We’ve decided to start a new series on our blog called Learning Snacks. The goal with these posts is to bring you a set of curated resources on a specific topic from well-known sources in our space. This week’s topic is the gamification of learning. We just returned from a week of jam-packed learning at Elliot Masie’s Learning 2015 conference. Of the many great sessions, we wanted to focus today’s post on just one: Gamification of Learning & Instruction: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly - featuring Karl Kapp. Fun time talking #Gamification & games w/ @emasie at #learning2015 pic.twitter.com/GsBUgWgzHH — kkapp (@kkapp) November 4, 2015 Here’s a fun visual that someone created, which summarizes the conversation: Pictorial version of my #Gamification talk #learning2015 @emasie gr8 discussion pic.twitter.com/DnCmbKgyA2 — kkapp (@kkapp) November 4, 2015 We had the pleasure of working with Karl earlier this year on a webinar titled, ‘A Practical Approach to Gamification,’ and his work also served as a great reference for our very popular Gamification Workbook.  If you’re having conversations about the value of gamification (looking to get buy-in) or thinking about making gamification a reality in your organization, here are some curated articles that might help you move things along: 1. Top 6 Benefits of Gamification in eLearning (~ 4 min read) 2. Future of Work: Using Gamification For Human Resources (~ 2 min read) 3. Gamification and Game-based Learning are Two Different Things (~ 4.5 min read) 4. How Gamification can Transform Your Business (~ 9.5 min read) 5. 7 Game and Gamification Guidelines for Your Organization (~ 2 min read) 6. How Gamification Bolsters Strong ROI With Business (~ 3.5 min read) 7. What the Future of Gamification in the Workplace Looks Like (~ 5 min read) 8. 5 Statistics That Prove Gamification is the Future of the Workplace (~ 4 min read) BONUS: Our Gamification Workbook! We hope you enjoyed this first Learning Snack, are there specific topics you would like us to curate for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below or give us a shout on Twitter. Curated by The Axonify Learning Team   The post Learning Snack: Gamification of Learning appeared first on Axonify.

It’s a problem that’s only getting bigger. More than ever before employees need to know more information in less time. And with rapid and continual changes in technology and information, they’re finding it harder and harder to keep up. Many organizations thought eLearning solutions, like the LMS, would be the answer to this growing problem. But, the fact is, the problem is only becoming more prevalent. There’s too much information for employees to process. They can’t remember what they’ve learned, let alone apply it on the job. What’s worse is that this leaves employees without the knowledge they need to take the right actions at work. The consequences are dire:  lost sales revenue, poor leadership performance, and increased safety incidents are just a few of the things organizations are experiencing. And this is costing millions—even billions of dollars. What’s causing this knowledge crisis?  We think there are four main reasons: 1. Job expectations are increasing Today’s employees are required to have more knowledge and skills than ever before.  Take medical sales reps, for example. At Ethicon—a Johnson and Johnson company—sales reps not only need to understand their tradecraft, but they must have a depth of product knowledge never before expected. In fact, they must know five times the amount of information than was required only two decades ago, including knowledge of hundreds of surgical devices—each with their own intricacies and nuances. Plus it’s a requirement that they have the technical skills to perform their jobs in a connected world.  This is pretty much the same story for employees in other professions as well. 2. Job knowledge requirements are volatile What people need to know to do their job well can change almost daily.  And how much they need to know is constantly increasing. Take retail associates, for example. In the multi-channel retailing world, sales associates must know more than customers, who’ve likely done their homework before coming to the store.  That means sales associates must not only learn about policies, procedures and products; they must also understand what’s offered through various sales channels, and be fully up-to-speed on ever-changing promotions. 3. Modern learners have completely different learning needs Today’s learners only have 1% of a typical workweek (approx. 4.8 minutes a day) to devote to training and development. To add even more complexity, modern learners are not engaging with traditional methods of training.  Given the rapidly evolving business word they’ve inherited, most modern learners have their hands full with deadlines, rapidly shifting roles and responsibilities and almost constant interruption. They’re just too overwhelmed and they don’t have time for traditional learning approaches that only seem to add to their complex world without helping them retain and apply the information they need on the job. 4. People are spending less time in the job The real capital of any organization is its knowledge workers.  But people just don’t stay in jobs for the long haul anymore:  at any given time, as much as 30% or more of the workforce is actively looking for a new job. Employee tenure has been short for a number of years, fluctuating between about 3 and 5 years for younger employees, compared to over 10 years for workers age 55 and older.  Many organizations find this churn very challenging to deal with, especially when it comes to employee knowledge. Onboarding can be a significant challenge, as there is so much information about products, safety, policies and procedures that employees must learn before they’re ready for the job.  And for organizations that staff up for peak periods, this challenge is that much more difficult. In many cases, by the time employees are generating true value for the organization, they leave. LMSs aren’t enough Many organizations implemented LMSs hoping they would address this knowledge crisis.  But most are finding them falling flat. In some cases, the LMS is just aging and not able to meet evolving requirements.  But we believe the real reason is that there are inherent limitations to LMS that will never make it the sole solution to corporate knowledge requirements. Some are even suggesting that eLearning modules just don’t meet today’s need for knowledge on demand, which is largely driven by modern learners who want to find knowledge for the "point of need." What’s the takeaway in all this gloom & doom?  To thrive, L&D must find a way to develop employee knowledge to the point that it has a sustained, demonstrable impact on bottom line business results. Learning must adapt to today’s modern learner, be effective enough to get people the knowledge they need, and be flexible enough to respond to rapidly changing requirements.  Sounds like a tall order?  Perhaps, but help is on the way.    Stay tuned… In one week from today, we’ll have some exciting news to share that will revolutionize the way businesses tackle this escalating employee knowledge problem.   Written by Carol Leaman The post The Knowledge Crisis: the signs are all around us appeared first on Axonify.

