The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference/tradeshow, at which we exhibited this week, was phenomenal. There was so much talk about electronic medical records (EMR or EHR) systems. We were there, as you can guess, to talk about training hospital/medical practice staff on those and other like systems.

Interestingly, there was a report on National Public Radio (NPR) yesterday morning that had many HIMSS attendees and exhibitors talking about privacy and electronic health records. If you had missed the report, the link is below:
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123977187)

Since compliance training is a considerable part of what the Venza Group has to offer, I’m convinced that our efforts to prepare clinicians and healthcare industry staffers for this brave new world of paperless and transparent healthcare information will make a considerable difference for generations.

In the past few months, the Venza Group has experienced explosive growth, becoming a market leader within the technology-based training space.  Much of this growth has come by way of referrals from satisfied clients and industry contacts.  In recognition, the 5-for-5 Program has been established to acknowledge and reward such referrals going forward.

Simply stated, for every $5,000 of incremental Venza Group business that results from a referral, the referring party will receive 5 minutes of Just-in-Time Training (a.k.a. eGuides) from the Venza Group - developed to their custom specifications - at no cost.

To refer a colleague, just complete the form available at http://www.venzagroup.com/5-for-5 .  Should the colleague subsequently take advantage of any of the products or services offered by the Venza Group, a member of our team will contact you.  Program terms and conditions are specified on the website.

Growing your business, in the simplest of terms, requires the ability to do more. That may mean sharpening skills; developing your team, or streamlining your processes. It may mean doing all of these AND making sure your organization is compliant.

Knowing that a continuation of today’s status quo can’t possibly achieve tomorrow’s growth, set your business on the path of development. And if you’re new to technology-based training, ask about the JumpStart Program where the Venza Group can get your organization into an LMS and eLearning package at a reduced price.

A recent study indicated that 80% of organizations do not have an enterprise-wide plan for learning in place.  Most planning activities, to the extent that they occur at all, were found to be fragmented across different business units.  In addition, more than 75% do not believe that learning roles and responsibilities are optimally aligned within the organization.  Finally, 70% do not correlate employee productivity to learning.  Most measure little beyond the basics such as course enrollments, completions, and learner satisfaction rates. 

In order for Learning and Development departments to be taken seriously going forward, this situation must change.  There's no question that training really does add considerable value, but like advertising, it can be dificult to track the results (how do you quantify "Improved Organizational Performance"?).  However, without metrics, it is difficult to make a business case to justify additional investment - especially in times like these when everything is being scrutinized.

When it comes to Learning Analytics, here are some things that can be measured fairly easily:

-  Reduced or reassigned head count
-  Travel and accommodation cost reduction
-  Reduced training time and cost
-  Reduced printing and distribution cost
-  Improved employee retention and satisfaction
-  Enhanced customer satisfaction
-  Easier tracking and measurement of legal compliance
-  Increased revenue associated with enabling product to market faster

Whichever of these you choose to track, it's critical that senior management is made aware of the correlation between learning, and the positive results achieved.

Did you know that recent studies indicate 70-80% of all adult learning is done on an as-needed basis as opposed to being in a classroom setting?  That's especially true in a fast-paced, constantly-changing environment like hospitality or retail.  Everyone needs formalized training when starting a new job, learning a new system, or being introduced to new policies or procedures.  However, when an associate is standing in front of a customer, and they aren't sure how to proceed, it isn't the time or place to pull-out a paper manual, or fire-up an eLearning course.  This is where Just-in-Time (JIT) Training comes in.  These are enhanced help screens that can be accessed on-the-fly with minimal customer impact.  At the Venza Group, we call them "eGuides".  They can be developed very inexpensively, yet have a tremendous return on investment.

As you formulate an overall Technology-Based Training strategy going forward, consider having a mix of eGuides along with traditional eLearning courseware - especially for those job functions or system processes that are particularly problematic for associates (e.g. handling loyalty cards, etc.).