5-point guide to creating a training plan

Purpose of this guide


When managing change, it is crucial to appreciate that the success or failure of your change initiative hinges on the successful adoption of the change. More often than not, to achieve adoption, people impacted by the change may require new knowledge and the right skills to successfully transition from the old to new ways of working. Therefore, you must create a training plan to support acquiring the knowledge and skills. This guide leverages the five-phased Instructional System Design (ISD) approach to provide a five-point guide to creating a training plan.

Who should use this guide


Anyone tasked with the responsibility of creating a managing change. This may include the Training of Lead, Project & Change Managers, Line Managers, Supervisors, and Product Managers.

  • Step 1 - Conduct training needs analysis (TNA)

    Purpose


    Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is conducted to identify gaps in knowledge and skills and clarify training goals, objectives, learning environment, audience type, constraints, and training delivery options.


    When conducting TNA, be sure to complete the activities below:


    Activities


    • Determine the desired business outcomes of the technology change: What are the goals of the training? It would help if you determined the desired business outcomes for the technology change and the training goals. Typically, you would find this in the business case document.

    • Determine what's changing and who is impacted: Consult the change impact assessment document to find information on the various business processes and users expected to be impacted by the technology change.

    • Determine required competencies: Knowing the capabilities of the new technology provides an avenue to determine the user competencies required to use the new technology.

    • Evaluate user competencies levels: With a targeted list of competencies in hand, you should determine how expected users of the new system, e.g., OneDrive, possess the required competencies. 

    • Conduct a gap analysis to identify the gaps in competencies:  Now it is time to assess the user's competencies against each one of the competencies that you’ve added to your list. To make the process as objective as possible, use a point system. 

    • Determine and prioritise training needs: The output of your gap analysis determines what to include in the training needs. In most cases, you may have to prioritise the training needs as you may not have the budget and time to train users in all competencies identified as user competency gaps.


    Deliverables


    • Documented Traning Needs Analysis(TNA)
    • Learner profile
    • Updated Technology Adoption Master Workbook

    Resources

  • Step 2 -Design the training plan

    Purpose


    In the design phase, you will outline how the training goals will be achieved. You will use the outputs of the Analysis phase to complete the activities below.


    Activities

    • State training objectives
    • Identify resources
    • Develop the instructional strategy
    • Select a delivery system (e.g. in-person classroom-based, virtual classroom, eLearning, video-on-demand, etc.)

    Deliverables


    • Measurable objectives
    • Instructional strategy
    • Prototype specification
    • Updated Technology Adoption Master Workbook

    Resources


  • Step 3 - Create training content

    Purpose


    The Develop phase builds on both the Analyze and Design phases. The purpose of this phase is to create training content that meets the requirements of the training needs, objectives, and instructional strategy identified in the analysis and design phases, respectively.



    Activities


    • Identify business SMEs who will support content creation.
    • Develop a plan for when content is ready
    • Line-up content reviewers
    • Develop instructional tools (e.g., if eLearning, you will have to work with the software vendor to build an eLearning tool. If training content will be hosted on the company's intranet, you may have to build a SharePoint page)

    Deliverables


    • Storyboard
    • Training materials
    • Script
    • Exercises
    • Computer-assisted instruction (if required)

    Resources


  • Step 4 - Rollout the training

    Purpose


    The Implementation phase refers to the actual delivery of the training, whether in-person classroom-based, virtual classroom-based, e-Learning, or video-on-demand lab-based. The purpose of this phase is the effective and efficient delivery of the training.


    This phase must promote the end user's understanding of the training material, support the end users' mastery of objectives, and ensure the end users' transfer of knowledge from the training content to efficient usage of the new tool, process or system. 



    Activities


    • Confirm the list of training attendees
    • Confirm the training facilitator's availability
    • Schedule training in calendars
    • Rollout to a pilot group
    • Amend content and style where appropriate
    • Rollout to a broader audience
    • Updated Technology Adoption Plan

    Resources


    • Training rollout plan
    • Updated Technology Adoption Master Workbook. 

    Resources

  • Step 5 - Perform training evaluation

    Purpose



    This is the final step where you measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the training. 


    Training evaluation should occur throughout the entire training design process - within steps, between steps, and after implementation. We have adopted the internationally recognised training evaluation model, the Kirkpatrick Model.



    The Kirkpatrick Model is one of the widely used frameworks for evaluating training effectiveness. Complete the following activities in the Kirkpatrick Model to effectively evaluate your training. See the framework summary.



    Activities


    Begin by re-confirming the training objectives and goals. This will be the benchmark by which the training evaluation results will be measured. 


    Follow the steps below to complete the evaluation:


    Level 1 - Reaction


    Conduct a Reaction-based evaluation to measure if the learners have found the training relevant to their role, engaging, and valuable.


    The three things you should measure in a Reaction-based evaluation are:


    • Satisfaction: evaluating if the learner is happy with what they have learned during the training.
    • Engagement: evaluating the learner's involvement and contribution to the learning experience.
    • Relevance:  evaluating the applicability of the learning to the learner's job. Basically, can the learner apply what they have learnt to their jobs?

    You should generally conduct a Reaction-based evaluation with a survey. Get the learners to complete the evaluation immediately after delivering the training.


    Level 2 - Learning


    Conduct a Learning -based evaluation to assess whether the learning objectives of instilling the knowledge and skills required for the role have been met.  You are evaluating the learning to see if they had acquired the skills and knowledge you set out to instil when you designed the learning programme.


    The best way to conduct a Learning-based evaluation is by testing and scoring. This way, you can correctly assess each learner. If the assessment is not an option, you can also use surveys to conduct a learning-based evaluation.


    Level 3 - Behaviour


    Conduct a Behaviour-based evaluation to assess the impact of the training plan. This is usually done by observing the learner in their workplace to see if there are any behavioural changes after the learning experience. This is crucial in a technology change. Are the learners now using the new system the way they should? Are the learners using the new business processes that will correctly enable technology change? An employee may have liked the design of a training program and absorbed vital information. Still, the communication or cultural structure could be improved to help the employee improve their skills.


    Allow up to 3-6 months to see if new and improved behaviours manifest across the learning group.


    Level 4 - Results


    Time to Measure the Results of the training plan. 

    This level reviews whether employees met their learning objectives and examine where they still need to grow. It can also determine whether the organisation received any return on investment from the employee's work activities regarding the amount of time it took to reach this point in their development. Some employers focus on what outcomes they want to see improve first to guide employees on the expectations they have for them—some examples of metrics a company may be measured include increased morale, sales and customer satisfaction.


    Deliverables

    • Completed training evaluations
    • Training evaluation report
    • Updated Technology Adoption Master Workbook

    Resources

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