training and development in business plan

The essential components of a successful L&D strategy

Over the past decade, the global workforce has been continually evolving because of a number of factors. An increasingly competitive business landscape, rising complexity, and the digital revolution are reshaping the mix of employees. Meanwhile, persistent uncertainty, a multigenerational workforce, and a shorter shelf life for knowledge have placed a premium on reskilling and upskilling. The shift to a digital, knowledge-based economy means that a vibrant workforce is more important than ever: research suggests that a very significant percentage of market capitalization in public companies is based on intangible assets—skilled employees, exceptional leaders, and knowledge. 1 Intangible Asset Market Value Study, Ocean Tomo.

Learning and development—From evolution to revolution

We began in 2014 by surveying 1,500 executives about capability building. In 2016, we added 120 L&D leaders at 91 organizations to our database, gathering information on their traditional training strategies and aspirations for future programs. We also interviewed 15 chief learning officers or L&D heads at major companies.

Historically, the L&D function has been relatively successful in helping employees build skills and perform well in their existing roles. The main focus of L&D has been on upskilling. However, the pace of change continues to accelerate; McKinsey research estimates that as many as 800 million jobs could be displaced by automation by 2030.

Employee roles are expected to continue evolving, and a large number of people will need to learn new skills to remain employable. Unsurprisingly, our research confirmed our initial hypothesis: corporate learning must undergo revolutionary changes over the next few years to keep pace with constant technological advances. In addition to updating training content, companies must increase their focus on blended-learning solutions, which combine digital learning, fieldwork, and highly immersive classroom sessions. With the growth of user-friendly digital-learning platforms, employees will take more ownership of their professional development, logging in to take courses when the need arises rather than waiting for a scheduled classroom session.

Such innovations will require companies to devote more resources to training: our survey revealed that 60 percent of respondents plan to increase L&D spending over the next few years, and 66 percent want to boost the number of employee-training hours. As they commit more time and money, companies must ensure that the transformation of the L&D function proceeds smoothly.

All of these trends have elevated the importance of the learning-and-development (L&D) function. We undertook several phases of research to understand trends and current priorities in L&D (see sidebar, “Learning and development—From evolution to revolution”). Our efforts highlighted how the L&D function is adapting to meet the changing needs of organizations, as well as the growing levels of investment in professional development.

To get the most out of investments in training programs and curriculum development, L&D leaders must embrace a broader role within the organization and formulate an ambitious vision for the function. An essential component of this effort is a comprehensive, coordinated strategy that engages the organization and encourages collaboration. The ACADEMIES© framework, which consists of nine dimensions of L&D, can help to strengthen the function and position it to serve the organization more effectively.

The strategic role of L&D

One of L&D’s primary responsibilities is to manage the development of people—and to do so in a way that supports other key business priorities. L&D’s strategic role spans five areas (Exhibit 1). 2 Nick van Dam, 25 Best Practices in Learning & Talent Development , second edition, Raleigh, NC: Lulu Publishing, 2008.

• Attract and retain talent. Traditionally, learning focused solely on improving productivity. Today, learning also contributes to employability. Over the past several decades, employment has shifted from staying with the same company for a lifetime to a model where workers are being retained only as long as they can add value to an enterprise. Workers are now in charge of their personal and professional growth and development—one reason that people list “opportunities for learning and development” among the top criteria for joining an organization. Conversely, a lack of L&D is one of the key reasons people cite for leaving a company.
• Develop people capabilities. Human capital requires ongoing investments in L&D to retain its value. When knowledge becomes outdated or forgotten—a more rapid occurrence today—the value of human capital declines and needs to be supplemented by new learning and relevant work experiences. 3 Gary S. Becker, “Investment in human capital: A theoretical analysis,” Journal of Political Economy , 1962, Volume 70, Number 5, Part 2, pp. 9–49, jstor.org. Companies that make investments in the next generation of leaders are seeing an impressive return. Research indicates that companies in the top quartile of leadership outperform other organizations by nearly two times on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). Moreover, companies that invest in developing leaders during significant transformations are 2.4 times more likely to hit their performance targets . 4 “ Economic Conditions Snapshot, June 2009: McKinsey Global Survey results ,” June 2009.
• Create a values-based culture. As the workforce in many companies becomes increasingly virtual and globally dispersed, L&D can help to build a values-based culture and a sense of community. In particular, millennials are particularly interested in working for values-based, sustainable enterprises that contribute to the welfare of society.
• Build an employer brand. An organization’s brand is one of its most important assets and conveys a great deal about the company’s success in the market, financial strengths, position in the industry, and products and services. Investments in L&D can help to enhance company’s brand and boost its reputation as an “employer of choice.” As large segments of the workforce prepare to retire, employers must work harder to compete for a shrinking talent pool. To do so, they must communicate their brand strength explicitly through an employer value proposition.
• Motivate and engage employees. The most important way to engage employees is to provide them with opportunities to learn and develop new competencies. Research suggests that lifelong learning contributes to happiness. 5 John Coleman, “Lifelong learning is good for your health, your wallet, and your social life,” Harvard Business Review , February 7, 2017, hbr.org. When highly engaged employees are challenged and given the skills to grow and develop within their chosen career path, they are more likely to be energized by new opportunities at work and satisfied with their current organization.

The L&D function in transition

Over the years, we have identified and field-tested nine dimensions that contribute to a strong L&D function. We combined these dimensions to create the ACADEMIES framework, which covers all aspects of L&D functions, from setting aspirations to measuring impact (Exhibit 2). Although many companies regularly execute on several dimensions of this framework, our recent research found that only a few companies are fully mature in all dimensions.

1. Alignment with business strategy

One of an L&D executive’s primary tasks is to develop and shape a learning strategy based on the company’s business and talent strategies. The learning strategy seeks to support professional development and build capabilities across the company, on time, and in a cost-effective manner. In addition, the learning strategy can enhance the company culture and encourage employees to live the company’s values.

For many organizations, the L&D function supports the implementation of the business strategy. For example, if one of the business strategies is a digital transformation, L&D will focus on building the necessary people capabilities to make that possible.

Every business leader would agree that L&D must align with a company’s overall priorities. Yet research has found that many L&D functions fall short on this dimension. Only 40 percent of companies say that their learning strategy is aligned with business goals. 6 Human Capital Management Excellence Conference 2018, Brandon Hall Group. For 60 percent, then, learning has no explicit connection to the company’s strategic objectives. L&D functions may be out of sync with the business because of outdated approaches or because budgets have been based on priorities from previous years rather than today’s imperatives, such as a digital transformation.

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To be effective, L&D must take a hard look at employee capabilities and determine which are most essential to support the execution of the company’s business strategy. L&D leaders should reevaluate this alignment on a yearly basis to ensure they are creating a people-capability agenda that truly reflects business priorities and strategic objectives.

2. Co-ownership between business units and HR

With new tools and technologies constantly emerging, companies must become more agile, ready to adapt their business processes and practices. L&D functions must likewise be prepared to rapidly launch capability-building programs—for example, if new business needs suddenly arise or staff members require immediate training on new technologies such as cloud-based collaboration tools.

L&D functions can enhance their partnership with business leaders by establishing a governance structure in which leadership from both groups share responsibility for defining, prioritizing, designing, and securing funds for capability-building programs. Under this governance model, a company’s chief experience officer (CXO), senior executives, and business-unit heads will develop the people-capability agenda for segments of the enterprise and ensure that it aligns with the company’s overall strategic goals. Top business executives will also help firmly embed the learning function and all L&D initiatives in the organizational culture. The involvement of senior leadership enables full commitment to the L&D function’s longer-term vision.

3. Assessment of capability gaps and estimated value

After companies identify their business priorities, they must verify that their employees can deliver on them—a task that may be more difficult than it sounds. Some companies make no effort to assess employee capabilities, while others do so only at a high level. Conversations with L&D, HR, and senior executives suggest that many companies are ineffective or indifferent at assessing capability gaps, especially when it comes to senior leaders and midlevel managers.

The most effective companies take a deliberate, systematic approach to capability assessment. At the heart of this process is a comprehensive competency or capability model based on the organization’s strategic direction. For example, a key competency for a segment of an e-commerce company’s workforce could be “deep expertise in big data and predictive analytics.”

After identifying the most essential capabilities for various functions or job descriptions, companies should then assess how employees rate in each of these areas. L&D interventions should seek to close these capability gaps.

4. Design of learning journeys

Most corporate learning is delivered through a combination of digital-learning formats and in-person sessions. While our research indicates that immersive L&D experiences in the classroom still have immense value, leaders have told us that they are incredibly busy “from eight to late,” which does not give them a lot of time to sit in a classroom. Furthermore, many said that they prefer to develop and practice new skills and behaviors in a “safe environment,” where they don’t have to worry about public failures that might affect their career paths.

Traditional L&D programs consisted of several days of classroom learning with no follow-up sessions, even though people tend to forget what they have learned without regular reinforcement. As a result, many L&D functions are moving away from stand-alone programs by designing learning journeys—continuous learning opportunities that take place over a period of time and include L&D interventions such as fieldwork, pre- and post-classroom digital learning, social learning, on-the-job coaching and mentoring, and short workshops. The main objectives of a learning journey are to help people develop the required new competencies in the most effective and efficient way and to support the transfer of learning to the job.

5. Execution and scale-up

An established L&D agenda consists of a number of strategic initiatives that support capability building and are aligned with business goals, such as helping leaders develop high-performing teams or roll out safety training. The successful execution of L&D initiatives on time and on budget is critical to build and sustain support from business leaders.

L&D functions often face an overload of initiatives and insufficient funding. L&D leadership needs to maintain an ongoing discussion with business leaders about initiatives and priorities to ensure the requisite resources and support.

Many new L&D initiatives are initially targeted to a limited audience. A successful execution of a small pilot, such as an online orientation program for a specific audience, can lead to an even bigger impact once the program is rolled out to the entire enterprise. The program’s cost per person declines as companies benefit from economies of scale.

6. Measurement of impact on business performance

A learning strategy’s execution and impact should be measured using key performance indicators (KPIs). The first indicator looks at business excellence: how closely aligned all L&D initiatives and investments are with business priorities. The second KPI looks at learning excellence: whether learning interventions change people’s behavior and performance. Last, an operational-excellence KPI measures how well investments and resources in the corporate academy are used.

Accurate measurement is not simple, and many organizations still rely on traditional impact metrics such as learning-program satisfaction and completion scores. But high-performing organizations focus on outcomes-based metrics such as impact on individual performance, employee engagement, team effectiveness, and business-process improvement.

We have identified several lenses for articulating and measuring learning impact:

• Strategic alignment: How effectively does the learning strategy support the organization’s priorities?
• Capabilities: How well does the L&D function help colleagues build the mind-sets, skills, and expertise they need most? This impact can be measured by assessing people’s capability gaps against a comprehensive competency framework.
• Organizational health: To what extent does learning strengthen the overall health and DNA of the organization? Relevant dimensions of the McKinsey Organizational Health Index can provide a baseline.
• Individual peak performance: Beyond raw capabilities, how well does the L&D function help colleagues achieve maximum impact in their role while maintaining a healthy work-life balance?

Access to big data provides L&D functions with more opportunities to assess and predict the business impact of their interventions.

7. Integration of L&D interventions into HR processes

Just as L&D corporate-learning activities need to be aligned with the business, they should also be an integral part of the HR agenda. L&D has an important role to play in recruitment, onboarding, performance management, promotion, workforce, and succession planning. Our research shows that at best, many L&D functions have only loose connections to annual performance reviews and lack a structured approach and follow-up to performance-management practices.

L&D leadership must understand major HR management practices and processes and collaborate closely with HR leaders. The best L&D functions use consolidated development feedback from performance reviews as input for their capability-building agenda. A growing number of companies are replacing annual performance appraisals with frequent, in-the-moment feedback. 7 HCM outlook 2018 , Brandon Hall Group. This is another area in which the L&D function can help managers build skills to provide development feedback effectively.

Elevating Learning & Development: Insights and Practical Guidance from the Field

Another example is onboarding. Companies that have developed high-impact onboarding processes score better on employee engagement and satisfaction and lose fewer new hires. 8 HCM outlook 2018 , Brandon Hall Group. The L&D function can play a critical role in onboarding—for example, by helping people build the skills to be successful in their role, providing new hires with access to digital-learning technologies, and connecting them with other new hires and mentors.

8. Enabling of the 70:20:10 learning framework

Many L&D functions embrace a framework known as “70:20:10,” in which 70 percent of learning takes place on the job, 20 percent through interaction and collaboration, and 10 percent through formal-learning interventions such as classroom training and digital curricula. These percentages are general guidelines and vary by industry and organization. L&D functions have traditionally focused on the formal-learning component.

Today, L&D leaders must design and implement interventions that support informal learning, including coaching and mentoring, on-the-job instruction, apprenticeships, leadership shadowing, action-based learning, on-demand access to digital learning, and lunch-and-learn sessions. Social technologies play a growing role in connecting experts and creating and sharing knowledge.

9. Systems and learning technology applications

The most significant enablers for just-in-time learning are technology platforms and applications. Examples include next-generation learning-management systems, virtual classrooms, mobile-learning apps, embedded performance-support systems, polling software, learning-video platforms, learning-assessment and -measurement platforms, massive open online courses (MOOCs), and small private online courses (SPOCs), to name just a few.

The learning-technology industry has moved entirely to cloud-based platforms, which provide L&D functions with unlimited opportunities to plug and unplug systems and access the latest functionality without having to go through lengthy and expensive implementations of an on-premises system. L&D leaders must make sure that learning technologies fit into an overall system architecture that includes functionality to support the entire talent cycle, including recruitment, onboarding, performance management, L&D, real-time feedback tools, career management, succession planning, and rewards and recognition.

L&D leaders are increasingly aware of the challenges created by the fourth industrial revolution (technologies that are connecting the physical and digital worlds), but few have implemented large-scale transformation programs. Instead, most are slowly adapting their strategy and curricula as needed. However, with technology advancing at an ever-accelerating pace, L&D leaders can delay no longer: human capital is more important than ever and will be the primary factor in sustaining competitive advantage over the next few years.

The leaders of L&D functions need to revolutionize their approach by creating a learning strategy that aligns with business strategy and by identifying and enabling the capabilities needed to achieve success. This approach will result in robust curricula that employ every relevant and available learning method and technology. The most effective companies will invest in innovative L&D programs, remain flexible and agile, and build the human talent needed to master the digital age.

These changes entail some risk, and perhaps some trial and error, but the rewards are great.

A version of this chapter was published in TvOO Magazine in September 2016. It is also included in Elevating Learning & Development: Insights and Practical Guidance from the Field , August 2018.

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Jacqueline Brassey is director of Enduring Priorities Learning in McKinsey’s Amsterdam office, where Nick van Dam is an alumnus and senior adviser to the firm as well as professor and chief of the IE University (Madrid) Center for Learning Innovation; Lisa Christensen is a senior learning expert in the San Francisco office.

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Learning and Development Planning Guide [With Templates]

• Lauren Farrell
• May 18, 2022

As the pace of business increases and unpredictable market forces continue to influence strategy and decision-making, it seems like it’s never been harder to create a plan and stick with it. 

Many organizations are still creating 3-5 year strategies, but they need to be more agile and flexible than ever. Successful businesses (and successful functions within them) are those that can quickly adapt.

Learning and development has steadily carved out a new pathway within the organization in recent years. Executives are sitting up and taking notice of the function’s strategic relevance and potential impact on business success. External forces such as skills obsolescence, global pandemics, and labor shortages have no doubt contributed to the acceleration of this new strategic role for L&D.  

Now that L&D has reached this point, strategic planning is more crucial than ever. Effective learning and development planning is critical to ensuring that employee training can deliver on its promises and directly contribute to business performance. 

So, what should training planning look like for L&D teams in this new, agile business landscape? 

What is included in a training plan?

An L&D plan needs to go beyond a list of courses that you plan to develop throughout the year. It also needs to cover every aspect of the function, from strategy and resource planning to business alignment.

Without this granularity, L&D departments will struggle to move beyond order-taking from the business for ineffective learning interventions and towards a strategically aligned performance influencer. 

Comprehensive L&D Strategy

All learning and development planning should begin with a detailed, comprehensive learning strategy for the organization. A well-developed strategy encompasses everything from your learning and development goals to how and when you plan to execute them within a given timeframe. 

While it can take some time and a fairly extensive level of collaboration with business partners, your L&D objectives should align with the needs and goals of the organization. Once you have clearly defined objectives in place, it becomes much easier to devise training plans that add value and make the best use of your resources.

As part of your training strategy development, you might consider processes such as a detailed learning needs assessment within the organization.

Learning and Development Resource Planning

It’s good to be ambitious with your L&D strategy. But very few teams have an unlimited amount of resources available. So, another key element of successful L&D planning is prioritization.

First, you need to understand what resources are available to you and your team. How many FTE hours will you have throughout the year? What size budget are you working with? 

Next, analyze your resource availability against the demand any planned initiatives will place on these resources. Prioritize initiatives, learning development time, and budget allocation against the impact you expect initiatives to have. 

Cognota has Capacity Planning and Resource Allocation features specifically designed for L&D teams, so you can balance the demand for training against the capacity and availability of your team at any given time. Try a free trial or book a demo to see for yourself.  

What makes a good training plan?

Aside from building out your planned training initiatives, successful learning and development plans also have some core focus areas and characteristics. These items are the difference between creating a well-structured plan and being able to effectively execute it.

Effective Frameworks and Learning Operations

Learning and development strategies are complex and comprise a lot of moving parts. Bringing your objectives to fruition requires the structure, workflows, and processes needed to implement tactics and initiatives effectively.

From the way you work with business partners to how you schedule and track your learning projects, the operations behind your L&D team are the engine room of your strategy implementation. This includes processes and operational considerations such as:

• The structure and skills base of your L&D team
• Training intake and needs assessment
• Project prioritization and planning
• Collaboration with team members, stakeholders, and SMEs
• Project tracking and task management
• Course toryboarding, design, and development
• Content management and updates
• Budget allocation and tracking
• Resource management and capacity planning

Regardless of the size and structure of your L&D department, operational efficiency increases the capacity of your team and the impact they can have on the organization. 

Learning Technology Ecosystem

Mature L&D operations need the right technology behind them to ensure these processes run quickly and smoothly. Many areas of learning operations are also interconnected. But without the right technology in place, processes, documentation, and collaboration remain siloed and disjointed. 

Many L&D teams continue to rely on email, spreadsheets, shared files, and generic tools to manage and run their operations. This leaves team members struggling to collaborate efficiently. Important tasks and documentation slip through the cracks, work is often duplicated, and hours are wasted moving from one tool to another throughout the learning lifecycle. 

For plans to be executed well, learning and development needs a mature and streamlined learning tech stack. Starting with a learning operations platform and including authoring tools and learning delivery technology, the learning tech stack needs to integrate, both from one L&D tool to another and with wider business technology. 

Not only does this provide data and insights needed for informed planning and decision making, but it also elevates the productivity and efficiency of the entire learning lifecycle.  

Business Alignment

As a support function within the organization, learning and development needs to wear multiple hats. While L&D should take the lead from the business in terms of training needs (preferably in a data-driven environment), they must also act as advisors to business partners.

Taking on both these roles is the difference between operating as a department that takes orders blindly from the rest of the business and becoming a strategic influencer and partner that contributes directly and deliberately to business success.

Many L&D teams have successfully positioned themselves as strategic influencers in the organization, and there are many ways to achieve this. For example, some establish learning advisory committees to engage business partners and executives so that learning interventions add value and align with business objectives. 

Regardless of how you achieve it, business alignment is critical to a successful L&D plan. Without it, L&D are left to take last-minute training requests form the business. Or, other departments take training into their own hands without guidance from the team that knows best when it comes to learning interventions.

