Human resource training and development is one department which often receives minimal budget in an organization. It is often called to produce business results albeit handling limited resources.
The best news is that foundation of good training is laid with good design and not necessarily with a big budget. There are many ways to build up a strong training program like online instructor led training and prove the value of this HR exercise.
Here are a few points to work on in order to design a successful training program:
- Create strong content
Stop depending on subject matter experts (SMEs) and become expert yourself. In the role of trainers and instructional designers, we will always need SMEs. But to develop a strong training content, a change in mindset is required. Very often, over 75% of content decision is left to SMEs resulting in lack of retention and engagement. The best trainers are involved in the content directly. They assume role of being SMEs while designing content.
- Develop attractive materials
One must pay attention to aesthetics of the training content and begin designing keeping learner in mind. As one can easily get lost in the content and forget how to organize that content in an engaging and appealing way. Before the training session starts, people tend to form judgments about it mostly on the basis of its aesthetics.
Aesthetics may be perceived by anything from the dressing sense of the trainer to the fonts and coloring of training material. Are images used suitably? Are fonts visible? Are the pages too crowded?
Design is a crucial element. Inconsistencies like non-uniform formatting may be noted by learners, causing adverse impact. Hence, take time to design content, keeping in mind needs of learner. Avoid mistakes like poor choice of fonts, grammar or spelling errors, etc.
- Diversify options
Avoid using same training material over and over again. Start designing a more diverse and robust tool box for training. In many organizations, trainers are still providing training through classes. But it is good to diversify training options such as mobile learning, e-learning modules, infographics, video education, social learning platforms and many more.
- Strong delivery
After selecting among various training options, you must decide about time and nature of delivery of training content. One of the crucial talents of a trainer is to decide the best method of delivery.
These are some points to consider while designing successful training programs.