Performance support is a journey, not a destination. What works for an organization that is just starting down this road looks very different from what works for an organization that has been effectively utilizing performance support strategies for years.

Performance support has become an ever-more powerful proposition with the advent of mobile devices that can deliver to learners wherever they are. It can help learners apply what they have learned back in the workplace or even replace the need for upfront training. And the future is exciting, because mobile performance support will be adaptive and contextual, turning iDevices into a combination of coach and personal assistant, and bridging the gap between the classroom and the workplace. But getting started isn‘t always easy.

As we move, albeit haltingly, to more independent and technology-enabled learning and performance support, participants enjoy choice. Lots of it. They choose to participate, engage, and contribute. Or they can choose to skip your learning program entirely.

You need a performance support solution, but getting approval to implement a larger, more costly solution takes time—if you have the budget at all. But maybe you don’t need the larger, more costly system. Maybe you can start your performance support journey using tools you already have available.

W.W. Grainger, a global industrial supply distribution company with thousands of users across 369 branches, 15 distribution centers, and a growing online presence, needs to prepare their end-users for a big change: an SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) deployment supporting the business in Mexico and Canada. Multiple geographically dispersed locations make traditional instructor-led training expensive, complicated, and risky.