Advances in technology offer many advantages in getting employees the right training so that they’re continuously learning and staying engaged. When you understand how to optimize capabilities in your learning management system (LMS), you can offer powerful, custom learning pathways to help your people stay engaged.

Let’s look at how using the learning pathway features of today’s modern LMS can keep employees motivated and moving forward with career and organizational goals.

What Is a Learning Pathway or a Learning Journey?

A learning pathway is like a lesson plan or curriculum used to achieve an educational goal. Also described as a learning journey, it’s a structured learning experience that guides individuals through a process of acquiring new knowledge, skills or behaviors. The key to engaging employees through training is to provide options where employees are learning what they need to know and how they want to learn it. Maybe they are interested in advancing their information technology (IT) skills, so their learning journey could be a series of IT courses. Or maybe they prefer mentoring because it suits their learning preference. Or maybe they have a hybrid working arrangement where they would like to take some courses remotely, and other topics in an instructor-led environment. The learning path can be designed to meet all of these preferences.

How Can Learning Journeys Benefit Employees and the Organization?

This framework provides a clear overview of the training process by organizing the various learning experiences that employees complete and helping them to understand how this training fits into the overall goals and objectives of the training program. By including milestones and checkpoints along the way, a learning journey helps employees track their progress and see how far they have come.

The learning journey also helps employees visualize their path, which is useful for employees who may feel overwhelmed or unsure of how to proceed. It also allows employees to skip redundant content due to testing out or having completed equivalent training. Seeing their progress mapped out in a learning journey gives learners a sense of accomplishment as they complete each activity and move closer to completing their goals.

Learning journeys are often designed to be flexible and adaptable, allowing individuals to progress at their own pace and choose the learning methods that best suit their needs and preferences. They may include a mix of self-paced learning, instructor-led training, and experiential learning activities, such as simulations, role-playing and project-based assignments.

Training organizations can use learning journeys in many ways, including:

• Onboarding new employees: A learning journey can be used to introduce new employees to the company’s products, services, culture and values. It can include a mix of self-paced learning, instructor-led training and experiential learning activities.
• Upskilling and reskilling current employees: A learning journey can be used to help current employees learn new skills or knowledge that will enable them to take on new roles or responsibilities within the company.
• Cross-functional training: A learning journey can be used to help employees from different departments or functional areas learn about each other’s work and how it fits into the overall goals of the company.
• Leadership development: A learning journey can be used to help managers and leaders develop the skills and knowledge they need to effectively lead and manage their teams.
• Compliance training: A learning journey can be used to ensure that employees are aware of and understand the company’s policies and procedures, as well as any relevant laws and regulations.

The goal of a learning journey is to provide employees with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their roles and contribute to the organization’s overall success. As an LMS administrator, you can save time by automating the management and reporting of learning pathways at your company. This helps improve course completion rates and keeps employees motivated when they see their accomplishments.

By offering a structured and personalized learning experience, companies can help employees stay engaged and motivated, and ensure that they have the support they need to continue learning and growing throughout their careers.