PLAN YOUR TRAINING

February 10, 2014

My friend, and GASCO Corporate Competence Senior Analyst (UAE), Kamran Ahmed Siddiqui, published an article today in the “GULF NEWS” that provides an apt introduction to today’s blog: “ . . . You are supposed to be on the way of constructing your superstructure — but without the necessary foundation work, imagination and detail design and project quality plan, where are you headed? Think about the future consequences that you can imagine as someone without a blueprint or plan. . . . “

For a few minutes, focus on the importance of your role as trainer or training administrator to your organization. Ultimately the time you will spend developing a valid training plan will be critical to your success

The key to any successful training initiative is to make it an integral part of your organization’s business objectives. Successful trainers and training administrators map out a training plan that coordinates training with their organization’s goals. This kind of up-front planning helps insure that the investment in training will deliver measurable results.

It is also critical to focus training where it will have the greatest impact on performance. Using needs assessment and task analysis techniques, you can identify the greatest opportunities to improve performance through training.

In addition, you’ve got to think through other key components of your training plan. Such items as a) the learner demographics, b) the appropriate training tools that coincide with the trainees’ learning culture, and c) the learning environment are just some of the factors you will need to consider.

Today, rich online skills assessment tests are readily available which will help you specifically target the “learning gaps,” making it possible for you to eliminate much of the waste in traditional training regimen. By specifically targeting time-spent-in-classroom, much labor cost waste can be eliminated.

But, in order to be successful, a training plan must become a solution that can be implemented within the existing structures of your organization. From broad decisions, such as curriculum design and/or the integration of new technology, to details such as staffing, scheduling and equipping the learning environment, you will need to transform the training plan into a smoothly functioning reality.

The bottom line is that you may have to design a training initiative from the ground up — or, you may have to come up with the necessary expertise to make your existing training more effective. However, it’s the amount of time and knowledgeable effort you give to the planning that will prove vital to your success and the success of your new initiative.

More on Wednesday – – – – –

— Bill Walton, Founder of ITC Learning
bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”