You’ve recognized you need a training program—to transfer knowledge, teach skills, ensure compliance, etc.—but where should you start? Whether you plan to develop a program yourself or hire an outside partner, asking and answering the right questions upfront can help ensure a more successful training program.
Below are the four key steps—and the questions you should ask yourself—that we recommend to start your planning out on the right foot.
1) Define Objectives and Intended Outcomes
Q: What problem or challenge are you trying to solve? What does your audience need to know or be able to do?
Answering these questions can help you clearly articulate the purpose of your training. Based on the purpose, you can then define clear learning objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). SMART objectives also help guide decisions on audience, scope, and format (see below).
Q: What will success look like?
Define your goals for the training. For example, are you trying to:
- Help improve productivity or efficiency?
- Develop skills or technical proficiency?
- Improve customer service responses?
Thinking about your goals will help you determine what data you’ll need to collect to measure your program’s success. Keeping goals in mind can also help as you develop assessments that learners can use to monitor their progress.
Nexight Tip: While you may already have clear objectives or goals in mind, always try to engage a variety of other stakeholders (e.g., supervising staff, employers, target participants) to validate your assumptions and/or add nuance.
2) Understand Your Audience
Q: Who are your target learners? Do they have similar background knowledge and experience?
Consider whether you have one audience or several. Creating learner personas or profiles can often be a helpful way to understand different roles, experiences, and challenges. And you can further use these profiles when designing and building your training to ensure it resonates with their needs.
Q: Do you know your learners’ current understanding and knowledge gaps?
Knowing what your learners already know or don’t know helps you determine what your training should cover—for example, where to begin, which topics to prioritize, and the level of detail to include. Conducting stakeholder interviews and a needs assessment can help you learn more about your learners’ baseline knowledge.
Nexight Tip: Our Instructional Design and Training team can help you develop and conduct a targeted needs assessment.
3) Assess Your Resources
Q: What’s your budget?
The cost of developing and implementing training programs can vary considerably depending on length, format, and scope. Knowing your budget will help you determine your limits and determine how you can secure the additional human, physical, digital, or content resources you may need.
Q: Who’s available to develop and implement the training?
Whether you’re going to build your program in-house or use a third-party consultancy like Nexight, you’ll need to identify a team to develop and deliver your training. The most effective programs are created by a diverse group with specialists who can:
- Produce clear and accurate content
- Design engaging learning experiences
- Create impactful visuals and interactive elements
- Facilitate effective delivery
- Measure and evaluate success
Understanding which types of experts you have access to will help you assemble the best team to develop and deliver your training.
Q: What software, facilities, equipment, or supplies will you need to be able to develop the training and get it into the hands of the target learners? What resources may already be available to you?
Your answer to these questions will depend on—and may limit—the format of your training (e.g., in-person vs. virtual, live vs. self-paced). For example, if you envision developing a self-paced e-learning course and tracking learners’ progress, you will likely need to budget for subscription access to an e-learning authoring tool and Learning Management System (LMS).
Q: How will you get or develop your course content?
Start by gathering existing materials (e.g., slide decks, guidance documents, meeting recordings) and branding resources that can inform your course content. Conducting an inventory of what you have will help you identify where you have gaps and the amount of time, effort, and/or money you’ll need to spend on developing content to fill those gaps.
Nexight Tip: Training programs vary widely in length, format, and required resources—such as time, budget, and personnel. We can help you strike the right balance between cost, quality, and speed to create a custom solution tailored to your available resources.
4) Determine Scope and Format
Q: For your target audience to achieve the learning objectives, what’s essential to cover? What could be excluded?
Your audience’s time and attention are finite. While it’s a common instinct to cram as much information as possible into a training program or course, doing so can overwhelm and distract your audience. Your SMART learning objectives (described above) can help you define your scope; use them to distinguish between information that’s essential, nice-to-have, or superfluous for your audience.
Q: What format best fits your audience, goals, and resources?
Should the training be in-person, online, or hybrid? Each option has its trade-offs: for example, in-person training can be more engaging and allow for hands-on experience, while virtual training may expand your reach and accessibility.
If you opt for virtual, there are additional considerations: should it still be live (e.g., a webinar or workshop hosted on an online platform) or self-paced?
Nexight Tip: The format and scope of your training program must align with your available resources and most crucial learner needs. Our team of experts can help you find the right approach.
Key Takeaways
Putting in the work early to define your objectives and outcomes, understand your audience, accurately assess your available resources, and clearly outline your scope will help you develop a successful training program for both you and your learners.