Developing a successful training plan.

Developing a successful training plan.

 Training is the building of a skill that bridges a gap in current knowledge or understanding with the actual knowledge and understanding required to meet performance expectations.

Developing and delivering a successful training plan requires five parts.

1. Identify the gap

The most efficient way to identify a gap in training is by conducting a needs analysis. There are several different types of needs analyses that you can administer.

•  Organizational Analysis. This is an analysis of the organization’s strategies, goals, and objectives. What is the organization overall trying to accomplish?
• Personnel Analysis. This type of analysis deals with the potential participants and instructors involved in the process. Do the employees have required skills?
• Work analysis / Task Analysis. When conducting this type of analysis you will be focusing on the tasks being performed. This is an breakdown of the job and the requirements for performing the work.
• Performance Analysis. Are the employees performing up to the established standard? Is there a Performance Gap?
• Content Analysis. This is an analysis that focuses on documents, by-laws, or procedures used on the job.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis. This analyzes the return on investment (ROI) of training. 

 2. Set a training objective

A training objective is a specific statement that describes in detail the changes expected to be achieved for positive results from the training. An example of a training objective might be: “Upon completion of this training, participants will demonstrate an understanding of basic sales principles and be able to complete a prospecting phone call.”

 3. Design the training

Once you have completed the first two steps now it is time to design your training. When designing your training, there are a some things that you will need to consider that will fall under the scope of training design. Here is are a few, but certainly not all of the things you may want to consider.

Length of time

• How long will the training last?
• Will it be a series of classes?
• How will having people in training effect the operation?

Costs involved

• Cost of materials?
• Will there be offsite rental costs?
• Cost of production if you are not producing the finished product in house?
• Operational costs to have people attend?
• Instructional design time and cost?

Objective

• What is the best way to meet the training objective?
• Style of instruction?
• On the Job
• Lecture
• Hands on
• Shadowing
• On-line

4. Deliver the training

Once your training plan has been developed and instructional design is completed. A great way to deliver the content is using EDAC.

• Explain - Explain why and how the task it to be done.
• Demonstrate – Demonstrate the task being performed correctly by modeling the expected behavior.
• Apply – Review how and why it applies to their job and have them preform the task.
• Consolidate – Provide feedback and review expectations.

5. Evaluate the impact 

This final step is where you are going to make sure you have a clear and honest review of the training results. Here are some sample outcomes to consider. There may be additional outcomes depending on the objectives of your training:

• Increased employee retention.
• Increased production.
• Higher morale.
• Reduced waste.
• Increased sales.
• Higher quality ratings.
• Increased customer satisfaction.
• Fewer customer complaints