A scenario that has played out too many times goes something like this: a learner sits down to an online training module to review the ins and outs of products their company offers. The first product they start to review was discontinued just a week ago. How is it possible that they know something that their training department apparently does not? Can they trust the rest of the information in this module? All of this runs through their mind as they move on to the next product.
Training that is not relevant to the end user, as in the example above, is one of the most common criticisms that training developers receive. It’s also one of the most damaging, as it reveals quite a bit about the training design and development process not only to employees, but also to their managers. This unfortunate ripple effect is understandable since it’s a manager’s job to ensure that their employee’s time is being used productively to achieve departmental and organizational goals. Improving the connection between training requirements and deliverables hinges upon your ability to communicate and work with management from beginning to end.
It’s important to see that managers have many stakes in their employees’ training, including:
- Temporary loss of productivity
- Possibility of behavioral changes in their employees
- Possibility of affecting the workflows of employees either upstream or downstream of their process
Bringing management into the mix isn’t a new idea. In reality, it’s ill-advised and almost impossible to design training without them. Their knowledge of what their employees do each day, what obstacles are in their way, and their continual surveying of business and market conditions makes them an obvious go-to person when trying to understand their training needs. And as employees require knowledge at the point of need (i.e., on the job) more and more, the role of managers in training design is gaining in importance to keep up with demand. However, some of the key reasons for bringing them in seem to be overlooked often.
First of all, managers often identify skills gaps and training needs in the first place. However, once the training team collects these requirements, they tend to make a common mistake. They essentially pretend that requirements will never change. After so many ineffective training programs, this type of “never look back” training design has run its course. It must become more agile. By engaging affected management both early and often, you’ve transformed the training team into a business partner as opposed to an order taker. Furthermore, their involvement installs a mechanism for continually keeping deliverables aligned with changing requirements, a feature that everyone will appreciate.
Secondly, by involving managers early and often, they’re directly tied to the outcome of the training. It’s no longer a situation where they have little say in how training is designed and implemented. They are now empowered to implement training in a way that makes the most sense to them. To improve this, the most astute managers and training designers will involve employees, as well. This level of involvement ensures that the training will target exactly what it was intended to target.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the manager (and hopefully their team) will see the value in continuous learning. Their involvement in training design allows them to select those topics of highest value and greatest change, further growing the return on investment. If they don’t see the value of continuous learning, a training professional should present the benefits in a way that makes sense to the situation. With the aid of the training team, a long-term plan can be implemented with their input to ensure learning today and in the future.
As training becomes more on-the-job focused, a true culture change is occurring simultaneously. These changes put the focus on middle managers to be the glue that holds it all together. Empowering middle management to take charge of training content and delivery methods will lead to improved learner satisfaction, better learning outcomes, and a stronger learning environment.
Tad Hughes is a professional instructional designer.
