A Guide to Developing, Managing, and Executing Effective Training Programs

Have you been tasked with developing an employee training program? Are you interested in identifying training costs and the criteria for an effective training program?

Read on as we provide answers to some of the most common training program questions, including a detailed overview and useful tips. Whether you’re conducting a training program yourself or simply learning more about the subject, we hope you find it helpful.

Table of Contents:

• What is a training program?
• What’s the purpose of a training program?
• What’s the difference between training program and workshops, webinars, facilitation and keynotes?
• What is a management development program and a leadership development program?
• How do I determine which topic is best for my organization?
• Do I need to hire an outsider to do the workshop or do I need to train myself?
• Is training better in person?
• What’s the ROI of an employee development program?
• What’s the 70/20/10 model?
• What should I expect when asking a vendor to help my organization?
• What are typical topics a vendor could provide?
• How far in advance do I need to plan?
• How do I know the vendor can provide what I need?
• How do I measure success?
• How can I learn more?

What is a training program?

A training program is designed to train employees in the specific skills they need to grow in their career. These programs are usually over a duration of time and based on organizational competencies. Since there are different employment skills needed throughout a career, the employee development programs will also vary to match the specific skill sets.

What’s the purpose of a training program?

The purpose of a training program is to serve as a guideline for employee development. When employees are empowered to grow and learn, they are more likely to remain with the employer.

What’s the difference between training program and workshops, webinars, facilitation and keynotes?

Workshops, webinars, facilitations and keynotes are all tools used within a training program. They are sometimes used as one-off events; usually, they are combined to create a diverse learning structure over time.

Below are general guidelines of what to expect for each tool:

• Workshops: half day to multiple days, in person, interactive, ranging from 20-50 people, with the objective to interactively learn information
• Facilitations: half day to multiple days, in person, interactive, ranging from 20-50 people, with the objective to bring group consensus and decisions amongst the participants
• Keynotes: 45-60 minutes, in person, minimal interaction, ranging from 50-2000 people, with the objective to share knowledge (often referred to as ‘Sage on a Stage’)
• Webinars: 60-120 minutes, online (with or without video), varying interactivity, ranging from 10-1000 people (depending on the platform), with the objective to interactively teach information to a remote audience

Download our summary guide here!

For example, if you are tasked to create a coaching employee training program, where all 500 employees know the basics of coaching and use coaching skills consistently, you could facilitate a half-day session with the HR team to create alignment with the coaching objectives and organizational mission. Once that is clarified, a 9-month developmental program could be devised that included one keynote for all employees to understand the macro concepts of coaching, followed by 10 workshops for 50 people to learn how to coach. Follow up webinars would be the next step, to help people reinforce the skills they learned in the coaching workshops. At the conclusion of the 9 months, all employees would have heard a macro keynote on the topic, been trained in the workshop and had time to reinforce the lessons learned through a webinar, creating coaching skills to be used consistently within the organization.

What is a management development program and a leadership development program?

Management development programs (MDP) and leadership development programs (LDP) are similar to the training program described above. The difference is the specificity of the audience (management or leadership team) and the identified topics needed to become an effective manager or leader. In addition, the cohort stays together throughout the entire time; for example, if an organization has 10 managers, that group of 10 managers will meet together in the workshop or webinar throughout the entire duration of the program. Finally, MDPs and LDPs often include a capstone exercise where small groups within the cohort need to develop a solution to an organizational problem, using the skills they learned. Watch the video here to learn more about our Performance Leadership Program.

How do I determine which topic is best for my organization?

For effective training, we must know what the employee needs. This need should also be aligned with the organizational vision and mission, which requires foundational work. And in order to do that work, competencies must first be established.

Sometimes referred to as ‘KSA’s, competencies are the things people need to know (knowledge), do (skills) and have (abilities) to be successful in a specific role. Competencies can be grouped into technical, foundational and leadership areas. They are defined by specific behaviors that describe what that competency would look like if someone was using it effectively. These behaviors are often laid out across a proficiency scale so the employee can clearly assess her current behaviors and understand what behaviors are needed for the next level.

