Spring Cleaning
Photo by Jan Kopřiva from Pexels
It’s finally spring! What’s on your list to tidy up? Here are our recommendations for spring cleaning projects for you and your team to choose from.
1. Spruce up the user experience.
When you think about a new user visiting your learning platform for the first time, what is their experience? Is there a clear learning path? Is it easy for them to search for and find what they need?
It can be hard for us to evaluate the user experience honestly and accurately. We know where everything is located. We know how to search in the platform. We know what might be interesting or helpful to learners. But, there are many people in your organization with fresh eyes who can give you their valuable perspective.
Send out a request for user testers. Ask for people who take 20 minutes to provide their feedback about your learning platform.
Schedule a video call and ask to record the session. You’ll ask the user to share their screen with you so you can observe them exploring and navigating the platform as they naturally would.
Ask them to vocalize what they’re seeing, thinking, and feeling. This is key to getting “inside their head.” You might need to remind them if they go too long without sharing what they’re thinking.
Ask them to explore freely; then, give them some prompts. Start with some open exploration time where the user talks through their initial impression and what they are drawn to on the main pages of the platform. Guide their exploration further by giving them prompts to navigate to specific locations or perform common tasks.
Debrief by asking them questions about their experience. Invite testers to be candid and share any suggestions for what might improve things from their perspective. Rather than defending the current experience or sharing limitations that informed the current design, stay in listening mode and seek to understand the user. Ask follow-up questions to surface additional insights.
2. Tidy up that budget.
Another good focus is examining your resource allocation. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
Are you getting the results you want out of your programs? This is about more than just completion and satisfaction. Is the experience preparing employees to deliver better business results? Are business leaders seeing the value and connecting these results to programs? Annual check-ins with your business partners are helpful to ensure everyone is sharing what they’re seeing and thinking so the learning experience can continue to improve and serve the business.
Are you getting the traffic you want for your off-the-shelf learning? Start with the data. Do you have a target for utilization? Your target should justify the cost and deliver the ROI you need. If you’re not reaching that target, we always recommend starting with good old-fashioned marketing. Ask your provider for marketing materials or messaging and customize it for your organization. Your people need to know the value and impact these offerings will have for them. What day-to-day challenges are these learning experiences designed to address? Why should employees make time for them? If you’re still not meeting your target, there is a possibility that the content or the experience is just not good — or isn’t a good fit for your organization. In that case, find something that better meets your learners’ needs.
Do you have budget you could re-allocate to piloting a new program or trying a new learning approach? It’s critical to invest in innovation on an annual basis. This is a great time of year to do that research and start planning.
3. Clean up a process.
Choose one process that’s not delivering the desired results and work as a team to improve it.
Map the current process. Start by meeting together to do a detailed (ideally visual) mapping of the process in its current state. Don’t leave anything out — include every person or step in the process!
Add the time for each task. Add the number of hours/days for each task and calculate the total time. If there’s wait time between steps or the number of days range based on certain factors, round up to include that extra time.
Redesign the process. It’s time to redesign. Ask these questions:
Where are all the places that we have gaps currently?
What are the ways we can close those gaps? Get creative — there may be lots of options to explore together.
What is our target time for this process? Where can we reclaim time to get closer to our target?
Is every step in the process necessary?
Is there anything missing from the process or our results that we can address with our redesign?
Test the new process. Track every step, even if it is not meeting your target or there is human error involved. A good process should have checks that account for human error and common missteps.
Debrief as a team. Where did the process improve? Where do you still have opportunities? Make adjustments, and rinse and repeat!
This activity can be eye-opening. Often teams don’t realize how long a process is taking end-to-end. Sometimes simple fixes can reduce timelines dramatically and allow you to deliver even faster for your organization!
4. Purge your calendar.
Are you feeling like there’s no time for actual work? In the name of spring cleaning, make some changes!
Schedule more time for yourself. The simple act of blocking your calendar with working time will allow you to have more uninterrupted time for thinking and working. It will also send a clear signal that you are busy and your time is valuable. :)
Evaluate your meetings with your team. Maybe you have some standing meetings that aren’t as necessary as they seem. More effective delegation practices can reduce the need for such frequent check-ins or allow you to dramatically shorten them.
Ask your team to evaluate their meetings. Empower your teams to question the need for meetings and suggest alternate strategies that still allow for alignment and communication.
5. Sharpen your #2 pencils.
Are you taking time to develop yourself and your team? Check out our workshops for a fun virtual team development experience. Any of our topics can be customized to meet your team’s unique needs. There are two basic approaches:
Power Hour: Our workshops can be delivered in a condensed “power hour” that’s more content-focused.
Working Session: Each workshop can be extended to include more working time where we ideate with your team and support you to apply what you’ve learned and create a team deliverable.
Which spring cleaning project are you going to tackle this year? Share your ideas in the comments below.