Buy-In From Stakeholders and Executives

Getting buy-in for training from department managers is one thing. They see the day-to-day need for learning intervention and are naturally more in touch with the performance goals and career aspirations of individual employees. 

However, when it comes to budget approval, increasing headcount, or implementing large scale training programs, you need buy-in from higher up the chain. Championship from executive and senior stakeholders is also critical to smoothing the path with any corners of the organization who may be resistant to training or partnership with L&D. 

From getting your learning plans approved to support for implementation, 

Measuring L&D Success

When you get buy-in from senior management within your organization, it’s imperative that you can prove the results of learning investments. The ability to prove the impact of L&D, especially when that impact can be tied directly to the bottom line of the business, ensures that your department receives the resources it needs. 

When it comes to future learning and development planning, the ability to measure L&D success also enables you to:

• Validate past decisions
• Eliminate training initiatives that lack impact
• Focus resources on effective learning solutions and investments
• Understand where extra resources or capabilities are needed within the department

How to Create a Successful Training Plan

Whether you’re overhauling an existing strategy or starting from scratch, it can be difficult to know where to begin with training and development planning. Best practice is to start as broad as possible and narrow down the focus of your strategy as you go. 

Start with the overall objectives and needs of the organization and steadily work down towards the needs and preferences of individual teams or employees. If you’re starting with a training needs analysis (try this template ), these two areas of focus can work in tandem, so you create an L&D strategy that combines corporate objectives with grassroots input from employees and their managers.

Assess Business Training Needs

At this stage of the training planning process, the first priority is to ensure the L&D strategy is aligned with overall corporate objectives. If your organization does a good job of communicating corporate objectives to individual business units, you’ll have a much easier time understanding how to create and prioritize resources and initiatives for your internal department strategy. 

Other learning leaders may find themselves needing to hunt down information and collaboration with business partners to understand their goals and priorities for the months ahead. This is where ongoing partnerships such as a learning advisory committee come in useful.  

While corporate objectives are an essential part of planning for learning and development, things can change and change quickly. So, while your strategy should align with organization-wide objectives, be prepared to remain agile and flexible.

Determine Learner Needs and Preferences

The C-suite and department leaders may have one idea of the learning initiatives needed. Employees and their line managers may have another idea entirely. While impacting the performance of the business is top priority, employee buy-in and engagement is essential for the success of any learning intervention.

So, whether it takes place alongside an analysis of corporate strategy or after, a comprehensive needs analysis of training and skills development ensures that:

• Employees feel listened to and engage with learning initiatives
• Grass-roots skills gaps are bridged effectively
• Learning content that is appropriate for existing and desired skill levels is developed

Many L&D teams perform a needs analysis like this through detailed questionnaires from both managers and employees. By including questions such as priority level, business impact, and the size of the audience for a potential learning solution as part of these questionnaires, L&D can better select and prioritize projects to include in their planning.

Assess L&D’s Capabilities and Capacity

Last but certainly not least, L&D must assess the demand for training that emerges from corporate goals and needs analysis and balance it against their available resources. Initiatives must be carefully planned for and scheduled to ensure that your team has the capacity to create learning interventions on time and to a high quality. 

Understanding the capabilities and capacity of your team also helps you to create a business case for learning and development workforce planning so you have the budget, headcount, outsourcing, and resources needed to fulfill demand.

Centralize the Planning and Tracking of Your L&D Projects

There’s a lot that goes into effective L&D planning, and spreadsheets don’t quite cut it when it comes time for implementation and tracking. With Cognota, you can plan and manage team capacity, track project progress, and gain insights and visibility into L&D’s resource management, training demand, and more. Check out what Cognota can do for your L&D team’s efficiency and impact with a free trial or by booking a demo .

• Tags: L&D planning , Learning and Development Strategy , Training Plan

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How to Create a Learning and Development Plan [Templates Inside]

Over the years, we’ve seen the business environment evolve beyond what is considered traditional, making the concept of creating an ’employee development plan’ more important than ever.

This has become even more prominent when we factor in the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, and the increase of remote workers and hybrid working business models. In addition to workplace environmental restructuring, more than ever, all hands must be on deck with high-performing employees to deal with the new demands of this dynamic business future.

How to turn professional goals into an action plan

Yet, in turn, these employees still have career goals, professional goals, and a desired career path that must be respected and achievable through an action plan to diminish employee turnover.

Organizations need to embrace, more than ever, a learning and development strategy that helps employees cope with these situations. This includes providing learning programs, additional benefits, and career development plans that can be achieved in a realistic timeline to help your employees grow professionally and achieve their own goals and goals for your business through actionable steps.

Several studies  suggest that employee training and the implementation of employee development plans benefit both the company and its workers. For this reason, development opportunities and learning programs remain some of the top considerations for job seekers today.

However, organizational learning and development plans and strategies also have to be effective, achieve goals, and aim to diminish obvious staff skill gaps. 

As HR and senior management organize the right training programs and employee development plans , employees must be appropriately positioned to receive them. 

So, how do you ensure harmony among all the different parts and players to achieve goals?

In this guide, we’ll explore all there is to know about learning and development in the context of employee training, the benefits, and how a business can set up a successful learning and career development strategy. You’ll also find examples and related human resources templates on how you can create that action plan and success strategy yourself. Visualize roadmaps through timelines , presentations , and planners .

Table of Contents

What is a learning and development plan, why your organization needs a learning and development plan.

• How to create and roll out a solid learning and development plan in 6 steps 
• 5 learning and development plan examples and templates you can use 

Want a head start with your learning and development plan? Grab our hot-off-the-press employee development plan templates for your learning and development projects. They’re easy to edit and customize! Get your learning and development templates .

A learning and career development plan involves the continuous educational processes of learning new working methods and concepts, improving skills, and gaining more knowledge about one’s duties within a company.

Organization development programs update staff on new trends, skills, and technologies within the global workforce. 

It also serves to inform workers of new policies, laws, and safety information, as well as organizational procedures and rules.

If properly organized and carefully followed through, a learning and professional development plan will benefit an organization in several ways. 

These are some of the crucial upsides to investing in an employee development plan.

In the past, employee development was carried out to improve productivity. Now, it also focuses on attracting top talent, especially in industries where there are a good number of opportunities for staff to switch employers. 

The opportunity to learn more and develop through a structured development plan is undoubtedly one of the key considerations when selecting an employer. 

Employees want to remain relevant, and they recognize that that is only made possible with a professional development plan in place. 

Therefore, a good learning and development plan appeals to potential hires and helps retain talent within a company’s workforce. And just like in sales –  replacing employees is much more expensive  than acquiring them, with a 2020 Work Institute study showing voluntary employee turnover  costs U.S. businesses more than $630 billion annually.

2. Provide upskilling and career development opportunities

Learning and development plans provide upskilling opportunities. This empowers your workforce to perform their duties better and prepare for new or more responsibilities that align more with their strengths. 

3. Enhance employee capability

An organization’s human capital is a key part of the development process, which is why its knowledge base needs to be consistently updated to avoid a decline in capability. 

Staff learning contributes to this and positions the organization better towards success when hitting its development goals. For example, if you aim to enrich your blog post with unique guest posts, you can train your staff to use an AI detector to discover AI-generated content. 

In fact, companies that invest in their staff and leaders during transformational changes are  2.4 times more likely to achieve their performance targets. 

4. Recognize an organization’s strengths and weaknesses

When an organization invests in learning and professional development plans, the avenues to recognize strengths and weaknesses open up.

This makes it possible to maintain the positives and continuously grow their strengths while developing skills to strengthen their weaknesses. This increases the overall confidence within the company and maintains a healthy working environment .

5. Ensure brand consistency throughout the company

Updating staff on the latest industry trends and internal policies ensures transparency. This structure reinforces policies that are well-known and breeds  collaboration among employees .

6. Improve company values and culture

The reality of today’s workforce is an increasingly hybrid and global model, with teams dispersed across a wide range of locations. 

Despite having employees working from different places, a company must maintain its values-based culture and build a sense of community. An effective learning plan is required to instill this into employees regardless of where they work to be considered a success. 

7. Boost employee performance and productivity

One of the ultimate aims of a learning and development strategy is to enhance performance and productivity. Your workforce will understand their roles better and develop new skills, improved confidence, and a sense of responsibility to handle tasks more appropriately.

8. Increase customer satisfaction

A trained workforce is crucial in increasing customer satisfaction .

When your staff understands their roles, have confidence, and are dedicated to the company’s goals, the customers get improved services and remain happy with the company’s services.

How To Create and Roll Out a Solid Learning and Development Plan in 6 Steps

Now that you already know the benefits of learning and development in an organization, your next step is to develop a plan and implement it. 

The implementation and delivery to employees are just as important. 

Below are the steps for achieving a successful learning and development strategy.

Assess your organization’s objectives

A good starting point when creating an employee’s development training program is to assess the organization’s goals, business objectives, and general strategy. 

This part should form the bedrock of your strategy – because for any program to work, it has to align with business goals.

A learning and development strategy that is not in agreement with company objectives could be irrelevant or, worse, hurt the company’s growth. Therefore, it’s essential to engage senior management for this step. 

The HR department should create a checklist of goals and consider whether the program contributes or not. 

You can use the sample checklist below as a starting point:

• Where does the business aim to be in the next 5, 10, or 15 years?
• What values is the business known for?
• How can the business be more competitive?
• How can new technology trends affect the business?
• How does the training help the business expand?

These and other relevant questions based on the company’s goals should help clarify employee development needs about the overall business strategy.

2. Find out your employees’ learning and professional development needs

The workforce should be at the core of any business and its learning and development strategy.

Since the whole idea behind a development program is to improve employee capabilities and employee performance, their individual growth needs should be at the top of the list.

Not only will this increase employees’ learning, but it will also encourage employees to perform better, be engaged, and promote retention.

This step will clarify the skills of the employee and what they need to do to improve their performance. It also prevents a one-size-fits-all approach to learning and development, except for general programs, such as social learning and health or safety training.

The HR department needs to effectively formulate assessment methods to determine the team’s learning and development needs. This is typically done through supervisors and creating self-assessments.

Self-assessment can be tricky with tendencies of false information, but if used correctly, it may also be the best form of getting data from employees.

At this point, it is important to stress the need to constantly communicate with employees and incorporate them into the company’s core belief systems and decision-making processes.

3. Design the process

Based on the first two steps above, the HR department should be able to create a learning and development plan that works for the business and its employees. 

There is already a foundation of organizational priorities, and the professional development needs are clarified. 

Next, the development strategy should use modern training methods like  presentation software  while considering budget, timing, training contents, and materials.

These are examples of some modern training methods :

• In-person sessions
• Classroom style sessions
• Online training
• Certification programs
• Mentoring 
• Conferences

Companies can determine the most effective learning methods based on strategic objectives and intended business impact. They may also consider employee preferences and experiences. 

4. Roll out the programs

Training delivery and support are essential steps in ensuring the professional development of employees.

No matter how much planning you’ve put into the development strategy, the main purpose is to deliver a robust learning experience creating additional skills.

Trainings also need to be delivered in feasible mediums. For example, a business with a hybrid remote work model may have the option to host or create online courses for those who can’t attend in person.

5. Assess individual and overall performance

According to a   LinkedIn report , less than 10% of CEOs report seeing the business impact of their learning and development strategy. 

These numbers are shockingly low and could be traced to several factors, such as not identifying the actual training needs of employees or failing to deliver the training effectively and engagingly. 

Nevertheless, you must always assess the impact of these learning and development programs. 

Feedback from participants is one of the standard methods, but assessing individual and aggregated performance after the program rollout will give you the best picture. 

Make sure to set up key performance indicators to measure how much of the new skills employees were able to retain and use and the impact on company performance and processes. This reveals pending issues and future requirements for subsequent training.

6. Improve learning and professional development strategy

Lastly, you can improve your learning and development strategy by addressing employee feedback.

Allow employee feedback and consider whether you have to revise company learning objectives, adjust employee needs, or switch up the process.

5 Learning and Professional Development Plan Examples & Templates

Since it can be challenging to create a functional training strategy, we’ve developed a few learning and development templates that you can use. 

You can apply any of them by replacing the details with relevant data from your company.

1. Learning and professional development plan template

2. Team development plan template

3. Manager and employee development progress checklist

4. Employee training newsletter template

5. Learning and development plan template for reporting

Another benefit of these development plan templates is the speed at which you can create your learning and development checklists and reports.

Take it from Lindsey Mullins, an instructional designer working at one of the biggest retail brands in the United States. Together with her team, Lindsey creates learning and development content through visuals like infographics and presentations .

“Within Piktochart, the templates can be customized to create a beautiful and professional visual using half the time with a different program or when starting from scratch,” says Lindsey.

Watch the short video clip below to learn the different ways that Lindsey and her team use Piktochart for their organization’s learning and development plan projects. With Piktochart’s infographic maker , it’s easy to create learning and development visuals.

Getting Started With Your Learning and Development Plan Template

Now that you understand the importance of a learning and development strategy for a business, there’s no better time for planning to identify and dedicate resources to create a template document that works for your team.

A lot of these training programs may end up being ineffective. This happens when companies make assumptions, don’t carefully communicate with employees, or skip any of the steps outlined above to develop a successful program. 

As mentioned above, it is essential to make your learning and development strategies employee-focused. Planning them at the center of the project ensures streamlined and practical training for your team. However, it should also be aligned with your company goals and be delivered in an engaging and feasible way.

While this project may seem a bit daunting at first, the reward is worth it; for your business, for you as a manager, and for your hardworking team. Focusing on and prioritizing employees’ professional goals, career goals, and desired career path makes for happy, productive, and loyal staff. It can help employees perform and accomplish tasks better, foster cooperation, reduce employee turnover, and promote job growth externally and internally in an organization.

Use the templates above as starting points for performance reviews and more.  If you want to explore more relevant templates or have a specific development plan template in mind, you can  create a free Piktochart account . 

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Training and development programs typically involve educational activities that advance a worker’s knowledge and instill greater motivation to enhance job performance. These initiatives help employees learn and acquire new skill sets, as well as gain the professional knowledge that is required to progress their careers.

Training programs can be created independently or with a learning administration system, with the goal of employee long-term development. Common training practices include orientations, classroom lectures, case studies, role playing, simulations and computer-based training, including e-learning.

Sometimes referred to as Human Resource Development (HRD), most employee training and development efforts are driven by an organization’s HRD function. These efforts are roughly divided into two types of programs:

Employee Training and Development A strategic tool for improving business outcomes by implementing internal educational programs that advance employee growth and retention.

Management Training and Development The practice of growing employees into managers and managers into effective leaders by the ongoing enhancement of certain knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Find out how HR leaders are leading the way and applying AI to drive HR and talent transformation.

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Successful businesses understand that it’s more beneficial and cost-effective to develop their existing employees instead of seeking out new talent.

The top ten benefits of employee training and development programs include:

• Increased productivity : When employees stay current with new procedures and technologies, they can increase their overall output.
• Reduced micromanagement : If workers feel empowered to perform a task, they typically require less oversight and work more independently. 1
• Train future leaders : Organizations must have a solid pipeline of well-trained and innovative potential leaders to grow and adapt over time.
• Increased job satisfaction and retention : Well-trained employees gain confidence in their abilities, leading to greater job satisfaction, a reduction in absenteeism and overall employee retention.
• Attract highly skilled employees : Top recruits are attracted to firms with an identifiable career path based on consistent training and development.  
• Increased consistency : Well-organized training ensures that tasks are performed uniformly, resulting in tight quality control that end users can trust.
• Increased camaraderie : Training and development helps create a sense of teamwork and collaboration.
• Bolstered safety : Continuous training and development helps ensure that employees have the knowledge and skills to perform a task safely.
• Ability to cross-train : Providing consistent training creates a knowledgeable team overall where employees can help train or assist each other as needed.
• Added innovation : Consistently trained employees can help develop new strategies and products, contributing to the company’s bottom line and continued success.

The corporate marketplace is quickly changing, and businesses must be flexible and easily adapt to change. Technology is one of the key drivers in this rapid change, with automation and artificial intelligence (AI) in the forefront.

Here are four key trends impacting how organizations must rethink training and development.

Today’s corporations have discovered that it’s no longer just about what employees need to know, but also when, where and how the development experience enables performance. With the advancements in mobile technology , companies are relying more on mobile workforces . Training is migrating to mobile devices where apps provide “just-in-time” information and recommendations to workers across industries.

AI systems can process unstructured information in a similar way to humans. These systems understand language patterns and sensory inputs including text, pictures, and auditory cues. AI-based software can customize how training content is delivered to a learner, based on their learning style, suggest content based on a learner’s past performance and predict what information is most important for them to learn next.

Agile learning is a process that encourages employees to learn by doing and iterate often, inspiring organizational change and buy-in. For example, IBM® has introduced  IBM Garage™ , a tool for executing, scaling, and managing an organization’s multiple transformation initiatives. Companies like Ford Motor Company and Travelport are using IBM Garages around the world to create cultures of open collaboration and continuous learning. learning. https://www.ibm.com/garage

While distance learning has been around for a long time, the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for companies to have resilient, flexible, mobile workforce management. Organizations have learned that remote workforces need to be productive, engaged, and continually working toward learning and improvement.

Recent articles and industry surveys suggest that much corporate training may be ineffective. Most training won’t be fully retained by learners. Businesses must build a culture of ongoing self-directed, self-motivated learning with focused distance learning programs and mobile "just-in-time" training.

Organizations also must rethink the larger framework of what skills will be needed in the near future. A  recent meta-level IBM study  predicts that more than 120 million workers in the world’s twelve largest economies may need to be retrained in the next three years because of AI-enabled automation.

Several insights from the study include:

• Skilled humans fuel the global economy: Digital skills remain vital, but soft skills have become more important.
• Skills availability and quality are in jeopardy: The half-life of skills continues to shrink, while the time it takes to close a skills gap has ballooned, forcing organizations to find ways to stay ahead of skills relevancy.
• Intelligent automation is an economic game changer: Millions of workers will likely require retraining and learning new skills, and most companies and countries are ill-prepared for the task.
• Organizational cultures are shifting: The digital era has introduced the need for a new business model, new ways of working and a flexible culture that fosters the development of critical new skills.

The study concludes that traditional hiring and training are no longer as effective, and that different strategies and tactics can have a strong impact on closing the skills gap. Several strategies and tactics include:

• Make it personal: Tailor career skills, and learning development experience uniquely to your employees' goals and interests.
• Improve transparency: Place skills at the center of the training strategy and aim for deep visibility into the skills position across the organization.
• Look inside and out: Adopt an open technology architecture and a set of partners able to take advantage of the latest advancements.

Enhance employee engagement and productivity, reskill your workforce faster, and reimagine ways of working to become an adaptive, skills-based, and AI-powered organization.

Maintaining a competitive edge in a dynamic economy demands faster innovation. Your challenge is having the right people with the right skills and tools to drive digital transformation.

The IBM training and certifications offer you the ability to earn credentials to demonstrate your expertise. It is designed to validate your skills and capability to perform role-related tasks and activities at a specified level of competence.

With recent market changes and disruptions, organizations need a workforce with digital skills and innovative processes to respond to both customers’ and employees’ evolving needs.

Key areas of focus will ensure that your workforce is empowered to be productive today, while strengthening your business resiliency strategy to aid in re-entry to the new normal.

The enormous opportunities and benefits artificial intelligence can bring to an organization require skills development programs designed to ensure consistency and intentional outcomes.

Discover a new approach to training and development based on partnership networks, user experiences and emerging technologies.

Find out how to close the skills gap with a modern three-pronged workforce strategy to quickly reskill an organization’s workforce.

Discover how training and development fits into the larger scope of next-generation enterprise transformation.

IBM HR and talent transformation consulting partners work with our clients to address each company's unique talent goals and challenges, dig deep to understand their workforce realities and create strategies that unlock new levels of performance inside their business. Together, we reimagine HR with AI at the core.

