Building An Engaging Learning Program

• Strategic Alignment & Needs Assessment
• Design for Impact & Engagement
• Implementation & Support
• Measurement, Evaluation & Evolution

Beyond Training – Towards Transformation

We’ve all been there; we’ve sat in those classes.  Training for training’s sake, little was gained, but boxes are checked, and we return to the daily grind without applying anything.  This is an all-too-common scenario in many employee enablement attempts.  Disengaged learners, burnt-out instructors, or “trainers” who think reading from the PowerPoint is sufficient.  

The thing is, it doesn’t have to be this way.  Training is a skill multiplier when applied correctly through an effective learning program.  Learners want to attend training because they know what they are getting: skills to help them succeed.  Trainers who deliver the content are engaged because it’s not the PowerPoint that motivates them; it’s the message.  They sell it because they believe it.  Proper training and well-designed learning plans drive real, measurable change.  

What’s more, it’s not that hard to have effective learning programs.  Start with

• Strategic Alignment & Needs Assessment
• Design for Impact & Engagement
• Implement & Support your Plan
• Measure, Evaluate, and Evolve 

Let’s explore each one.  

Strategic Alignment & Needs Assessment

You are probably thinking, “Well, yeah, of course we should be strategically aligned!” And you would be right!  But “should be” and “are” is a journey that isn’t always so clear to navigate.  So let’s map it out and clear the process up. 

Define “Moving the Needle”

What does it mean to “Move the Needle?”  It means that, whatever your training plans are, they should tie directly to measurable business objectives.  You may want to train more people to use a particular aspect of your product.  Why?  Because, in using that aspect of your product, they are more tied to the product itself, and less likely to churn.  You want people to follow a specific process while using the product.  Why?  Because it reduces the number of support tickets that come in, which then means better customer satisfaction.  Training can directly impact the business when it’s tied to business outcomes.

Identify Performance Gaps

Now that you know what you need to change and how training is going to create an impact, you need to know what needs to be taught.  This means conducting a thorough needs assessment.  Conduct interviews, run surveys, look at performance data, and analyze for obvious gaps.  You want to know what needs to be taught to meet your business objectives.  

Once complete, you need to organize the content to distinguish between skills, knowledge, and motivational issues.  When I build out my analysis data, I organize it by 

• Job:  The job contains several tasks that need to be performed.
  • Tasks: The tasks that are needed for the successful completion of the job.  Each Task has several subtasks.
    • Subtasks:  Subtasks are the tasks needed to complete a Task, and are, themselves, made up of several components. 
      • Skills:  The job skill is executed to a degree of accuracy that completes a subtask.
      • Knowledge: Knowledge is the information needed to implement a skill accurately.
      • Motivation: The approach to applying knowledge and executing the skill.  Often this is called Attitudes, or Mindset.  

This logical breakdown serves two purposes: 

1. Building a database of skill sets needed for every class that can be written up and easily transferred
2. Logically structuring the content for delivery 
   1. Job: The Course
   2. Tasks: Modules
   3. Subtasks: Sections
   4. SKM: Paragraphs

BONUS Benefit:  HR now has clear skill sets for job requisitions and onboarding.  

Target Audience Analysis

Now that you know what needs to be taught, you need to understand who needs to learn.  Target audience analysis helps you identify your personas, the level of skill needed for a particular job, and the depth of knowledge needed to complete the job.  

• Are you addressing Leadership and business outcomes, or Engineers and processes?  
• Do you need to position the skill for new learners that need more detailed walkthroughs and explanations, or for more advanced learners who need to see context, connections, and cross-functional applications?  
• Do your learners learn best through lectures, games, and challenges, or tactile labs and milestones?  
• Can your learners dedicate a full week off the job to training, or do you need to break up your training into 1-hour sessions spread across 8-12 weeks?  

How your learners can engage will determine how well they engage in your delivery. 

Finally, you need to understand your learner’s motivations.  Do they want to learn new skills, or are they being made to learn new skills?  This can heavily impact the success of the training. 

Design for Impact & Engagement

Outcome-Based Curriculum Design

Too often, when training needs to be built, we start with a workflow and focus on features.  For large products that apply to many different industries, this might work, but even then, you have a desired outcome for the course.  Designing your course from the desired results and behaviors first, then working on the content to support it, keeps the training on course.  The outcome is always in sight; it’s woven into the content delivery, instructions, and processes presented.  

