LMS: Mission Impossible

Do you ever feel like Tom Cruise on a dangerous “LMS success” mission… which, if you choose to accept it…

Let’s admit it: if the LMS were a party, employees would be lining up outside and you’d be doing face control because inside it would be pure chaos.

As a training manager, though, when you look at the LMS usage stats, it’s like reading the diary of a forgotten island – few survivors and long periods of silence.

The “I Don’t Have Time” Syndrome

“I don’t have time! I have things to do!”, employees say, as if you’re lying on a hammock eating grapes while casually watching LMS videos for fun. The truth is that training competes with deadlines, meetings, and that email that “was due yesterday.” So how do you convince them?

The Three Stages of the LMS-Denier

1. Denial: “What is this? I don’t know it, therefore it doesn’t exist.”
2. Bargaining: “If I watch the first 5 minutes, does it count?”
3. Acceptance (?): “Fine, I’ll fast-forward it and we’ll see…”

How to Bring Them In (Gently… or Not)

1 Make it like Netflix (or TikTok, if you’re feeling bold)

If employees spend hours scrolling through videos, why not make the LMS more appealing? Short, quick, engaging lessons that could easily appear on their “For You Page.”

2 Take Hostages… the Bonuses!

Who said training can’t have incentives? Badges, points, leaderboards – if it works in videogames, why not in the LMS?

3 Create “Office Drama”

“Don’t miss episode three of ‘Compliance Wars’! Kostas ignored GDPR and now… see what happened!” If the training feels like a soap opera, they’ll get hooked.

4 Scare Them (Lovingly)

If all else fails, remind them of that 7-hour PowerPoint training with no skip button. Suddenly, the LMS will seem wonderful.

The truth is that the LMS can be a tool or a torture device, depending on how you present it.
And if everything fails… maybe it’s time to tell them the LMS also has dark mode. Who knows? It might work!