1 The 6 key secrets to increasing empowerment in your team  (link resides outside ibm.com). Joe Folkman. Forbes article. March 2017. 

Quicklinks ‍

11 powerful training plan templates and examples for your business.

Your company can get ahead of labor shortages and the ever-evolving skills requirements of the market by investing in employee development.

Training your workers will help you resolve common workplace issues like lack of motivation, poor productivity, inadequate domain knowledge, and confusion or uncertainty about their role.

"Creating a successful employee training plan requires ongoing assessment and adaptation . You must frequently analyze your team's skills and assess any gaps that need to be filled, then design training programs to address those needs and provide ongoing support for growth and development." Sarah Watson, Chief Operating Officer at BPTLAB, personality testing solutions provider .

But if it's your first time designing and executing a structured training program, you might need guidance on how to begin or what to include in your plan.

We've put together some of the best employee training plan examples, templates, and checklists. Use them as a starting point when building robust training programs for your organization.

❗️ 7 Must-haves in an employee training plan template

There are different kinds of training opportunities that you can offer your employees. And templates tend to come in different shapes, forms, and structures because they are made by people with varying organizational needs and goals.

However, whether you're creating your own or building upon someone else's, here are some essential elements that any good training policy template should have.

Training objectives 

List out how you hope the training program will benefit your workforce and company. Your goals must be specific, measurable, and relevant. Learn more about soft skills and hard skills . Employee training assessment can also be helpful to understand your employees needs.

Type/method of training

How do you intend to deliver the training? Will it be instructor-led, self-paced, virtual, in-person, or blended training? Or maybe you want to use a role-playing, virtual training , gamification , on-the-job training and mentoring approach? Think about your options and note them down in this section.

➡️ Check out our new hire training plan for the ultimate training for your new hires.

Training curriculum and materials

This column in your training plan template should cover what employees will learn during the training. Mention the learning resources and materials you'll need or provide and any regulatory guidelines that employees and course creators must follow. 

Audience and stakeholders

This template section is for defining who needs the training, who will be creating courses, conducting, or overseeing the training, and the expectations for each of the roles. 

Learning outcomes 

What specific knowledge, skills, or competencies do you want employees to take away from the training?

We recommend first filling a skills matrix , to understand your people's current skills levels and identify any gaps.

For instance, your marketing team has a training objective to improve their social media advertising skills. The learning outcome you should see after training is a strong understanding of Facebook Ads.

What is the duration of the training program? What dates and times will training sessions take place? What are the deadlines for completing performance milestones? When will you check in with employees to see how they are progressing?

KPIs for effectiveness

Finally, every training plan template must have a field where you can define how you will measure the effectiveness of your training efforts. 

Tip: Note the KPIs or metrics you will use as a benchmark.

📝 11 Examples of employee training plan templates

We've put together these ready-to-use training templates and checklists that you can customize to suit your company's learning and development needs.

1. Training needs assessment template

What this template includes: This training survey helps you uncover insights about gaps in employee performance, knowledge, and skills. It tells you what your workers want to learn, their preferred learning methods, and their schedule.

When to use it: To assess your organization's training needs and know where the skill gaps are for each department and individual employee before you begin planning a training program.

Why it matters: This information will enable you to identify your business case for training and design targeted learning and development experiences that produce better outcomes for you and your workforce.

2. New-hire training template

What the new-hire training template includes: This template covers everything that new hires need to know to help them settle into their role and do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

It contains essential knowledge, training, and skills that you want to equip new hires with, such as:

• company policies;
• role descriptions;
• starter projects; 
• chain of command;
• standard operating procedures;
• orientation, integration, and performance review timelines.

When to use it: Use your training plan to set new employees up for success from day one and guide them through their first few months or year on the job.

Why it matters: How you onboard and train new hires can make or mar their experience and performance at your company.

"Investing in employees at the start with a well-thought-out and comprehensive training program demonstrates a willingness to invest in their growth, which leads to enhanced loyalty, meaning you won't have to fill the position again anytime soon." — Mitch Chailland, President of Canal HR . ‍

Tip:💡 Make sure to check out our blog post on how long onboarding should take and the best practices.

3. New hire training checklist

What the new hire training checklist includes: You'll find all the logistical items, preboarding activities, and action plans you will need to manage to guide new hires through your onboarding and training process from the moment they accept your job offer to their first annual performance check-in.

When to use it: Start ticking off items from your checklist to prepare your new hire for their first day and acclimate them to their new role, team, and company in the early months.

Why it matters: The strength of your new hire training will determine: - the employee's experience with your company;  - their speed to productivity;  - how well they perform in their role.

A checklist keeps things from falling through the cracks, guaranteeing all new hires a uniform onboarding and training experience.

➡️ Check out the new hire training checklist .

4. Pre-training checklist template

What the pre-training checklist template includes: This template breaks down the materials, schedules, tools, tasks, and activities you'll need to create, arrange, track, and execute to conduct a training session successfully.

When to use it: Create a training curriculum, prepare a memorandum, invite instructors and trainees, get feedback from participants, and disaster-proof upcoming training schemes by working through the checklist.

Why it matters: The last thing you want is to pour your time and energy into planning a training only to realize on D-day that you forgot essential elements.

You want to ensure that you remembered to:

• Book a conference room. 
• Send out email invites to some employees.
• Print out enough assessment forms.

Preview of Pre-Training checklist template

☑️ Prepare training memorandum and email invite.

• Determine which employees are mandated or free to attend.
• Provide training agenda. 
• Provide training date, time, location, and other pertinent information.

Completion date: 2 weeks before training day.

Assigned to: HR.

☑️ Confirm attendance.

• Make sure all mandated attendees have signed up.
• Book a suitable conference room.

Completion date: 1 week before training day. 

➡️ Download the complete training checklist in excel .

5. Individual employee training plan template

What the individual employee training plan includes: This template gives you an overview of where a specific employee currently is regarding skills and performance and where they need to be. It details the following:

• Employees' skill gap ;
• Training goals;
• Development actions;
• Training methods and materials;
• Learning outcomes;
• Progress metrics;
• Training timeline.

When to use it: Use this template to sharpen an employee's existing skills or prepare them to transition into a different role. Or as a component of your performance review process to support staffers who seem to lag behind before their performance becomes a severe issue.

Why it matters: A proactive training approach boosts employee productivity and efficiency by pinpointing the skills they are lacking and helping them develop those areas.

Tip: Sit down with the employee who needs the training and work with them to develop their training plan.

➡️ Get the individual employee training plan template.

6. Employee development plan template

What the employee development plan template includes: This template acts as a guide for documenting and nurturing each employee's professional growth plans. It covers:

• their career goals;
• the skills and knowledge they need to reach their goals;
• the training and actions they will take to gain these skills;
• the timeline for completing the training and hitting milestones.

When to use it: Create development plans to:

• Speed up time to productivity for new hires as part of the onboarding
• Improve performance of underperforming employees
• Help members of your team grow their skills and advance their careers, whether that means progressing toward a management role or making a lateral move.

Why it matters: Hiring new employees, especially at a higher skill tier, is far more costly and time-consuming than providing upskilling and career development opportunities for your current employees.

➡️ Get the employee development plan template.

7. 70-20-10 development plan template

What the 70-20-10 development plan template includes: A 70-20-10 training plan gives you a framework for structuring your development programs using:

• experiential, 
• peer-to-peer, and 
• formal training methods

To maximize engagement and performance.

When to use it: Use this template before launching your program to divide your training into sections, so everyone knows which skills trainees will learn on the job, from their peers, or through formal training sessions like seminars, presentations, and courses.

Why it matters: Offering employees the 70-20-10 blended learning experience supports better knowledge retention and the development of practical skills.

➡️ Download the 70-20-10 development plan template.

8. Training matrix template

What the training matrix template includes: This template supplies all the data you'll need to get a comprehensive view of the state of your training initiatives, such as:

• employee names, roles, and departments;
• active training courses and topics;
• learner progress;
• course completion rate;
• failure rate.

When to use it: Keep track of specialized and company-wide past and present training efforts and the individual employees or teams that have participated in them with this template.

Why it matters: Building a training matrix is a great way to monitor your active training programs, how trainees progress through the program, and the training needs you should be working towards meeting.

➡️ Get the training matrix template .

9. Leadership training plan template

What the leadership training plan includes: Get an overview of your company's current leadership abilities and the areas where there's room for improvement. This template addresses the following:

• training needs assessment;
• training objectives;
• your leadership training topics ;
• the core leadership skills your (future) leaders will obtain from the training;
• the training methods and formats you'll use to facilitate this; 
• your use of facilities and stakeholders.

When to use it: Provide your workers with leadership training to develop and improve the skills they'll require to manage a team effectively. Plus, use leadership training to teach about your organization's code of conduct for supervisors.

Why it matters: A leadership training plan example allows you to transform your newly promoted employees and staffers with management potential from "actors" to "directors."

➡️ Get the leadership training plan template .

10. Product training template

What the product training plan includes: This template makes it easy to train your employees and other stakeholders on new or existing products. It presents information about the following:

• the product's benefits and features;
• product use cases;
• how the product works;
• why it is better than that of your competitors ( product comparison ).

When to use it: Break out this template whenever a new team member starts in your company to get them up to speed with your products. Alternatively, use product training to help current employees learn everything there is to know about newly launched offerings.

Why it matters: To convincingly sell your product to customers, your employees must first understand its WHAT, WHY, and HOW.

11. DEI training plan template

What the DEI training plan template includes: This diversity, equity, and inclusion template is designed as a microlearning journey. It touches on everything from why DEI matters to your company's DEI policies and aspirations, as well as actions employees can take to tackle bias and foster inclusivity.

When to use it: Put this ready-to-use course to work to educate new and existing employees about DEI topics so that everyone feels respected, safe, welcome, and empowered in the workplace.

Why it matters: A lot goes into designing an effective diversity training initiative. Work from a structured template to keep track of all the moving parts and ensure you deliver consistent messaging about the importance of cultivating a healthy and inclusive workplace culture.

➡️ Get the DEI training plan template .

💪 Why use a training plan template?

A training plan template is a document that outlines how you intend to carry out your training initiatives. It breaks down what has to happen to ensure the success of your training efforts.

Here are some advantages a good training plan template can offer you.

1. Saves you time

The more time you use in creating your training plan, the longer it will take to launch your training program and start upskilling your workers .

Rather than spending days or months strategizing and building your training plan from scratch, you can fill out a template or modify it to suit your needs. Again, this frees up time you can spend on other important tasks.

2. Makes the training process less stressful

A training plan template streamlines your company's training journey by providing a roadmap outlining the steps you need to take to achieve specific goals.

It takes the pressure and worries out of analyzing training needs, preparing strategies and objectives, and developing a curriculum to support individual learning goals. 

Templates help you address your organization's present and future skill gaps.

3. Keeps things on track

Without a training plan template, it's easy for things to fall through the cracks because you may not be able to remember or keep track of all details.

You can invest a lot of money and time only to end up with a training program that doesn't deliver on its promises or meet the expectations you set for it. 

A template helps you stay on schedule and manage all the components of your training process so that everything flows smoothly.

4. Helps anticipate employees' training needs

To create successful skills development programs, you first need to know what areas your workers need upskilling or reskilling to remain competitive in their careers. And to ensure the continued survival and profitability of your business.

A training plan template takes the guesswork out of the equation, empowering you to design and execute engaging training programs that help your employees grow as individuals and as a team.

➡️ Learn how to create an effective employee training plan in 9 steps.

➡️ Plan your training with Zavvy

Training plan templates can be a helpful guide for standardizing your training initiatives and mapping out how you will empower your workforce with the skills they need to grow and perform better.

But to build sustainable and scalable training initiatives, you also need the right training tool.

Zavvy's training solutions are ideal from onboarding onwards to create a continuous learning culture for your company.

Zavvy makes it easy to:

• Plan, create, distribute, and manage your learning and development content in one place.
• Automate your entire training program to reach people with the right content at the right time with ready-to-use training courses .
• Deliver effective and engaging learning experiences with creative training solutions like microlearning, peer learning, and learning in the flow of work.
• Develop leaders and everyone else based on data with precision.
• Track course completion, engagement, learner performance, and training ROI.

Ready to build a worry-free training program? Book a free demo anytime.

Berfu is an Employee Experience Specialist at Zavvy. She has a background in learning psychology and helps our customers get the most out of their people enablement programs.

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7 Key Steps for Better Training and Development Programs

Training new and existing employees can be a company’s biggest challenge, especially in a rapidly changing business environment. When I was chief human resources officer at Mirage and Wynn resorts in Las Vegas, training and developing our teams could not have been more important. But that’s not the case at many companies, where the struggle to convince leadership to invest in training and development is ongoing.

Here are seven key steps you should consider to both build out and update an effective training and development program.

1. Benchmark against the competition

Before agreeing to support a new initiative, company leaders always want to know what the competition is doing and whether you’re doing more or less. This certainly holds true for training and development; that’s why it helps to network with professional colleagues and through organizations like the Society for Human Resource Management to find out what others are doing.

Start by reviewing social media sites to see what customers are saying about you and your competition; that will reveal information about customer satisfaction and preferences that may also support your request for a new training and development.

And then there are all the online surveys you regularly receive from vendors. Fill them out to get the report at the end of the process. This is the kind of information you will need to support your request for a new training and development initiative.

While working on the plan for the Mirage, we asked other startups what they did, what they would do or not do again, and what they would do differently if given the chance. Most of the companies we contacted were outside our market, so they were willing to share information with us.

We visited more than 250 other companies that had launched new businesses, and the No. 1 thing we heard from them was how important it is to train new employees. They reminded us that companies, like people, don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression.

We made important connections through that benchmarking research, and many of those connections have continued to exchange information with us—to our mutual benefit.

2. Survey your employees

The best source of information about organizational performance and needs are your current employees. They know a lot about what’s going on and what, if anything, should be changed. They’ll appreciate your interest and provide valuable feedback about what could be better or eliminated. We held focus groups to see what current employees wanted and needed:

• They wanted to know what was expected of them, why it was needed , and how to do it.
• They wanted to be trained by someone who knew what they were talking about. We selected supervisors or outstanding employees , and then trained them to be trainers so that they’d know what and how to train, and how to make the training interesting, relevant and fun.

3. Align training with management’s operating goals

Management always has operating goals: better performance, productivity, quality , or customer satisfaction, to name a few. Once you know the goals, you can design targeted programs. Additionally, look for others in your company who have needs that could be satisfied by training: Legal usually supports compliance training, marketing and sales might support training that promotes quality and consistency, and most departments will support supervisory skills training that promotes employee satisfaction.

Design onboarding procedures and new-hire training that ensures employees will be knowledgeable, and focused on standards and customer satisfaction.

Partner with regulatory agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (health and safety), the Department of Labor (wage and hour compliance) and the Department of Justice (harassment and discrimination training) for compliance training.

Get help designing your materials. Consider contracting with teachers from your local public schools and community colleges. They are trained in instructional design and can work with your company’s subject matter experts to create useful and professional instructional materials.

Get supervisors training on how to improve their communication and coaching skills , and on how best to train a multi - generational workforce.

4. Run it like a business

Every new business starts with a strategic plan. Make sure you draft a plan for your training effort that includes all the classic elements:

• Clearly state your purpose and proposed deliverables. Show that you understand the depth and breadth of what you’re proposing.
• Include a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities , and Threats) analysis that will help identify the appropriate training.
• Construct a realistic budget. Include all expenses, and be conservative (better to under - promise and over - deliver).
• Include an analysis of the benefits to your organization so that everyone can better understand the return on their investment.
• Know the numbers. Work closely with your company’s financial team to include the appropriate information and how best to display it.
• Market your program as if it were for customers. Leverage your public relations, graphics and marketing departments to brand and promote your program s , and design surveys to get feedback from participants.
• Conduct pilot classes to make sure your plan works. Trial runs help identify shortcomings and allow you to refine and make the program as good as everyone expects and needs it to be.

5. Weave it into your company’s culture

Companies want happy employees, so consider a “life - long training” philosophy that focuses on employee satisfaction.

When making promotion decisions, give preference to employees who completed training and performed well. A promotion should be one of the rewards for their efforts. And it answers the employee’s question, “What’s in it for me?”

Celebrate achievements and successes. Let everyone in your organization know when someone completed training and what that means to their growth opportunities. Advertise your programs and participants in internal communications, display their pictures and stories , and talk about it at every employee gathering.

Increase employee engagement by planning more opportunities for them to get involved. They could be trainers or subject matter experts , or could assist in evaluating their new colleagues and helping to reinforce their training.

6. Keep innovating

Throughout my career, I have seen tremendous improvements in the content and delivery methods of training and development programs.

When we opened the Mirage, we used what was then available: slide projectors, white boards and first-generation copies of handouts. As time and technology progressed, we evolved into PowerPoint presentations, graphic workbooks that were more attractive and useful, and digital editing.

I employed lots of “experts” to help design our training, but in the end I found that what our managers needed most was assistance in getting their subject expertise into an appropriate training and learning format.

We employed public school teachers to help develop our instructional manuals and materials. They’re the professionals who teach our children, and they’re trained to do this. They love to work during their vacations, and every city has them. They became a great source of talent to design our instructional materials initially and then update them periodically.

And as we all get more comfortable with technology, there’s a growing need to adopt the latest ideas.

Today there are apps, games, and easy-to-use video and editing tools that can be streamed to mobile devices. We continue to research the latest trends online, network with other organizations and training professionals, and revise our programs to take advantage of the latest best practices.

Case in point: Consider using GoPro and other handheld-type cameras to record messages, then publish them via YouTube. These videos are easily accessed via the Internet on both desktop and mobile devices.

7. Measure results

Successful companies measure outcomes to make sure they continue to get the biggest bang for their buck. The best measures are the simplest ones; incorporate them into your program so everyone knows what’s expected.

We called them “corresponding behaviors”—behaviors you’ll look for and measure on the job to determine if employees actually learned how to perform appropriately. This way, there will be no surprises for employees.

We trained managers who had been the trainers to evaluate employees’ performance several times during their introductory period, and to provide constructive feedback and coaching to let employees know how they were doing in real time; again, maximum feedback and no surprises.

We learned a lot while developing and updating the training and development programs at Mirage and Wynn resorts. Maybe the most important was that training was the best way to keep our promises of quality and excellence to employees and guests.

Arte Nathan served as chief human resources officer for Golden Nugget and its successor companies, Mirage Resorts and Wynn Resorts. He currently teaches, writes and consults; lives in Las Vegas and the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York; and is an avid musician, hiker, canoeist and book enthusiast.

You can find him at Arte808@gmail.com and www.thearteofmotivation.blogspot.com

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Blog Human Resources 20+ Training Plan Templates for Every Business Need

20+ Training Plan Templates for Every Business Need

Written by: Jennifer Gaskin Oct 26, 2022

An employee training plan acts as the ultimate cheat sheet for building a successful workforce. After all, a company is only as good as its people. So, whether you’re bringing in new staff, transitioning someone to a new role or up-skilling professionals in their current job, it pays to create effective training plans .

Though investing in training can be expensive, not making sure your employees have the skills they need is even costlier — from the risk of mistakes to simply falling behind your competition.

But you can save time and money developing these programs by starting with a training plan template . Keep reading for tips and templates to help you supply your team with the training they need to succeed.

Click to jump ahead:

What is a training plan?

What is a training plan template, what should a training plan include, how do you create a training plan, 21 training plan templates for every business needs.

A training plan is a visually organized document detailing the steps and resources needed to teach a worker a new set of skills, task or policy. There are many types of training plans, depending on the specific needs of the company and the employee.

Training plans are useful not only for organizing resources for workers, but employers can also use them to track performance progress and see at a glance where their teams’ greatest skill deficiencies may be.

Managers can also use training plans (and their knowledge of how well workers have done under them) when making advancement decisions.

Learn more about creating a successful employee training and development program built on visual communication.

