How do you partner with other organizations to improve employee training?

1 Identify your training goals and needs

Before you start looking for potential partners, you need to have a clear idea of what your training goals and needs are. What skills do you want your employees to learn or improve? What challenges or gaps do you face in your current training program? What outcomes do you want to achieve from your training? Having a clear vision and strategy will help you find partners who share your objectives and can complement your strengths.

2 Research and evaluate potential partners

Once you have defined your training goals and needs, it's time to start researching and evaluating potential partners who can help you improve your employee training. You may want to look for partners within your industry, sector, or niche, or across different fields and domains depending on your needs and interests. Furthermore, you should consider partners who offer different types of training such as online, offline, or blended, or specialize in certain topics, methods, or formats. When evaluating potential partners, it is important to consider their reputation and credibility, expertise and experience, alignment with your goals and values, availability and accessibility, flexibility and adaptability, as well as feedback and testimonials.

3 Establish clear expectations and agreements

Once you have chosen your partners, it is essential to set clear expectations and agreements with them. Doing so will help prevent any potential conflicts, misunderstandings, or disappointments and will promote a successful and productive collaboration. Some topics to discuss and agree on include the scope and objectives of the partnership, the roles and responsibilities of each partner, the communication and coordination channels and frequency, the resources and costs involved, the timeline and milestones, as well as the evaluation and feedback mechanisms.

4 Implement and monitor the partnership

Once you have set up the partnership, it is essential to implement and monitor it. This involves executing the agreed-upon actions, delivering the expected results, and tracking the progress and impact of the partnership. Additionally, regular communication and feedback with your partners is necessary, as well as addressing any issues or challenges that arise. To successfully implement and monitor the partnership, it is recommended to follow the agreed-upon plan and schedule, use the agreed-upon tools and platforms, share relevant information and updates, solicit and provide constructive feedback, celebrate achievements and successes, and resolve conflicts and problems promptly.

5 Review and improve the partnership

Finally, you need to review and improve the partnership by assessing the outcomes and benefits, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and providing and soliciting feedback. Based on the review, you can decide whether to continue, modify or end the partnership, as well as what actions to take to improve it. To help guide your review, consider questions such as: did the partnership meet your training goals and needs? What did you learn from it? What did you enjoy or appreciate? What challenges or difficulties did you face? And how can you improve it in the future?

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?