Designing a Training Program
Read this section, paying close attention to Figure 8.11 and the section on career development programs and succession planning. You may want to make a copy of this figure in your notes. Complete the exercises at the end of the section, and be sure to spend time on the question on the importance of creating a career development plan, even if your employer does not have one.
Learning Objectives
After you have determined what type of training should occur, learning objectives for the training should be set. A learning objective is what you want the learner to be able to do, explain, or demonstrate at the end of the training period. Good learning objectives are performance based and clear, and the end result of the learning objective can be observable or measured in some way. Examples of learning objectives might include the following:
- Be able to explain the company policy on sexual harassment and give examples of sexual harassment.
- Be able to show the proper way to take a customer's order.
- Perform a variety of customer needs analyses using company software.
- Understand and utilize the new expense-tracking software.
- Explain the safety procedure in handling chemicals.
- Be able to explain the types of communication styles and strategies to effectively deal with each style.
- Demonstrate ethics when handling customer complaints.
- Be able to effectively delegate to employees.
Once we have set our learning objectives, we can utilize information on learning styles to then determine the best delivery mode for our training.