A training plan template is an existing, blank document that managers can fill in to describe the path needed to train a worker on a new task, get a new hire ready to roll or otherwise ensure an employee is able to achieve their potential.

Training plan templates are ideal for businesses that need to develop many training plans for different types of workers or processes, as this can speed up creation and implementation time (which also speeds up the overall training process).

The exact content and setup of a training plan varies depending on the end goal, but here’s a broad overview of what your training plan should include:

• SMART goals:  Clearly define  what  trainees will  learn and be able to do  by the end (e.g., “use software X proficiently in 2 weeks”).
• Tailored training:   Adapt the program  to the  existing knowledge, skills, and preferred learning styles  of the target audience.
• Content & delivery:  Plan the  specific topics  to be covered,  choose appropriate training methods  (lectures, demonstrations, etc.), and decide the  format  (in-person, online, blended).
• Logistics:   Schedule the training  (duration, frequency),  allocate resources  (trainers, equipment), and determine  methods to assess learning  (quizzes, practical exercises).
• Feedback and improvement:  Establish methods to assess trainee progress and collect input from trainees and trainers to improve future iterations of the training program.

Of course, creating all of these elements is easier said than done. Even if you’re working within an existing template (like one you find on this page), as a manager or business owner, you will still need to put in thoughtful consideration about your organization’s needs.

Follow the key 5 steps below to create an effective training plan:

Step 1: Identifying the training gap

Start by understanding the specific skills or knowledge needed, whether it’s to address performance issues or adapt to new challenges.

Step 2: Build your training framework

Define the overall goals, target audience, and desired outcomes to create a clear roadmap for the training program.

Step 3: Explore resources

Explore internal resources, external vendors, and online platforms to find the most cost-effective and effective delivery method.

Step 4: Collaborating for success

Secure support from key stakeholders like managers, trainers, and even learners to ensure program success.

Step 5: Finalize & refine

Schedule the training, allocate resources, and establish assessment methods to measure learning and refine the program for future iterations.

New hire training plan

Perhaps no single training plan is more important than what is created for new hires. A bad hire is an incredibly costly prospect for any business, and for a small business, it’s especially problematic. That’s because a small business has less wiggle room in the bottom line.

According to Business News Daily , poor onboarding is a leading cause of turnover — costing the company as much as 300 percent of the person’s salary for the unsuccessful training and eventual hiring process to fill their position.

Let’s look at some new employee orientation and onboarding training plans to keep this from happening to your team:

A new hire training plan checklist is a perfect way for the new employee and their supervisor to stay on the same page. Plus, this ensures new hires get all the crucial information they need early on in their tenure. Customize this template with the policies and procedures unique to your company.

Onboarding checklists can help both trainees and managers keep track of all the tasks that need to be done when a new person joins the team. And by monitoring how many boxes are checked, it’s easy to see where you’re falling short.

When you think about it, a new job begins from the day of the hire, not the moment the new person starts working. Seize the opportunity to make sure your internal processes are up to speed before the person even walks in the door with this orientation process checklist template.

With Venngage for Business, you can easily customize a new hire onboarding HR checklist (like the one below) to add relevant company documents. For example, your new hire may be expected to have certain licenses or qualifications; add those to the new hire paperwork section to keep your HR department happy (and legally compliant!).

Make onboarding fun by using the principles of microlearning, which can help overwhelming tasks seem manageable. Keep important materials organized so that your new team members get all the knowledge they need in an accessible format.

New manager training plan

Study after study has confirmed : bad managers — not low salaries or heavy workloads — are the number one reason people leave jobs. In fact, Gallup has found that about 70 percent of the variance in employee engagement scores can be attributed to the quality of the individual’s direct supervisor.

That’s why it’s so important to make sure that from the top down, your management structure is filled with people who have the right temperament and skill set to get the very best out of each team member. Here are some new manager training materials that can put your leadership on the right path:

Just because they’re already in management, that doesn’t mean your team members don’t have further goals. Sit down with them and talk through what they want to accomplish, and then help them visualize how to get there with this career roadmap.

Not sure about using visual content in training ? Let us convince you.

Focus on the team aspect with your new manager training plans by having them creating a mind map like this one. Get them to fill it in with their goals for various aspects of their stepped-up role in your company.

One of the hardest parts of running a company is identifying people who have management potential. Use this chart to help you understand the difference between those who would be good first-line managers and those who might have executive potential.

Though this template was created to supplement an annual performance review, it’s also an effective tool for training a new manager.

Have them plot where they perceive themselves to be on a matrix (customize it easily by updating the text) and then add your opinion. From there, you can discuss what changes they need to make to land in the ideal quadrant.

Employee development plan

Employee development plans have a wide range of uses, from getting underperforming team members to improve what they’re doing to helping workers add skills to their arsenal. They can be focused on individuals (adding skills) or the team (improving performance) — or both.

You might think it’s counterproductive to have team members adding skills that don’t align entirely with your business objectives. But remember: employees are more likely to remain with an employer if the company invests in their careers, according to LinkedIn .

Use this SMART goals template to set objectives, timelines and methods for improving your employee’s skills. Customize it to your needs by updating the colors and adding new items to each column.

Data visualization has been shown to help with information retention — plus, it just looks cool. Use pie charts like these to help your employees visualize on a 1%-100% scale how well they’re doing at various tasks. And use the second page to expand further on where they could improve.

Work with your staff member to establish the areas where they need or want to learn more and list out the specific steps to get there using this template. Or use it to set goals they want to accomplish as part of their employee development plan .

Training needs assessment

Understanding where deficiencies are is an important part of any employee development plan, and it’s useful in helping your team members set their own career goals. Here are several training needs assessment templates you can use in your business today:

Use this training needs assessment to see your entire team at a glance. Update the columns and rows with your specific needs and see where your teams may be falling short (or excelling!).

Customize this skills checklist for your needs and have your team members fill one out for themselves. Using a method like this can help you better understand how your staffers feel about their contributions to the team — and where they see room for improvement.

Before advancing an employee to a new role or even elevating them to management, assess their positives and negatives using this readiness checklist template.

This multi-page assessment template can help you go into detail on what skills and competencies you expect members of your team to have. While it’s long, it remains accessible because of its clear organization and color-coding.

Use this questionnaire, which was developed for a healthcare setting, to understand more about how your employees rate themselves.

What’s unique and interesting about this template is that it calls for workers to rate both their success in each task and that task’s importance to their job success — which can also help you understand whether your priorities are in line with theirs.

Individual training plan

No worker wants to feel like just another body. But creating a truly individual training plan means sitting down with your team and understanding where they are — and where they need to be. Once you’ve done that, here are some individual training plans you can work together to create:

This individual training plan template is ideal for staffers who need to work on their performance before they fall into the range of under-performing. Having templates like this on hand can help turn you from a reactive manager into a proactive one . In other words, you can head off minor issues before they become major problems.

Work with your employee to determine where they fall on this matrix. Make one quadrant for each of their critical skill sets, determining if the job in question is being done well and how important it is to the success of the employee and the company.

Here’s another alternative to an individual training plan. This template can help employees do some introspection and determine what they want to get out of their jobs and how they might plot out their future with your company.

While this employee evaluation template is geared towards an annual self-review, it can also be useful as the basis for an individual training plan. Work with a single team member, or have each person on your team fill one of these out. Then, work with the group to address each individual’s needs and potential.

Level up your team: the power of personalized training plans 

Use the templates you’ve seen here, or consider them a jumping-off point to leveling up the skills each individual contributes to your team.

And remember, you can customize any of these training plan templates to suit your needs.

With Venngage’s user-friendly, drag-and-drop editor, you can edit the text, colors, icons, images, branding and more — and impress trainees with your professionalism and organizational skills!

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• Employee Training

How to Create an Employee Training Development Plan

5 min reading time

Caroline Lawless , Senior Content Marketing Manager at LearnUpon

Employee training is more crucial than ever. Companies with a strong learning and development culture have a competitive advantage over their rivals as its been shown to increase productivity, better employee retention, lead to a more engaged workforce, and boost customer satisfaction.

Companies with outstanding employee training and development plans generally have better systems for employee onboarding, share knowledge more easily through the structures the business has in place, and move to address any internal weaknesses more easily.

So, how can you create an employee development plan that allows you to reap these benefits?

Developing an employee training development plan

All good strategies start with thorough planning. Talk to both your training managers and team managers about how training is currently carried out, and where they see gaps. You can also talk to team members to get their perspective. Find out what’s working well, what needs to be updated or improved, and what should be scrapped altogether. This is where a training needs assessment would be beneficial.

Step 1: Set your training goals

To plan efficiently, it’s important to know what goals you’re trying to achieve . Are the senior management team and the individual departments you’re speaking to on the same page when it comes to learning and development goals? It’s also key to be aware of budget considerations, and how your new plan will compare with what’s been done in the past.

The main goal in the planning stage is to find out what the skills gaps are ; in the next step, you can plan to implement changes to address them. You’ll likely find lots of opportunities for improvement, and it will be up to you to identify what’s top priority.

Step 2: Choose your tools

As well as deciding on the most pressing content, you need to figure out how to deliver it; do you plan to deliver most or all of your training online through an LMS , or will you take a blended approach with parts delivered in-person?

There are a lot of tools that can support your learning and development program, including an LMS, project management tools , and content creation software; and of course, you’ll need excellent trainers and instructional designers. You don’t have to invest in everything at once – figure out what’s most critical for you and get that first.

Step 3: Create your courses

Once you’ve done that, the next step is designing your courses and materials. This can be a bigger task than you might think, so don’t underestimate the level of time and energy involved. Creating course material is a collaborative process, involving trainers and subject matter experts within your organization, with input and guidance from managers.

Step 4: Prepare for launch

When your training course is created – congratulations – you’re ready to enroll your first learners! If you’re using an LMS, it’s tempting to launch the course to all learners so they can log in and get started straight away, but a better approach is to add a handful of individuals, or perhaps one team, and let them test it first. That way you can identify and iron out any kinks before rolling it out to the wider organization.

One huge advantage of using an LMS to manage and deliver training is the ability to test, measure and adapt. You can monitor the analytics and find out what’s working well and what needs to be amended. This should be a continuous process of improvement, and by committing to this iterative approach you’re setting your employees, and the business as a whole, up for success.

Establishing an employee development plan

When you’re investing time, money, and energy into building a great system, it makes a lot of sense to put a similar amount of thought into how to make sure your employees get the best out of it.

Creating employee development plans is an important exercise in future-proofing your business, retaining your top performers, and creating a high-performance culture.

To implement your employee development plan we recommend using SMART goals; that is, goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timed.

• Specific: Unless your goals are specific, it’ll be hard to identify success and failure. Avoid wishy-washy statements and spell out exactly what you want to achieve.
• Measurable: What would success look like, and how can you monitor and measure it objectively?
• Attainable: It’s important to set goals your employees can achieve. A stretch goal is ideal – something that gets them out of their comfort zone but doesn’t push them too far.
• Relevant: How does this plan support the company’s goals? There’s no point having a manager learn how to code unless that’s a skill the company needs.
• Timed: Without deadlines, plans can stretch on into infinity. Most employee development plans are refreshed annually, but you can break up goals into quarterly or monthly cycles if that works best.

SMART goals are important tools for managers who want to get the best out of their teams. Check out the example below to see how it looks in action:

Employee Name: Adam Grand

Title: Sales Executive

Learning & Development Goals:

• To meet a sales target of $50,000 in 2020
• To achieve a promotion to Senior Sales Manager
• To become a regional Diversity & Inclusion champion

Learning & Development Objectives:

• Complete ‘hitting your targets’ online course
• Attend ‘preparing for management’ training delivered through blended learning, and shadow a Senior Sales Manager one day a month
• Watch a Diversity & Inclusion live webinar and complete an exam on unconscious bias
• Hitting quarterly sales targets is Adam’s number one priority in 2020
• Preparing for a management role is important too, that’s a secondary goal
• D&I is crucial to supporting our company culture, that’s Adam’s tertiary goal in 2020

How will these objectives be met?:

Adam is expected to take a proactive role in ensuring he’s hitting his sales targets, and to ask for support if he has any issues. His training course will give him lots of support and guidance. Adam will learn about the soft skills of becoming a manager through an online course, while a current manager will show him what that for support if he has any issues. His training course will give him lots of support and guidance.

Adam will learn about the soft skills of becoming a manager through an online course, while a current manager will show him what that looks like day-to-day.

Adam will complete unconscious bias training and participate in a webinar to become qualified to be a regional D&I champion.

Timeline: Adam’s sales targets will be assessed quarterly. If he’s hitting his targets and on track with his other development goals, he’ll be eligible for promotion in Q3. He’ll be able to take up his D&I role as soon as he completes his training.

Evaluation: Adam’s sales targets will be assessed by his manager quarterly. His participation in the ‘hitting your targets’ course will also be noted. His potential as a senior manager will be assessed through the LMS as well as through feedback from the managers he shadows. His performance as D&I champion will be assessed by the national D&I leader.

Creating a learning culture at your company is one of the best things you can do to facilitate an ongoing cycle of success. When employees feel nurtured and supported as individuals, they’re likely to do their best work, which benefits the company as a whole.

Have you created employee development plans for your workforce? Download our free training needs assessment template below.

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6 Steps to Create an Employee Training and Development Plan

Do your new (or existing) employees have a clear path ahead of them? Many employees across various industries face uncertainty in their initial months of work in the sense that they often don’t receive sufficient initial training or support, and then receive little in the way of continuous learning thereafter. A whopping 66% of employees are not given any training whatsoever.

Or perhaps you have a comprehensive employee onboarding plan, b ut employees are largely left to their own devices after their first few weeks – bar a few pieces of mandatory compliance training here and there. Both approaches go against best practice guidelines . One way you can avoid falling victim to the common scenarios outlined above is to devise an annual training and development plan. And with job-hopping on the rise, and poor employee training listed as a big grievance to employees, there’s no time like the present to buckle down and get a cohesive plan together. 

But how? This can seem an especially daunting task, insurmountable even, particularly if you’re operating in a team of one and the responsibility falls on your shoulders alone. 

Planning and launching a training strategy, particularly a longer-term one, is no small feat - what do people need to know now? What might they need to know in the future? Should you opt for in-person or online? If online, what tool should you use for delivery? How can you incentivize them to engage with the material you’ve created? 

This is complicated by the fact that training (to be effective) is never one size fits all and that as much as you plan, there will inevitably be pivots and changes and learning needs that arise that you did not originally account for. Read on for 6 simple steps to build an effective training plan for your employees, and download our free employee training plan template for you to get started.

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• Why do I need a training and development plan?

6 steps to build your annual training plan

• Annual training plan template

Why do I need an employee training and development plan?

First things first, let’s delve a little deeper into the importance of an employee training and development plan. All employees need access to certain information to enable them to excel in their role - ongoing sales and product knowledge training for retail associates, customer experience training for employees in customer-facing roles, manual handling and host of other safety-related training for manufacturing, logistics, construction and warehouse employees, onboarding training for all new or seasonal intakes of staff. 

Frontline workers in particular tend to have jobs which mean they are informationally distanced from HQ (driving trucks, working in warehouses, serving customers on the store floor, delivering food or packages), so their need for knowledge is all the more acute. Often without any direct or straightforward line of contact to someone who can elaborate or aid them, they are left to either turn to peers or figure it out themselves.

Health and safety is of particular concern for roles like these, given the risk they entail and the fact that there is not always in-person resource for troubleshooting. In any case, clear and consistent safety training should be administered as a preventative measure, before accidents have the opportunity to arise. Similar is customer service training. At the root of quality customer service is knowledge. Knowledge on new products, knowledge on how to handle difficult customer interactions. So you must ensure that all employees have received – and continue to receive – sufficient training to execute in-person interactions masterfully.  They also need to be kept in the loop about all company policy updates, from brand ethos to the simple daily dos and don’ts. Your company’s reputation, ability to turn a profit, secure repeat business, hangs in the balance. Ultimately, you want your employees to grow with the company. If you overload them with training in the first few weeks and then simply leave them to it, you won’t see continuous progress – nor will they feel supported in their role. Training is a differentiator for a business - something that makes employees more inclined to stick with you over the next company - 70% of employees would consider leaving their current job in favor of a company that prioritized training and development. 

In contrast, with an effective training and development plan in place, you stand to improve employee retention , safety and performance.  Employees will feel empowered to excel in their role which in turn motivates their desire to stay where they are, and keep performing well, as they’re reaping direct reward from it. It’s a virtuous cycle - and it’s a chain reaction that’s lit by delivery of engaging, relevant training.  

1. Identify knowledge gaps

The first step is self-explanatory: you need to know your team’s training needs in order to deliver training that’s relevant and that they will engage with. If you’re releasing compulsory training on things you think employees need to know about, and it does not address knowledge gaps, it will come across as superfluous and impact your training engagement rates.  Carry out a thorough training needs analysis. 

How best to do this depends on a few factors, one being the size of your workforce. When dealing with large workforces, administering Pulse Surveys to identify what people want to know about can be effective. Analyzing trends in responses will then give you insight into areas of weakness around which you can thematically build training. This works as it means training is personalized - crafted in response to real needs, heightening its resonance and in turn, employees’ reception of it.  Identifying what’s working well – and what isn’t – will help you to shape your annual training plan format, and tailor it to real, identified needs.  The bonus to Pulse Surveys being used within a training needs analysis, is that employees appreciate their being consulted - when empowered with a voice, employees are 4x more likely to perform at their very best. 

2. Align training with company goals & values

When considering learning objectives for your employees, ensure that they align with the broader organizational objectives. As much as it’s important to create training that employees are asking for, there will be things you want them to know that they wouldn’t necessarily think to request. 

One of these things are your company’s goals, values, vision and mission . These should underpin all learning objectives, and employees should be bought in on them - if they don’t know what your company does differently, better, or its overarching goals, you can’t hope they’re helping to steer the business towards them in their daily work.

3. Set quarterly milestones

Next up, let’s create a clear structure for the year. We advise you to divide the annual learning journey into quarters, prioritizing specific focus areas for each period. This approach helps with managing resources and content development, whilst giving you space to adapt to the ebb and flow of company life. Following each milestone, you should incorporate clear metrics and evaluation methods, allowing you to assess the effectiveness of each training module – whilst also giving employees the opportunity to give regular feedback. You can then refine your strategy if necessary – remember, this is a learning curve for everyone, not just your employees. You want to ensure that your employees’ learning journey remains relevant and effective throughout the year, and a clear segmented plan will guarantee this.

4. Add value beyond the need-to-know

While we’re aware this is a training and development plan for the workplace, it’s always useful to upskill your employees beyond their current role with the company. In fact, doing so benefits both the employee and the business.

From an employee perspective, it’s what they want. 74% of people are willing to learn new skills, and ‘upskilling’ is among the top 5 priorities of today’s workforce when it comes to feeling secure. And while more skills means more workplace opportunity, it also means opportunity outside of work. For example, providing financial education to your employees could help them diversify their revenue stream and provide an extra layer of security.

For businesses, training beyond the job is a great way to benefit the business indirectly, by first benefitting employees - showing genuine care in developing their skills beyond the remit of their role. This doubly applies to frontline roles where workers operate in isolation, or there’s any sort of geographical or physical disconnect between worker and HQ - a delivery driver for instance lacks the loyalty-by-emotional connection that their peer working in a sorting facility, among others completing similar tasks, does. 

Simply put - add a sprinkling of ‘selfless’ (i.e. non-directly business beneficial) training into your plan and you stand to win the employer popularity contest.

5. Build excitement internally

It’s no exaggeration to say that successfully launching a training initiative requires a carefully considered and constructed Marketing plan. And with any Marketing plan, you need to know what your messaging is, and which channels you’re going to use to reach your target audience.

The channels you opt for will be workforce-dependent. Maybe to raise awareness you’ll need to do some print marketing - flyers handed out, or postering in communal areas.  Add a QR code to build curiosity - have the QR take them to an introductory lesson. 