Like most retail organizations, Bloomingdale’s relied on a handful of standard training approaches—awareness posters, classroom training, LMSs, and pre-shift morning rallies—which weren’t doing the job. (Let’s face it: Safe work practices aren’t exactly a topic that gets people excited.) And, like virtually every large retail chain, the company found it hard to provide consistent store-to-store training, let alone figure out which associates understood the information and knew how to apply it correctly. But, by boosting associate knowledge to help associates take the right actions on the job, the company has been able to reduce safety incidents and save big bucks in the process.   Read the full article in Learning Solutions Magazine. IMPORTANT NOTE: Readers must sign up for a free subscription on Learning Solutions magazine to read this entire article as well as a wealth of other great content. Written by Chad McIntosh. The post Bloomingdale’s Saves Millions Through Revolutionary Approach to Employee Training appeared first on Axonify.

We’ve got some REALLY BIG news to share with you today. The kind of knock-your-socks-off news that’s revolutionizing the way organizations think about employee knowledge and use it to impact the bottom line. But before we "let the cat out of the bag," so to speak, here’s a bit of background first. In last week’s blog, we told you about the employee knowledge crisis that’s happening in every industry, across the globe. As a quick refresher, employees are overwhelmed with what they need to know on the job. Traditional eLearning offerings haven’t helped employees digest the volume of content they need to know, let alone help them to retain it or apply it on the job. So, employees don’t have the knowledge they need to take the right actions at work. All this rolls up into an inability to perform at their best, which can lead to things like increased safety incidents, inadequate customer service or poor decisions that cost the company a ton of money. The problem is that there hasn’t been a solution to this growing problem… until now! Today, we’re thrilled to tell you that we’ve stood up to this challenge. We’ve worked our butts off to enhance our existing solution (which, by the way, we thought was pretty amazing already). But now, it’s even MORE AMAZING! We’ve launched the world’s first and only Employee Knowledge Platform, designed to help organizations solve the growing employee knowledge crisis. In short, we’re just making corporate learning a whole lot smarter. Want to know more? Check out these links: News Release: Axonify Launches Enhanced Platform to Solve Employee Knowledge Problem <link to news release> Article: Axonify aims to shake up employee training with micro learning & gamification Looking forward to helping you start a learning revolution at your organization! Written by Laura Martin The post Axonify Pushes Beyond the Boundaries of eLearning appeared first on Axonify.

