How to Design Effective Training Programs

千里之行，始於足下

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and so it is with designing a training program and the following questions:

• WHO are your learners?
• WHAT do they need to learn?
• WHY are they learning?
• WHEN do they need to undertake their training?
• WHERE will the training take place?
• WHO will their trainer be?

My simplified, streamlined system for ensuring these questions are answered and records are appropriately kept is outlined in this lecture. I introduce the template I use, discuss how it has helped me increase my productivity and how the components feed into the greater design process.

Join me as we begin our design journey.

Please note that the template this lecture refers to can be downloaded in the next lecture!

The structural information in this course is complemented by a case study, allowing you to apply the theoretical knowledge away from the "real world", to become accustomed to the thought processes, planning rationale and suggested templates before using these with your clients.

I've created a company profile for fictional international firm "Brindabella Tech", based loosely on a number of different companies I've worked with over the years.  In this lecture, you encounter Brindabella Tech for the first time and get to know them a little.  In subsequent lectures you'll be asked to complete tasks related to their training needs.  Please read the material carefully, check for downloadable extras, and remember that both the video lectures and the additional material I've provided in Lecture 3 are there to help guide you.  As am I.  Please don't hesitate to contact me directly or via this course's Q&A section should you need guidance. 

Okay, let's get going!

It's all well and good for me to talk about how useful it is to (a) use a template in your initial training needs analysis meeting with your client, and (b) give you a template you can use as a basis for your consultations, but if you're new to training you may need a quick run-through of how it fits together and if you're a more experienced trainer, you may be interested in how this template works, what information is required at this stage of proceedings, and how it is designed to make your life as easy as possible.

I've prepared this screencast to answer just these questions, and have attached the template in question for your closer perusal and adaptation, as required.

What you'll also find as a downloadable resource is a real, completed template, which I have redacted for the purpose of this course. It's a detailed look at how a Qualification and Unit of Competency has been mapped and adapted for this particular client. I hope you find it useful!

This text lecture provides background on our fictional company, Brindabella Tech, and asks you to complete a number of tasks. Please share your responses in the Q&A section.

Before commencing training, and after a client consultation meeting and needs analysis, I prepare a plan of how I see the training program commencing, how units can be clustered, and how the training can proceed based on these clusters. As a matter of course I meet with my client and request their sign-off on this training program.

Why? Simple - by presenting the training program outline before training commences both the client and I are clear on the expected outcomes, the roadmap of how we're going to get there, we identify any potential problems or gaps and proceed on the basis of mutual understanding. HR managers or department directors likely also need your training program design for their colleagues in the finance / accounts payable department.

The overarching concepts in this whole process are: open communication and transparent processes.

In this lecture I introduce a template I use for precisely this point in proceedings, and attached you'll find the template which you are welcome to adapt to your particular circumstances.

Looking forward to your feedback in the Discussion section, to your right!

Imagine the process of designing a training program as an upturned triangle, with the "Big Picture" the inversed base (your initial needs analysis / client consultation). This is reduced in scope to your overall training program outline (see previous lecture) and then further refined in your individual training session plan. Sometimes this is called, simply, a Lesson Plan and this is what we are examining in this lecture.

How do we get your roadmap structured into logical, bite-sized chunks which keep you on track? I've used various formats in the past, from notes jotted on a sheet of paper and stuffed into an overflowing folder to complex plans nutted out in Evernote to what you'll encounter in this lecture.

I have found that by applying a family of templates and by keeping the language across the templates uniform - simple and straightforward, one might say - lesson planning flows more quickly, more accurately, and the lessons are, as a result, sharper and more effective.

There is no room to neglect LLN needs, to stray off track.

In this lecture I introduce you to the process of translating the "Big Picture" ideas (taken from Qualifications and Units of Competency) into achievable, easy to conquer Elements of Competency. Have a look and find out how!

Please note that the template this lecture refers to can be downloaded in the next lecture!

Following from the previous lecture, here we complete a Training Session Plan ("Lesson Plan") template together.

But here is where our work so far starts to take a fun turn, and where your involvement becomes more active. Take a look in the next lecture...

Enjoy!

As you progress through training needs analyses, meetings with clients and course mapping, it helps to have a checklist of questions to help you stay focused and ensure nothing gets missed.  This lecture provides you with a checklist which you can apply to the Brindabella Tech example, and also print up to apply in your workplace.

Your safety, and that of your learners, is of paramount importance and so is the documentation ascertaining that you have assessed the learning environment for hazards and risk.

Legislation differs, however, from country to country (and state to state), so this lecture is a guideline for what is applicable and appropriate in an Australian context. I do encourage you to watch and reflect on what is appropriate in your context. And please - share your thoughts. Information exchanges help us all.

This screencast briefly describes how we complete a WHS Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment template, based on Australian standards. Where it may not be directly applicable to your local standards, it may spark conversations in your workplace or a fresh approach to your current practices. This is, in my opinion, of particular importance for freelance trainers who deliver training in a variety of environments.

People have different learning needs.  These relate to their:

1. Working environment
2. Learning preferences
3. Individual language, literacy and numeracy skills

The learners’ needs will impact the content of your learning program.  You must create a program that adequately meets individual needs while still ensuring that the learning criteria are delivered and assessed in line with the organisational requirements detailed in the “training rationale”.

This lecture explores these three needs in more detail, and then concludes with a task for you to complete.

We've reached the end of our learning journey... for now! And I certainly hope it has been informative and useful for you. In this lecture I take the opportunity to recap what we've learned together and to say thank you for choosing my course. I love my work - training has to be one of the more rewarding professions, don't you think?

Also in this lecture I offer an option of further training with me here on Udemy, should you be interested. And if you are (I have a complete, "all the bells and whistles" Train the Trainer course), please let me know and I would be more than happy to give you a customised coupon.

Thanks again, and wishing you all the very best in your training!

~ Jacqueline

After recording the lectures you will have already seen, I made a cup of tea and had a think about what I could say to you if you were sitting opposite me, sharing the cuppa (Twining's Irish Breakfast Tea, by the way!). When I started training it was such a departure from my previous work in marketing in Melbourne, and there were times when I felt like a fish out of water. So I thought - what would I say to my "2006 Self"... what would I say to you? And so I recorded this wee lecture with some extra tips, and I hope you find them handy.

Looking forward to keeping in touch and working with you on your training journey!

~ Jacqueline