Some examples of competencies are problem-solving, conflict management, technical skills and speaking up. While some competencies will be applied to every employee, others are role dependent. The CEO of a large organization likely won’t need to have specific technical competencies, and a coder on the tech team likely wouldn’t need to be competent in sales communication.

Once competencies are defined, the next thing to do is identify five clearly defined proficiency levels. For example, for problem-solving skills, level one might be, ‘asks questions and looks for information to identify and differentiate the symptoms and causes of every day, defined problems’. Level five might be, ‘anticipates problem areas and associated risk levels with objectivity; uses formal methodologies to forecast trends and define innovative strategies in response to the implications of options; and gains approval from senior leadership to solutions of multi-faceted problems’.

After competencies and proficiency levels are clearly defined, the next steps are:

1. Determine the expected proficiencies by job position.
2. Assess the employee’s competencies using a standardized process, on a regular basis. Competing an assessment will help the leader know which competencies to focus on for future leadership training.
3. Aggregate the identified competencies and assess which ones are best for the cohort in mind.
4. Develop a training program based on those competency topics.
5. Track progress using accountability measures in the leadership development training.

Read in depth about each step here.

Using this process will prevent your training program from failing. You’re developing training programs because you are invested in employee development. If you’re willing to make that investment, it’s worth doing the foundational work necessary to create effective training that elevates your employees.

Do I need to hire an outsider to do the workshop or do I need to train myself?

It depends. Do you have in-house talent and capacity to complete steps 1-5 above?  If you do, then build a plan and allocate resources to do the work. If you don’t, then an outside vendor may be what you need to complete the work.

Is training better in person?

Again, it depends. In person training programs might be best if the skill being developed needs to be verbally practiced with other people, such as coaching, giving feedback, or crucial conversations. However, small group sessions can be just as effective using video technology, avoiding travel costs.

What’s the ROI of an employee development program?

Simply put: a better prepared employee is a more productive employee. According to the Association of Talent Development (ATD), companies that invest in training employees see a 218% higher income per employee than companies that don’t.

We know that a manager cannot motivate an employee to improve; that has come from within the employee. However, managers can create the learning environment for employees to grow. How? The first step is to take an inventory of the current staff, using a consistent assessment tool such as a 360-degree assessment, with an objective lens to collect skills data. This full assessment will provide two sets of data in one assessment: strengths and areas to grow. This 360 view lets managers begin to leverage the strengths in their staff; it also shows the delta between the strengths and weaknesses, so you can create the best strategy to improve the team.

The next step is to understand how adults learn. The 70/20/10 model (pronounced – seventy, twenty, ten) for employee development is one effective tool to leverage the current talents of your staff and build stronger teams, which increases the organizational bottom line.

What’s the 70/20/10 model?

Before we explain how the 70/20/10 model can help you develop career goals, let’s look at three types of learning strategies: pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy. Pedagogy, known as “teach-centered”, is typically used where the student learns from one direction: teacher to student. Andragogy, known as “student-centered”, is when the student learns from two directions: teacher to student and student to student. Finally, heutagogy, known as “self-directed”, is how students learn from multi-directional perspectives: teacher to student, student to teacher, student to student, inside and outside of the learning environment; with heutagogy, the student sets goals and expectations, based on their experiences. The 70/20/10 model includes all three types of learning strategies.

Most of us immediately think about the costs of going to back to school to learn new things. The 70/20/10 model shows how you can learn something new, in many cases, without spending a dime. The model says that the best learning uses pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy, where you spend 10% of your time learning from a teacher, 20% of your time learning through others and 70% of your time learning experientially. Click here to learn more about this model.

What should I expect when asking a vendor to help my organization?

At first, the vendor will likely ask for:

• Multiple conversations with the organizational point of contact, so the vendor can better understand the objectives and organizational culture.
• Up to three calls with an organizational employee or stakeholder, so the vendor can better understand the objectives and organizational culture.
• A conversation about material preparation (slide decks, handouts, other supplies)

What are typical topics a vendor could provide?

