Creative companies are innovative, they are able to pull off the ground and stay viable for sustainable periods. As an up-and-coming organization, how can you be labeled as innovative? How can you create and disrupt the status quo to stay aloft? One tried and tested strategy is eLearning. In this article, we explain what innovation is and how you can achieve it for your organization through eLearning.
Innovative organizations do not copy what other organizations do. Instead, they have a creative team that, based on extant research and best practices, comes up with out-of-the-box ideas to lure in more business. And these ideas, quite often, prove to be phenomenal!
Case studies are published in universities where innovative business ideas become theories that are sworn upon. A common pattern in such organizations is the continuous upgrade of the human resources through training and development.
Another prominent feature of innovative and creative companies is that they encourage the use of educational and productive technology to collaborate and disseminate knowledge. Knowledge is the main asset in these organizations. It is preserved and passed on as a heritage commodity from one generation of employees to the next.
How do these organizations leverage their creativity with innovation for long-term success?
Innovation is a product made of knowledge, curiosity and imagination.
The larger the volume of the knowledge repository in your organization, the greater ideas you have to play with. This yields a variety of products and services that are unique and new. So, what do the innovative companies do to establish the process of creativity within their employees?
Let’s uncover the three levels of creativity and knowledge that pave the way towards innovation through eLearning:
Discovery
The starting point of innovation through eLearning, or not, is discovery. Discovery can be made when learning about a phenomenon, a protocol or a process in an eLearning course. Discoveries are usually those “stumbled-upon” ideas that are simply being viewed from a new perspective.
When eLearning programs are meaningful and engaging to employees, they are able to connect their experience with new knowledge to make a discovery in practice or presentation of a product.
Invention
The second level of innovation is invention. By this, we mean a new tool, a new process or a new procedure that is adapted to the unique needs of the organization. eLearning development is based on filling the learning gaps of an organization. Once employees overcome these gaps, they are able to invent new ideas. In short, in the presence of existing knowledge, new inventions are made.
Creation
Creation is the ultimate level of innovation. There is still a wealth of unique ideas and products that can be created,and they materialize to respond to a customer need or a market demand. The success of these creations depends upon how well-informed employees are on the latest market trends. This is possible though learning and collaboration on a Learning Management System.
Let’s look into the a few steps that lead organizations to innovation through eLearning:
1. Creative employees are well engaged and encouraged to talk. So what can you do? Have employees share their videos and audios for common knowledge throughout your company LMS. Then, create discussion board topics that promote active discussion, so that employees can share their thoughts and opinions.
2. Innovation through eLearning comes from knowledge. Keep fresh and new eLearning courses coming! Discover your employees’ learning needs by asking them what they would like to learn. Also, a good idea would be for you to benchmark learning strategies with leading organizations.
3. Multiple perceptions lead to innovation. You cannot imagine how much it helps when an idea is experienced through multiple eyes. So be our guest and find out: have teams collaborate and debate through the LMS and new, diverse ideas will pop.
4. Use educational and productivity enhancing tools to create ideas and share with team members. Have an Ideas page on the LMS, where learners share fresh ideas. It pretty much is innovation through eLearning in the clearest sense!
5. Provide healthy breaks from work and eLearning! Let the knowledge sink in by allowing your employees to take entertainment breaks, even through the LMS itself, in the form of a video posted, for example.
6. Broaden your employees’ experiences. Richer experiences lead to new idea generation, and eLearning offers a variety of experiences through interactivity and simulation. Also, new scenarios transport learners to a new location and encourage them to use their knowledge for decision making.
The more updated your employees are though eLearning, the more innovative they will be. That’s what innovation through eLearning is all about!
This leads to the notion of the upcoming big idea that everyone wants to hear about. In order to become a leading organization, you need to keep them hooked to your learning management system and communicate through its collaboration tools.
| Tags: Employee Training
