Build your own leadership library in your LMS

Rolling out online manager content should feel like switching on a service, not launching a project.

You’re not sending people off site. You’re putting short, practical courses in the hands of every manager so they can use them alongside the day job. The LMS you already own is the shelf. The content drops straight in. No roadshows. No portal tours. The goal is simple: better conversations, clearer goals and cleaner decisions turning up in real work.

If it takes six clicks to reach a course, it’s not a library, it’s a maze.

This guide shows you how to build a useful leadership library inside your LMS without a big detour. What to include. How to organise it so managers can find things in two clicks. How to publish SCORM cleanly. How to launch quietly and still get traction. How to measure progress in a way finance will recognise.

Want the fast path to content that already fits this approach - see our Lead-Ology content.

Switch learning on, don't launch a project

Start with outcomes, not assets

Before you upload a single file, align with your exec sponsor on three questions.

1. What do we want managers doing more often in the next ninety days

2. How will that show up in the week’s work

3. What can we stop doing to fund this with time as well as money

You’ll hear the usual suspects. Weekly one to ones. One-sentence goals people can act on. Decisions made in the room. Better conversations when people issues spark.

Write those outcomes on one page and use them as your north star. If an item doesn’t help a manager do one of those things, park it.

If your “vision” needs a mood board and a quiet room, it’s probably a shopping list.

A simple blueprint managers can navigate

Think of your LMS like a supermarket. Clear signs. Short aisles. The thing you came for is exactly where you expect it.

Use four top-level sections that match how managers think:

1. Manager essentials

   One to ones, goals, feedback, meetings, delegation, fair performance conversations.

2. People and teams

   Motivation, coaching in the moment, confidence, wellbeing conversations, handling conflict early and fairly.

3. Delivery and decisions

   Planning the week, decision-first meetings, prioritising when everything is “urgent”, right-first-time checks, cross-team handovers.

4. Step up and lead

   For new managers and those moving to mid level. Personal credibility, leading leaders, strategic communication, change.

Inside each section, group by moment rather than theory. Managers search by situation:

• Run a one to one this week

• Give feedback without the drama

• Decide in the room

• Delegate ownership, not a task list

• Fix work that’s close but not right

• Handle a missed deadline like an adult

If your LMS supports collections/playlists, mirror these moments as featured rows on the library home. Keep the names obvious. No clever titles. Managers should read it and think, “that’s my problem.”

Find it in two clicks

Naming and tagging that actually saves time

The point of naming isn’t prettiness. It’s retrieval. Use a clean pattern and stick to it.

Course Titles

Moment first, then the tool.

• One to one that leads to action

• One-sentence goals people can use

• Feedback that lands and is fair

• Decision-first meetings

Descriptions

Line 1: The outcome in plain English.

Line 2: What the learner will do in the next hour.

Line 3: How long it takes.

Tags

• Level: first line manager, mid manager, senior

• Skill: feedback, delegation, planning, decisions, coaching

• Time: under 10 minutes, under 20 minutes

• Proof: includes workbook, includes checklist, includes decision log

Agree the tags once. Use them everywhere. Your LMS search will suddenly feel smarter because you let it be.

What goes in the box

A useful leadership library isn’t big. It’s sharp.

Each item should include:

• A short video or interactive piece showing the move in under ten minutes

• A small task managers can try this week

• A one-page workbook or template that supports the task

• A note on how to evidence it happened in the real world

Using SCORM Great. Make sure it opens cleanly in your LMS, remembers progress and links to the artefacts.

Resist the urge to add theory for theory’s sake. Month one is about movement. You can always add depth later.

Blend buy, build and borrow

You don’t need to build everything from scratch.

• Buy focused SCORM for core moments and drop it straight into your LMS.

• Build short guides and local examples that use your language and show your artefacts.

• Borrow what already exists internally. If a team runs a great weekly huddle, capture their agenda and share it.

This blend keeps cost sensible and time under control. It also earns trust. People recognise their world in the library.

A publishing loop that doesn’t eat your week

A library lives or dies on process. Keep it light and real.

