Tips to Drive Program Adoption

Sue Orchanian
edited August 6 in Talent Insights


For your learning program to be as successful as possible, you will want to find ways to consistently drive adoption.  Below are some ideas that focus on Assignments, Promotion, Contests and Recognition as ways to help you in this effort.  Which ideas do you like best?





Join me on December 16th at 10 AM EST for an Ask Me Anything session on end user marketing. I will be answering your questions on driving adoption of your program live on the Learning Edge!

Assignments

  • Push a “Non-Required” Assignment – Often, people feel that pushing out an assignment means it is required. However, that is not always the case.  If you want to have a quick boost in adoption, pick one or two assets and assign them to all users.  The selected assets can be tied to a strategic initiative, aligned to core competencies or simply something just for fun!  You will be surprised how many people launch into the assignment which will ultimately boost adoption.
  • Get Managers Involved – if you are able to grant Managers rights to make assignments, provide them with some suggestions for assets they can personally assign to their users. They may already have some ideas, such as content to support skill gaps in their teams, assets supporting a key team initiative, etc.  You will notice an increase in adoption since people will typically complete what has been assigned by management.  Here are some ideas to consider.   If you show the Manager how to run reports to view progress, they will be motivated to remind their team on the assignment to complete, since they can see their teams progress.
Promotion

  • Promote a New Topic Each Month – curating content that is aligned to the business will make what you promote relevant and meaningful. Ask your Skillsoft Customer Success Manager to help you with this process.  Then, simply pick a different topic each month and promote it in a variety of ways.  Think about creating a content promotion banner or strip in Percipio, building a non-required assignment with several assets being suggested for the month, promoting on social media so the topic of the month gets different exposure.  Skillsoft has a sample Topic of the Month Marketing Plan that you may want to use for this purpose.  Just reach out to your Customer Success Manager!
  • Create a Podcast – think how much fun you will have creating a podcast that gets people excited about your learning program! Share successes from other users in the podcast, highlight key features and functionality you want new users to be aware of, have a guest speaker such as your CLO or some other high-level executive and have them kick off the podcast.  Have winners of past contests participate in this podcast!  This can be used as a recurring form of communication to generate awareness of your program.
  • New Habit Calendar – did you know that your Skillsoft Customer Success Manager can build a Habit Calendar for you, for FREE! You can include links to any launchable assets that will help drive adoption of your program.  For December, consider a “Gift of Learning” calendar with fun assets instead of required assets.  During the year, remember the Habit Calendar as another way to drive adoption of targeting programs you want to promote.  Need an example of how to promote the Habit Calendar?  Look no further than here!
  • CEO Playlist - ask a senior executive to pick a few of their favorite assets?  Don't want to ask them to do any work - find out what is important to them and you make the suggestions to them.  Once you receive their buy-in, create a Promotion Banner or Promotion Strip highlighting the CEO's picks.  Rotate this on a regular basis with new items so it stays fresh and current.
 
Contests

  • Create a Contest – incentives drive behaviors! This will be one of the easiest ways to increase adoption while making it fun for everyone.  Secure a budget so you know what type of prizes you are able to offer.  They can be as simple as gift cards, a day off of work, or larger prizes such as iPads, ear buds, etc.  Contest winner could be based on earning the most Digital Badges, had the longest Learning Goal streak, completed the most assets tied to a non-required assignment, etc.
  • Get Departments Involved - Be creative! – Learners are not the only ones who are competitive, departments are too! To get them motivated, include a department contest where each month recognition is given to the department that had the most completions, launches, learning streaks, mobile access, etc.  At the end of the year, each department that won the monthly recognition has a chance to win the yearly department contest.  This can include pizza for the department (if virtual, allow it to be expensed by each department team member), provide each winning team member a day off of work, etc.  Create a plaque for the manager of the department so they are given something that recognizes their department’s achievement.
  • Set a Learning Goal Contest – encourage leaners to set a learning goal for 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes a week. If they achieve their learning goal for more than 2 weeks, they are on a learning streak!  Host a contest (refer to this discussion thread for ideas) and recognize the winners on a monthly basis.  Send an email congratulating the winner and copy their manager and senior managers in the communication.
Recognition

  • Top User of the Month – People love to be recognized, so why not send kudos to your top learner every month! It could be based on launches, badges earned, completions, learning streaks, etc.   Highlight your top user in a company newsletter.  Do a social post to recognize your learner of the month.  Schedule a quarterly virtual “winner’s circle” meeting where the winners discuss how they made time for training, how they applied what they learned on the job, what they valued most from the training offered, etc.  Whatever recognition you decide, the top user of the month will be very grateful and will love the acknowledgement.
  • Top Department of the Month – just like you would recognize a Top User, do the same thing for a Top Department. Criteria can be the same as the Top User above, however, make it a healthy competition between departments.
Do you have any additional ideas to share that has worked for you to help promote program adoption? I'd love to hear from you.

Don't forget to join me on December 16th at 10 AM EST for an Ask Me Anything session on end user marketing. I will be answering your questions on driving adoption of your program live on the Learning Edge!