We provide keynotes and workshops on these topics:

Coaching

1. Coaching for Managerial Success
2.  Career Coaching
3.  Coaching Skills to Motivate your Team for Peak Performance

Communication

1. Crucial Conversations
2. Listening Skills
3. Providing Feedback
4. Presentation Skills
5. Facilitation Skills

Diversity and Inclusion

1. Unconscious Bias and You
2. Leading Diversity for Improved Performance
3. Engage Every Age

Human Capital Management

1. Workforce Transformation: Oversight of Human Capital Strategy
2. HR and People Analytics

Leadership

1. Influencing without Authority
2. Strength-based Leadership
3. Leadership Development for Supervisors
4. Organizational Polarity
5. Values Based Leadership
6. Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Empowering Women
7. Workforce of the Future: Preparing Leaders for the Workforce of the Future
8. Problem Solving: Thinking Differently to Solve Problems Faster
9. Managing Conflict

Other

1. Delegation
2. Emotional Intelligence: Improve Your Team’s EI to Improve the Bottom Line
3. Energy Management and Stress Reduction
4. Mentoring
5. Managing Constant Change
6. Prioritization for Success
7. Building the Teams of Tomorrow Today

How far in advance do I need to plan?

A brand new training program will likely take 1-2 months to develop, including clarifying objectives, identifying the cohort, developing curriculum, creating the communications and designing each workshop, webinar and other tools.

In general, training programs work best when employees are fully present, so August and December are not recommended training months. Often training programs run from September-June (skipping December) or January-July. However, be sure to avoid busy times for your organization such as January-April for tax accountants.

How do I know the vendor can provide what I need?

Training and development programs require specific skills, including Instructional Systems Design (ISD), so ask about the vendor’s ISD background.

In addition, ask for client references and be sure to call those references. Finally, ask for case studies that include specific measures of success.

How do I measure success?

The objective of an employee development program is to develop new skills and behaviors, which can be measured. Some common metrics include:

• Absence rate
• Cost per hire time to fill
• Turnover costs
• Vacancy rate
• Human capital return on investment (ROI)
• Training return on investment (ROI)

How can I learn more?

Check out our free summary paper on training and development here. Or contact us here.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

Why Are Employees Leaving Your Organization?

In our daily lives, we use personal biases, intuitions, and gut feelings to make our decisions. And that’s perfectly fine. They serve us well in many ways.

However, when it comes to improving work performances, personal biases, intuitions, and gut feelings just don’t cut it.

Data can improve your own, your team’s, and your organization’s performance; people analytics can help. People analytics is the data that identifies workforce patterns and trends. Here are some questions that can be answered with people analytics:

• How engaged are our employees?
• What skills does my organization need to invest in, to achieve our mission?
• Why are my employees leaving the organization?

These questions and many more are the kinds of questions that people analytics can answer. Even if you don’t regularly use data in your job, you can still learn a lot with people analytics, regardless of your supervisory level.

A brief primer on people analytics

Before we answer why employees are leaving your organization, let’s start by defining a few terms:

Data are facts, statistics, or other items of information. Data are all around us; you just have to know how to look for it, compile it, and make sense of it. We can use data to understand problems and processes at a micro-level (between individuals), at a mezzo-level (team-level), or at a macro level (organizational level).

So who uses data?

One group of people who use data are data analysts. Data analysts organize, examine, analyze and use data to draw meaning. They tend to focus on understanding previous events to describe things that have already happened.

How to Break the Glass Ceiling

Panelists at the IREM Global Summit share best practices for mitigating bias and advancing diversity.

Cultivating talent is the industry-wide mission for the property management profession and all of the commercial real estate. At the Institute of Real Estate Management’s Global Summit last week in San Francisco, an international panel of rising leaders shared best practices and strategies for advancing that goal through diversity.

Signs of progress for women in real estate stand side by side with persistent contradictions. Women entrepreneurs enjoy a rising profile; nearly one-third of all privately held firms are owned by women. On the educational front, women bring more to the table; they hold more undergraduate degrees than men and earn 50 percent more graduate degrees than their male counterparts. Women’s workplace priorities are led by flexibility and quality of life, according to national studies; compensation ranks third.

