The Three Questions to Answer for an Effective Training Program

If you are responsible for finding a training program for your organization, you need to speak with a training provider who will ask you three key questions:

First: Who is the target audience?

Training has to be designed with the target audience in mind. The training provider needs to know the following about the intended participants:

a. Their demographics;

b. Their number;

c. Their receptivity to the content;

d. Their current level of knowledge or skills; and

e. Why the learning is important from their perspective.

Second: Why do you feel that there is a need for this specific training?

Training may not be the solution, so this is a critical question. Discussion around this question will clarify:

a. What problems the training is intended to solve;

b. Whether these problems would be better addressed through system changes or performance management actions, rather than through a training program;

c. What knowledge or skills need to be developed or strengthened;

d. Whether the requested training content will actually address the problem, or a different focus is necessary; and

e. Whether the target group includes the people who really need the training.

Third: What do you want the participants to know or do differently when they leave the training?

The answer to this question will:

a. Clarify the training requestor’s specific expectations;

b. Determine the learning objectives, content, and format for the training program;

c. Create an objective basis for measuring the effectiveness of the program;

d. Provide an opportunity to negotiate the logistics necessary to achieve these expectations, such as the format, length of time, location, and schedule for the training program; and

e. Open discussion about what training can realistically accomplish and what the organization will need to do to reinforce the training.

The organization that prepares answers to these three questions will ultimately save both time and money, and set their participants up for success because:

a. The right solution to the problem will be identified (which will avoid unnecessary training);

b. The right people will be in the right training program;?

c. The right training approach will be used; and

d. The right knowledge and skills will be developed.

Contact me to discuss tailored skill-building training for your employees, managers, or trainers.