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The planning phase is where we lay the foundation for a successful training program. This is where we have the best chance to create something amazing, but it’s also where we run the greatest risk of veering off course. So, let us help you navigate these waters by going over 6 common planning mistakes and how to avoid them.
It’s very easy to default to whichever delivery approach you’re most used to – maybe a one-day program or perhaps two sessions with some time in between? So, what tends to happen is you end up recycling an old format, only with new content.
But when we elect to use an old format we’re also saying no to all the other formats we could have used instead – formats that might have suited our goals much better.
Don’t start with the format, start with the outcome you’re looking to achieve. Which behaviors are you trying to instill in your participants. Which measures are you aiming to impact?
By setting clear goals that include observable behaviors it’s usually much easier to get creative with the format itself.
Are your participants salespeople? Then maybe the training should take place in the store and not the classroom.
Are your participants managers who often need to have tough conversations? Then perhaps the most important component is to establish relationships with other managers facing that same situation, so that everyone can support one another. Suddenly, classroom sessions become only one of many ways to achieve your goals – and probably not the best one.
I could go on with more examples, but the point remains the same: Let your goals dictate the format, not the other way around.
“Everything will work out as long as the participants have all the knowledge they need.”
This line of thinking might sound familiar to you (it certainly does to me), just as the realization that it ultimately isn’t true. But why is that? What is the problem with providing participants with more knowledge?
As is so often the case, the issue is that focusing so much on one thing causes us to not focus enough on other vital aspects.
But first, let’s differentiate between two examples of the same kind of problem:
In this case, the participants are indeed lacking knowledge, but we’re overestimating how much a participant can learn in limited time.
Retrieval, i.e. actively trying and managing to remember something, is the very best way for knowledge to stick long-term. However, retrieval requires some time investment.
If your program is heavy on knowledge, don’t spend too much time on simply introducing new knowledge. Set aside plenty of time for exercises where your participants can retrieve the knowledge when they need it, and thus make sure it really sticks.
Examples of exercises where retrieval is used:
Also, try to spread out the exercises over time. This mitigates our natural forgetting curve and gives your participants the best chance to actually learn and adopt the knowledge covered in your program.
In her book Design for How People Learn author and researcher Julie Dirksen describe different kinds of gaps co-workers might have in the workplace and that we as learning professionals can tackle. In her book, she identifies the following gaps:
In her book, she repeatedly hammers the point that what initially seems like a knowledge gap – a situation where more knowledge would solve the problem – is actually a skill gap or a motivational gap.
Perhaps the co-worker already has enough knowledge, but hasn’t been given enough opportunities to practice and get feedback on their performance. Maybe there isn’t a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
So, ask yourself the question: “What is it that’s actually missing in order for the co-workers to get where I want them to go?”.If the answer is more knowledge, then by all means go for it. But first, make sure the issue isn’t any of Dirksen’s other five gaps, or your whole program might end up being a waste of money.
No matter how good your training content is, the effect is lost if your participants don’t get the chance to apply what they’ve learned until much later, let alone not at all.
Are you getting your salesteam up to speed on a new product? Schedule the training so it ends as close to the launch as possible, so they have all the knowledge and practice top-of-mind.
Do you want to “future-proof” your trainees in leadership? Think about the situations they’re already facing, not potential future situations they could end up facing in their future roles.
Does the program have to be synchronous (with everyone doing it at the same time), or could it be on-demand instead? That way, each participant can judge when they’re in need of the training, which basically by definition makes the timing optimal.
Few things make a participant less inclined to learn than the sense of “I couldn’t possibly see when this would be relevant to me”. On the other hand, the opposite is also true: a sense of “this is exactly what I need in my work right now!” could provide a strong motivational boost.
Lär dig konkreta verktyg för att få er kompetensinsats att leda till beteendeförändring och affärsresultat för organisationen.
The highest performing individuals in an organization tend to get where they are thanks in no small part to their personal networks.
Therefore, if you want to produce higher performing co-workers, you will always want to include opportunities for networking in your training program.
Read more: Why networking is an essential part of any training program »
Give all participants – including the more introverted ones – the chance to really get to know as many of the other participants as possible.
Don’t stop at superficial greetings and pleasantries. Encourage the participants to share their expertise and contextual challenges with each other, so that each participant in the group can realize what a smorgasbord of both support and relatable challenges they have right in front of them.
Try to drive more networking after the program by creating groups on social media platforms, encouraging everyone to ask each other for help or perhaps asking each participant to share what kind of issues they might be able to help the other participants with.
Many training programs consist of some kind of synchronous activity, like sessions in a physical or virtual classroom or some kind of facilitated sessions.
These are often key parts of the program, and they (usually) have their place in the learning process.
However, they’re not enough to actually achieve behavioral shifts. Why? Because these shifts occur in the natural daily work routine, not in a classroom.
As a learning professional you should therefore spend just as much time and energy planning what will happen once the participants return to their routine and beyond as you do planning synchronous sessions.
Set aside a lot of time to identify and refine observable behaviors that participants are expected to adopt/master after the program has finished.
Visit the participants’ “home environment”. Schedule deep-dive interviews with them. Ask follow-up questions until you really get to the bottom of the kinds of key behaviors you want to drive.
Armed with the behaviors you hope to drive with your program, you can now shift your focus to some key points on the timeline:
Consider each point carefully and ask yourself “If this moment were to go optimally from a learning perspective, what would that entail?” Then work your way backward from your answer to that question and provide the co-worker with the right support at the right moment.
Managers can strongly amplify the effect of training, both positively and negatively. A co-worker – let’s call her Anna – returns from a training session and meets her manager in the morning:
Scenario 1: “Anna! Good thing I got ahold of you! You’ve been away a few days now, so there’s lots and lots to catch up on. I’d appreciate if you could get started right away.”
Scenario 2:“Anna! I’m SO curious to hear how your training went! What do you say we meet for a half-hour after lunch to talk about the insights you’ve gained and how you can use what you’ve learned here as part of the team?”
In the first scenario, the manager doesn’t even recognize the fact that Anna has participated in a training program. Instead, the manager implies that the training has only been in the way of daily operations, and that it’s a good thing that it’s finally over.
In effect, it’s now all but certain that Anna won’t be able to transfer anything she’s learned to the workplace. The manager killed any effect the training might have had in one quick exchange.
In the other scenario, Anna’s manager does the opposite by…
To get more of the participants’ managers to behave as Anna’s manager does in the second scenario we have to…
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There you have it! Six ways of making your training program way more successful than most. All that’s left for us is to wish you good luck!
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