The speakers also recounted the qualities that women in business tend to bring to the table. “The more diversity, the better your product is going to be, the better your bottom line is going to be,” noted Anne Loehr, executive vice president at the Center for Human Capital Innovation and the panel’s moderator.

Eight Ways to Improve People Processes in Your Organization

People are a critical part of every organization’s balance sheet. Investments related to acquiring, retaining, developing, and inspiring employees are critical to your organization’s success, requiring a thoughtful strategy to build and maintain a productive workforce.

CHCI’s talent life cycle, called PRIDALRM, refers to the interrelated strategies that support the most important assets of an organization – the people. Most of the activities that occur within an organization’s human resources, human capital, and talent management divisions can be distilled to one of the eight components highlighted in the PRIDALRM image. 

CHCI uses PRIDALRM to diagnose problem areas and develop targeted remediation efforts. This systematic approach to organizational performance encourages the interconnection among elements and alignment to outcomes. Let’s review the eight components.

Starting with the “north star” of the talent life cycle, the workforce PLAN sets up a framework that allows organizations to address current needs and identify future opportunities and threats. It helps answer the following questions:

• Does the organization’s workforce have the right capabilities today?
• What resources will the organization need to be successful in five years?
• How can our human capital approach give us a competitive advantage in our industry?

The next component, RECRUIT, is about talent acquisition. Talent acquisition is the organizational process which fills current and future positions and manages the transition of new employees to becoming fully productive. According to research commissioned by Glassdoor, 95% of companies admit to hiring the wrong people every year.  In fact, Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) identified that the cost of a bad hire could be up to five times the amount of a bad hire’s annual salary; so hiring the wrong person is a costly mistake. Here are three categories of questions to ask candidates at the initial hiring process to help determine if candidates are a good fit in your organization:

Three Ways Learning Agility Can Help Your Career Growth

We have a guest blog this week about a fascinating topic: Learning agility. Thanks for David Hoff, co-author of Learning Ability-The Key to Leader Potential.

Learning agility is finding yourself in a new situation and not knowing what to do – but then figuring it out.

Why would that be important? In an organizational context, if you are promoted from one function to another or from an individual contributor to a manager role, how do I know you will be successful? The answer is that I don’t, because you’ve never done the job before. The research says if leaders make that decision without the help of an assessment process, the odds of the person being successful is 50-50 – essentially the flip of a coin.

What is the cost if the coin lands on the side of being unsuccessful? It depends; the range is anywhere from one to three times that person’s fully-loaded pay, including compensation and benefits. That’s an expensive coin toss!

Most organizations use a performance management system to give employees feedback on their performance and to equitably distribute merit increases. The output of this process is supposed to be a development plan, which describes the key objectives a person should achieve in the coming year and the areas he or she should begin to improve.

Some companies put additional time, effort and money into critical jobs and/or high-potential employees. There are different definitions of high-potential employees; a common one is a person with the ability to be promoted two levels above his or her current level. An example would be a manager with the ability to be promoted to a vice president. You can’t spend significant additional dollars on everyone, so who gets this extra time and attention? That is the $64,000 question.

One answer is to spend time on the most learning-agile person. But how do you determine learning agility? That question has stumped people in the talent management field for some time. My favorite response is, “Those who can learn on the fly.”

How do you operationalize that definition? What would I see a learning-agile person do? How would I teach someone to? Be more learning-agile? These questions are where learning agility becomes more complicated.

Researcher Scott DeRue, from The University of Michigan, established a model that identifies speed and flexibility as the two most important factors determining learning agility. Learning agility is about being able to digest a large amount of information quickly and figure out what is most important (speed). DeRue defines flexibility as the ability to change frameworks to help you understand how different things are related or connected.

DeRue also made a distinction between learning agility and learning ability. “Ability” means the cognitive ability or “smarts.” Ability is important to a point, but then, smarter is not necessarily better. Earlier, I noted that learning agility is being in an unfamiliar situation, not knowing what to do and figuring it out. The ability takes you to a certain point. Then, agility becomes more important.