1. Intake

   Choose what comes next based on the outcomes you agreed.

2. Prepare

   Check it opens in a modern browser, works on a phone, and passes a quick accessibility check. Add the one pager and templates.

3. Name and tag

   Use the pattern. Do not wing it.

4. Upload and test

   Publish to a hidden space. Test as a normal manager, not as admin. Fix the weirdness now.

5. Release

   Move it live into the right section and collection. Feature it on the home for a week.

6. Announce with a nudge

   Send a short note tied to a live problem. “If your meetings dodge decisions, try this ten-minute course and the decision log.” Portal tours are great… said no busy manager ever.

7. Review after a week

   Look for use and early stories. If it’s quiet, ask three managers for feedback and adjust the title or description. Often the content is fine and the label is off.

Ship weekly, learn weekly

Make it easy to find in two clicks

The library home matters more than people admit. Do three things.

• Put a short welcome line at the top that sets the purpose. “Short courses and tools managers can use this week. Find what you need in two clicks.”

• Feature the five most common moments as tiles with direct links: One to ones, Goals, Feedback, Decisions, Delegation.

• Add a search prompt that actually helps. “Try: decision-first meetings” or “Try: feedback that lands.”

Adoption without a song and dance

Rollouts fail when they rally everyone to a platform rather than a purpose. Keep the nudges close to real work.

Monday morning

“Pick one live piece of work and write a one-sentence goal. Ten-minute guide here. Template inside.”Link “one-sentence goal” to Ten ready-to-use lines.

Mid-week clinic

“Drop in with a goal or a sticky decision. We’ll sharpen the words and land it. Ten minutes. Same link every week.”

Friday share

Two lines from a manager. “What we changed.” “What it unlocked.” Link to the tool they used.

Managers try things when you keep it practical. Trying is the hard part. Once they see a small win, you’re away.

Measures leaders trust

Clicks and completion aren’t your story. Visible behaviour is.

Track four signals in month one:

• Percentage of managers who held at least one one to one with each direct report

• Meeting decision rate (meetings that end with a decision, owner and date)

• Right-first-time on three repeating outputs that matter in your world

• A simple pulse on “I know what’s expected of me this week”

Publish them weekly as a tiny chart. Add one real artefact each time. A goal that guided a trade-off. A decision log that unblocked work. Leaders believe what looks like the work they see.

Light governance, strong spine

Good libraries have a light backbone.

• Every item has a named owner

• Every item has a review date

• Old versions get archived, not deleted

• Nothing goes live without a way to evidence it happened in the real world

That’s it. You can add sophistication later if you enjoy it, but you don’t need it to get value.

Common pitfalls and how to dodge them

Endless curation

If you spend your month hunting for perfect content, nothing ships. Ship something useful, watch how it lands, then improve it.

Tool worship

If your update mentions the platform more than the work, you’ve lost the room. Talk about the moment and the outcome. The LMS is the shelf, not the show.

Per-seat rationing

If access is limited, momentum dies. A company licence removes the question “am I allowed in” and replaces it with “what do I need now”.

Vanity metrics

Time in portal sounds impressive but tells you little. Count behaviours leaders can see.

Long pathways

If you ask a busy manager to complete fifteen steps before they can use one tool, they’ll quietly ignore you. Keep pathways short or skip them and push moments instead.

Long pathways are like airport security: necessary sometimes, loved by no one.

Your thirty-day plan to get version one live

Week 1

Agree outcomes, moments, naming and tags. Pick the first ten items. Line up owners and review dates. Draft the one pagers.

Week 2

Publish the first five items into a hidden space. Test on phone and desktop as a normal manager. Fix labels and links. Build the home page with five moment tiles.

Week 3

Go live. Run the Monday, mid-week and Friday nudges. Start the weekly clinic. Collect real examples.

Week 4

Publish the next five items. Share a one-page update with four measures and three artefacts. Make one ask that removes friction, such as retiring a duplicate report or opening access for a group still stuck outside.

You now have a live library that managers can use and leaders can support. No drama. Just better work sooner.

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