Why train your team using a learning management system?
With record keeping being the number one unmet standard in pharmacy, according to GPhC data, many pharmacy businesses are looking to online Learning Management Systems (LMS) to help them maintain complete and accurate training records.
In a 2018 survey of businesses managing their pharmacy training through Mediapharm, 84% said they spent less time chasing up colleagues and 74% spent less time on administration; while 80% said their team performance had improved and 78% said their average time from training to certification had reduced.
But how do you go about getting your pharmacy team to move over to this way of training? I am going to look at the following key areas:
– How to explain Mediapharm to your team
– When and how to ask your team to switch to LMS training
– Different approaches to moving your team to LMS training
– What to say to when implementing an LMS training
– Dealing with objections
– What your team sees when they login to Mediapharm
How to explain Mediapharm to your team
Training on an LMS doesn’t just benefit your business, it brings a whole host of benefits to your team too – benefits that add to the value and quality of the pharmacy service you’re delivering. But, how do you go about explaining Mediapharm to your team?
Introduce Mediapharm
Mediapharm is an all-in-one learning management system (LMS) designed by pharmacists for pharmacy businesses which makes it easy for your team to keep up to date and monitor performance.
Here are a few other things you can tell your team about Mediapharm and LMS:
— LMS can be used to easily track regular training and documents of all types including standard operating procedures, accredited courses, product training and seasonal updates.
— Mediapharm is the UK’s leading LMS provider for pharmacy, processing over one million hours of learning for thousands of learners in organisations including ASDA, Morrisons and Well.
Explain the Benefits
Here are a few things you can tell your team about the benefits of training on an LMS through Mediapharm:
— All in one place – Unlike with traditional course providers, you won’t have to keep asking to be enrolled on courses each time you want to learn something. Everything you need is instantly available from your personal learning account. Think of it as Netflix for pharmacy training. You can also access your pharmacy’s own SOPs and existing training content, which means no accidental gaps in your training records, forgotten inductions or missed quality payments.
— Visibility – Training records are always up to date, and individual and manager dashboards provide real time reporting which means you won’t have to worry about an unannounced GPhC inspection.
— Approved Content – accredited training through Mediapharm is approved by GPhC and RSPH to give you peace of mind. Regular bite sized learning modules are delivered when needed which makes training more manageable for your colleagues.
— Access Any Time – You can access your personal learning account from any location, at any time, so you can learn at your own pace. It’s also mobile responsive so you can even use your phone or tablet.
Take a Transparent Approach
In some instances it helps to be honest with your team and say how training on an LMS will help your business. For example, for smaller businesses where there is a closer relationship between the team and the owner, explaining that LMS will help your business run more efficiently, keep costs down and save time, is often enough to get the team on board.
When and how to ask your team to switch to LMS training
There are certain times when it makes more sense to ask your team to switch to LMS training.
Trigger points
Examples include:
— When you are adding a new store
— When a team member is late completing a course and you are calling/emailing to chase them for a certificate
— When you are upskilling your existing team
Building Engagement
Here are a few more tips and tactics for engaging with existing teams:
— Identify the worst offenders. Identify teams you have to chase the most or who have a poor compliance record. Explain how LMS will help make life easier for them and improve their skills. Focus your time on the biggest pain point for your business, so you will start to see immediate results.
— Be proactive and phone up. Get managers to talk to teams who have completed the required learning as well as those who have fallen behind. Give positive feedback and offer support.
— Be opportunistic. Make the most of the times when you’re naturally talking to teams about training. For example, if you’re in store, ask them to login to their personal learning account.
— Include a CTA on newsletters. Provide clear and prominent instructions on internal communication about how to complete this month’s training. If you link to Mediapharm via your intranet site, you may be able to add a ‘Take Course” button to your home page.
Embedding Mediapharm Right From the Start
When taking on new team members, here are some tips on getting them engaged with Mediapharm from the outset:
— Talk about your training expectations at the start – as soon as you have a new team member join the business, talk openly about the importance of keeping training records up to date, patient safety, and GPhC minimum standards – and set clear expectations that your LMS is your preferred training channel.
— Include LMS logins in contracts and engagement letters – it’s hard to change habits; set your new team member up to learn via LMS by default in your contract.
— Make it clear how to login into Mediapharm – don’t leave teams in the dark: show them how easy it is to access Mediapharm.
— Email teams to explain the benefits of LMS – outline the key benefits of using LMS and position Mediapharm as the ideal training partner
Different approaches to moving teams over to LMS
From incentivising the switch to making it compulsory, consider which approach is right for your business.
Incentivise the switch
Some teams might be incentivised just by the fact that LMS brings all their training together in one place. For example if they enrol on courses manually, point out that LMS allows them instant access to the courses they need.
If that’s not enough to get your team to move, why not try financial or product incentives, for example one hour of paid for training time each month.
