be something to it. After all, it came from a person who I really admired at the time because of his story and his professional success and expertise. We call him Peer, a 50-year-old entrepreneur who had secured a chair at my university after selling his logistics company. A man who, with his way of teaching, did not exactly choose the established ‘teaching’ path, but was probably the only one to be remembered. But why is Peer still relevant to me today?
Even in an extremely volatile and fast-moving economic world, there are things whose general validity and topicality are not lost. In the context of our last consultancy on the subject of ‘Revising the learning and development strategy’ at a medium-sized company, we call it Grantler AG, this was to prove true once again.
DESPAIR IN THE L & D AREA
But right from the start: The first step was taken in the traditional way by contacting our sales team. Karin contacted us with a slightly desperate email. As the person responsible for HR, she described how the company, which has around 890 employees, had spent an enormous amount of money on a strategic reorganisation of the L&D process a good 3.5 years ago. This included rolling out an LMS and converting a large number of training courses into WBTs (web-based training) - a task that had tied up a large part of the existing resources in the training area in the years since its introduction. The reason why Swissteach was contacted: ‘Unfortunately, the whole thing didn't really get off the ground - or rather, not any more.’ After initial euphoria among the entire workforce, there was now massive disillusionment and frustration when it came to training and further education, says Karin. But nobody could explain it. They had done everything possible to utilise the full potential of the company. Had they miscalculated?
After initial online meetings with Karin and her two team leaders Rainer and Frank, it quickly became clear that we could help! The company had been forced to switch to working from home and online meetings during the pandemic. This also meant that online training sessions had to be organised, which also raised the question of whether an LMS would be useful. It was hoped that ‘more systems would enable us to handle online business better’, says Frank.
It was 12 May 2024 when my colleague and I had our first on-site meeting with the training managers in beautiful Oberstrudingen. It quickly became clear that the level of frustration had risen sharply again since the phone call with us. In order to help the company and the team as quickly as possible and to take stock of the situation, we gradually began to scrutinise the background to the L&D process.
THE GOAL – WHERE THE JOURNEY SHOULD GO
First exciting point: When the idea of an LMS first came up at Grantler AG, the motivation was huge. There were so many possibilities that promised enormous potential for improvement for the company. And so, after defining the 20 most important requirements, the decision was made in favour of the manufacturer that offered the best ratio of degree of fulfilment and price. The resulting coordination with the service provider and programming department kept Karin and her team fully occupied for the following six months - so much so that the most important task in the course of L&D's reorganisation completely disappeared from the radar: the objective of the revised process!
What did the company want to achieve with training and further education using an LMS? Faster onboarding? More employee satisfaction? Involvement of suppliers in training? And above all: How should the future L&D process support the company's core processes and objectives? In 2022, all these factors were pushed into the background by all the detailed work on process mapping on the digital platform. During the conversation with Karin, it became clear that although there were obviously links to the company's overall strategy, they were not written down and could not be explained spontaneously or trivially. This also explained Karin's second problem, the lack of support from management. If it is not known where and in what form training and further education is actually ‘paying in’, how can budgets, resources and investments be planned and authorised? There was no basis for decision-making, so it was clear where we had to start first.
ALL DIGITAL - THE KEY TO HAPPINESS?
Due to the high time pressure at the time, it was also not possible to plan the number and selection of training courses to be transferred from face-to-face to online training. It was important to get the system up and running first. After all, numerous employees also had to be trained in the administration and handling of the system. As soon as this was done, a strategic decision had to be made on the selection of training courses. Small spoiler: This decision was not made until then. After two colleagues had been trained on a selected AUTHORING TOOL in 2023, the transfer of the first training courses could begin.
And of course we started where the company's obligations and the pain were greatest: The mandatory training for each individual employee, such as the topic of occupational safety. Gradually, more and more training sessions were organised in a shorter and shorter period of time, as there was naturally also a learning effect when using the authoring tool. ‘The two responsible content managers are worth their weight in gold for us today. We wouldn't be where we are without them!’ says Karin. A fact that could not be disputed. But the whole thing had taken on a life of its own. Each of the approximately 75 managers in the company was able to ‘order’ the digitalisation of training content, which the two content managers immediately took on.
