Managing career progression with your learning experience platform (LXP)

An adaptable learning experience platform (LXP) like Totara Engage can be customised to support employees at every stage of their career. From brand-new employees in their first days at your organisation to experienced senior management, an LXP is used to bring together people with similar learning needs, whether that’s by role, location, seniority level or skill set.

Suggested read: LMS vs LXP: Which one do you really need?

So how can you ensure your LXP is adding value to every single employee in your organisation, from a student on a summer internship right through to your C-suite?

New employees

In their first few days and weeks at your organisation, new employees will be enthusiastic, ready to learn and keen to make connections. They want to become competent in the skills they need to perform their jobs and know where to go to find information.

New employees need a safe place to ask questions, and a way to find the answers they need quickly and easily. The early days of a new job are usually overwhelming, so giving new employees a way to re-find and organise resources will help them refer back to the most useful documents.

You can help new employees by highlighting where they can find subject matter experts and who to ask when they can’t find an answer to a specific question. You could also consider building a glossary of commonly used terms or vocabulary specific to your organisation to help them settle in. Creating a workspace for new starters to introduce themselves and connect with others in the organisation will also help them make those all-important connections and start putting names to faces.

Mid-level employees

Established, mid-level employees have acquired many of the skills they need for their roles, and have a good amount of information and relationships with colleagues. At this stage in their careers, they will be looking to gain recognition, share their knowledge with others, focus on building specialist skills and perhaps building their professional reputations.

If you’re looking to help mid-level employees, they need a quick way to find specific knowledge. A great search algorithm will help your mid-level employees hone in on the information they need without having to trawl through all the basics. For experienced employees looking to share their knowledge with others, content curation and resource sharing will help them establish themselves as experts in their field, and in turn they can be recognised for their work.

Mid-level employees can also benefit from tangible rewards for their learning activities. You may consider incentivising them with a leaderboard, points, badges or real-life rewards such as vouchers or small gifts. The more your employees engage in learning, the better it is for your organisation, so this can help motivate your people.

Subject matter experts

Subject matter experts are seen as leaders and mentors in their fields. An LXP is the ideal way for them to share their expertise to wider groups, avoiding time-consuming one-on-one conversations and constant interruptions to their work days.

To support subject matter experts in sharing their knowledge, you can encourage them to create their own workspaces where they can post links, tips, resources they’ve created and playlists they’ve curated. This allows them to reach wider audiences of people, reduce duplication of efforts and “vet” resources before sharing them with others, ensuring everyone gets the best-quality learning materials.

It’s also beneficial for the subject matter expert themselves. Other people can ask questions, which keeps their knowledge sharp, and they can keep an eye on other interesting resources other people have found. It will also help them cement their status as an expert, which can be incredibly useful for their personal career progression.

Senior managers

A common misconception about LXPs is that they primarily benefit more junior employees as they build new skills and learn from their peers. However, senior managers have just as much to gain from collaborative learning, content curation and the easy communication of an LXP.

A senior manager can use an LXP to identify talent, whether that’s emerging subject matter experts, employees producing engaging content or employees offering helpful input into discussions. This can feed into performance management discussions and ensure that employees are fairly recognised for their efforts and work with their peers.

Senior managers can also use tools such as LXPs to create more engaged workforces. They can highlight quality content by “pinning” posts, quickly and easily communicate to entire teams, groups or departments and run engagement reports to better understand the needs and challenges of their employees. This data can then feed into future content, learning initiatives and behavior change programs.