Employee Training Design Process: Key Steps

Recognizing Training Needs and Deficiencies

There are several steps in the employee training design process. A training design process takes the company from the initial step of identifying whether training needs to be done and what training needs to be done, through to the final stages of evaluating the training and making adjustments to the training program to make it more effective (Noe, 2012).

A precursor step in the training design process is to recognize that there is a deficiency in the organization, wherein some training can help to resolve this deficiency. This is a necessary step, because without it the training design process will never occur. But, for example, if a company recognizes that its employees lack the skills with social media needed to maintain a positive company image, then all it really knows is that there is a need to improve the knowledge and skill level of employees with respect to social media. That is too vague to be considered useful for training purposes, and this is the point where the training design process begins.

Defining Training Goals and Objectives

The first step in the employee training process therefore is to define the goals of the training process. At this point, the company has a sense of where it is, so what it needs to know is where it is going. If it knows where it wants to end up, in terms of employee knowledge and training, then it is in a much better position to set out an effective course of action.

Acquiring Resources and Creating a Schedule

The next step is to acquire the training resources and create a schedule. Experience with training is usually needed in order to do a good job of understanding the resources required. The company must understand how much money is required, how much employee time is required, and how much trainer time is required, and whether it has these resources in house or not. A training course can be developed in-house, or it can often be purchased off the shelf. There are limitations to the latter approach, in that an off-the-shelf solution tends to lack customization. The schedule can be developed concurrently, so that the company's estimates for time can be affirmed. The schedule sets out the timetable, and the timetable should have already been understood in the context of the goals for the training, which should have had a time dimension to them.

Designing Effective Training Communication

The training course should involve effective communication. There are a number of ways to reach employees, and it is essential that these ways are utilized. The company needs to be able to explain to the employees the rationale for the initiatives, the objectives for the training, and what the role of and expectations for the employees are with respect to this training. So the training course needs to be designed in a manner that best utilizes the many training options and styles available.

Measuring Training Effectiveness

Because there are goals, the training needs a way of measuring its outputs, so that the company can understand if the training program has met the goals that were stated at the outset. The company will need a mechanism by which it can measure the effectiveness of the training program. Thus, it should be able to measure the effectiveness immediately after the training, and at some later time period, to test both immediate recall and long-run effectiveness of the training. There should also be methods of testing the training with regard to the instructors and individual techniques that were used, so that there might be adjustments for future training that come about as the result of this training.