Successfully implement an online academy

Implementing an online academy is a big challenge for many organizations. How do you get employees into learning mode and motivated to learn? Thanks to her experience with all kinds of implementation projects, Lisan van der Lee, learning professional at SkillsTown, shares her experiences and tips for successfully implementing an online academy.

Define measurable objectives

To assess whether your academy is a success, you must first identify the success factors. Lisan explains, "Learning itself must be a means of increasing your organization's performance. So your goals must be linked to performance results. Do I want higher sales? Or do I want to be an attractive employer and ensure that fewer people leave the organization? Make the goals as concrete as possible; this way you give direction to your online academy and have a clear dot on the horizon."

Create support among the right people 

The most crucial factor in implementing an online academy is support from the people in the organization. Lisan says, "To make your online academy a success, you need the right people around you. These are both people who can support you in your project and ambassadors within the organization. They can influence people or processes within the organization. It is important to think carefully in advance about which people you are going to gather around you to make the academy a success. Involve these individuals in your plans early on."

"To make your online academy a success, you need the right people around you."

Make the right offer available

Lisan: "To make a choice in content, it is important that you have identified what your goals are and where the needs in the organization lie. That way you can look for the right content to make available in your online academy. This may involve general skills, such as communicating effectively or working together in a team. You can also use the online academy to safeguard organization-specific knowledge. Create your own content in a low-threshold way that is completely in line with the wishes and needs of your own organization.

To achieve optimal learning efficiency, you can link the online academy with face-to-face learning forms: blended learning. By linking these learning forms well together, both forms can be used more effectively. For example, students can be offered the theory prior to a training course via an online module, allowing the training time to be organized more effectively."

Make professional appointments

Lisan: "As a manager, you can have expectations of your employees in terms of learning and development. That is why it is important that managers are intensively involved in the online academy. They must have a clear vision of learning for individual employees, the department or the entire organization. The development goals of the executives should be given a central place in the academy so that they can direct them accordingly. This focus gets people moving to work on their personal and professional development."

Communicate about the academy

You can think of the launch of the online academy as a product launch. Lisan says: "It is important to pay attention to this in as many ways as possible. For example, make a teaser video, publish an interview or hand out a flyer. Use the various communication channels available within the organization.

In addition, you can create a celebratory momentum where you tell all your employees that they will have the opportunity to work on their development. This can include workshops or brainstorming about personal learning goals.

Continue to communicate regularly about the academy even after the launch. For example, publish figures on the use of the academy at fixed times during the year or put an active user of the academy in the spotlight." In this article, we provide useful tips for continuing to draw attention to your corporate academy.

Hold attention

In order to continue to meet organizational needs, it is important that the academy is always evolving. Lisan says, "Themes that are relevant within the organization should also be central to the academy. For example, a relevant change in the law could be reflected in an online seminar in the academy. By continuing to offer current content, employees have a good reason to check out the academy more often.

The common thread in this story is: keep focusing on the academy in many ways. This attention and focus keeps employees alert and keeps you as an organization encouraging their development. The learning professionals at SkillsTown ensure the implementation and success of online learning environments on a daily basis."

What's next?

Do you want to launch a successful online academy yourself? We can provide you with the right advice throughout this process. In a no-obligation online demonstration we will gladly show you the possibilities that exist within your organization for sharing knowledge online.