Think about the biggest challenges you’re facing in your organization. Maybe your sales team isn’t closing deals. Maybe your store associates aren’t demonstrating your high standards of customer service. Maybe your employees aren’t following policies and procedures and are making mistakes that are putting your business at risk. Maybe you’re struggling to keep associates safe on the job. Or maybe it’s something as significant as driving an organizational or cultural transformation that requires each and every employee across the business to be on the same page in a way that is quick, easy and sustainable. If you think hard, the common denominator for each of these challenges is knowledge. From top to bottom, what each employee knows or doesn’t know has an exponential impact on the overall success of your company. When employees don’t have the right knowledge, expecting them to be top performers (or even average performers) just isn’t realistic. Organizations thought the learning problem was solved when LMS solutions became ubiquitous. What has become very clear today is that just because there’s a simple way to deliver information, doesn’t mean employees are actually digesting, remembering or using it on the job. In fact the opposite is true. Learning is only the first step in the knowledge equation. And the fact that it’s only about delivery means it hasn’t been able to translate into performance—at the individual and the corporate level. How do we move past this conversation and finally address the true knowledge problem? Working with our customers, who are a combination of business leaders and learning visionaries, we’ve figured it out. We’ve just introduced the world’s first Employee Knowledge platform—a solution that pushes way beyond traditional eLearning and creates a new category. It’s a solution that’s 100% committed to solving the employee knowledge problem. Knowledge delivery, acquisition, sustainment, sharing, application, measurement and a direct correlation to business objectives. By leveraging our award-winning microlearning solution along with our innovative knowledge-on-demand offering, employees now have a path to everything they need in their heads and at their fingertips in a way that’s fun, fast, personalized and sustainable. But we haven’t stopped there. Our platform provides a way to measure everything from knowledge growth to behavior through to business outcomes. Corporate learning just got a whole lot smarter. Just ask organizations like Walmart, Toyota, Johnson & Johnson, John Hancock and Bloomingdale’s. With the Axonify Employee Knowledge Platform, they’ve completely changed the way they power their people with knowledge to drive real results.   Written by Carol Leaman. The post Axonify Solves the Employee Knowledge Problem appeared first on Axonify.

On Wednesday, November 18, 2015, I traveled to New York City to meet with Bloomingdale’s, one of Axonify’s customers. That same day, ISIS followed up their attacks on Paris with a threat against New York City targets, one of which was Times Square. Obviously, this threat was taken very seriously by Bloomingdale’s. The company is a New York City icon. It’s Midtown Manhattan location is the number 5 top tourist attraction in the city, housing incredibly high-value merchandise, and literally thousands of staff and customers at any given time. The next morning, I participated in focus groups with Bloomingdale’s staff. We had a roundtable conversation about how the Axonify Employee Knowledge Platform made them feel safer at work. Earlier that morning, all Bloomingdale’s Associates had received Active Shooter Training delivered through their Axonify daily microlearning session. Specifically, staff received refresher training (or in some cases learned for the first time) about what to do if a person came into the store with a gun and opened fire on employees and customers. The response to this training was overwhelmingly positive. Many employees said things like: "Now I don’t have to think about it. I just know what I would need to do in a situation like that." Given the world we live in these days, I thought this was a powerful example of how Axonify can enable employees to take the right actions at work—In this case, actions that could save lives. When the threat was received on Wednesday night, Bloomingdale’s VP of Loss Prevention and Risk Management, Chad McIntosh, took immediate action. Based on conversations he had with some federal agencies, he decided to make the Active Shooter Training a top priority. Because Axonify allows learning content to be prioritized, Bloomingdale’s was able to categorize this training as the most important, which meant it overtook all other training. Regardless of the learning that was scheduled to be delivered to each employee via Axonify, as of Wednesday night, anyone logging into the Axonify Employee Knowledge Platform would first receive the Active Shooter Training. Employees were already thinking about the threat, so by immediately delivering training, Bloomingdale’s was able to calm their fears and help them understand what to do. In this case, Axonify also acted as a primary communications channel, while also providing the appropriate learning.  A large percentage of Bloomingdale’s employees—in areas such as warehousing, stocking, cleaning and maintenance—don’t have email or company phones. But they do have access to Axonify via departmental PCs, POS terminals or even their own smartphones. So Axonify became an ideal method to get this critical information to them quickly. The Active Shooter Training, and the ability for the company to ramp it up literally overnight, helped ensure employees knew Bloomingdale’s was concerned about their safety and wanted to give them the practical knowledge they needed to help keep them safe. It also helped employees feel more comfortable in knowing how to react in a situation like that.  When people are afraid, information can empower them. How does Axonify help empower your employees with knowledge?  Why not share your story with us.   Written by Greg Boyd. The post How Bloomingdale’s delivers instant active shooter training to associates in wake of looming terrorist threat appeared first on Axonify.