Make it compulsory
If teams really won’t budge, you might want to consider making it compulsory for them to train via LMS. This is a good option for your business if:
— Compliance is becoming a problem
— You have training scattered across multiple platforms
— If you are spending a large proportion of your time chasing certifications
— You don’t have an admin team available to chase certifications
— Efficient training is important to you
— If you are looking to grow your business and need to have simple and consistent training processes that are easy to scale
If you find it difficult to enforce this change on existing team members, start by including it as a condition of employment to new team members only.
What to say when asking a team to train on an LMS
These key talking points and email templates will help you get started. Give them a try.
Preferred training option
LMS training through Mediapharm is now our preferred way to train teams – it’s simple, and easy to use for both of us.
Less hassle
If training changes, you won’t have to order new courses (unlike with course providers). Everything will be set up for you.
More Visibility
You’ll be able to view individual and team dashboards with real time reporting so you can always be up to date.
Set and forget
You set up your team once, and after that, team members are enrolled automatically on the course that’s required.
Never get chased for training records
Training records are updated automatically, so you won’t get chased for certificates and there’s no risk of unlogged activities.
Stay in control
You’ll receive notifications of course completions, courses overdue and real time reports that you can show inspectors any time they visit.
Better team performance
Training through Mediapharm makes learning outcomes predictable, which can improve team performance.
[Optional] Financial reward
Moving to LMS training reduces admin time for us, so we’re passing on this benefit to you through [you can incentive details here]. You’ll get access to the benefit as soon as you have signed up to the LMS platform.
Tell them how to sign up
After you have been added to the system, you’ll receive an activation email from Mediapharm which requests that you login to complete the signup process profile. This will enrol you on the next training courses you need to complete.
Here’s an example message you could send to your team, asking them to make the switch:
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Hello [Name],
Header: Take your next course through Mediapharm
LMS training through Mediapharm is now our preferred training method. We think you’ll find it easier to train through Mediapharm, and it benefits us too, so for every team member that completes training through Mediapharm we’re [Insert incentive details here, e.g. offering one hour’s paid training time per month]
All you need to do is login here [enter link to Mediapharm login page] and you will be automatically enrolled onto your next course.
As soon as you have completed the course, you will receive a digital certificate and completion record that will be added to your personal learning account.
You’ll be notified each time you need to complete a course and your learning records are kept safe and secure, so if you change jobs or lose a certificate you can always retrieve them.
Mediapharm is an approved pharmacy training provider, who work with hundreds of pharmacy businesses across the UK including ASDA, Morrisons and Well.
If you have any questions, you can find out more details on the Mediapharm website or get in touch with us on [phone number].
All the best, [Name and Company]
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Dealing with objections
Here are some common objections you might come across when asking team members to train on LMS, and some suggestions for how you can respond to them.
“I don’t want to change my training provider”
— Outline the benefits to team and/or incentives
— Show how easy it is to do
— Ask what they don’t want to change and see if you can meet them halfway, or add additional benefits to them, e.g. let them choose when they can train.
“I don’t have time”
— Show how easy it is to do
— Outline how they’ll save more time this way by giving a simple comparison of how long it takes to train by their usual method e.g. 15 minutes spent completing an online training course vs. an evening attending a workshop.
“I’m worried about using Mediapharm, I’ve never heard of them”
— Tell them that Mediapharm is the UK’s leading LMS provider for pharmacy, processing over one million hours of learning for thousands of learners in organisations including ASDA, Morrisons and Well.
— Let them know that Mediapharm is approved by GPhC and RSPH to provide accredited courses such as MCA/DA and HLP
— If they would like more information on Mediapharm, you can point them to this page.
“I always complete my training on time, so I don’t see why I should have to change”
— Thank them for keeping up to date, but explain the challenges you have in your business with admin overheads.
— Explain that having teams accessing training activity across multiple platforms is more work for you, and your efficiency ultimately benefits them, so you’d appreciate it if they register on the site
— Incentivise if needed.
What your team see when they log in to Mediapharm
Before talking to your team about Mediapharm, it’s helpful to see it from their point of view. Here, we’ll show you what your team will see when they login to Mediapharm.
When you add a team member, they will receive a welcome email which requests that they login to their personal learning account.
Mediapharm passwords are set up by your team members, and they will then be asked to choose a password like this:
If the team member has been added via the bulk upload tool they will be asked to confirm their unique email address. This allows them to receive alerts, notifications and to access our online support services. We do not spam or sell personal data.
Finally we ask a couple of security questions. This enables team members to continue to login and avoid disruption if they forget their password.
Once the sign up process has been completed, and you begin to create individual learning plans in the LMS, Mediapharm automatically notifies your teams via email on your behalf with clear instructions of what courses they need to complete.
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This article was written by the founder and CEO of MediaPharm, Paul Lowndes, with the help of Saam Ali, author of Mastering Digital Pharmacy.