I recall being in a meeting where a senior IT person questioned why we needed to provide training. He argued that many systems are intuitive, that nobody has trained their staff to use Facebook, and that everyone copes. From my experience, training in new systems can often be viewed as a low-priority activity, especially for migrations.
Training during a content migration – When it’s needed. And when it’s not
The need for training depends on the type of content migration you are undertaking. Some technical uplift migrations will not be visible to the end users. For example, moving from spinning to solid-state disks or moving a system from AWS to Azure will unlikely require end-user training. Whilst your technical staff may need extensive retraining, it is unlikely that the end users will.
If, however, you are changing an end-user-facing system, then end-user training is likely, even if the change seems self-explanatory to you as an IT professional. Remember that your end users are likely to be experts in their business domain, not experts in the software they use to deliver their business service. Even if they are experts, for example, in Google Sheets, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are experts in Microsoft Excel. Moreover, your user community will likely be very used to a subset of the functionality of the systems that they use and not necessarily understand the systems in any wider meaningful sense. So, even where equivalent functionality is delivered differently, it may still be difficult to relate to this change without support.
How to streamline your migration training
Training can be a complicated and time-consuming activity. Here are some thoughts on how to streamline your migration training:
- Cover the basics—Migration training should ideally cover introducing the new system, any changes in approach, new opportunities, how it improves business processes and other benefits, how-to guides for common functionality, and day 1 usage.
- Be open to any limitations. Also, consider explaining the system’s limitations. Many end-users will identify them quickly. Those who spot them will be keen to share their findings, and not always in a positive way, so it often pays to address this head-on by highlighting limitations to maintain trust. This also gives you the opportunity to explain why the limitations are acceptable to the project team.
- Reduce anxiety. Build confidence – Focus on reducing user anxiety and building confidence in their ability to use the new service.
- Account for user needs – Group the needs of end users to identify whether some users require less training than others. And take the user’s level of experience and day jobs into account, because, for example, the needs of a junior person may differ from those of a senior.
- Be creative – Training can be delivered in a variety of ways. Consider offering different types of training. For example, online training, direct training by one of your trainers or by training business experts who can go on to deliver the training (train the trainer), creating quick reference or more detailed guides or bite-sized videos that bring the new system to life. Whatever combination you choose, try to ensure it is clear, concise and appropriate for the audience. Your users will also have their day jobs to deliver and get to grips with the new system, so consider fitting in with their schedules or work patterns. In the latter case, for example, consider staging the training as just-in-time for their needs if their jobs are cyclical.
- Have fun – Make the training engaging so the users get the best out of it.
- Follow-up – Don’t forget to allow follow-up from your users. They will have questions once the sessions are over, and they start using the system in earnest. So later, access to your training services and material or self-help communities may help.
If you have a question for Chris or the Triad team, please get in touch.