Forty years ago my five siblings and I took mandatory turns to act as my Dad’s remote control.  It was the time of indentured human remotes and random flipping or recording programs hadn’t been invented.  Television was a planned event using the weekly TV Guide in a religious, ritual fashion led by our patriarch. "It’s time to change the channel," he would announce and we would all argue about who was up. Well it’s time to change the channel again but not the TV channel -your external sales and distribution channel.  No, I don’t mean get a new channel. I mean change the behavior of your channel with training and certification to drive measurable business results. Ironically, while many corporations strive to change the behavior with learning technology, still more continue to send out indentured human trainers for point-in-time sessions as they have for decades.  Every time I encounter an organization relying primarily on trainers, I can almost here Dad saying "Channel 3 please." At least we all moved on with TVs.   What Is An External Channel? The channel can go by many names including partners, value added resellers, franchises, dealers, distributors, retailers and agents to name a few.  The external channel is the [...] The post It’s Time to Change the Channel appeared first on Talented Learning.

I’ve been researching the global LMS market place for over 15 years -first as an LMS sales guy for 13 years and now as the lead learning technology analyst at Talented Learning.  In the last 20 months, I have personally reviewed 92 LMS solutions and I have a whole list I’m trying to get to. I’m not talking about a cursory website drive-by review either.  I spend a lot of time with each vendor and learn about their business and industry focus, customers, history and success stories before I ever take a look at the product.  In many cases, I even interview their customers about how they are using training and technology for their business. For my paying day job, I help LMS buyers define what they really need and then help find the best LMS for them. I’ve taken a good chunk of all that data, effort and experience and built it into Talented Learning’s fall webinar series.  We’ve  created 5 new webinars on all things LMS and extended enterprise.  I think all are extremely interesting, engaging and insightful, but I could be biased.  We’re ending the series with the 1st Annual Talented Learning LMS Vendors Awards Ceremony. I hope to see you [...] The post 5 New Extended Enterprise LMS Webinars this Fall! appeared first on Talented Learning.

There are hundreds of LMS vendors in the world.  Many are generalists that build comprehensive and confusing LMS products that can manage the learning for any type of user population including employees and the extended enterprise audiences.   The rest of the LMS vendors are specialists in a particular industry or business application of learning.  I’ve found that buyers who buy an LMS for their employees are content with the generalist LMSs.  Conversely, buyers of extended enterprise solutions are very picky.  These buyers tend not to be HR/training specialists but rather professionals from marketing, sales, operations or customer support. These training for business buyers focus on the business problem, solution and measuring the results.  They are not interested in asking permission from HR to use the employee LMS.  If they are tasked to train and certify new channel partners, customers or prospects, they want a solution and more importantly a partner that is experienced in doing exactly - and in many cases - only that.  If they want to sell content and drive revenue, they almost never consider a vendor with tons of talent management and compliance features. In the last 21 months at Talented Learning, we’ve been heads down studying the LMS industry.  We have conducted in-depth reviews of almost 100 vendors, helped dozens [...] The post Top 10 Channel LMS Solutions in the World appeared first on Talented Learning.

I’ve been collecting extended enterprise case studies from the global LMS community for almost two years.  I’m surprised by how few vendors take the time to tell their customers’ extended enterprise learning stories.  I really have to scour vendor sites and comb through an agonizing amount of employee LMS stories to find the gems I’m looking for.    A page full of client logos isn’t the same thing nor is a testimonial sentence on the website.  Many vendors try to pull off  "blinded" case studies where they talk all the great things they have achieved for an unnamed client.  I won’t even read these as I have no idea if they are fiction. I want facts.  Buyers want facts.  Together we are seeking extended enterprise stories with real clients experiencing a demonstrable return on investment.  Personally, I think case studies are the best possible sales tool because they help buyers self-educate as well as illustrate vendor credibility with similar clients solving identical business challenges.  So kudos to the 15 vendors I’ve identified who are doing a good job telling stories.  It means they are doing a great job with their clients or their clients wouldn’t be willing to be a public reference. Channel, Partner and Supplier Learning How [...] The post 15 LMS Vendors - 15 Channel LMS Case Studies appeared first on Talented Learning.