We have interviewed hundreds of participants in learning programs, both online and event-based. Essentially, the question we asked was, “Were you able to apply what you learned in a way that helped you achieve a business outcome or goal?” Perhaps not surprisingly, a large percentage of these employees answered “No.”

However, when we delved deeper to understand what was preventing these learners from attaining and applying this new knowledge to achieve goals, we were surprised to discover that it was not a failure of the technology or the learning program itself. In most cases, learners point to factors outside of the learning program or event as being the most critical barriers to success.

The organizational factors that prevent employees from converting e-Learning into business achievement can be boiled down to five key principles. We call these principles the 5As, and together they make up the 5As Framework:

1) Aligning e-Learning initiatives (the content and purpose of the program, etc.) with individual and organizational goals;

2) Anticipating learning and success from participation in the e-Learning;

3) Forming a learning Alliance of learner with supervisor/boss;

4) Applying learning to achieving business goals; and

5) Being Accountable for business results.

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Elearning can have a transformational impact on small business, not-for-profit and other fragmented groups sharing common interests, challenges or opportunities.

Leaders who champion these approaches, and buy-in from participants, is key – but once people are on-board a widespread and consistent improvement in  performance can occur in a rapid and substantial fashion.

Social networking and related services have taken elearning beyond self-contained training that offered little more than traditional distance learning. It now offers an important level of interaction that brings real people together.

The opportunity for interaction between participants promotes collaboration.  This can lead to superior, and often creative, solutions which can benefit every member. Small business, for example, will only get so far working with local competitors, but can interact freely with similar businesses in other parts of the country. Innovative product or service ideas, marketing approaches, and sources of suppliers can all be freely discussed when businesses are not in direct competition.

The benefits are not solely commercial. I am constantly amazed at how much ‘cash-strapped’ government agenices and not-for-profit groups will spend to get members to centralised training, or to bring training opportunities to geographically spread groups. The travel, accommodation and venue costs alone are often substantial, and the reach limited as a result.

Take a typical sporting organisation for example. They might have national, regional, club and school based administration nationwide from the largest centres to the smallest rural communities. They probably share common issues – perhaps they all seek greater levels of grant funding.

One well designed elearning programme in which the participants learn how to submit winning funding applications would address this need. It would involve many members and be delivered simultaneously nationwide, with valuable collaboration between participants sharing experiences and looking for solutions. This would immediately lift performance across the board, and impact nationwide through many members. An initiative like this could generate thousands of dollars of additional revenue and great benefits as a result.

Complement that with programmes in strategic planning, financial practise, volunteer management, and recruitment and suddenly you have strengthened and advanced the capability of your organisation in a very practical way – further and faster than you ever thought possible.

Put simply, this is about flexibility of time and place. This phrase is often used from the learner’s perspective, but it also applies to the delivery of training. Being able to provide training to a disjointed group spread over thousands of kilometres on a flexible schedule enables you to capture more people, more quickly, and more effectively.

What do you wish your community, organisation or industry did better? Tell us and we will show you how elearning can make it happen!

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This commentary sets out the clear benefits of elearning for the not-for-profit sector. The link between stated advantages and real case studies illustrates what can be achieved. Creative approaches to building capacity in not-for-profit organisations are well served by the flexibility and customisation that elearning provides.

While inspirational to those working in the sector, if there is a criticism we would offer it is the lack of emphasis on instructor led learning and asynchronous approaches, which we find to be most effective in developing skills and knowledge in the not-for-profit sector.

The research report can be found: HERE

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3. Not-for-profit uses elearning to train 3000+ volunteers

Elearning provides a cost effective solution to some key issues affecting many not-for-profit organisations.

One example is how to successfully manage volunteers. Many community based organisations rely heavily on volunteers at some level. This might be people on the ground delivering service, or at governance level providing oversight as committee members or trustees.

Challenges can arise from the fact that volunteers typically come from diverse backgrounds and present with a range of skills and experience.

In these circumstance elearning can assist by:

• providing a consistent and cost-effective way to induct new volunteers to your organisation.
• educating your volunteers about the issues or cause your organisation addresses.
• teaching volunteers about internal policies and procedures unique to your organisation.
• addressing risk-management needs by ensuring your people understand health and safety and other compliance matters.
• training in governance and management skills such as strategic and business planning, financial management, or fundraising methods.
• teaching skills specific to your sector like managing sports teams, recognising abuse, or advocacy skills.

By developing your people you build the capacity of your organisation and achieve better results. You also improve consistency of delivery across member organisations at national, regional and local level. You can harness the power of having all workers on message and moving in the same direction.

Perhaps most importantly you can achieve consistently high standards of performance over time. As your people naturally come and go, this consistency allows efforts to build incrementally on the work that has gone before. The effectiveness of your organisation is then not tied to a rollercoaster of strengths and weaknesses of individual people. This is a common issue in many not-for-profits which do not enjoy paid administrators or management.

Finally it demonstrates that you recognise and value the work of your people across the organisation, by investing in their ability. This can aid morale, recruitment and retention.

All of this helps you achieve your goals, and can be achieved for a fraction of the cost of traditional training and development approaches in the not-for-profit sector, especially if your organisation and affiliate bodies operate from a variety of locations.

If you would like to know more about how elearning can greatly enhance your not-for-profit organisation please contact us.

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This press release describes how elearning can be used in practise to achieve dramatic results in the not-for-profit sector. The Virtual College’s Safeguarding Children e-Academy has helped Bradford Safeguarding Children Board deliver child protection training to more than 3,000 people.

They say “e-learning was recognised as the way forward. It has helped us to reach many more people and introduce more varied topics than we could ever hoped to have done through face-to-face learning….e-learning can help train everyone who comes into contact with children across any number of different geographical locations and job descriptions quickly and simply.”

The full post can be found at http://www.trainingpressreleases.com/newsstory.asp?NewsID=4661

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