One thing our clients find effective is to leverage internal voices to promote the rollout of new training—influencer marketing if you will. In fact, 70% of employees are more likely to trust the information they receive from their colleagues than from the company’s official channel. 

Involve anyone you can—be it C-suite to high performers in your location, enlist the influence of individuals who naturally possess enthusiasm and encourage participation. What does this look like? It could be a best practice lesson led by a star employee in an area of interest to other employees, e.g. where they share how they blew their sales targets out of the water. 

It could be a message from the CEO that explains why training is being rolled out in this manner, and what they stand to gain from participation (remember: with any training, always address the ‘what’s in it for me?’). 

It’s not just about employees however, you may need buy-in from other staff. Other staff who might be helping you craft training, taking ownership of training, or who you’ll be reporting the impact of training to. Nevertheless, the same rules apply - identify your maximum impact channels and then optimize your messaging.

6. Appeal to your audience with content

Not all content is created equal. It’s no good creating training that’s hyper-relevant if the content itself is not delivered in a format that engages. By that, we mean training that people wan t to complete without top-down pressure or the use of extrinsic, carrot-on-stick motivation to do so. To keep lesson engagement and completion rates high, content needs to be packaged in a way that is palatable to the modern learner. 

And what exactly is the modern learners’ criteria? With an average attention span of 8 seconds, the modern learner isn’t built for traditional long-format videos that can’t be skipped and require no learner participation. Instead, microlearning should be utilized—think videos only a few minutes in length that include quizzes to boost engagement. Not only does microlearning increase knowledge retention ( 80% ) and engagement, it’s also what your workers want .

Equally important as the content itself is how it’s delivered.  The modern learner prefers utilizing technology they engage with on a daily basis, making smartphones the ideal learning tool. Considering the average user spends over 3 hours a day on their phone, it only makes sense to leverage mobile learning to effectively train your workforce.

Some top tips to follow include: make sure all content is end user (i.e. learner) centric, add interactivity with short-form video, simulation-based training,  GIFs, always include clear objectives and explanations, follow the principles of microlearning , ensure knowledge has the chance to be reinforced by including a quiz, ensure variety in your media and activities – and don’t forget those all-important summaries and checklists at the end. And if you’re really conscious of nailing it the first time around - why not test your training content on a small pilot group of managers and learners, and use their feedback to refine components like lesson media, ordering, or quiz questions? Practice makes perfect!

7. Use an annual training plan template

We’re well aware of just how overwhelming it can be to have to distil the above into a written-up, annual corporate training plan that becomes your company’s single source of truth for your employee training plan - so as they say on daytime TV... Here’s one we made earlier! 

Turn your training goals into a reality and put structure to your strategy with our yearly training plan template.    

To get started, download the free training plan template, select ‘make a copy’ to create your own, customizable version in Google Sheets. Don’t use GSheets? Export it as an .xslx file and import it into Excel.

Ready to optimize your employee training? eduMe is the platform of choice for your frontline workforce!

By seamlessly integrating into your existing worktools, eduMe makes it easy for businesses to deliver engaging content and take their training to the next level. By partnering with us, companies are experiencing a plethora of benefits, including a 26% reduction in workplace injuries and a 79% training engagement rate. Got any questions? Just get in touch below! 

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Employee Training and Development: The Benefits of Upskilling or Reskilling Your Team

Developing ,  Employee Experience ,  Retention Strategies ,  Talent Management ,  Training & Development

Employee training and development isn’t just about teaching employees to do their jobs. It’s about showing employees they are valued and that upward movement in the organization is possible. When employees don’t see opportunity, they don’t bring their best selves to work.

“Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.”

It’s a proverb we all know — so common it’s become cliché. But clichés come from truth. Amid the busyness of running a business, it can be easy to forget the importance of good training. How often have you said, “I’ll do it myself” because teaching someone else seemed too time-consuming? But how often are you frustrated the next time that same task comes around and you have to do it yourself again?

Of course, employee training isn’t just about delegating or making things easier for management. A solid and unique training and development program can give employees a sense of ownership in their role and a future vision with the organization. And when companies don’t invest in learning and development and create paths for growth (beyond pay bumps), employees will start looking for jobs elsewhere.

In fact, in a 2021 Pew Research Study , 63% of respondents said no opportunities for advancement is what pushed them out the door. Lack of growth opportunities was the top reason for leaving – above pay, benefits, and workplace flexibility.   A recent Great Place to Work LinkedIn poll also shed light on the critical importance of training and developing employees for retention. According to the poll, 43% of people called out a lack of growth opportunities as the top reason they quit their last job.

63% of employees cite no opportunities for advancement as the top reason they quit. 

“Employees view it as a way of support,” says Julian Lute, senior manager and strategic advisor with Great Place To Work®. “You’re assisting them in doing their jobs. But if you go one level deeper, you’re also supporting this very human need for growth. When people don’t see themselves growing, you don’t get the best out of them.”

What is an employee training and development program?

An employee training and development program is a series of educational activities designed to improve employees’ knowledge and skills.

The most obvious type of employee training is technical training — teaching them their job duties, the company’s processes and systems, and the organization’s overarching mission and mandate. But training can also cover soft skills such as people management or upskilling beyond an employee’s current role to prepare them for a promotion.

Employee training can take many different forms, such as group workshops, one-on-one sessions, formal education (e.g., college or university), job shadowing, mentorship, seminars, or job sharing.

The 4 approaches to employee development

While the types of employee training and development programs can be as varied as your employees themselves, all training plans will typically fall into one of four categories:

• Formal education — The formal training and practical requirements for a given role, such as a specific degree, licence, or certification.
• Assessment — The employee performance reviews, one-on-ones, and any other efforts used to measure strengths and weaknesses and find ways for employees to improve.
• Job experience — The day-to-day, hands-on learning employees do as they master their role, take on new challenges, and grow within the organization.
• Interpersonal relationships — The coaching, mentorships, and any soft skills or interpersonal training employees may complete, such as customer service training, diversity and inclusion training, mental health education, or conflict resolution training.

Why it’s important to train and develop your employees

Employee training and development is important for ensuring that staff are prepared for their role; that they feel supported, valued, and capable; and that they have upward movement. Training and development can have a direct impact on employee engagement and retention and should be an integral part of your talent management strategy .

Engaged employees want to grow, and they want to be challenged. They aren’t looking to simply work at a job; they are looking to further their careers.

Learning and development is at the core of Panda Restaurant Group’s employer value proposition (EVP) . On Panda’s careers website , learning and development is front and center:

Founders Andrew and Peggy Cherng are deeply committed to being the world leader in people development, providing growth opportunities for associates professionally and personally at every level.

Panda’s commitment to opportunities for advancement is strongly linked to their employees’ intent to stay. When asked what makes the company a great place to work, employees at Panda frequently mentioned the words “growth,” “grow” and “development.”

“Compared to other companies I have worked with, Panda truly exemplifies what it means to care about people. I feel like my team always has my growth and development in mind and challenges me to be better. They offer so many resources to develop myself personally and professionally. I really feel like part of the Panda family and look forward to staying for many more years. It really is a great place to work.” 

— Employee at Panda Restaurant Group

Employee training and development is both present- and future-focused. Employee learning programs support your people in meeting the challenges of the business, today. And employee learning programs create a pipeline of leaders to meet the societal and technological challenges of tomorrow.  

Julian says employee training also ensures people feel valued, and feel that their employer sees them playing a role in the long term. This feeds into the overall company culture . In fact, in our survey of employees at the 2023 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® , 87% said they often or always feel like they are offered training and resources to develop professionally.

“This is the way that people feel valued in the business,” Julian explains. “If you’re training me, you’re telling me that you want me to be prepared for the future of the organization.”

The difference between training and development

While employee training and development are commonly lumped together, and both serve a critical role in the employee experience , there is an important distinction between the two.

• Training is job-specific. It is ensuring an employee has the correct tools and learns the correct skills to complete their tasks. It is immediate and measured in short-term results.
• Development is about employee growth. It is long-term and more behavioral-focused.

“Development is much more of a conversation than training,” says Julian. “Where do you want to grow? How do we need you to grow? It requires a bit more vulnerability. Training assumes you have a skill gap or knowledge gap, whereas with development, you must be willing to lean into it to fully realize the benefits.”

For example, Mastercard has a company philosophy of “Owning Your Career” with ongoing conversations between employees and their managers about career development opportunities. Objectives are set, goals are agreed upon, and there are dedicated discussions about career growth and progression.

Similarly, American Express has a Career & Development Plan template for employees to map out their career journey, thinking through where they’ve been, how they want to grow, and what sort of support they might need along the way.

Both employers demonstrate how employee development is a two-way conversation, not a one-way, top-down instruction. This kind of approach to employee development can have a huge impact on employee engagement, especially among younger demographics.

Development is a two-way conversation, not a one-way, top-down instruction.

At Panda Restaurant Group, for example, retention among millennial employees is particularly high, thanks in part to its mentorship approach and its University of Panda program, which helps employees to earn certifications and continue their career growth outside of the workplace.

Training fuels recruitment

Given the basic human desire for growth that Julian mentioned, companies that are seeking top talent would be wise to promote their training and development efforts. Featuring opportunities for growth and development as major benefits in its EVP demonstrates an employer’s commitment.

Use your career site to highlight your company’s opportunities for professional growth and development — whether it be challenging work assignments, a strong investment in training and development programs, frequent opportunities to work closely with senior leaders, or a commitment to promoting from within.

“Even if you don’t know where people want to be in their life or what’s important to them, I guarantee you there is something at the end of the rainbow for them,” says Julian. “And training and development is the way that people feel valued.”

Developing by building an internal talent marketplace

Some organizations are helping employee advance with an internal talent marketplace . An internal talent marketplace is a platform or system within an organization that facilitates identifying, developing, and retaining top talent by providing employees with opportunities for growth and career advancement. This marketplace enables employees to explore different roles, projects, or positions within the company, promoting internal mobility, skill development, and cross-functional collaboration. By creating an internal talent marketplace, organizations can better retain talent, improve employee satisfaction, and enhance their overall agility while reducing the need for external hiring.

Examples of unique employee training and development programs

Employee training programs at the Best Workplaces™ go beyond the day-to-day of employees’ jobs — they feature everything from professional development courses for future promotions, to emotional intelligence training, to wellness workshops.

For example, the benefits team at Panda offers a monthly series of educational webinars covering topics such as healthy habits, nutrition, sleep, finance, and self-care. They also work directly with regional and department leaders to curate programs specific to their teams and provide free wellness coaches to teams in need.

At The Cheesecake Factory , for example, managers are trained in de-escalating emotionally charged situations and given tools for understanding how to connect with others and find commonality amid diversity. They are also provided with resources for protecting employees’ mental health.

Similarly, industrial services distributor Grainger has a mandatory e-learning course on unconscious bias. The one-hour course outlines what unconscious bias is, explores how it may emerge in day-to-day work, and offers effective behaviors for managing it.

The Best Workplaces also offer training programs that are ongoing, beginning on an employee’s first day and carrying through their entire life cycle with the company. They know that training is applicable to all levels of staff, from frontline workers to the C-suite, with a focus on forward momentum for all.

At HubSpot , for example, learning and development starts on day one, with a robust orientation and onboarding experience. No matter the role, team, or level, all new hires undergo one week of new employee training together to learn about HubSpot’s culture, missions, values, and operating model. The company also offers a global mentorship program to help employees of every tenure reach their full potential.

5 steps to building a successful training plan

For an employee training and development plan to be successful, you need to ensure it’s focused on the right things, suitable to the audience, and measurable. And you need to be willing to revise as needed, based on both results and stakeholder feedback.

Here are five steps to ensure you roll out an employee training and development plan efficiently and successfully:

1. Assess what’s needed

Before any plan takes shape, assess what is needed — both by the organization and by the employee. This applies to both company-wide training and personal development plans. Which areas should you focus on? What is the organizational strategy and how does this fit into an employee’s own role and personal goals?

“You really have to incorporate it into the workflow,” says Julian. “Ascertain what people need and directly deliver to that.”

For example, your company could be rolling out a new software program that’s going to change how your sales team tracks leads. It will be a critical change for the business and the initial plan may be to train only those who will use the new program day-to-day. What about the employees whose personal goal is to join the sales team? Learning such a program could help them make that move.

“Get feedback using employee surveys ,” says Julian. “People will tell you what they need help with or training on. Sometimes leaders think that because we got this new thing, or because some consultant tells you, ‘You need this, it’ll make you more efficient.’ Start with what you know employees need and what they’re telling you they need.”

2. Set clear objectives

What does the organization and the employee each hope to gain? It could be something job-specific like learning a new program or process, or something more behavioral-based like diversity and inclusion training. Determine what you hope to achieve and how you’ll measure success.

It’s also important that employees understand the objectives just as well as management does, and why a particular training or development plan is important. This is especially the case when it’s long-term, behavioral-based programs like diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) training.

“Employee training is most effective when leaders are demonstrative,” says Julian. “When communicating new learning programs, talk about it through the lens of company values. For example, ‘We’re doing this in service of our customers and that’s one of our values.’… Be very clear about what this is supposed to change. Help people understand the impact and why you’re training people.”

3. Design and develop

Once needs and objectives are set, it’s time to create a program or plan that considers the following:

• What content or materials are needed?
• How will the training be delivered?
• Who will lead the training?
• How often will training sessions take place?
• Where will the training happen?
• For group trainings, what size will the groups be?
• What are the participants’ learning styles?

Julian recommends that participants be given the chance to talk through the training, to understand what fits and wrestle with problems, rather than running passive sessions where the trainer talks and participants sit and listen.

He also notes that bite-sized lessons and trickling the training down from large groups to small groups to the individual level, like a waterfall, tends to work best.

Trickling the training down from large groups to small groups to the individual level, like a waterfall, tends to work best.

“I would not expect to put people in a room for 90 minutes at one time and expect they get all the information they need,” he says. “A big group is a way to get people on the same page. Then move people into smaller groups so that people can really engage with the learning content. A group of eight or fewer is ideal for getting more granular. And then find ways for people to individually test their knowledge.”

4. Implement

Once the training plan is developed, it’s time to roll it out —strategically. A pilot program with a small group of employees can help you to refine a plan and ensure it’s hitting all the right notes, both for the organization’s objectives and employees’ expectations.

“Don’t try to boil the ocean,” warns Julian. “Figure out who the test people are and pilot this with a small group of people. Take feedback. Make sure it’s really aligned with the business need.”

Only after you’ve piloted the program and adjusted as needed, is it ready to roll out to the wider organization.

5. Evaluate and revise

Finally, don’t file the training plan away once it’s completed. Solicit feedback from both employees and managers using employee surveys to identify both successes and weaknesses. Use the measurements you set early on to check whether the training achieved its objectives.

Providing employee training and development opportunities can enhance job satisfaction, boost productivity, and improve employee retention. Equipping employees with new skills and knowledge increases their potential for advancement within the company. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Are your learning and development programs hitting the mark?

One way you can measure and track the success of your training and development programs, as well as other areas of company culture, is by pursuing Great Place To Work Certification . The results of our research-backed Trust Index ™ survey can show you exactly where to put your culture resources.

Claire Hastwell

As the Content Program Manager at Great Place To Work, Claire helps decode the psychology behind high-trust workplaces using Great Place To Work's extensive data repository on employee experience. Claire has co-authored noted reports such as "Women in the Workplace" and “The Power of Purpose at Work,” and contributed to Fortune with her profiles of the Best Workplaces™. Her latest report on employee retention strategies  draws on the experience of 1.3 million employees to give leaders strategic guidance on retaining their top people. 

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Key steps to creating an effective Learning and Development plan

• October 4, 2020
• Joanna Strahan, Founder - C2C Training Group

It is a truism that people are the heart of any business and vital for its success.  Given this it is essential to have a learning and development plan for your teams and to review your processes on a regular basis. This will ensure that you have, and continue to have a motivated and well-trained workforce, focussed on achieving your organisation’s strategic goals.

Empowering your people to achieve their full potential and engaging them in the plan can have a hugely positive impact on both the business and your staff. It can also help you attract, recruit, and develop the skilled workers you need by enabling you to:

• Establish clear career pathways and personal development reviews
• Demystify education programmes and promote upskilling initiatives
• Diversify recruitment routes by identifying key transferrable skills and offering apprenticeship programmes

A Learning and Development plan should be designed to inspire, develop, and ultimately help your people grow in competence and confidence. Businesses and teams with the best players thrive and outperform the competition.

There are six steps to developing a coherent, practical and effective Learning and Development plan:

Step 1: Create clear career pathways

To create clear career pathways, you will first need to identify the role profiles that exist within your business. You will need to determine the purpose of the role, the hierarchy of authority, reporting lines and career progression routes.

For example, the purpose of a sales team is to generate sales, grow the business and retain existing customer relationships and within the sales teams there will be different job roles:

• Trainee Sales Representative
• Assistant Sales Representative
• Sales Representative
• Sales Manager
• Sales Director

Career pathways should also show how to achieve progression and promotion. For example, how do you move from Sales Representative to Sales Manager? The written pathway should include what skills are needed and how you obtain them through upskilling and undertaking additional roles and responsibilities under supervision and mentorship.

Step 2: Define Roles and Responsibilities

Defining clear roles and responsibilities provides your business with the vital advantages necessary for continual growth. If people are clear about what they need to do, it makes it easier for them to do it, this enables increased internal control, improved process management and enhances operational performance.

To develop an effective Learning and Development plan, you should evaluate your existing roles and responsibilities defined in your job descriptions to ensure that they are reflective of what you need people to do. If not, the knowledge and behaviours criteria you set will not deliver the skills required to fulfil the role. The most efficient and effective way of achieving this is to set up a small working group with key operational people at different levels and across a variety of job roles.

Step 3: Define the Knowledge & Behaviours required

It is important that the new job descriptions clearly define the knowledge requirement to successfully undertake the role. When defining the knowledge levels required for each role, remember that knowledge can be gained through experience or education. Not everyone is required to be experts in everything, but base line awareness is often desirable.

Whilst knowledge is vital, you must also identify the attitude and behaviours that will fit within your organisational culture and are aligned to your Vision, Mission and Values. Because how you do something is more likely to deliver good customer service that just what you do.

Asking your staff to be part of this process will ensure that all angles are covered. Together with a training gap analysis you will be able to highlight specific skill gaps within your business. From there, you can prioritise your employees’ training needs. When discussing this with your team, you should consider a variety of core skills including:

Values & Behaviours  – Values are just behaviours you want people to live by, giving them direction on how to achieve your mission. They should be specific and descriptive in the way you want people to act or treat people

Health, Safety & Environment – Businesses have a moral and legal obligation to manage this well, and people need to be aware of how you are protecting them and their environment and what they should do to help

Quality – The standard of the products or services you deliver has a direct link to your customer service and brand loyalty, people should know the effects of poor quality and be given the skills to deliver your standards

Performance & Time Management – Efficiency and punctuality are critical to a successful business and people should know how to prioritise and make the most of their time

Commercial Focus – Everyone in a business can affect your profitability, from general awareness of business costs and the use of company resources, to cost saving and revenue generation

Leadership & Management – Line managers or supervisors have a massive influence on the team dynamics and performance. It is important to understanding how to motivate and manage you staff, this is often overlooked when people are promoted from time served

Strategic Thinking – This is aimed at the senior management in your team, and focussed on performance reviews and planning for success. This type of thinking will help you achieve your Vision.

  Step 4: Choose the right Training  

Having identified the knowledge and behaviours required to fulfil each role, you can now look to select the appropriate training.

Training is the act of teaching people the required skills or behaviours, and can be delivered in a variety of ways including:

• Technical Courses or Qualifications
• Apprenticeships, Vocational Programmes or Mentoring
• Internal Training
• Continued Professional Development (CPD) Modules
• Compliance Training

  A good Learning and Development plan gives people the opportunity to complete different types of training, not simply to assist in the competency of their role, but to inspire them to achieve their career goals, to broaden their knowledge and to widen their skills base.

