10 B E ST P R AC TICE S FO R LE ADI N G A G R E AT TR AI N I N G O RGAN IZ ATIO N BY ALYSSA KASZYCKI, TARYN OESCH AND DR. AMY DUVERNET
Leading a training department is hard. It involves careful planning, anticipating a variety of business and employee needs, and addressing those needs with the right solution. It also demands a variety of skills, from leadership and strategic thinking to resource management and performance analysis. Over the last decade, Training Industry, Inc., has collected data from thousands of training professionals across industries to determine what makes the most successful training organizations great. Based on this research, we have identified ten best practices that can take your training department to the next level, making it an essential part of the business. This research forms the basis of Training Industry’s continuing professional development programs for training managers, including our flagship Certified Professional in Training Management (CPTM™) program. Throughout this article, we share insights from certified training managers regarding the 10 best practices of great training organizations.
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LISTEN TO UNCOVER REAL BUSINESS PROBLEMS AND NEEDS
Often, the first step in creating and delivering training is identifying a
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business problem and determining whether training is the right way to address it. This process is known as diagnostics, and listening to uncover needs is a key practice. Over 70% of respondents to our survey indicated that this practice is “very important” for great training performance, making it the most important best practice. Unfortunately, only 23% of learning professionals indicated that their organization had optimized this practice. This gap represents a need for improvement. When you listen to uncover needs, you serve as a performance consultant and strategic partner, identifying impediments to achieving business goals and leveraging your expertise to remove barriers.
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One way to ensure high-quality training delivery is to use high-quality instructors — teachers who have great facilitation and presentation skills in addition to content knowledge. In a business environment where virtual training is increasingly popular, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic, most organizations are realizing the importance of having instructors with strong virtual facilitation skills, from the ability to use virtual training platforms to the ability to engage online learners.
We’re cultivating our subject matter experts on how to facilitate learning rather than present the material.
USE INSTRUCTORS WITH GREAT FACILITATION AND PRESENTATION SKILLS
Training delivery is often the most obvious element of training to learners and stakeholders. As a result, this process deserves, and typically receives, a good amount of time and attention. Just over 60% of learning professionals rate this practice as “very important,” making it the second best practice for great training.
– Chris Cassell, CPTM Manager of Sales Training Operations at Align Technology
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CUSTOMIZE TRAINING TO MEET THE ORGANIZATION’S NEEDS
Our research indicates that the most important process capability of great