In the meantime, there were a large number of WBTs, in the creation of which the flexibilisation of employees' learning processes played less of a role than the fact that these training courses could also be carried out from home. Employees were encouraged to take part in further training after ‘work was done’. The result: employee motivation plummeted. Who wanted to attend training sessions with their family after work? The works council at Grantler AG had already received a number of complaints. Due to the urgency of the situation, this also had to be remedied immediately - step two of our meeting on 12 May 2024.
A SYSTEM IS GOOD - BUT THE SURROUNDING AREA?
The learning process itself was optimised following the introduction of the LMS. What was learnt was checked using short tests and gamification elements and, if passed, was documented and saved with digital certificates. However, individual process components remained the same after the introduction of the LMS as they were before the introduction: the administrative processes. Here, too, we returned to the two content managers. They were contacted by email as standard if a change or digitisation of training content was required.
These ‘orders’ were collected in a table and divided up between the two people according to effort, topic and area of operation. New training content that arose due to revised legislation or changes in the company's controlled processes also had to be communicated manually within the company. Process owners sent emails throughout the company to explain the change in the process to as many relevant departments as possible. If things went optimally, HR and the content managers were not forgotten. Unfortunately, this was not the case in 20% of all cases. Delays, displeasure and backtracking were the rule until, after an undefined period of time, finished and consumable training courses were actually produced. This was an immense, resource-intensive effort that placed a heavy burden on the training department.
Item 3 on our to-do list: As the administrative processes surrounding the LMS were immense and had not yet been subject to any kind of efficiency analysis, we had to ensure that information actually got to where it was needed. And not just at some point, but at the right time. The solution: a workflow engine! This could be completely customised and designed to suit the circumstances. Of course, we were aware that this was not a task for a fortnight, but in the medium and long term it brought massive relief in the area of training and reduced the pain points described above. The final tests of the workflow system were completed in November and the whole thing went live. The result: the classic 80-20 approach. 80% of all orders for changing or creating training courses can now be processed automatically in a stable manner. Only 20% of all orders require ‘special treatment’ due to their nature. Tendency: falling sharply!
WHERE DOES THE GRANTLER AG STAND TODAY?
Anyone who assumes that Swissteach was focussed on selling GLOBAL TEACH® as part of the consultation as an LMS provider is mistaken. We were utilised as a consulting service provider and enabled the company to identify its areas of activity together with Swissteach. Together with Karin and her team, we were also able to establish that Grantler's existing LMS was a perfect fit for the company's requirements - an extremely important basis for the continuation of our cooperation.
This was followed a week later, on 12 May 2024, by a one-day workshop with the responsible Grantler management member. Based on the existing corporate strategy, the exact areas where training and development provided strategic advantages were identified. In the course of this workshop, it was also further analysed which metrics could be used to continuously monitor this. The result of this day: Karin now has a target system of defined KPIs in her hand. The management member made a significant contribution to the development of the system and knows these relationships inside out. The KPIs can be used to see exactly how the L&D process is performing. Input comes from the LMS itself, which provides the necessary database. The whole thing can be conveniently viewed in edited form on Karin's dashboard in the morning. No more flying blind!
Using a workflow engine, our new product ‘GLOBAL TEACHh® FLOW’, we were able to kill several birds with one stone: Firstly, the order system for changes or the creation of training concepts was set up as a classic request-approval process. The prerequisite for an order is now that the respective applicants actually demonstrate the added value from the learners' point of view - a thought process that was previously insignificant and therefore non-existent. Approval is granted by Rainer, the team leader of the Content and Course Architecture department. He coordinates the application with the department in terms of both content and necessity. Secondly, the content managers no longer had any Excel and memory lists. The workflow engine now also provides an overview of the order backlog. No more chaos!
And the best thing about it: it has now become clear that such a system of application authorisation is also useful in many other administrative processes. Grantler AG now also uses this tool to organise all face-to-face courses. Courses are planned, the availability of external trainers is checked in real time and invitations are sent out. Even the hotels and other resources such as catering or workshop equipment are managed via the tool.
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL?
Absolutely! We wouldn't have left the project any earlier if it were otherwise. It was very important to us at Swissteach to make Grantler's L&D process ‘fly’ again. And together with a great team at Grantler, we managed to do just that.
However, one thing is immensely important: even if the interaction is now well organised and the employees are happy to go through training again, one thing is certain: change will also lead to the L&D process having to be rethought and changed in the future. And as the saying goes: ‘If you can't measure your processes, you can't improve them!’