DeRue says there are both cognitive and behavioral components to learning agility. The cognitive ones – the “hard wiring,” if you will – are difficult, if not impossible, to change. The behavioral ones are more learnable, because if you do the things described by the behavior, then you are demonstrating that part of learning agility.

Another researcher, Dr. Warner Burke from Columbia University, confirmed what DeRue described and found seven additional dimensions of learning agility. He embraced speed and flexibility; his research also identified experimenting, performance risk-taking, interpersonal risk-taking, collaborating, information-gathering, feedback-seeking and reflecting. Burke also developed a test to measure learning agility; his work led to a valid and reliable tool with years of research to support its results. This is a huge step beyond the 50/50 coin flip to determine who we develop and promote.

Here are three tips for using learning agility in your work:

1. In the future, people are more likely to be hired less for what they “know” and more for their ability to figure out what they “don’t know”. So get curious about what you don’t know as a way to make a difference in your career.
2. To increase your flexibility (one of the learning agility dimensions), take the opposing point of view (from your own position) during a discussion. Support that contrary position as strongly as you would your original position.
3. When seeking feedback (a dimension of learning agility), seek to understand what the other person is saying by truly listening. Defensiveness gets in the way of learning agility.

Want to learn more about learning agility? Reach out here.

Entrepreneur Small Business Idea - Develop a Top Management Consulting Firm Alexandria VA

This article will display you the way you may begin your own management consultancy in Alexandria Company as an entrepreneur. Top management consulting firm Alexandria VA is a growing area, wherein you are available to an enterprise with outdoor experience as a manager, survey the commercial enterprise and offer pointers as to how the enterprise needs to alternate its management shape. Study on to find out how you can start your own top management consultancy in Alexandria.

When you have previous management experience, or you're a very avid pupil of management, this will be the right business in order to begin. There are many corporations accessible with fairly "green" managers which have come up through the ranks, however, has no formal schooling.

A corporation is on the mercy of its control. If the managers are vulnerable, lack of motivating or empowering employees, or they don't apprehend the vision of the agency, that business enterprise may be in serious trouble.

As a strategic management consulting firms, you'll carry out opinions, observations of employees, observe ordinary systems of management, and finally give suggestions in multiple regions that require the alternate.

How to Intern At A Top Management Consulting Firm in Alexandria

Being selected for a management consulting internship is the most effective manner to break into the management consulting area at the top-tier firms. Top management consulting firms in Alexandria like CHCI, McKinsey, Bain, and AT Kearney has the common exercise of hiring maximum in their interns as full-time experts. 

Internships are an extraordinary way for you and the company to make sure the fit is right. As an intern, you'll be working with specialists on consultants and will understand if the organization culture, workload and various commitments are right for you - all while not having to make a long-term profession commitment.

Best management consulting companies in Alexandria hires interns at the end of their junior year or at the midway point in their graduate application. The top companies, which include CHCI, BCG, and Booz actively, recruit on the top universities and colleges via running carefully with the institutions' career services workplace. Pay cautious attention to the strategic management consulting firms recruiting timetable and recognize once they plan to be for your campus; they rarely hire for internships at other times of the year. 

Mistake in Choosing Strategic Management Consulting Firms

Before than making any choice, it's imperative to have proper plans and techniques. This will permit people to ensure that their goals are executed well and easily. Those plans and strategies also are critical while running a business. However, there are instances when your commercial business team cannot cater to your wishes, which may be a massive trouble and can cause critical costs or bankruptcy.

Fortunately, business owner can now option for the services of reliable strategic management consulting firms. These corporations have experts who can provide services which could assist your team better and more reliable. Regrettably, there are instances whilst business owners hire the wrong company that could affect their business. Below are some of the most common errors.

Hiring inexperienced or new human capital management consulting firms

When it comes to consulting services, it's miles critical to hire seasoned corporations to achieve exact techniques from their beyond experience and customers. Hence, hiring inexperienced or new specialists is a big mistake due to the fact these specialists lack in experience to offer dependable business strategies.