Creating a training program isn’t as simple as purchasing courses and mandating attendance and completion. Trainers need to thoughtfully craft a strategy to create a collaborative and effective training program. 

If you are struggling to come up with a training strategy, these steps will guide will you on creating a training program that provides real results, keep reading;

1. Assess training needs

The first step in developing a training program is identifying and assessing needs. A needs assessment helps you determine which teams or employees need training, what training they need, and the best ways to deliver it. 

Employee training needs may already be established in the organization’s strategic, human resources, or individual development plans. However, if you’re building the training program from scratch (without predetermined objectives), you must first assess which areas to focus on.

2. Set Training Goals and Objectives

Training programs need to have long and short-term measurable outcomes to evaluate their effectiveness. Training goals and objectives make it easier to understand and measure the value training is bringing to your organization.

Training objectives define what learners will be able to do at the end of the training. Training goals are not only defined for individuals but also for your company as a whole – how will the training impact the organization? What will it achieve for the business? Will the learners gain new skills and knowledge?

3. Create a training action plan

The next step is to create a comprehensive action plan that includes learning theories, instructional design, content, materials, and other training elements. Start by designing relevant training modules that are engaging and aligned with organizational goals. Consider using various instructional methods, such as workshops, e-learning platforms, and on-the-job training, to cater to diverse learning styles.

4. Design Training Materials

Designing training materials is like planning a dinner party, coming up with a menu, and writing the recipes. It’s the “plan before you do” phase of training creation.

It’s important to have a design fully prepared before launching into development to ensure nothing goes missing or out of order. Remember to focus on the learning needs of the trainees rather than what’s easiest for you as the trainer.

5. Compose training materials

Use your design to develop your training materials. Depending on your design, materials may include:


  • Reading material, such as pamphlets or handouts

  • Tangible assets needed for any hands-on portions of the training

  • Slideshow presentations, charts, graphs or other visual materials

6.Conduct the training

Moving forward to the actual training, the implementation can take a variety of forms. It may be classroom instruction; practice opportunities such as role-playing exercises, focus groups, case studies, or small group assignments; on-the-job skills based training; the delivery of paper-based hand-outs for individual reading and study; the completion of e-learning modules on a computer; a combination of some or all of these; or more.

7. Evaluate the training

Once people finish the training, evaluate the success of your training program. You may consider using these metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of your training:


  • Feedback they have about the training: Reflect on the feedback team members provide and try to determine whether it indicates that they liked the training, that they learned something and what they suggest for future sessions. You can find this out by simply asking for their opinions or using an anonymous online survey regarding the effectiveness of the training.

  • Knowledge they use from the training: Tests, quizzes or demonstrations can help you evaluate how well people learned the material you present.

  • Quantifiable business results: Over the next month or quarter, analyze the results that the training produces. Determine whether the training corresponds with a rise in revenue, a decrease in costs, any changes in productivity and other metrics you choose to monitor.

Conclusion:

So there you have it. If you follow the seven steps listed above, you’ll find that your training programs will be much more effective, leading to an increased training ROI, happier trainees, and the attainment of key business goals.

Are you a trainer looking to upgrade your skills and learn how to teach effectively? Look no further! Sign up for this Training of Trainers Certificate Course today!

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