Empowering Employees With eLearning

For over a decade, Prosci research participants have reported that engaging impacted employees in organizational change is a top-five contributor to that change’s success. Yet, many organizations struggle to engage these employees. Not only do organizations struggle to engage employees in specific changes, but they also struggle to help employees navigate the change process in general.

In fact, according to Prosci research participants, people who work on the front lines of an organization are the people who receive the least training in change management.

These statistics are important to note because front-line employees are being impacted by significant change, yet most organizations are not giving them the skills, tools or frameworks needed to navigate it. This is often the result of resource constraints. Most organizations cannot afford the time or budget to provide change management training to all their front-line employees. As a result, employees are often frustrated by change and feel like a victim of their circumstances, rather than empowered players in organizational change.

Could Prosci's eLearning modules be right for your organization and employees?

How to Empower Employees

What if we flipped this scenario? What if every employee in the organization was equipped with a framework and skills for navigating any type of organizational change? What if employees knew that their immediate reactions to change are normal, and knew how to process those potentially emotional reactions? What if employees could easily identify where they were struggling in the change process so they could proactively ask for help?

For organizations that want to tap into the power of engaged and empowered employees during times of change, but are resource-constrained, eLearning can be a great solution. Prosci eLearning allows you to quickly and easily disseminate key change management concepts to hundreds, even thousands of people around the world. This message will be delivered with 100% consistency, giving employees a common language for change that they can use when discussing change with their managers and teams.

Prosci eLearning modules all use the Prosci ADKAR Model as a foundational concept. Teaching employees the ADKAR Model through eLearning can help them pinpoint where they are in the change process and proactively address their barriers to change.

Prosci eLearning guides each employee to select a specific change they are experiencing and reflect on that change throughout the module. By doing this, employees not only learn key change management concepts, but they are able to assess their own change experience. eLearning provides a safe, anonymous space for employees to reflect on where they are in the change process, but also prompts participants to create an action plan for proactively engaging in the change going forward. 

Using eLearning to Engage People

How might you use eLearning to engage employees in change? Consider the following contextual steps:

1. Engage the people managers 

The first step is to engage the people managers of impacted employees either through in-person training or eLearning. Giving managers the same language for change will help ensure that they can support employees. 

2. Position the value of eLearning

When you ask employees to go through the eLearning, be sure to explain and demonstrate the value of the eLearning experience to them. Why should they care? What are the benefits to them of having a better understanding of their change process? Why is it important for them to plan for their proactive engagement in change? Without this critical positioning, eLearning can easily be a check-the-box activity that does not drive the value it otherwise could.

3. Introduce the ADKAR Model

Consider having employees first go through the Introduction to ADKAR eLearning module, which helps participants understand and apply the ADKAR Model to a current change.

4. Increase understanding of change

Then, have employees go through the Thriving through Change eLearning module to build more understanding of the nuances of the change experience, including their emotional responses to change, specific guidance on how to overcome barrier points, and action planning for engaging with the change at hand.

5. Encourage conversations

Finally, encourage managers and employees to discuss what they have learned in their eLearning experience. Each module ends with a downloadable report of the reflections that participants provide during the module, so employees and managers can easily review the employee’s self-identified barrier point and action plan. This follow-up can help solidify a new way of discussing change and help managers and employees collaborate more effectively during times of change.

eLearning and Change Management

By leveraging eLearning, you can engage and empower employees around change, creating significant leverage and energy for your change programs.