Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
Issue link: http://elmezine.epubxp.com/i/611643
20 December 2015 / January 2016 Elearning! red academy making this content easier to access is proven by the data. As the data shows, employees have fully embraced RED Academy as the "go-to" place for learning and development. For the entire 2014 calendar year, employees accumulated 9,336 continuing education credits — compared to nearly 12,500 through the frst nine months of this year. And the number of course completions inside the BizLibrary system is even more staggering, jumping from 15,529 for all of 2014 to 26,455 through the frst nine months of this year — a 70 percent increase with three months to go. Red Roof Inn continues to emphasize continuous learning as a means to reach its goal as No. 1 hotel in the economy market segment. According to the ReviewMetrix Customer Satisfaction Index, Red Roof has earned the top spot in online guest reviews for fve consecutive years in the economy lodging segment. ON THE HORIZON… Red Roof Inn's senior leaders see more value going forward in RED Academy LMS, so they are thinking of new ways to use the powerful tool in the future. One possibility includes integrating RED Academy with Red Roof Inn's new Human Resource Information System to get new employees using RED Academy for new- hire training from their frst day. Additionally, the I.T. and Quality departments are looking at ways to integrate the statistics from courses completed in RED with a "quality dashboard" to further simplify quality metrics for the brand. Meanwhile, the Training and Human Resources teams want to continue to fnd new ways to use the BizLibrary Collection and custom content to both support and develop successful teams at every level in the brand. So the future is bright, and the use of the system in partnership with BizLibrary looks like it will continue delivering business benefts for some time to come. —Editor's Note: "Red Roof " and "Red Roof Inn" are registered trademarks. "One Brand. One Focus." is a registered slogan. "ReviewMetrix" is a trademark. Marketing isn't just for generating new sales. In fact, you could argue persuasively that marketing ought to be a core competency for training departments. Think of it this way. If your employees do not know about your training program, does it even exist as a practical matter? The answer is, "No." But simple awareness only gets you started. Employees have to understand the value of the content, see the relevance of the content to their jobs, and participate in the program (consume the product). Each of these important steps towards gaining employee engagement in training requires marketing. An important element of this marketing is to establish an internal "brand" for our training program. A perfect place to start building an internal brand is with your online training platform. Red Academy, the internal training brand for employees of Red Roof Inn, is a perfect illustration of such a brand. But you don't have to be a major company to build an internal training brand. Here are a few tips to get your branding eforts started. GREAT BRANDS ARE LINKED TO GREAT BRAND NAMES. This can also be a fun exercise and a way to get employees involved right from the beginning of your branding eforts. Have a naming contest among employees. So- licit ideas from employees and ofer a prize for the winner. Let the employees vote on the brand name of their choosing. By getting employees involved like this, you set the stage for a much more direct connection between employees and the pro- gram. NOW YOU HAVE TO SET UP YOUR LEARNING PLATFORM. Use your organization's color scheme, and use a logo designed specifcally for your "training brand." By using a logo you've developed for your brand, the name your employees gave you and your organization's core color scheme, you've created a direct connection from employees to learning program to organization. It may seem subtle, but this represents an important symbolic and visible level of support for your employees' learning eforts on the part of your entire organization. Branding your learning platform will not guarantee success, but creating an inter- nal brand for employee training will give your employees a sense of shared purpose and a common frame of reference for learning resources and efort. —Chris Osborn BEST PRACTICES TIP: BRAND YOUR LEARNING PORTAL