How to Skyrocket Success With Your Organizational Training Plan

Organizational training demands coordination and strategy. Employees from every department are dependent on software training to do their job. Throw in various change initiatives such as software migration, and things really start to get complicated. For training managers to successfully implement an organization-wide learning and development strategy, there are multiple factors to consider. At a basic level, you will need to consider the who, what, when, and how of your training plan. If you are able to answer these strategic questions, the rest of the process will be much simpler for both leadership and employees. Having a strong strategy in place creates the foundation necessary to build an effective organizational training plan. Consider asking these 4 questions as you develop your organizational training plan.

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1. Who does the training involve?

The simple answer to this question is “all employees.” In the context of an enterprise software implementation or an organization-wide endeavor, everyone affected by the change should undergo training. In the case that all employees require training for a singular process or tool, it is important to remember that you are still training individual people who learn in different ways. Anticipate diversity in existing knowledge, experience, and outlook when developing a plan. While it may seem impractical to customize training to each particular type of learner, it is also ineffective to assume that one training method will be successful for all employees. To bolster productivity and efficiency, consider who will benefit the most from training. Then, identify the methods of training that will be most effective. Provide supplementary support for those who need it. Designing an effective organizational training plan for a designated group of employees requires time and energy, but effective training will greatly improve the end result and foster higher engagement.

2. What do they need to know?

After identifying who needs to be trained, the next step is to determine what information they need from the organizational training plan. The ‘what’ could be based off identified pain points, confusion or knowledge gaps around a certain topic. It should also include what current employees have deemed as helpful resources from which others could benefit. The applications of an organizational training plan are endless. It could focus on processes or tools to help the company achieve part of its overall strategy or better adapt to software updates. The training could revolve around a new company policy or a new productivity platform that the organization has recently acquired. Whatever it is, make sure that it is specific and relatable to the employees who are learning the new process.

3. When is the best time to roll out training?

Employee training is often viewed as an onerous time-suck that steals employees away from their daily tasks and hurts productivity. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There may never be a convenient time for employee training, but with the right tools and support, an organizational training plan can be carried out effectively and efficiently. For new employees, the first few weeks are typically dedicated strictly to training. For continual development, however, the timeline is not as clear. It is possible to work the organizational training plan into the regular workday.

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To increase engagement with the training program and improve learning, training should be short, sweet, and to the point.

4. How do we cater to a diverse audience?

Your organizational training plan has to consider a diverse audience that has limited time to dedicate to training. So, what is the best way to engage all employees? First, it is important to present the training with an emphasis on excitement and relevance. Training is something that you want people to continuously engage with, so make sure it is appealing. Leaders and influencers throughout the organization should display enthusiasm about the given change and endorse the organizational training plan. The how can include a mixture of presentations, individual and digital training methods. To ensure training is accessible to a diverse audience, make sure you are meeting them wherever they are. For some, completely self-paced, individual training is the best way. A Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) allows employees to learn as they work, offering step-by-step guidance based on tech aptitude. It is important to positively reinforce employees for completing steps in the organizational training plan. A certification system for people who have completed a training is a great way to reward the hard work that goes into additional training. You can approach the development of an organizational training plan in many ways. However, making sure that you have a clear strategy that covers the who, what, when and how will make it much more straightforward.