Have you been tasked with developing an employee training program? Are you interested in identifying training costs and the criteria for an effective training program?

Read on as we provide answers to some of the most common training program questions, including a detailed overview and useful tips. Whether you’re conducting leadership development training programs yourself or simply learning more about the subject, we hope you find it helpful.

Table of Contents:

• What is a training program?
• What’s the purpose of a training program?
• What’s the difference between training program and workshops, webinars, facilitation and keynotes?
• What is a management development program and a leadership development program?
• How do I determine which topic is best for my organization?
• Do I need to hire an outsider to do the workshop or do I need to train myself?
• Is training better in person?
• What’s the ROI of an employee development program?
• What’s the 70/20/10 model?
• What should I expect when asking a vendor to help my organization?
• What are typical topics a vendor could provide?
• How far in advance do I need to plan?
• How do I know the vendor can provide what I need?
• How do I measure success?
• How can I learn more?

What is a training program?

A training program is designed to train employees in the specific skills they need to grow in their career. These programs are usually over a duration of time and based on organizational competencies. Since there are different employment skills needed throughout a career, the employee development programs will also vary to match the specific skill sets.

What’s the purpose of a training program?

The purpose of a training program is to serve as a guideline for employee development. When employees are empowered to grow and learn, they are more likely to remain with the employer.

What’s the difference between training program and workshops, webinars, facilitation and keynotes?

Workshops, webinars, facilitations and keynotes are all tools used within a training program. They are sometimes used as one-off events; usually, they are combined to create a diverse learning structure over time.

Below are general guideline of what to expect for each tool:

• Workshops: half day to multiple days, in person, interactive, ranging from 20-50 people, with the objective to interactively learn information
• Facilitations: half day to multiple days, in person, interactive, ranging from 20-50 people, with the objective to bring group consensus and decisions amongst the participants
• Keynotes: 45-60 minutes, in person, minimal interaction, ranging from 50-2000 people, with the objective to share knowledge (often referred to as ‘Sage on a Stage’)
• Webinars: 60-120 minutes, online (with or without video), varying interactivity, ranging from 10-1000 people (depending on the platform), with the objective to interactively teach information to a remote audience

Download our summary guide here!

For example, if you are tasked to create a coaching employee training program, where all 500 employees know the basics of coaching and use coaching skills consistently, you could facilitate a half-day session with the HR team to create alignment with the coaching objectives and organizational mission. Once that is clarified, a 9-month developmental program could be devised that included one keynote for all employees to understand the macro concepts of coaching, followed by 10 workshops for 50 people to learn how to coach. Follow up webinars would be the next step, to help people reinforce the skills they learned in the coaching workshops. At the conclusion of the 9 months, all employees would have heard a macro keynote on the topic, been trained in the workshop and had time to reinforce the lessons learned through a webinar, creating coaching skills to be used consistently within the organization.

What is a management development program and a leadership development program?

Management development programs (MDP) and leadership development programs (LDP) are similar to the training program described above. The difference is the specificity of the audience (management or leadership team) and the identified topics needed to become an effective manager or leader. In addition, the cohort stays together throughout the entire time; for example, if an organization has 10 managers, that group of 10 managers will meet together in the workshop or webinar throughout the entire duration of the program. Finally, MDPs and LDPs often include a capstone exercise where small groups within the cohort need to develop a solution to an organizational problem, using the skills they learned. Watch the video here to learn more about our Performance Leadership Program.

How do I determine which topic is best for my organization?

For effective training, we must know what the employee needs. This need should also be aligned with the organizational vision and mission, which requires foundational work. And in order to do that work, competencies must first be established.

Sometimes referred to as ‘KSA’s, competencies are the things people need to know (knowledge), do (skills) and have (abilities) to be successful in a specific role. Competencies can be grouped into technical, foundational and leadership areas. They are defined by specific behaviors that describe what that competency would look like if someone was using it effectively. These behaviors are often laid out across a proficiency scale so the employee can clearly assess her current behaviors and understand what behaviors are needed for the next level.

Some examples of competencies are problem-solving, conflict management, technical skills and speaking up. While some competencies will be applied to every employee, others are role dependent. The CEO of a large organization likely won’t need to have specific technical competencies, and a coder on the tech team likely wouldn’t need to be competent in sales communication.

Once competencies are defined, the next thing to do is identify five clearly defined proficiency levels. For example, for problem-solving skills, level one might be, ‘asks questions and looks for information to identify and differentiate the symptoms and causes of every day, defined problems’. Level five might be, ‘anticipates problem areas and associated risk levels with objectivity; uses formal methodologies to forecast trends and define innovative strategies in response to the implications of options; and gains approval from senior leadership to solutions of multi-faceted problems’.

After competencies and proficiency levels are clearly defined, the next steps are:

1. Determine the expected proficiencies by job position.
2. Assess the employee’s competencies using a standardized process, on a regular basis. Competing an assessment will help the leader know which competencies to focus on for future leadership training.
3. Aggregate the identified competencies and assess which ones are best for the cohort in mind.
4. Develop a training program based on those competency topics.
5. Track progress using accountability measures in the leadership development training programs.