There should also be a focus on application, rather than memorization.  25% of all lecture content is retained short-term, while only 7-9% is retained in long-term memory. That’s not a lot!  Your training should be focused on applying skills, not memorizing steps or facts.  

• For technical training, this means doing labs.  
• For onboarding, this would mean simulating your experience.  
• For Leadership, this would mean a cohort training session where skills are applied during the weekly course, and then “homework” is assigned where skills are exercised in real scenarios to be reported on later.  

Engage through applying skills, connecting skills to similar life experiences, and showing how the result is relevant to their needs.

Diverse Learning Modalities

There is no one right way to build and deliver training, so use them all!  Utilize microlearning, workshops, coaching sessions, experiential learning, and self-paced learning to cater to a wide array of learning needs.  Encourage engagement by meeting your learners where they are most comfortable.  Do they need a live class to stay on task?  Offer one!  Are they more comfortable with self-paced learning? Make it available!  Are they too busy to attend a single bootcamp?  Design a cohort track spread over several weeks!  Are they neurodivergent and in need of options to better support their comfort levels?  How can you say no?  Some topics and content lend themselves to one delivery methodology better than others, but never use just one.  

Engaging Content & Delivery

Engaging content contains real examples from real scenarios and is designed to be interactive.  When building your workflows, build them off of examples that your learners will experience in the field.  Then, create an interactive component.  If it’s technical learning, have them build it out in the platform.  If it’s leadership, run role-play scenarios and assign tasks to apply while working.  Looking to build or enhance skill sets for your struggling employees?  Run employee cohort sessions where best practices can be applied immediately after a session, and then reported on the next time you meet.  The closer to real-world experiences you can give your learners, the more they will retain.  

Every training should tell a story:  The story of the workflow (Why are we doing what we are doing?), the story of the examples (why would someone do this?), and the story of the outcome (who benefits and why?).  Stories with relatable examples encourage learners to build on their existing experience, helping them connect the dots to the existing processes.  

Clear, concise communication is critical to success.  This, personally, is a challenge for me:  I tend to be very verbose in writing and while teaching.  Industry acronyms, jargon, or buzzwords are tempting, but ultimately undermine your training.  Avoid anything that would get in the way of your learners quickly absorbing and applying the concepts you are teaching.  Remember, cognitive load is a very real thing:  Don’t add to it unnecessarily!  

Implementation & Support

Pilot & Iterate

Now you have your plan, you’ve laid the keel, and you built the course.  You are ready to get it out in the wild and see what she can do.  You are ready to implement.  

Implementation is, just like with anything else, a phased process.  You want to start with your Alpha run:  teaching internally and to a select few outsiders so you can get the feel of the course.  Ask some key questions: 

• Did the course hit all the right notes? 
• How did it flow?  Does it make sense as you move from one concept to another?
• Are there any gaps or barriers in the delivery or content that was an irritation or a frustration to the overall course? 

The Alpha run is very much a chance to shake down the course.  You want to work out any bugs before you place your content before your customers. 

The next step would be to run a Beta.  Unlike the Alpha, which is generally run with a near (but not complete) course, the Beta is a run with a course that is, essentially, complete.  You are now training your key instructors and partners on how to deliver the course, and they see it in action.  Sometimes key customers will be included if you need feedback from a customer standpoint, and is often recommended when you have strong customers that are willing and eager to contribute to the success of your platform.  And, of course, you iterate with each delivery: Work out what landed well and what doesn’t.  

Leadership Buy-in & Support

Now that you have a course that’s ready for prime-time, you need executive buy-in and support.  For internal training, this means Leadership needs to be on board with the message and skills being delivered, know what behaviors are expected after training is delivered, and reinforce those behaviors in the wild.  If leadership doesn’t support, or outright dismisses, your training, it will not have the impact for which it was designed.    

Create a Supportive Learning Environment

Learning is the practice of failing, and trying again.  If you don’t feel safe in failing, you can never truly learn.  Every training should provide a safe space for practice and failure.  Learners will get frustrated, learners will find they are behind.  They need to know that they will not be judged for the pace at which they learn.  

This also applies to learning methodologies and preferences.  Some learners will prefer self-paced over in-class, because they can take their time and/or they don’t have others waiting on them to complete the process.  There’s a level of psychological safety in being able to learn in your particular learning style and preferred methodology.