How to Find the Right Training in Empath's New Library
The more training options your team has, the more it helps to have them well organized. How do you get the most out of a large library when you don't know where to start? Empath recently expanded its catalog, and with that new course content sitting alongside live streams and pathways, Empath built a new library page designed to make the right training easier to find.
Empath’s MSP training library is now the default view in Empath. It brings together Empath's own MSP courses, Microsoft Learn and the Curated Collection, and organizes everything by business function, solution area, skill and role.
This article explains how the library is organized and gives you a five-step way to move from a skill gap to assigned training.
Key Takeaways
- The library page is now Empath's default view, with courses, pathways, and live streams in one place.
- The main filters are Publisher, Business Function, Solution Area, and Solution Focus, with seven more under More filters.
- Each filter you add narrows the results, so add them one at a time.
- Learner controls decide whether your team sees a guided list or the full catalog.
Start With a Role, Then Open the Library
A large library is easiest to use when you open it with a role and a skill gap already in mind. Empath Co-founder Kyle Christensen has a name for what happens otherwise: the Netflix problem. It's easy to browse for half an hour and come away with nothing.
The problem lands hardest on whoever assigns the training. A service manager onboarding a new tech doesn't need more options. Neither does a team lead whose Tier 1 keeps escalating the same tickets. They need the two or three courses that fit, and they need them before the next one-on-one.
That's why a library alone isn't a plan. The library provides the material for the plan.
Pick the role first, then the course. The rest of this guide builds from there.
How Is the Empath Library Organized?
The library’s course filters are organized in two layers: main filters that set the lane, and More filters that narrow inside it.They sit in a panel on the left of the library page, under a search box and an I'm Feeling Lucky button that opens a random course.
Main filters
- My Library: courses you've bookmarked or that have been assigned to you.
- Completion: completed, in progress, or not started.
- Publisher: where the content comes from, such as Skillsoft, BizLibrary Productions or Bigger Brains.
- Business Function: why the content matters to the business. It maps to how an organization is structured and measured, with options such as Account Management, Operations, Revenue, Service Delivery, and People & Culture. Each course carries one or two.
- Solution Area and Solution Focus: the subject, then a narrower lane inside it. Business and Finance, then Marketing, for example.
More filters
- FORT Pillar: Finance, Operations, Revenue, or Technology, from Kyle's FORT model, plus Cross-cutting for content that spans more than one.
- Level: All levels, Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced.
- Skills: what a learner can do after finishing the course, drawn from a controlled list of 215 skills.
- Topics: narrower subjects. Type "Word" here to find Microsoft Word training without scrolling through everything Microsoft.
- Roles: the job roles a course fits.
- Content Type: course, pathway, or live stream.
- Navigators: the instructor or channel behind the course.
The categories are a first pass, and Empath's team is still refining them.
How to Find the Right Course in Five Steps
Finding the right course takes five moves: name the gap, pick a lane, narrow it, check the source, and assign it.
1. Start with one role and one skill gap
Pull the gap from a job description, a one-on-one, or a ticket pattern. "Handle account lockouts without escalating" is a gap. "Get better at Microsoft" isn't. Keeping it to one skill for one learner makes every later step faster.
2. Pick a lane
Choose the Business Function, Solution Area, and Solution Focus that match the gap. If your team already thinks in Kyle's FORT model, the FORT Pillar filter gets you to the same place from a different angle.
3. Narrow with More filters, one at a time
Add Skills, Topics, Roles, or Level. Each filter cuts the results down, and the options left in the other filters update to match. Empath Chief Product Officer Michael Riggs compares it to shopping for a PC on Amazon or Best Buy: processor, then RAM, then storage, until a short list is left.
The catch is that you can narrow too far. Add one filter, check what's left, then add the next. Clear all resets the panel if you hit a dead end.
4. Check the source
Use search when you already know the title. Filter by Publisher or Navigators when your team learns better from a particular source or instructor, and Microsoft Learn courses in Empath can be filtered the same way. Use Completion to skip anything the learner has already finished.
5. Move it out of the library
A course sitting in the library isn't training yet. Assign it to the learner, or add it to a role-based pathway so the next person in that role gets it too. Once it's assigned, it shows up in their My Library.
Decide What Your Team Sees With Learner Controls
Learner controls let you choose between a guided library and an open one. The account owner sets them, and they apply to everyone else on the team.
- Hide unassigned content, so learners see only what's been assigned to them.
- Hide premium catalogs your MSP doesn't subscribe to.
- Turn on self-assignment, so a motivated tech can assign their own courses without waiting for a manager.
- Set playback and completion options, such as faster playback, skipping ahead while still earning completion credit, and letting a course play in the background.
The right setting depends on the team. New hires working through onboarding usually do better with the guided view. A senior tech studying for a certification may want the full catalog and the freedom to self-assign.
If open browsing is pulling people away from their assigned work, hide unassigned content. If your team uses the full catalog well, leave it open.
What Your Team Gets Back
The payoff shows up first in onboarding. A new hire logs in and finds their onboarding work already waiting in My Library.
It shows up in one-on-ones too. When a conversation surfaces a skill gap, the service manager can find and assign a matching course in the same sitting, and the learning block a tech sets aside goes to the course itself.
Filters keep a library this size usable.
Find Your Team's Next Course
Start small. Pick one role on your team and run its biggest skill gap through the five steps. Open the library in your Empath account to begin.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Empath library?
The Empath library is the page in Empath Learn where all of your team's training lives. It holds more than 19,000 courses from Empath, Microsoft Learn, and the Curated Collection, plus pathways and live streams. You search, filter, and assign training from that one page.
What kind of training is in the Empath library?
Empath’s training course catalog covers IT and certification prep, cybersecurity, Microsoft and AI, sales and account management, leadership, compliance and HR, and everyday business skills. Courses come from 30+ publishers, including Empath's own courses built for MSPs, and 800+ of them map to a certification.
Where did live streams go on the new library page?
Live streams now sit in the library alongside courses and pathways. To see only live streams, open More filters and select Livestream under Content Type.
Why don't I see learner controls?
Learner controls are available to your Empath account owner. If you're the account owner and they don't appear, log out and back in. If they still don't show, contact support.
Want to see the Empath library with your own roles and skill gaps? Book a demo.
