When you implement an engaging training course in the workplace, you’re employing a good strategy to retain talented employees, with the added benefit of lifting employees to reach their personal and organisational goals.
7 Essential Questions to Ask When Designing a Great Training Course
The best training courses follow a clear path, with measurable outcomes. You’re asking people to invest their time and money into your learning objectives, so it’s essential they know what to expect before they start.
Each module should have a specific theme with a clear purpose, and your modules should follow a logic al sequence with an underlying story. Below are 7 essential questions to ask when designing any training course:
1. Who is Your Training Course Aimed At?
Does everybody in the organisation need to take the course, or is it just for specialists who already have an intricate knowledge of your subject?
Asking this helps tailor the level of learning, and keeps things relevant to your target audience.
2. Who Will Conduct the Training?
Is the training going to be delivered online, in person, during a conference, or as part of an ongoing practical training and development program?
Defining the delivery process streamlines content creation, which helps keep development costs down, and sets the right tone.
3. What Should the Training Course Cover?
What are your key learning points, and what can people expect to gain if they take your training course?
Understanding your outcome goals determines which key resource materials you will need to provide to help your learners achieve the desired result.
4. When Does the Training Need to Take Place?
Is your training geared towards regularly refreshing skills, or does it need to be implemented quickly to help the organisation adapt to a sudden change?
Deciding who should receive the training first, and when it needs to happen by, sets a realistic timeframe for creating your course content.
5. Where Will the Training Take Place?
Is your training location-specific, or available on demand? Working out how best to deliver your training helps budget for extra resources.
You may need to hire a suitable venue, which can incur costs, and you might need to cover the travel costs for employees to access the training. You might also need to consider licensing relevant software, or making equipment available to employees who are taking the course online.
6. Why is the Training Necessary?
What is the purpose of your training course, and why does it need to be delivered as a training course?
Tapping into the reason why you are creating the course in the first place helps solidify the value of your content at every touch point with your learners.
7. How Will the Content Be Delivered?
Are you going to create a video course, a training workbook, an in-person curriculum, or a series of practical modules for employees to learn on the job?
Think about how your training course will fit into the employee’s day, and how this may affect others around them who might need to cover their workload while their colleague is off doing the training.
Design Your Course with Your Learners in Mind
People learn differently, and no two learners are the same. Training courses are only successful if they’re carefully designed to deliver clear learning outcomes.
Training should actively engage people using a 360-degree approach that targets all three of the key learning styles:
• Visual Learning
Use high quality video content, eye-catching images, or useful infographics to keep the content memorable. Visual learners also benefit from reading the coursework, so make sure you include a transcript alongside any video content.
• Audio Learning
Voiceover scripts and podcasts are a quick way to deliver content while people are doing other things, and can provide an easy way to access learning in situations that are not ideal for using a laptop. All audio learning should also include a visual transcript.
• Kinaesthetic Learning
Interactive learning appeals to people who learn by doing. Include touch points to encourage people to use their keyboard, and provide practical examples for users to complete themselves.
At the start of each module, tell people what you will teach them, and what they should expect the learning outcome to be. At the end of the section, remind people what you have told them, and let them know which objectives they should have achieved during the module.
Provide Assessment to Activate Reward
Once you have delivered the perfect training course, ask users to complete an assessment module to test their knowledge. This not only has the benefit of reminding people what they have gained by taking your course, but also gives people the proverbial pat on the back, which activates the reward centre in the brain.
Assessment encourages learners to feel a sense of accomplishment, and to take accountability for completing the course successfully. At the end of the course, learners should feel inspired by what they have achieved, and motivated to put their new skills to use.
We’re skilled in designing and delivering training courses to suit businesses like yours, please get in touch for more details or a discussion how we can support you to get the best out of your people for the benefit of your business.
letstalk@albanyhr.com, 0131 364 4186