Whether
you are considering changing your current learning management systems or
rolling out an entirely new training platform for employees or clients to use,
the question regarding ownership of the training platform is bound to arise.
From sales to marketing teams, every department will have its own needs, and
internal office politics on training platform ownership can hamper the roll out
of much-needed training. That’s because office politics can hurt productivity
and be a persistent pain point when working in team environments. However, you
can mitigate these issues by taking a few simple but virtual steps.
Listen:
Listening
to the concerns of the different parties involved is important to reducing
office politics regarding training platform ownership. Whether a leader from
your sales team wants to push a specific platform because of its ease of navigation,
or your human resource coordinator finds tracking results easier on another,
each team member has unique needs and concerns that need to be addressed. As a
leader, it’s imperative to listen with equal attention to all concerns and to
not jump to conclusions. To fairly resolve the issues surrounding training
platform ownership, suppress the urge to quickly dismiss any individual
opinions and balance your active listening with only the best opportunities to
inject your expertise into the conversation. The key is to keep communication
open and ongoing so that all parties involved can feel that they are being
heard and contributing – without internal office politics usurping the training
and development goals the company needs to achieve.
Clarify Goals:
Setting
the ground rules and reminding all parties involved in organizational goals is
vital to reducing politicking in the office. Make sure everyone understands the
training goals that need to be accomplished, as well as the base training
platform ownership on achieving these goals.
Select an Empowering Learning
Management System Platform
The
actual learning management systems that you choose may make or break training
and development if it lacks flexibility, especially when supporting multiple
departments or clients. Choosing a training platform that not only offers
flexibility to meet the unique needs of different teams and clients, but also
empowers them to take ownership for their learning program and its associated
tasks will help resolve the internal politics for owning the training platform.
You can choose a training platform that helps keep track of results and even
allows you to assign courses to learners, so that your team and clients feel
empowered. The idea is to make each group feel like an owner. It’s also
important to follow up with teams once the learning management systems are in
full swing to ensure needs is being met.
Internal
office politics don’t have to hamper the training and development of your
employees, partners, or clients when training platform ownership is in
question. Take the time to listen to the specific needs of each party involved,
clarify goals and ground rules, and put learning management systems in place that
offers both the flexibility to address these needs and the robustness
to empower and motivate multiple teams. Get your team back to work and reduce
the internal office politics surrounding who owns the training platform by
initiating these simple steps.