Read in depth about each step here.

Using this process will prevent your training program from failing. You’re developing training programs because you are invested in employee development. If you’re willing to make that investment, it’s worth doing the foundational work necessary to create effective training that elevates your employees.

Do I need to hire an outsider to do the workshop or do I need to train myself?

It depends. Do you have in-house talent and capacity to complete steps 1-5 above?  If you do, then build a plan and allocate resources to do the work. If you don’t, then an outside vendor may be what you need to complete the work.

Is training better in person?

Again, it depends. In person training programs might be best if the skill being developed needs to be verbally practiced with other people, such as coaching, giving feedback, or crucial conversations. However, small group sessions can be just as effective using video technology, avoiding travel costs.

What’s the ROI of an employee development program?

Simply put: a better prepared employee is a more productive employee. According to the Association of Talent Development (ATD), companies that invest in training employees see a 218% higher income per employee than companies that don’t.

We know that a manager cannot motivate an employee to improve; that has come from within the employee. However, managers can create the learning environment for employees to grow. How? The first step is to take an inventory of the current staff, using a consistent assessment tool such as a 360-degree assessment, with an objective lens to collect skills data. This full assessment will provide two sets of data in one assessment: strengths and areas to grow. This 360 view lets managers begin to leverage the strengths in their staff; it also shows the delta between the strengths and weaknesses, so you can create the best strategy to improve the team.

The next step is to understand how adults learn. The 70/20/10 model (pronounced – seventy, twenty, ten) for employee development is one effective tool to leverage the current talents of your staff and build stronger teams, which increases the organizational bottom line.

What’s the 70/20/10 model?

Before we explain how the 70/20/10 model can help you develop career goals, let’s look at three types of learning strategies: pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy. Pedagogy, known as “teach-centered”, is typically used where the student learns from one direction: teacher to student. Andragogy, known as “student-centered”, is when the student learns from two directions: teacher to student and student to student. Finally, heutagogy, known as “self-directed”, is how students learn from multi-directional perspectives: teacher to student, student to teacher, student to student, inside and outside of the learning environment; with heutagogy, the student sets goals and expectations, based on their experiences. The 70/20/10 model includes all three types of learning strategies.

Most of us immediately think about the costs of going to back to school to learn new things. The 70/20/10 model shows how you can learn something new, in many cases, without spending a dime. The model says that the best learning uses pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy, where you spend 10% of your time learning from a teacher, 20% of your time learning through others and 70% of your time learning experientially. Click here to learn more about this model.

What should I expect when asking a vendor to help my organization?

At first, the vendor will likely ask for:

• Multiple conversations with the organizational point of contact, so the vendor can better understand the objectives and organizational culture.
• Up to three calls with an organizational employee or stakeholder, so the vendor can better understand the objectives and organizational culture.
• A conversation about material preparation (slide decks, handouts, other supplies)

What are typical topics a vendor could provide?

We provide keynotes and workshops on these topics:

Coaching

1. Coaching for Managerial Success
   2. Career Coaching
   3. Coaching Skills to Motivate your Team for Peak Performance

Communication

1. Crucial Conversations
2. Listening Skills
3. Providing Feedback
4. Presentation Skills
5. Facilitation Skills

Diversity and Inclusion

1. Unconscious Bias and You
2. Leading Diversity for Improved Performance
3. Engage Every Age

Human Capital Management

1. Workforce Transformation: Oversight of Human Capital Strategy
2. HR and People Analytics

Leadership

1. Influencing without Authority
2. Strength-based Leadership
3. Leadership Development for Supervisors
4. Organizational Polarity
5. Values Based Leadership
6. Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Empowering Women
7. Workforce of the Future: Preparing Leaders for the Workforce of the Future
8. Problem Solving: Thinking Differently to Solve Problems Faster
9. Managing Conflict

Other

1. Delegation
2. Emotional Intelligence: Improve Your Team’s EI to Improve the Bottom Line
3. Energy Management and Stress Reduction
4. Mentoring
5. Managing Constant Change
6. Prioritization for Success
7. Building the Teams of Tomorrow Today

How far in advance do I need to plan?

A brand new training program will likely take 1-2 months to develop, including clarifying objectives, identifying the cohort, developing curriculum, creating the communications and designing each workshop, webinar and other tools.

In general, training programs work best when employees are fully present, so August and December are not recommended training months. Often training programs run from September-June (skipping December) or January-July. However, be sure to avoid busy times for your organization such as January-April for tax accountants.

How do I know the vendor can provide what I need?

Training and development programs require specific skills, including Instructional Systems Design (ISD), so ask about the vendor’s ISD background.

In addition, ask for client references and be sure to call those references. Finally, ask for case studies that include specific measures of success.

How do I measure success?

The objective of an employee development program is to develop new skills and behaviors, which can be measured. Some common metrics include:

• Absence rate
• Cost per hire
• Time to fill
• Turnover costs
• Vacancy rate
• Human capital return on investment (ROI)
• Training return on investment (ROI)

How can I learn more?

Check out our free summary paper on training and development here. Or contact us here.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

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