To select the right training, you will need use the job descriptions to identify the learning outcomes needed to fulfil the role. Finding a course that meets these needs, in the delivery method that best suits your business, can often be difficult and can require thinking outside the box.

Remember a recognised training course or a theoretical qualification may not deliver the competence levels you are looking for and often blended learning delivers the best results. Where you have a training need for a member of staff and you cannot find the course – approach your training provider and ask them if they can work with your business to design, deliver and complete a bespoke training.

Step 5: Build on Skills & Experience

Just because people attend a training course does not mean that they are competent in those skills. Skills are defined as the ability to do something well, and this is developed over time.

You should encourage your teams to put their knowledge into practice in order to develop their skills, whilst being observed, supported and mentored by their line manager.

Within the job profiles, you should determine the skills and experience levels required for each role.

Step 6: Monitoring the Learning & Development Journey

Whilst it is important to track statistical performance against the learning and development plan, knowing that 95% of your people have completed a required course, is not the only measure you should be focussed on.

Everyone’s learning and development journey will be different, and it is important that you remain flexible and inclusive in your plans. You need to have a system for understanding their journey and monitoring their development. A   Personal Development Review (PDR)   can provide a framework for employees to have open and regular conversations with their line manager about their performance, including reviewing their competency, personal development and career goal:

A PDR should include:

Competency Review

The employee’s level of competency will be determined within set criteria in line with their roles and responsibilities and the company’s competency framework.

Development Review

During your development review the employee and line manager will discuss the employee’s development needs for the year ahead and how the line manager is able to support the employee’s development. For example, what training courses will the employee require to better their knowledge and experience within their role.

Career Goals

The employee and line manager will discuss the employee’s career goals and future aspirations. The line manager will encourage the employee to outline their short term and long-term goals and establish actions required to achieve them.

By creating, maintaining and monitoring a structured Learning and Development plan HR can identify the training needed to drive your organisation forward. By following and monitoring the plan and its outcomes you can ensure your staff are getting what they need, and you have the best possible team to facilitate ongoing growth.

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Learning and development programs: A guide for professionals

Clichés like “fast-paced business world” are used so often that they lose all meaning, but not when referring to a person’s career. The gig economy, quiet quitting, poly work—all these side hustles just show how quickly one’s job situation can change, and if your Plan A doesn’t include a Plan B, it could be a bumpy ride.

People want jobs that futureproof their careers, which is why practical workplace training is so helpful in attracting top talent. Upskilling and crosstraining help companies develop more skilled workers while preparing those individuals for a shifting job landscape. It’s a win-win.

Businesses use learning and development programs (L&D) to train skills like:

• Using special software
• Operating machinery
• Effective communication and teamwork
• Workplace compliance
• Professional certifications
• Leadership and management

Good workplace training programs boost employee engagement while aiding with retention. They force managers to examine what needs improving so they can create the necessary initiatives to fix it. Overall, it’s worth understanding how to build a strong L&D program. That’s what we’re talking about in this guide.

The importance of L&D in the workplace

Everybody’s been to workplace training at some point. Unfortunately, most of it wastes time since we know not to click links from suspicious emails or make untoward advances to a coworker.

Sure, mandatory compliance training can lower SAM insurance premiums, but that’s about as helpful as it gets. The training people want is whatever will give them a better chance at career stability, both now and in the future.

When good learning and development programs are in place, companies see:

• Better job performance
• Higher job satisfaction
• Improved employee retention
• New ideas and creative thinking
• Better adaptability
• Stronger company culture
• Competitive advantage
• Better decision-making

Understanding how to do a job is just one part of the equation—employees also need to engage with their work, which is much easier when the employment feels gainful.

A good L&D program teaches employees what they need to know and what will make them more well-rounded and complete.

Types of L&D programs

Training is a huge, profitable industry and a favorite of consulting firms. Companies like Deloitte and McKinsey make huge sums peddling infosec, diversity, harassment, and other training programs to Fortune 500 clients, often using homegrown research to prove its efficacy.

Does the training work? Yes, but it’s not exactly the kind of career-advancing skill set employees can add to their résumé. It’s a product with patented concepts, proprietary software, and a considerable price tag.

Here’s why your company should develop its L&D programs: to provide training where needed and at a far lower cost.

There are plenty of different ways and areas to provide learning opportunities, such as:

• Job-specific technical skills, like new software or working methods
• Soft skills like writing and customer service
• Onboarding new employees
• Management and leadership development
• Mentorships and job shadowing
• Self-paced E-learning courses

You don’t have to deliver everything on your own—free software is out there to make training more accessible for educators and learners (some apps will be mentioned here)—but you’ll need to plot out a direction first.

Creating a successful L&D program

Determining what to train on is the first step in mapping a learning experience. There are two ways to do this: identify an urgent need to fix skill gaps or research which skills need improving.

Here are some ways to discover what to train:

• Conduct a skills assessment : Use surveys or tests to see which skills employees already have and what they need to improve
• Ask managers and team members : Ask which skills people think are essential for their roles
• Analyze performance reviews : Look for common areas where employees need improvement
• Keep up on industry trends : The future introduces different skill needs for leaders to focus on and develop
• Review industry job descriptions : See whether or not current skill sets are in line with what’s required for each role, and offer skills training to people who need it

You can build a survey for free using Google Forms (or SurveyMonkey’s free version). Here are some example questions to try:

• On a scale of 1-5, how confident do you feel about your current job skills? (1 being not confident at all, five being very confident)
• What skills do you need to improve in your current role?
• Which of the following areas would you be most interested in receiving training on? (Provide a list of options, such as technical skills, communication, leadership, project management, etc.)
• Are there any new technologies or industry trends you need to train on to stay competitive in your field?
• What skills will most benefit your career growth in the next 2-3 years?

Hopefully, your survey will yield some helpful insights. Once you know what skills to focus on, it’s time to design a program.

Set clear learning objectives

What changes will learners undergo during training sessions? What should they know for training to be a success? Answering these questions will provide insights into how to organize your L&D program and whether to teach in-person, online, or both.

Each learning objective needs an end goal for training to pursue. If the goal is proficiency, training should offer hands-on practice. If the goal is understanding, training should check for learning along the way.

Use chapters to split up information so learners can stay calm.

Implementing and delivering L&D

If the material is good, training will take care of itself. You’ll still need to organize classes and provide materials, but engaging with the material is the top priority.

Here are the basic steps to delivering your program:

• Start with a schedule : Pick when and how often training will happen
• Choose trainers : Decide if you’ll use internal experts or outside trainers
• Prepare materials : Create handouts, presentations, or online resources
• Set up the space : Make sure you have the right work environment and equipment for training
• Get the word out : Let people know about the training and why it’s important
• Garner support from leaders : It’s hard to get people into training if they don’t see a need to, so ask management and other stakeholders to encourage participation in L&D
• Use a pilot : Test your training with a small group before rolling it out to everyone
• Get feedback : Ask learners what they think of the program and how it can be improved

Google Classroom is a free online course platform for developing materials. Organize your training there to see how you like the platform, then make changes.

Measuring the effectiveness of L&D programs

As a topic, workplace training is notoriously resistant to measurement. If a training goal isn’t met, learners can just as easily be blamed as harmful learning programs can, e.g., if the line goes up, good training. If not, bad delivery.

Results matter, so it’s essential to outline what improvement looks like. After all, how can you say training works if you don’t measure it?

Here are a few ways to measure success with your learning programs:

• Define key performance indicators (KPIs) for metrics on how the program meets its goals
• Use pre-and post-training assessments to see how skills improve
• Observe job performance to see how employees perform after training
• Ask for feedback
• Analyze your learning management system (LMS) data to see how employees use the content
• Look for a correlation between participation and employee retention

Google Data Studio is a free option for creating visual reports of your L&D program’s effectiveness. It’s complicated, but many freelancers would happily compile data for you.

Troubleshooting L&D implementation

Employee training is tough. Time and budget constraints limit capacity, and then there’s the challenge of engaging learners. It’s… a lot.

Start small. Focus on high-priority skills, and use free tools like the ones mentioned here to do it at little or no cost.

The other, less material problems are harder to solve:

• Resistance to change : Some people will only want to do training. Support from senior leaders is ideal, but ice cream is also persuasive.
• Keeping content up-to-date : Review and update training materials regularly. New information may become available that changes how you present. Check URLs, too, as they sometimes become outdated.
• Technology issues : Not all employee learning platforms work the same; some work better than others. Be prepared to provide tech support and training for learning platforms.
• Different learning styles : Adapting to different learning styles is the most challenging aspect of teaching. Be open to various training methods that suit different preferences and maximize employees’ skills.

Reddit is an excellent source of insight for business training and development (for now). Be bold, ask for help, and check in with your learners to see if they’re learning anything new.

Future trends

The world of L&D is constantly changing. There’s a science to embrace and competencies to learn. Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, so if you can frame a perfect GPT prompt, you will have a headstart on labor-intensive grunt work, like making development plans for different learning styles. While it is true that AI makes some stuff easier, it also makes a bunch of things up because it’s a soulless algorithm. Always read through before use.

Microlearning is another word that sounds specific but isn’t—a library of short, focused lessons delivered via smartphone to fit busy schedules. Lessons are brief and may not be suitable for complex topics, but they are very convenient.

Gamification means turning stuff into a game, like Duolingo. They incentivize learning with daily streaks and leaderboards and use different games and exercises to make it stick. Some people like games, and thinking outside the box improves training.

Finally, LinkedIn Learning is an excellent resource for self-paced training and professional development. You can find many great educators on that platform.

In conclusion, no matter how advanced the tech, great L&D programs are marked by relevant and engaging material. They teach people new ways of looking at things they already know.

Investing in skill development and professional growth improves employee job satisfaction and performance—it also builds more robust, adaptable, and successful teams. More Resources: 90 sample phrases for negative performance reviews Create an onboarding plan that sets employees up for success Cross-training employees: Examples and plans

WHAT TO READ NEXT

How to Start a Training Business in 2024 (& Succeed at It)

id you know that the global corporate training market is expected to reach $370.3 billion by 2027? It's expected to reach $370.3 billion by 2027 and will even exceed $493.32 billion by 2028! Small businesses are investing big bucks in employee training too, with an average spend of almost $1,400 per learner in 2022. With remote work becoming more prevalent and the need for continuous professional development on the rise, the demand for training services is at an all-time high. 

The United States dominates the corporate training market, accounting for over 30% of the global share in 2020. This presents a fantastic opportunity for anyone considering starting their own training business. For example, a tutor experienced in working with students who have learning disabilities could create a business to meet their specific needs.

You can positively impact people's lives while also making money by starting a training business. A tutor with experience working with students who have learning disabilities, for instance, could start their own training business to meet the specific needs of these students and their families.

But let's be real, starting an online training business can be daunting if you're not an entrepreneur at heart. To do it successfully, you need to take an organized approach, develop an effective marketing strategy, and intimately understand your target audience. This article is for anyone interested in starting their own training company, providing a step-by-step guide on how to start a training company. So keep reading if you want to turn your passion for teaching into a profitable career.

What is a Training Company?

A training company is a company that offers courses and programs for personal and professional growth. Education can range from purely technical to managerial. Organizations providing instruction can be for-profit or non-profit enterprises and need not be exclusively virtual to exist.Businesses in the training industry come in many forms. Still, they all commit to empowering their clients with the knowledge and experience to achieve personal growth and professional success. 

The purpose of any instructor is to positively affect their students, whether they are learning how to use a new piece of software or become better leaders.Training business is a great way to make a difference and a good living at the same time. A training business could be perfect if you enjoy seeing others develop and grow.

Why Start A Training Company?

Successful professionals and businesses rely heavily on training companies to help them develop the necessary expertise. 

Thus, training firms are well-known for tailoring courses to meet the specific needs of their clients to boost employee and business productivity.

Training firms have been shown to boost productivity, efficiency, and morale, all while keeping businesses competitive.

How Much Does it Cost to Launch a Business Program?

It is important to know the cost of starting a business training program and how to start a training business, as this will determine the scope and type of program you can offer. You can get the training in various formats, from virtual classes to in-person seminars. Private coaching services come with an associated time and material cost. Launching a more extensive program with in-person and virtual components will require more funding. The following factors can help you estimate the price of launching your business training program:

• If you have a client or student base, how much time do you anticipate spending with them?
• What kind of materials do you need, and how much of it?
• Does your company already have any necessary infrastructure (like an office, necessary tools, or an online learning management system)?
• Is a minimum amount of advertising and promotion required to bring in customers or enrollees?
• Do you have other operating expenses (such as insurance or permits)? 

You can better understand the initial investment required for your business training program if you answer these questions. If you want your online training business to succeed, you need to put in the necessary resources, but you must also be careful to spend your resources wisely. An effective business training program does not have to break the bank with careful preparation and execution.

Benefits Of Starting An Online Training Business

As reported by the Census Bureau's Business Formation Statistics, the number of businesses formed increased by 55% from January to November of 2021. Launching a training company can bring about a wide variety of positive outcomes. Five of the most notable are listed below.

• You can set your hours and be your boss by starting a training company. You'll have complete control over your work schedule, who you serve, and your company's direction.
• Second, you have the power to make a difference; clients of training companies can benefit from your services in meaningful ways. You can make a difference in people's lives by assisting them in developing their abilities and knowledge.
• The potential for financial success; if your training business is profitable, you can make a comfortable living. The business world can provide a comfortable living for those who are dedicated to their work and skilled at it.
• You get to set your hours if you own a training company. Your working hours can be arranged as needed to accommodate personal or professional obligations.
•  You'll have plenty of business: Training companies are in high demand, particularly in fields that place a premium on lifelong learning. That's great news for anyone hoping to launch a thriving business and find a steady stream of customers. 

Businesses' training needs will increase as the economy transitions to a knowledge-based model.

How to Create Your Own Training Company: 10 Steps to Success

Starting your own training business can be a lucrative and fulfilling profession if you have a knack for teaching and a motivation to see others succeed. Below, we take a look at how to start a training business. You need to take several important steps to ensure your business is successful.

1) Identify your niche

One must first determine their target market to launch a successful training company. Can you name some concrete abilities or areas of expertise you can impart to others? This could refer to any skill set, from writing code to promoting an event to giving speeches. Pick a market segment that interests you and has a lot of potential customers.

Think about your passion and how you like to spend your free time. In what ways can your professional and personal experiences serve as a source of insight for others? There is a high demand for training in some areas, so it's a good idea to look into market trends and employer demands to find those niches.

2) Conduct market research

The success of your training business will depend on your ability to conduct market research after you have settled on a specific niche. It is essential to know your market, your audience, and their wants, needs, and problems. Google Trends, market research, and social media are just some online resources you can use to learn more about your target audience and the market.

To get accurate results from market research, one must be thorough and impartial. Assess the areas where your rivals excel and where you can set yourself apart. Find out what drives your intended trainees and how your training can help them succeed.

3) Develop a business plan

Business plans are like road maps for your training company; they detail the company's intended direction, purpose, and objectives. A market analysis, financial forecasts, and promotional plans should also be incorporated. When starting and expanding your business, having a well-thought-out business plan will help you maintain focus and make educated choices.

There are a few things to keep in mind when writing a business plan:

• A synopsis of your company and its aims, or executive summary.
• Market analysis, which is an examination of your target market and its other players.
• Your products and services should include an explanation of the training programs you offer and how they cater to the specific needs of your customer base.
• Strategy for promoting and selling your training to a specific demographic
• Cost and revenue forecasts for a given time frame are what we call "financial projections."

4) Decide on your pricing model

Determine who you're trying to reach and what kind of training you provide, as these factors will inform your pricing strategy. You can set your hourly rates per session or unit of study. Providing bundles or discounts for multiple purchases or referrals is another option. Establishing reasonable rates that compensate for your education and experience is crucial.

When settling on a pricing strategy, it's important to think about the following:

• How much are they willing to spend for those who will benefit most from your training?
• Where can I find pricing information for similar classes offered by your competitors?
• How much are you investing in the development and presentation of your training?
• What sets you apart as a trainer, and why should someone invest in your course?

5) Create your training materials

The training materials you create should be adapted to the specific demographic and needs of the people using them. This could be in the form of video lectures, readings, assignments, and tests. Tools and platforms like Udemy and Teachable for online courses and video conferencing programs like Zoom are just a few examples of what you can use to design and deliver your training.

Keep these guidelines in mind as you develop your training materials:

• Maintain a minimum level of complexity: Pay attention to the most important ideas and techniques your target audience must grasp.
• Include visuals, audio, and user interaction to pique interest in your content.
• Offer evaluations and suggestions for improvement to aid your audience in learning.
• Keep abreast of the latest developments: Incorporate student feedback and adapt to industry shifts by updating your materials frequently.

6) Build your online presence

In today's digital age, it is essential for any business, including training businesses, to have a robust online presence. Get the word out about your training through various online channels such as social media, your website, and others.

Here are a few suggestions for enhancing your web profile:

• Build a website to advertise your training services and inform potential clients. Sites like Wix and Squarespace make it possible to build a functional website with a polished design and no knowledge of HTML or CSS.
• Use social media to spread the word about your training and connect with potential clients. Sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are perfect for this. 
• Using these channels, you can distribute training materials, engage with your target audience, and gain followers.
• Use email marketing because it's cheap and easy to promote your training and stay in touch with your audience. 
• Mailchimp and Constant Contact are two examples of email marketing platforms that can be used to create and send emails to your subscribers, including newsletters, promotions, and more.

7) Utilize technology

The use of technology in education can improve the quality of training and save time. The following are examples of useful resources:

• Using a learning management system (LMS) such as Moodle or Canvas, you can easily organize and distribute your training materials to your students, monitor their development over time, and offer them constructive criticism.
• Technology like Zoom or Skype video conferencing features make it easy to hold real-time training sessions and engage with students.
• Course, authoring tools like Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate allow instructors to make lessons beyond simple text to engage students in a more active learning experience.
• Tools for evaluating students' knowledge can be found online, and sites like Kahoot and Quizlet are examples of such platforms.

8) Launch your training

You can now begin offering training after creating your training materials, establishing your pricing structure, and establishing your online presence. You can provide initial sessions at no or low cost to get the ball rolling and get people talking. Additionally, you can inquire within your social circle for recommendations and feedback.

As you roll out your training, be flexible and open to change in response to student feedback. This will aid you in maintaining your dedication to offering first-rate instruction tailored to your specific audience's needs.

9) Provide ongoing support and resources

Giving students access to resources and support after they've completed their training is essential. This can keep them interested and enthusiastic about the training and reinforce its value.

Some examples of ongoing assistance and material support are:

• Social media groups, forums, and chat rooms can foster a sense of community among your students, allowing them to connect and share their experiences and knowledge.
• If you want your students to continue learning after your training ends, you can provide additional training materials, reading lists, and other resources.
• To ensure that your students can apply the skills and knowledge they acquire in your training to their unique situations, consider offering coaching or mentoring services on an ongoing basis.

10) Measure and improve your training

Last but not least, ensuring your training is constantly evaluated and enhanced is crucial to the success of your training business. Tools like surveys, feedback forms, and analytics can help you measure the success of your training and make adjustments based on student feedback.

For better training results, you can track and enhance the following areas:

• Happy students: How happy are your trainees with their training? Do you know what you could do to make them happier?
• Is there evidence that your trainees have retained and can use the information and skills you've taught them? What can you do to improve their educational outcomes?
• Are you getting a good return on investment (ROI) from your training for your company and your employees? Is there a way to maximize the return on investment for your training?

4 Core Tools to Help You Start a Training Business

#1 educateme.

EducateMe's straightforward interface is a great resource for anyone considering launching an online training enterprise. 

