Exploring the PLMS: A Sit Down With CEO of Acorn Blake Proberts

This article first appeared on Acorn Resources in September 2023.

Q: Setting a baseline, can you help us understand what a PLMS is?

Proberts: This is a question I get a lot given the traction we’re seeing in the market. A performance learning management system (PLMS) allows organizations to address the topics of performance and learning in one platform. With a PLMS leaders can continually assess and improve learners based on their specific company and role-based capabilities.

Q: You mentioned capabilities there. If I have just started exploring capability building or am not yet ready, is a PLMS right for me?

Proberts: It's perfect, many users of a PLMS use the core LMS as a starting point. It gives them all the benefits of legacy LMSs plus the inclusion of capturing all formats of learning, and the ability to scale up. And it’s all helped along with the power of AI.

Q: I just want to stay on the point of capabilities for a bit longer. If we’re heavily invested in and focused on building skills, is a PLMS still right for us?

Proberts: The recent surge in skills-based organizations is a central aspect of what a PLMS is all about, and it’s crucial to understand that it’s not about skills versus capabilities, but their interconnectedness. PLMS places a primary emphasis on capabilities as they are the only data-backed measure of learning that genuinely influences organizational performance. While skills are undoubtedly valuable, they can’t operate in isolation, which is why we prioritize capabilities.

Q: A lot of us have been in organizational development, learning and development and people development more broadly for a long time. How is this not just another marketing play on words like LXP?

Proberts: There are two key differences. The first is that for a PLMS, performance comes first and is the driver. The provider’s core principles and vision must be focused on improving performance. This is the guiding light for all product development decisions. If the focus of the provider is on upskilling or learning management, then by definition, they are not a PLMS. There’s a place for all in the market, but it’s very much dependent on the business case of the customer.

The second key difference is in how a PLMS is built. The R&D that goes into a provider of a PLMS must meet the six components of a PLMS:

1. Pre-learning
2. Manage learning opportunities
3. Assess and benchmark learning
4. Embedded performance management
5. Multi-stakeholder learning
6. And workflow automation

Q: Ok, so let’s say I am on board with needing a PLMS. Where does a PLMS sit within my existing human resources technology set?

Proberts: PLMS is a sub-category of the HR stack. And as such, it sits alongside legacy LMSs if you have multiple systems. In some cases it’s the only learning management technology. It integrates with traditional HRMs, HRISs and payroll systems among other relevant systems.

Q: What are the typical reasons that customers select a PLMS over an LMS?

Proberts: For decades, LMSs were (and still are) successful in compliance management. Burdened by content overload, muddled visibility and waning employee engagement due to lack of direction or perceived relevance to their jobs, companies have been unsuccessful in tying their employees’ learning and development to overall business performance. A majority of companies also struggle to tangibly link their L&D programs to increased business performance and prove ROI. These are the pain points the PLMS was created to solve.

Q: How is this different to standalone learning and performance management systems?

Proberts: At its core, a performance management system is focused on improving performance and development through learning. In other words, measuring performance against job scorecards. Your traditional LMS is focused on the administration, delivery, tracking, and assessment of educational courses and training programs.

Q: With the exponential growth and improvements in AI, how is this incorporated?

Proberts: The PLMS’s take is different to the legacy LMS take on AI. The use cases for AI in LMSs are focused on creating more—more learning briefs, more learning content, and more AI admin assistance. PLMSs come from a different angle, with their innovative generative AI systems focusing on assisting organizations in identifying optimal workforce capabilities. By tailoring recommendations to the organization’s strategy, problems, priorities, and key performance indicators, this tool revolutionizes the process. The AI prompts users with targeted discovery questions, aligning with overall business or departmental strategies.

Q: Thanks Blake, we appreciate you sharing these insights with us. Where can people get in touch?

Proberts: I’m active on LinkedIn, just search my full name Blake Proberts and you’ll find me. Or Google Acorn PLMS, and we’ll come up.