# 5 Key Factors to Assess Your Organizational Readiness
Are you considering implementing a learning management system (LMS) but not sure if your organization is ready for it? Before you start outlining your objectives and looking for vendors, you need to first take a step back and assess if your organization is ready for an LMS. This will ensure that when you do make your decision your organization will be able to utilize the system to its full potential.
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# What is LMS and what are its benefits?
An LMS is a software platform that allows you to manage and deliver educational content to your learners. It's an excellent tool for organizations interested in providing flexible and efficient learning experiences to employees. Having an LMS can be useful when onboarding new employees, conducting annual training, or when implementing new software that requires training for users.
A LMS can enable progress toward strategic business goals for workforce and organizational effectiveness, process improvement and optimization, and digital transformation. According to a LinkedIn Learning Workplace Learning Report, skill sets for jobs have changed by about 25% since 2015. By 2027, this number is expected to double. An LMS can enable the reskilling and upskilling of your employees, helping them acquire the new skills and knowledge necessary to help your organization thrive in a changing and competitive business landscape.
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So, are you ready for an LMS? Here are five key factors to consider:
# Your LMS Readiness Guide
# 1. Learning Requirements
First, you need to have a clear understanding of your employees’ learning requirements and any skill gaps. It’s important to assess what your employees need to learn and how an LMS can help facilitate their learning process. This is a great time to understand what knowledge, skills, and abilities are expected of your team members to successfully perform their roles and achieve the organizational goals and objectives. If your organization has a competency matrix, use this to inform the necessary resources and content for your LMS.
# 2. Organizational Learning Culture
Another thing to consider is your organization's learning culture. Do you have a culture of continuous learning, or is learning something that happens only when necessary? What is the role of people managers to help enable a culture of learning? If you don't have a healthy learning culture, building a foundation and shifting the culture to one that not only promotes learning but is accepted by the team is critical in ensuring the success of any LMS. An LMS can support this culture by providing access to a wide range of learning resources, but the LMS cannot create the culture.
To start developing a culture of learning, begin by introducing and reinforcing a learning mindset during the new employee onboarding period. Encouraging and rewarding learning early on in an employee’s career can set the foundational building blocks of a learning mindset. Another way is directly connecting learning objectives to employees’ own success and their contributions to the organization’s achievements. This can be done through individual development planning, goal setting, and rewards programs.
People leaders are critical to creating the learning mindset. They set the example and provide support to employees throughout their learning journey. This support could be focusing time on building their individual development plan, sharing learning opportunities, and coaching them to put what they learn into practice in their day-to-day responsibilities. In most cases, manager training could be the priority in creating the learning culture even before the greater organization.
# 3. Technical Infrastructure
Next, you need to consider your technical infrastructure. Implementing an LMS requires a robust set of technical capabilities, including a reliable internet connection and sufficient storage capacity. The complete list of technical requirements will be determined by which LMS tool you ultimately select. Partnering with your IT team can help with ensuring all requirements are met, including making sure your IT team has the expertise to manage and maintain the LMS once implemented. The technical support required may include implementation, service ticket systems, username and password resetting, data governance, data hosting, and having a designated owner to escalate issues to the LMS provider.
# 4. Budget
Cost is also an important factor to consider. Implementing an LMS can require a significant financial investment depending on what LMS provider you select. Therefore, you will need to have a budget approved prior to selection. You need to consider the cost of purchasing the LMS, licensing fees, ongoing maintenance, and support costs. It's also important to factor in the cost of creating and delivering content, including multimedia and interactive content. This could include onboarding a dedicated training team or bringing on a consultant team for support.
# 5. Implementation Support
Last, you need to have a strong implementation and change management support team in place. They will be responsible for the socialization of the new tool and training employees to use the LMS effectively. In addition, you will also need a plan in place for monitoring the effectiveness of the LMS and making improvements where necessary. This is one of the most challenging aspects of implementing an LMS. Not only do you need to focus on change adoption, but highlighting the benefits of the new system will go a long way toward reinforcing the need and benefit of an LMS.
# Conclusion
Implementing an LMS can be critical for organizations that want to stay competitive in today's fast-paced business world. However, before making the investment, you need to consider whether you're ready for an LMS. By thinking through these factors first you can determine whether an LMS is the right solution for your organization or what might need to be put in place first to be ready.
