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072016_training
ATD Blog

How to Create Training Programs People Care About

Thursday, July 21, 2016
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A Deloitte study found that less than 25 percent of line managers believed their learning and development (L&D) departments were critical to achieving their business goals. That is not surprising given related findings on learner disengagement. It is cause and effect.

If employees don’t believe that the content in a training course is relevant to their job and their needs, they will be disengaged. This has an overall negative effect on business results and the effectiveness of the L&D team: 

  1. If employees are disengaged in the learning process, then L&D efforts are mitigated; any learning opportunities will have minimal effect. 
  2. If minimal effect occurs, then skill levels do not improve. 
  3. If skill levels do not improve, then business results do not improve. 
  4. If employees participate in training programs and positive business results do not follow, then line managers are likely to lose faith in the ability of L&D to contribute.

This unfortunate sequence happens when you create training programs without knowing what skills employees need. If you don’t know what skills they need, how can you possibly help them develop the right skills with content that is relevant to their job? And even if you know what skills they need, but don’t know where skill gaps exist and have no supporting data, then how can you measure whether skill levels and business results improve?

The Solution

First, you create a competency model for each role, which defines the skills required to execute their part of the corporate strategy. The competency model is the connection between skills and strategy. A competency model describes what it looks like to be great in that role.

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Next, you create competency-based learning to increase the likelihood that all employees can accomplish their goals. Learning objectives of the training course are tied to the specific skills and behaviors in the competency model.

Creating competency-based learning ensures that the content is relevant to employees’ jobs. But remember that if employees don’t believe that the content also is relevant to their needs, they will still be disengaged. To make content relevant to people’s needs, you need to enable them to self-assess against the competency model and identify their specific skill gaps. And you need to automate the identification of content relevant to their needs, known as personalized learning.

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If you create competency-based learning and enable personalized learning, you will drive learner engagement and accelerate learning transfer. And if your competency model is any good, then it will have a positive impact on skills and business results. What’s more, the aggregated skills data combined with business results over time will let you measure the effectiveness of the training program.

If you ensure that you create content that supports the competency model for a role, you will never again create learning that doesn’t transfer. If you use a competency assessment tool that personalizes learning for each person, you will maximize learner engagement, accelerate learning transfer, and be able to measure the positive impact on skills and business results.

About the Author

Cheryl Lasse is SkillDirector’s managing partner. Her goal is helping people and companies achieve their potential. Cheryl has extensive experience with competency model development and implementation, and enjoys sharing her knowledge and passion with others. Check out the LinkedIn group Competency Models For Professional Development.

She believes people are intrinsically motivated to excel, if they are given access to a competency model for their role, the opportunity to assess themselves against that model, and personalized learning to help them close gaps and meet aspirational goals. This philosophy has been embodied in the Self-Directed Learning Engine, the engine behind the ATD Skill Tracker.

Cheryl has a strong background in consulting, marketing, and sales, mostly in technology companies, where training has played a chief role throughout her career. She holds bachelor’s degrees from Syracuse University in computer science and HR, and an MBA from the University of South Florida.

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