Whether it's live video instruction, boot camps, or full-fledged courses, this platform has you covered with fully automated features that maximize student potential. 

Educators have simple access to real-time lesson monitoring and rich analytic data in every training session. 

EducateME's email and automated feedback features make exchanging information easy for students and teachers. Users of this platform can also customize and access it on any device, made possible by EducateMe's flexible design.

This platform creates a unique approach to learning called “brain science-backed gamification”.. Axionify is a cloud-based microlearning platform with gamification features. 

This system caters instruction to learners' preferences and strengths through bite-sized learning modules. 

The Axionify platform has many features to increase employee participation, such as leaderboards, badges, and other gamified elements that promote healthy competition and socialization among workers. Companies can monitor employee development and pinpoint areas where they may need additional training, thanks to the analytics features of the platform.

With its innovative approach to education, intuitive interface, and cutting-edge analytics features, Axionify is an invaluable tool for any business that wants to foster a culture of lifelong learning and development.

#3 Path LMS

Path LMS is a product of Blue Sky eLearn, and serves as an online learning management system. Organizations can use it to facilitate online educational content development, distribution, and administration. The Path LMS is an all-encompassing platform for designing and delivering interactive online courses, tracking the development of individual students, and analyzing the results of training initiatives.

The Path Learning Management System's features and capabilities include the following:

• Course creation using multiple media types like video, audio, text, and images.
• Content management.
• Learner management.
• Reporting and analytics.
• Integrations with a wide range of third-party applications like Zoom.

Docebo is a cloud-based LMS that facilitates the development and distribution of educational content for online users. In addition to tools for making courses, the platform includes a catalog of available courses, a way to enroll students, monitor their progress, generate reports, and connect with third-party programs.

Because of its flexible design and extensive customization options, Docebo can be easily adapted to meet the needs of any business and reflect its brand image. In addition, it supports mobile use so that it can be accessed from anywhere and used for learning..

In conclusion, it can take time to grasp the essentials on how to start a training business. You can start a profitable and satisfying training business if you dedicate time and energy to defining your target audience, researching the market, writing a business plan, settling on a pricing structure, developing training materials, establishing your online presence, and releasing your training.

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Conducting a Company Training Needs Analysis

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Instructor: David Brownlee

Prior to embarking on a big organizational training effort, a training needs analysis is a great–and often critical–place to begin. It helps identify company needs, individual preferences, and helps map training plans before any planning and work gets done. In this course, David Brownlee takes you through running a company needs analysis in preparation for building training, showing you how to determine which skills to include that will move your company forward. Learn how to tailor training to your company business goals, uncover training opportunities in your organization, and gain manager buy-in for your company training. Then, see how to evaluate the success of your corporate needs analysis in order to turn your analysis into a training plan.

Building Effective Training Programs: Program Fundamentals

Setting the right expectations.

Employee training and development is vital for organizational growth, starting with creating comprehensive employee training programs .

Whether you’re onboarding new hires or upskilling existing staff, a well-designed training program can significantly enhance productivity and job satisfaction.

This blog is the first in a three-part series on training the trainer designed to encompass all aspects of building impactful learning programs, from starting fresh to transforming your company’s culture. Join us on this journey to enhance your training skills and elevate your organization’s learning initiatives.

The following steps will help guide you as you build effective training programs, ensuring you set the right expectations and achieve your organizational goals.

Creating a Program Checklist

A thorough checklist is the foundation of successful corporate training programs. Here’s what you should include:

• Needs Assessment : Identify the skills gaps and training needs within your organization.
• Program Objectives : Define clear, measurable goals for what you want to achieve with the training.
• Budget and Resources : List and allocate the necessary financial and material resources.
• Timeline : Establish a realistic timeline for developing and implementing the program.
• Evaluation Methods : Plan how you will assess program effectiveness.

Gain perspective for creating meaningful assessments by reflecting on the Kirkpatrick evaluation model .

Gaining leadership support.

Securing buy-in from leadership is crucial to implementing training initiatives, but it can be hard to know what key areas you need to showcase to ensure your programs get approved. To help with your process, here are some strategies to consider for gaining executive support:

• Present a Business Case : Highlight the benefits, such as improved performance, reduced turnover, and enhanced employee engagement.
• Align with Strategic Goals : Show how the training aligns with the company’s long-term objectives.
• Provide Evidence : Share data and case studies that demonstrate the positive impact of similar programs.

Eager for more leadership buy-in insights? Unpack these 10 comprehensive tips for gaining leadership buy-in and securing support for your employee training programs.

Choosing learning methods.

Selecting the right learning methods that fit within your organization’s structure is key to catering to diverse learning preferences. When developing your programs, consider the following options:

• Online Learning : Flexible and accessible, allowing learners to complete modules at their own pace.
• Hybrid Learning : Combines online and in-person elements for a balanced approach.
• In-Person Training : Facilitates hands-on learning and direct interaction with trainers.
• Mentorship and Coaching : Provides personalized guidance from experienced professionals.
• Workshops and Seminars : Focus on specific skills or topics in an interactive format.

Check out examples of award-winning training programs and overall L&D experience with these Best in the Biz clients.

Picking content.

Your training program’s content should be relevant, engaging, and comprehensive. When developing new programs, you can consider these key topics:

• Core Skills : Job-specific skills that employees need to perform their roles effectively.
• Soft Skills : Communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.
• Technology Training : Familiarity with the tools and software used in your organization.
• Compliance and Safety : Ensuring employees understand legal requirements and safety protocols.
• Diversity and Inclusion : Promoting a respectful and inclusive workplace culture.

Measuring Your Results: Learner Outcomes vs. Program Outcomes

Evaluating the success of your training program involves assessing both learner and program outcomes:

• Learner Outcomes : Measure individual progress through assessments, quizzes, and feedback surveys. Look for improvements in knowledge, skills, and job performance.
• Program Outcomes : Evaluate the overall effectiveness of the program by tracking metrics such as employee retention, engagement levels, and the program’s impact on organizational goals.

Measuring training effectiveness is a key factor in developing successful training programs for employees. Planning how you will assess the effectiveness of the training is a sure way to develop effective programs and guarantee employee skill development.

For insights into measuring the ROI of your training programs, check out this comprehensive workbook . This guide includes actionable steps for proving ROI within your unique learning programs!

Training Program Tools

Utilizing the right tools can make or break your employee’s learning experience, either enhancing the delivery and effectiveness of your training program or hindering it. Here’s how different tools benefit various delivery methods:

• Learning Management Systems (LMS) : Ideal for online and hybrid learning, allowing you to manage and track learner progress.
• Webinars and Video Conferencing : Useful for hybrid and remote training, facilitating live interaction and engagement.
• Interactive eLearning Modules : Great for online learning, providing interactive and engaging content.
• Project Management Tools : Help organize and coordinate in-person training sessions and workshops.
• Feedback and Survey Tools : Essential for gathering insights and continuously improving the training program.

Program Planning

Building a training program is a multifaceted process that requires careful planning, support from leadership, and the right mix of learning methods and tools.

By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create an effective training program that equips your employees with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Remember, the ultimate goal is to foster a culture of continuous learning and development, ensuring your workforce remains competent, confident, and ready to meet the challenges of the future.

Stay tuned for the next post in our train-the-trainer series, where we will examine elevating programs beyond prescriptive to enable employee-driven, elective employee upskilling!

Training Programs

Ready to see more of our online training library? Request a demo to learn how our solutions can help you deliver engaging and impactful learning to your employees!

More From Forbes

Ways to streamline the training development process without sacrificing quality.

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CEO of AllenComm since 2003.

It's possible to not only optimize your training program during times of market volatility—when cost-cutting often puts increasing pressure on training departments—but also set your team up to thrive in the future as well.

While the U.S. economy remains hot , high inflation and a recalibration of growth targets for many of the country’s leading companies are leading to volatility in how employee training and development programs function. But while unpredictability can impact the labor market, it also creates opportunities for training professionals to innovate.

More With Less

Reflecting on past economic slumps, many training organizations and learning and development (L&D) departments are being called on to:

• Accomplish more with fewer resources, including people and technology.

• Support consolidation of departments, which requires upskilling employees with cross-functional skills.

• Take an integral role in supporting mergers and acquisitions, especially as stronger companies take advantage of lower company valuations in the market.

As a result, L&D groups can focus on the ways they can help their organization become more efficient and scalable. In times when cuts are being made, professionals can serve as visible and critical support structures to facilitate the mission of the organization.

While internal investment shifts away from new capital investments and technology, leaders in this field must retain their vitality as agents for change. You can offer strategic alternatives for how people—and the organization as a collective whole—are equipped to do their jobs.

Areas For Focus

Learning from the past, and looking toward the future, here are some recommended areas of focus for your organization:

1. Optimize your use of resources.

Run an audit on your internal and external partnerships through needs analysis, skills matrices and performance mapping.

Ask questions, including, "What are the core functions you need internally? What functions can be moved to variable costs or outsourced?"

Use your findings to refine your training initiatives and provide valuable data for other key business decisions.

2. Control costs and timelines.

By focusing on the readiness of your organization to support training initiatives, you can become more effective with the limited resources allocated to your project.

In times of great scrutiny on budget and costs, it especially pays to make sure that the alignment between training objectives, content readiness and business objectives is clear. A focus on more upfront planning can often help protect the timeline and budget.

3. Prioritize the learner experience.

Consolidate around the learner-focused experiences that are needed directly for job execution. In volatile times, learners may be stretched by new roles and expectations.

Consider whether your organization is set up to provide your audience with enough job-specific guidance that can be applied quickly. Some areas of soft skills investment may have to wait as the focus flows to more hands-on training initiatives.

4. Embrace change.

Don’t ignore the future as you work through this period. Being under-resourced can take a toll both professionally and personally. Necessity can be the mother of invention, so to speak.

Looking for things that can be embraced in the future such as scale, innovative use of technology and efficiencies can help enable you to provide better service to target audiences.

To Illustrate

How does this all come together? To illustrate, here is an experience my company had during the last recession.

Essentially, we were asked by a major, well-known credit lender to retrain their remaining staff after a major downsizing, as the department of 300 was scaled back to 100 employees and needed to upskill staff to cover multiple roles. (For many, this may be a familiar scenario.)

In response, we chose a learning design approach that prioritized simplicity and efficiency while making sure it did not oversimplify or ignore the predicament that necessitated the upskilling.

We optimized available resources by creating documentation of skills needed. New roles and responsibilities were clearly outlined and made accessible, especially for stretched employee learners, through a combination of self-paced and live training.

In situations such as these, it can be beneficial to emphasize easy access to information and short seat time to control cost, create efficiency and respect the bandwidth of learners.

It can be difficult for HR-related fields when organizations are looking for ways to lower costs and streamline activities. But being under the shadow of something like a pandemic or economic slump can actually help you harness your inherent capabilities, making you more flexible and innovative in the face of challenging circumstances.

The principles outlined above can serve as best practices that can help lay the right foundation for your business to continue to see successful outcomes when things get better.

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How to create an employee development plan [With real-life examples]

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Investing in a structured employee development plan can unlock your team’s full potential and propel your organization to new heights. This comprehensive guide will equip you with a step-by-step framework and real-life employee development plan examples to cultivate a culture of continuous learning to propel your business forward.

Introduction to employee development plans

An employee development plan is a structured program that outlines the steps for an employee to enhance their skills, knowledge, and overall performance. It is a collaborative effort between the employee and their manager, focusing on aligning individual aspirations with organizational goals.

Companies can foster a more engaged and productive workforce by providing employees with opportunities to grow. Development plans can encompass various learning methods, including on-the-job training, mentoring programs, online courses, workshops, and formal education.

The benefits of implementing employee development plans

A culture of continuous learning and development is not just beneficial – it’s essential for survival.  Implementing robust employee development plans is a strategic imperative for organizations aiming to thrive in the face of constant change and fierce competition. Let’s explore the multifaceted benefits that underscore the importance of prioritizing employee growth.

A well-structured employee development plan acts as a powerful retention tool .  When employees perceive a genuine investment in their career trajectories, their loyalty strengthens significantly.

In fact, research indicates that retention is 34% higher among employees who have opportunities for professional development .

By nurturing talent from within, organizations can cultivate a highly engaged workforce that’s less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere. This directly translates to reduced recruitment and onboarding costs, ensuring the retention of valuable institutional knowledge.

Furthermore, development plans empower employees to acquire new skills and enhance existing ones. This continuous upskilling not only elevates individual performance but also feeds directly into organizational growth. As employees become more adept in their roles and expand their skill sets, they contribute to increased productivity, efficiency, and innovation across the board. This internal capacity building enables companies to navigate industry shifts confidently, adopt emerging technologies, and maintain a competitive edge.

Investing in employee development also fosters a culture of learning and ambition. When employees see a clear path for advancement and skill development, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated. This, in turn, creates a positive work environment where individuals feel valued, challenged, and empowered to reach their full potential.  A compelling 94% of employees stated they would stay longer at a company that invests in their careers, highlighting the profound impact of development initiatives on loyalty and engagement.

By addressing skill gaps and nurturing future leaders, organizations can proactively prepare for future workforce needs.  Succession planning , facilitated by robust development programs, ensures a pipeline of qualified individuals ready to step into leadership roles. This strategic foresight minimizes disruption during transitions and ensures continuity in leadership, maintaining organizational stability and long-term success.

Comprehensive guide to creating an employee development plan

A well-structured employee development plan serves as a roadmap for both the employee and the organization to achieve shared goals. Here’s a step-by-step guide to crafting an effective plan:

Identifying business and individual goals

The first step in creating a development plan example is aligning individual aspirations with organizational objectives. Begin by identifying key business goals. Determine the skills, knowledge, and competencies required to achieve these goals. Simultaneously, encourage employees to reflect on their career aspirations, strengths, and areas they wish to develop. This collaborative approach ensures that individual growth contributes to overall business success.

Conducting a skills gap analysis

A skills gap analysis helps pinpoint the discrepancies between the current skill set of your workforce and the competencies needed to meet future demands. This analysis should encompass both hard and soft skills . For instance, if your business aims to implement a new software system, evaluate whether your team possesses the necessary technical expertise. Similarly, assess if your team has the communication and collaboration skills needed to work effectively on cross-functional projects.

Setting clear, achievable objectives

Once you’ve identified the skills gaps, establish clear, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives for employee development. For example, instead of a vague objective like “improve communication skills,” a SMART objective could be “attend a public speaking workshop within the next quarter and deliver a presentation to the team by the end of the fiscal year.” This level of specificity provides employees with a tangible target to strive for.

Designing action plans tailored to individual needs

Each employee’s development plan should be unique, catering to their specific roles, career goals, and identified skill gaps. This is where having diverse development plan examples for employees can be very beneficial. A combination of on-the-job training, mentoring programs, online courses, workshops, and conferences can be incorporated.

For someone looking to enhance leadership skills, enrolling in a leadership development program could be beneficial. Whereas, for an employee aiming to specialize in a particular technical area, pursuing a relevant certification would be more appropriate.

Involving managers and mentors for support

Managers and mentors play a crucial role in supporting employee development. They can provide guidance, resources, and opportunities for employees to practice new skills. Regular check-ins and coaching sessions can help employees stay on track with their development planning example and make necessary adjustments along the way. This collaborative approach fosters a culture of continuous learning and development within the organization.

Monitoring progress and providing feedback

Employee development is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. Regular monitoring of progress and providing constructive feedback are essential for its success. Utilize performance reviews, one-on-one meetings, and 360-degree feedback to track progress and identify areas for improvement.

Recognizing and celebrating achievements along the way can boost employee morale and motivation.  Remember, feedback should be specific, timely, and actionable, empowering employees to continue growing and developing their skills.

Types of employee development plans with examples

Navigating the landscape of employee development requires a tailored approach, recognizing that one size does not fit all.  Let’s explore some prominent types of employee development plan examples, each addressing specific needs and objectives:

Goal-based development plans

As the name suggests, goal-based development plans center around achieving specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. These goals are often tied to an employee’s role, department objectives, or overall company strategic goals.

Example: A marketing assistant aiming to step into a content writing role might have a goal-based development plan focusing on enhancing their writing skills. Their plan could include completing online content writing courses, attending industry workshops, and shadowing senior content creators.

Skill-based development plans

Skill-based development plans prioritize bridging the gap between an employee’s current skills and the competencies needed for future roles or enhanced performance. These plans often leverage training programs, workshops, or online courses.

Example: A customer service representative struggling to effectively handle challenging customer interactions could benefit from a skill-based development plan.  This plan might incorporate training on conflict resolution, active listening skills, and empathy building.

Leadership and succession planning

Investing in leadership and succession planning is crucial for the long-term health and sustainability of any organization. These development plans focus on identifying and nurturing high-potential employees, preparing them to assume leadership roles within the company.

Example: High-impact leadership organizations spend up to three times more on management development than their peers.

Leadership training has been shown to increase participants’ capacity for learning by 25% and their performance by 20% .  A company might create a leadership development plan for a high-performing individual contributor, enrolling them in leadership training, assigning them mentorship opportunities with senior leaders, and providing them with opportunities to lead projects and teams.

Career pathing and role transition plans

Career pathing and role transition plans support employees in navigating their career journeys within the organization. These plans provide a clear roadmap outlining potential career progressions and the skills, experiences, and development opportunities needed to achieve their career aspirations.

Example: An employee expressing a desire to move from sales to marketing could work with their manager to create a career pathing plan. This plan would identify the necessary skills and experience for a marketing role and outline the steps the employee can take, such as cross-functional projects or relevant training, to make a successful transition.

Innovative examples from industry leaders

Leading companies continuously seek innovative approaches to employee development .  These examples showcase the power of creative and forward-thinking development initiatives:

• Mentorship programs with a twist : Some companies are moving beyond traditional mentorship models to create reverse mentoring programs, pairing junior employees with senior leaders to foster knowledge sharing and diverse perspectives.
• Gamified learning platforms :  Introducing elements of gamification, such as points, badges, and leaderboards, into online learning platforms can increase employee engagement and motivation.
• Personalized learning journeys : Leveraging technology and data analytics, companies can now curate personalized learning journeys for employees, recommending relevant courses, articles, and resources based on their skills, interests, and career goals.

Key components of an effective development plan

A well-structured employee development plan is crucial for its success. Here’s a breakdown of key components:

• Clear objectives : Begin by defining specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives. These objectives should align with both the employee’s career aspirations and the organization’s strategic goals. For instance, if an employee aims to become a team leader, their development plan might include objectives related to improving communication, delegation, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Personalized learning paths : Each employee has unique strengths and areas for improvement. Tailor development plans to address these individual needs. This personalization might involve a combination of on-the-job training, mentoring, online courses, workshops, or conferences. For example, a software developer looking to enhance their coding abilities could benefit from a learning path that includes online coding courses and participation in hackathons.
• Timeline and milestones : Establish a clear timeline for achieving each objective, breaking down large goals into smaller, manageable milestones. This approach provides employees with a roadmap for their development journey and allows for regular progress checks. Suppose an employee aims to become proficient in data analysis. The timeline could include milestones such as completing a data analysis course within three months, applying those skills to a work project within six months, and independently leading a data analysis project within a year.
• Regular feedback and evaluation : Continuous feedback is essential to keep employees motivated and on track. Incorporate regular check-ins with managers or mentors to discuss progress, provide constructive criticism, and make any necessary adjustments to the plan. Performance reviews can also serve as opportunities to formally evaluate progress and set new goals. Using DevSkiller TalentBoost’s manager assessment feature, managers can gain detailed insights into their team’s skills, making these conversations much more data-driven and objective.
• Flexibility and adaptability : Recognize that individual circumstances and career goals can evolve over time. Build flexibility into the development plan to accommodate these changes. Be open to revisiting and revising objectives and learning paths as needed to ensure the plan remains relevant and engaging for the employee. For instance, if an employee discovers a passion for a different area within the company, the development plan should be adaptable enough to explore new opportunities and adjust career goals accordingly.

