Course Design: Setting the Foundation with Scenario Based Learning Objectives - A Case Review

Setting objectives is one of the most important tasks in the development of a Sales Training program.

This paper looks at a real life example utilizing a Scenario Based Objective format.

Situational Overview:

When I began my career in Sales Training I transferred into the training team from my Marketing role with minimal knowledge of Adult Learning Principles and Course Design.

The program I acquired was established and used lecture as the primary mode of knowledge input. Interactive exercises were available through instrumentation group workshops only.

Our Subject Matter Experts (SME) were members of the Marketing and Engineering teams. These individuals were responsible for the technical and competitive presentations.

Several of our presenters were highly technical and well versed in our products given their longevity with the company and industry. We had no process in place that offered guidance on the structure of the presentations, so therefore the design was left up to the presenter.

Presentations would often contain over 100 slides for a 1-hour program. Due to the length of the slide decks, presenters commonly rushed through or skipped over the content.

Each presenter was free to create their own flow for content delivery which would often be difficult to follow or too deep for the experience of the learner.

Assessments in this program were created from the information the SME’s or Facilitators supplied to us. ?

In full disclosure, my team and I were woefully unprepared to take on this challenge. We struggled with a variety of items that certainly made the jobs of the presenters more difficult than they had to be. ?

Evolution:

The typical start to our programs was to welcome the learners, introduce the product topic(s) and presenter, and giddy up down the line.

We had no learning objectives and no specific desired outcomes for the course or product segments. We didn’t realize at the time we were not only handcuffing the presenters but also doing a disservice to the learners as they were on their own in determining how well they understood the content presented. ???

Fortunately, with experience came improved techniques. As we improved our training knowledge and specifically, our Course Design skills, we began to introduce verb based learning objectives into our product presentation sessions.

The following are two examples of the type of objectives utilized. ??

• Identify the 5 key features of the x system.
• Compare and contrast product x to the competition.

Using a list of objectives increased our effectiveness in setting the expectations for the learners, however, they did not allow for a ?true picture of what the learner should be able to do once they concluded the program. A better way to say this might be that the list did not convey how the learner would use their newfound knowledge in their daily sales activities.

Solution: ??

Our desire was to find a format that would enable us to set expectations for the entire course as well as for each segment of the program. ?

Following a few meetings with an outside consultant we selected a new approach to establishing objectives. The method that we selected was a format based on Scenarios.

We believed this approach would more effectively connect the learning to the expectations by allowing the learner to gain an understanding of how the course was going to prepare them with their daily sales activities.

This change proved to be an effective method for establishing what the learner was responsible for at the beginning of each program. ?Below is an example of the scenario we used in the anatomy and biomechanics program.?

You have been asked to attend a meeting with a key surgeon customer.?He/ she would like to review upcoming cases with you to determine the surgical plan. You will be asked to review a variety of X-Rays and CT scans during the case review.

You will be required to point out landmarks about the shoulder and discuss shoulder anatomy, soft tissue function and the pathology and treatment options you offer for each case discussed.

This scenario directly related to an activity that sales management expected the reps to be able to accomplish once they completed the program.

When we reviewed the objectives we continually asked the learners if the scenario was something they had already encountered or was something their team had discussed with them. The answer was most often a yes.

Once the objective (s) were established we added topics or tasks that would be covered during each learning module. This final piece was intended to inform the learners how they would gain a thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills they would need to acquire to achieve the objective. ?

The next step of this process was to create the performance based assessments for the programs.

We created rubrics for assessments that would be used by each proctor. We believed we would see consistency of test scores with this approach.

Note: The rubrics were distributed at the beginning of each program and product segment. We believed by handing out the rubrics early and covering expectations the learners would be well positioned to achieve the course objective .

Outcome:

What did we learn from this approach?

• By establishing clear and measurable objectives and a list of topics or tasks the Facilitators and SME’s were able to create and deliver clear, concise content that could be consumed and processed by the learner
• Incorporating application activities into the programs allowed us to observe and remediate with the learners.
• Testing indicated a high level of understanding and ability to demonstrate the desired skills
• Learners had a firm understanding of where they excelled and where they had work to do as was indicated by the goals they set for themselves on their individual action plans

Summary:

My approach to setting objectives and course design is quite simple.

1. ?Establish objectives based on the expectations of the Sales Management Team
2. Develop the Performance Based Assessments per the Objective (s)
3. Create a list of Topics and Tasks required to cover knowledge and skills
4. Set SME and Facilitator Roles and Expectations
5. Build Application and Fun into Training

This approached allowed us to establish expectations and measurements for the programs.

We were better prepared to direct the SME’s and Facilitators on what needed to be included in their delivery content and what to leave out. Presentations were often reduced to 25 or less slides.

The outcomes of the testing supported our initial belief for the introduction of the Scenario Based Objective.

This approach simplified the design process and allowed our team to deliver clarity and consistency to our learners.

My hope for this case review is that I have given you a clear example of how this technique can be incorporated into your learning programs. If you have yet to incorporate this activity and would like to learn more about my design process please contact me at [email protected]

About the Author:

Marc Vosler has over 30 years of experience within the Medical Device Industry in Sales, Marketing and Sales Education.

He directed training teams for DePuy, a Johnson & Johnson Company, and Biomet Orthopaedics. The training organization was focused on a stacked learning approach utilizing application-based learning and skills-based assessment.

He enjoys partnering with clients to assist them in achieving their Sales Education objectives.

Marc lives in the Mid-west with his family, 2 cats, 3 chinchillas,1 turtle and an annoying Cockatiel (for sale).