Employee development plan examples

Don’t reinvent the wheel when you can learn from the best! Streamlining your HR processes becomes significantly easier with well-structured templates. To help you get started with creating your own employee development plans, I have provided two development plan examples.

Template 1: Simple employee development plan examples

This first template offers a simple, straightforward approach, ideal for organizations just beginning to implement formal development plans.

Employee Name: [Employee Name]

Job Title: [Job Title]

Department: [Department]

Date: [Date]

Development Goal: [Clearly state the specific skill, knowledge, or competency the employee aims to develop].

Example: Improve presentation skills to deliver engaging and informative presentations to clients.

Action Steps: [List 3-5 concrete actions the employee will take to achieve the development goal].

1. Attend a workshop on effective presentation techniques.

2. Practice delivering presentations to colleagues and gather feedback.

3. Shadow a senior team member during client presentations.

Resources: [Identify resources available to support the employee, such as training programs, mentorship, online courses, or budget for external workshops].

• Company-sponsored training on presentation skills.
• Mentorship from the Marketing Manager.
• Access to online resources like Coursera for public speaking courses.

Timeline: [Establish a clear timeframe for achieving the development goal, including deadlines for each action step].

• Complete presentation skills workshop within the next quarter.
• Practice and deliver a presentation to colleagues within two months.
• Shadow the Marketing Manager during client presentations for the next two quarters.

Measurement: [Define how the employee’s progress and the success of the development plan will be evaluated].

• Improvement in presentation skills assessed through feedback from colleagues and the Marketing Manager.
• Successful delivery of a client presentation (evaluated based on client satisfaction and project outcomes).

Template 2: Comprehensive development plan example

This comprehensive sample of employee development plans provides a more detailed framework, suitable for organizations seeking a robust system to foster employee growth.

Employee Information

• Employee Name:
• Department:

Development Goals

• Goal 1: [Clearly state the development goal].
• Description: [Provide a concise explanation of the goal].
• Metrics for success: [Define how progress and achievement will be measured].
• Action plan: [Outline specific steps, timelines, and resources].
• Goal 2: [Repeat for each development goal].

Competency Development

• Core competencies: [List the core competencies required for the employee’s current role and their current proficiency level].
• Target competencies: [Identify areas for improvement and set target proficiency levels].
• Development activities: [List specific activities to bridge the competency gap, including training courses, on-the-job experiences, mentoring, etc.].

Career aspirations

• Short-term goals: [State the employee’s short-term career goals (e.g., within 1-2 years)].
• Long-term goals: [State the employee’s long-term career goals (e.g., beyond 2 years)].
• Potential career paths: [Explore potential career paths within the organization aligned with the employee’s aspirations].

Support and resources

• Manager/supervisor support: [Outline how the manager will support the employee’s development].
• Mentorship opportunities: [Identify potential mentors within the organization].
• Training and development Budget: [Specify the allocated budget for the employee’s development activities].

Review and evaluation

• Review schedule: [Establish regular check-in points to review progress, provide feedback, and make adjustments to the plan].
• Performance evaluation: [Link the development plan to the employee’s performance evaluation process].

By providing your employees with development plan examples like these, you provide a clear roadmap for success, paving the way for both individual and organizational growth.

Employee Development Platforms: Enhancing the Learning Experience

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, embracing technology isn’t just an option—it’s an imperative.

This rings especially true for employee development .  As companies strive to foster a culture of continuous learning and upskilling, integrating a dedicated employee development platform can be transformative. But what exactly do these platforms offer, and how do they elevate the learning experience?

An employee development platform like DevSkiller provides a centralized hub for all development activities. Forget about disjointed spreadsheets and manual tracking. These platforms streamline the entire process, from identifying skill gaps and recommending relevant training to monitoring progress and measuring the impact of learning initiatives.

Let’s consider the impact of such a platform. Imagine accessing a comprehensive library of learning resources tailored to specific roles and skills, all within a single platform. DevSkiller, for example, leverages state-of-the-art skills ontologies to map over 4000 digital and IT skills. This empowers employees to acquire new knowledge and skills at their own pace, facilitated by personalized learning paths and engaging content formats.

Maintaining momentum: Following up on development plans

Creating a stellar employee development plan is a significant first step. However, the real magic happens when you prioritize consistent follow-up and evaluation. Without these elements, even the most meticulously crafted plans can lose their impact. Think of it like embarking on a road trip with a GPS but never bothering to check the directions – you might eventually reach your destination, but it will likely be a longer, less efficient journey.

Regular check-ins are crucial to ensure employees are on track to meet their objectives. These can be informal one-on-one meetings, quick progress reports, or even leveraging technology for digital check-ins. The frequency can vary depending on the plan’s complexity and the individual’s learning pace. Remember, the goal is to provide support, address roadblocks, and celebrate milestones, not to micromanage.

Feedback is another critical component of successful follow-up.  It’s not enough to simply ask, “How’s it going?” Instead, encourage open and honest conversations about what’s working well and where adjustments might be needed.  Remember, feedback is a two-way street. Encourage employees to share their insights and perspectives, fostering a collaborative approach to development.

By embedding a culture of continuous learning and development into the fabric of your organization, you’re not just investing in your employees’ futures – you’re investing in the future of your business.

Frequently asked questions about employee development plans

Navigating the terrain of employee development plans often brings up a few common questions. Let’s address these head-ons, providing clarity and practical insights.

What is the ideal duration for an employee development plan?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, as the timeframe should align with the specific goals, individual learning pace, and organizational context. However, a good starting point is to consider a plan spanning 6 to 12 months. This duration offers a balance between short-term achievements and long-term growth. For instance, a plan focused on acquiring a specific technical skill might have a shorter timeframe, while one geared towards leadership development could extend over a year or more.

How frequently should employee development plans be reviewed and updated?

Regular check-ins are crucial to keep the development journey on track.  A best practice is to schedule quarterly reviews as a starting point. These sessions provide a structured opportunity to discuss progress, address challenges, and make adjustments based on evolving needs or priorities.

How can I measure the effectiveness of our employee development program?

Measuring the impact of your development initiatives is essential to demonstrate their value. Consider employing a blend of qualitative and quantitative metrics. Track factors such as:

• Employee engagement and retention rates: Are employees more engaged and likely to stay with the organization after participating in development programs?
• Performance improvement:  Have you observed tangible improvements in individual or team performance metrics after implementing development plans?
• Goal attainment:  What percentage of employees successfully achieved the objectives outlined in their development plans?
• Feedback and surveys: Gather feedback from both employees and their managers to assess the perceived value and impact of the development initiatives.

By analyzing this data, you gain insights into the effectiveness of your program and identify areas for continuous improvement.

Concluding remarks: The future of employee development

Employee development plans are no longer optional but essential for navigating this dynamic environment. Organizations that prioritize investing in their employees’ growth will be best positioned to adapt and thrive in the future.

This forward-thinking approach requires embracing innovative learning methods, leveraging technology, and fostering a culture of continuous feedback and improvement.  By empowering employees to reach their full potential, businesses pave the way for both individual and organizational success. The future of work belongs to those who prioritize continuous learning and development. Get in touch with DevSkiller and learn more about how to develop and manage development plans or watch our 5-min demo .

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Training Industry

10 things you must do when starting your training company.

Since starting Training Industry, I’ve been fortunate to have met many exceptional people in the process of starting a training company. Some have been successful corporate executives, others from distinguished careers in the military and yet others from successful stints as training professionals. All are good development grounds for entrepreneurs and offer excellent credentials for credibility with prospective clients, but background does not always guarantee a successful company.

Some plan to launch their business as a consulting or coaching practice where training will be a component of their service offering. Others say they intend to form a pure-play training company that offers customized services or courses to suit client needs. Both will work, but again, there’s no guarantee as to what the clients will buy.

When meeting with them, my most frequently asked question is “Why training? Of all the business alternatives you could choose, why are you interested in starting a training company?” The most frequent response is they truly enjoy helping people.

Now I know we would all agree that this is a very noble perspective. And I believe training is one of those unique professions where you get to do that. But my first piece of advice is to be realistic and help them understand that as important as it is to have a passion for helping people, this too is not a prerequisite for success in this industry.

The good news is the barrier of entry into this market is extremely low. All you need is a website and business card, and you are ready to greet the world as a bona fide training provider. No certification is required, no validation is necessary, and definitely no advance fees are needed to gain entry. Just like the earlier points, however, great passion with easy entry does not make success a guarantee.

The other piece of advice I provide begins with “Entrepreneurs beware!” It’s easy to get into the business, but it’s a challenge to stay. Launching a training company is not for the meek and mild. Sadly, many very talented people who start training ventures neglect to lay the proper foundation before hanging out their shingles, or they fail to follow some basic tenents once the business is up and running. And they often pay a heavy price for these omissions.

According to the Small Business Administration, the failure rate for cross-industry businesses is nearly 60 percent in the first year. While the SBA has no specific data regarding training companies, my guess is the numbers are similar. And as one who started his own training business after managing a training organization for a large corporation – and made my share of mistakes along the way – I feel qualified to share what I believe are the fundamental principles you should take into account when starting a training business. Regardless of whether you want to be a contract designer, instructor, or consultant, or you want to create a learning technology or product, these tips will help ensure your success and reduce your risk of failure.

Doug’s 10 Tips for Starting a Training Business

10. possess the right credentials.

If you are starting a new training business, it helps immensely to demonstrate that you possess the knowledge, education or validation that proves you know more about the subject than others. A valid credential may be an advanced university degree, industry-recognized certification, professional license or something else that comes from an independent third party. Experience is also important. It quantifies the time you have invested in certain situations, although it doesn’t qualify your expertise at that skill. Leverage your credentials with experience to differentiate yourself as a thought leader.

9. Be Fully Committed

If you want to be a successful training entrepreneur, you must act the part. You must put both feet in the water. Hesitancy manifests as passive behavior. I’ve seen too many training entrepreneurs fail because they passively approach day-to-day activities. Starting a business isn’t a fast process; it can be a grind. Success comes by working through the failures on an even keel and not getting too high on early successes nor too low on early failures. Commitment means not accepting failure. We’ve all heard that success comes to those who work hard. I believe success comes to those who are committed to success.

8. Productize Your Offerings

Most training start-ups struggle to accurately define their capabilities and services. They promise the customer they can do anything the customer wants. But clients buy specific products and services, not a nebulous claim of proficiency. If your main business is a service, then productize that service. Model it, and graphically show it. Anyone can claim they do custom course development, but to differentiate yourself, you must define and name the proprietary process for your course development more clearly and effectively than others. For example, Accenture has productized strategic alignment under the name Business Interlock, while Intrepid Learning Services productizes its assessment service as JARS. You can do it, too.

7. Articulate your Value

Once you have created a product, you must articulate its value to the client. A value proposition is not why you think you’re special, but why your client should think you’re special. Take your time to define it succinctly and convincingly, and then test the message with others to see if it works. But remember: If you can’t adequately explain your value proposition, you can be sure your client will not understand.

6. Publish, Publish, Publish

Buyers of training products and services are proficient at researching potential suppliers. They use internet search engines and look for things that thought leaders have done in the past. One of the best marketing strategies for any new (or mature) training company is to leverage their knowledge. Show the market that you are the expert in your field. Publish articles, blogs and case studies – anything that documents your expertise. Your ability to articulate concepts and thought leadership in writing is a great example of who you are and what you can do for prospective clients.

5. Network with Buyers

Many well intended individuals advise that you should get to know as many people as possible. They are partly correct. Yes, networking is important, but getting to know the RIGHT people is the goal you should strive for. I often find start-up entrepreneurs attending meetings and conferences that have no buyers. Why are they there? Make sure the events you attend have the people you need to meet. Also, develop and execute an aggressive plan to meet potential buyers of your services. Don’t attend events that are full of the same people as you – places where others are looking to start a business or land a job. They don’t buy from you. Success comes from getting to know as many people as possible who buy your kind of products and services.

4. Speak Your Customer’s Language

Many people who enter the training business speak their own lingo, expecting the buyer of those services to understand. Some try to impress by using industry-based language. But remember that buyers of training products and services are not always training professionals. In fact, more than two-thirds of the value of training purchased is done by non-training professionals. So communicate your offerings and your value proposition into words that your customer understands.

3. Limit Non-Binding Partnerships

The life of an entrepreneur can be a lonely existence, especially if one hasn’t yet attracted customers or hired employees. Start-up entrepreneurs often seek relationships with others who are non-threatening and help them feel they are not in this business alone. Be careful. These relationships can become a distraction if they are not, or won’t become, contractually binding partnerships. Relationships should be about growing your business, not making you feel good. If you are going to form some kind of partnership, do it with people who have the same objective: making money for YOU. Minimize relationships that don’t pay your bills.

2. Create a Supply Chain

Recognize that the training industry is very large and complex with multiple levels of buyers and suppliers. A common mistake is to think that your only clients are the end customers of your services. Many tier 4 suppliers sell into tier 3, 2 or 1 suppliers. There is plenty of business to be had by training consultants who sell through another, larger training supplier that has an established channel to the end customer. Find the right supply chain for your business, and don’t limit your opportunities to selling direct.

1. Capitalize Your Business

This is rule number one, the absolute most important thing you must do when starting your training company: Make sure you have the proper amount of cash to make it through the sales cycle. I recommend you have at least six months of working capital on hand to get through the ebb and flow of cash management. It is frequently said that the number one failure of start-up businesses is not having the proper level of cash for the business they are in. Training is no different.

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Doug Harward

Doug Harward is the founder and CEO of Training Industry, Inc.

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President Biden touts Microsoft's Racine County 'comeback project,' contrasts it with Foxconn failure

Editors note: This story has been updated to correct the number of jobs that President Joe Biden said have been created in Wisconsin since he took office.

STURTEVANT - President Joe Biden on Wednesday touted Microsoft's planned $3.3 billion investment in its Mount Pleasant data center as a product of his administration's economic growth agenda, contrasting it with the unfulfilled promise of the neighboring Foxconn International Holdings development deal that was negotiated during Donald Trump's presidency.

Biden joined Microsoft President Brad Smith and Gov. Tony Evers Wednesday at Gateway College's Integrated Manufacturing and Engineering Technology Center to announce the expansion of Microsoft's data server complex, and the tech giant's plans to add about 2,000 permanent jobs over time. The new value of the development is more than three times what was announced a little more than a year ago when Microsoft signed its first deal to buy land in the village's Wisconsin Innovation Park.

Biden said the Microsoft development is a "comeback story," playing out across Wisconsin and the nation, that stands in contrast to the 2017 efforts of Trump and state Republican officials to bring Foxconn to Mount Pleasant. Microsoft is building its data center on land that Foxconn was initially expected to use for a $10 billion LCD manufacturing plant that Trump touted as the "eighth wonder of the world." Neither the investment nor the 13,000 jobs Foxconn promised materialized.

"Foxconn turned out to be just that," Biden said. "A con."

Visit comes as Biden, Trump locked in close race

Biden's stop in Sturtevant, his fourth trip to the state this year, comes as he is locked in a tight presidential race with presumptive GOP nominee Trump, who held a narrow, 51-49 percentage point lead among Wisconsin's registered voters and likely voters, according to the most recent Marquette Law School Poll . On economic issues, the poll found voters favored Trump 52-34.

Biden referenced Trump and Foxconn early in his 20-minute speech before an audience of about 200, using that experience to contrast with the 177,000 jobs that he said have been added in Wisconsin under his watch.

That growth, he said, stems from his " Investing in America " initiative, a package of bills passed in late 2021 and early 2022 that aims to encourage investments in domestic manufacturing and infrastructure, accelerate the nation's transition to clean energy, and create new, well-paying jobs.

"On my watch we make promises and keep promises," he said.

Microsoft workforce development efforts praised

Biden and Smith also highlighted Microsoft's expanded commitment to workforce development, business assistance and training and other initiatives designed to position the state as a hub for artificial intelligence-powered economic activity by helping workers and businesses adapt to working AI. That initiative includes a plan to help 100,000 workers learn new skills by 2030.

"What I want you to know is this isn't just about building a building. It is not just about manufacturing jobs today," Smith said. "More than anything, this project is about using the power of AI to fuel the future of manufacturing companies and jobs and skills across the state of Wisconsin and around the country. That is what we are building together."

The new value of the development reflects the torrid pace at which Microsoft has moved since it bought a 315-acre parcel in the business park in early 2023. It began construction of the first of two data center buildings just a few months later and by December had finalized a deal to acquire another 1,030 acres, for $176 million.

In April, Microsoft received preliminary approval from the village to begin grading land to the west of the construction site to prepare it for two additional buildings. In the near term, the construction project is expected to employ 2,300 union workers.

Smith in an interview said the fast movement was made possible with the cooperation of local, regional and state agencies who help smooth the permitting process and had premade large investments to develop the business park and ensure it was ready for construction. He acknowledged that preparation was done for Foxconn.

AI training for 100,000 workers promised

Microsoft's push in southeast Wisconsin isn't only focused on buildings. Smith said it will also make a multimillion-dollar investment in training programs that will teach business and technical leaders how best to adapt AI and transform work culture, support start up businesses, prepare hundreds of students for careers as data center technicians, and provide boot camp-style training for more than 100,000 people who need new skills to work in the artificial intelligence economy.

The effort builds on Microsoft's previous investments in business and workforce development in Wisconsin and brings in many of the same partners, including the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Connected Systems Institute , the Green Bay Packers and the Titletown Tech business development center, the Madison startup accelerator gener8tor, United Way and Gateway Technical College.

To support it, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. will provide $500,000 to TitletownTech, the Green Bay-based Packers-Microsoft venture capital and business development partnership. The funds will help TitletownTech set up a Milwaukee office at UWM's Connected Systems Institute , a research and education center focused on advanced industrial processes. 

Microsoft also intends to open an  AI Co-Innovation Lab lab at the Connected Systems Institute to help Wisconsin manufacturers, entrepreneurs and other business connect with Microsoft AI experts for guidance on implementing AI technology to grow their businesses. WEDC will provide an additional $500,000 to cover capital expenses associated with the initiative.

"Looking to the future, we could not be more excited that Microsoft chose Wisconsin for its new and most important AI innovation." Evers said. "Located in UWM's Connected Systems Institute, the Wisconsin AI co-innovation lab will focus on bringing AI skills and capability to manufacturers to strengthen thus vital sector."

One of only three such labs in the country, the lab will be Microsoft's first east of the Rocky Mountains and the only lab that is both run in partnership with a university and also focused on manufacturing businesses. Staff at the lab are expected to work with at least 60 manufacturers a year.

Wisconsin Republicans accuse Biden of trying to 'hijack' credit for project

Local Republican officials walked a line between praising the Microsoft announcement and deriding Biden on a call with reporters ahead of the event.

“Microsoft's announcement of private-sector jobs in Racine is good for workers, and it's all the more important when workers and families find themselves falling further and further behind due to the reckless inflation brought on to us by the Biden administration,” said U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, whose district includes the Racine area.

Steil also noted that data centers use a large amount of electricity, and said Wisconsin will need a “solid domestic source of energy” going forward. He pointed to We Energies’ plans for a new $1.2 billion natural-gas powered generating plant in Oak Creek as a positive step in that direction.

“It's imperative that we continue that investment in our infrastructure, in particular, transitioning the Oak Creek facility to natural gas, but in doing so, we're going to have to make sure that the pipeline of natural gas is actually built,” Steil said.

State Sen. Julian Bradley, R-Franklin, and Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Brian Schimming echoed Steil’s thoughts. Bradley characterized Biden’s visit as an attempt to “hijack” an “awesome” announcement for Wisconsin workers because he’s “failing everywhere else.”

“Joe Biden is limping back to Racine today to look for a ‘Racine reset,’” Schimming said, noting that Republican former President Donald Trump carried Racine County in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.