Change Your Tune

Companies, like yours, spend a lot of time, money, and resources on software development and deployment, but not nearly as much time focusing on end user adoption.  You can hire developers for IT solutions and a system integrator to deploy and manage software, but neither of those resources is ideal to create the highest value training for your end users.   End users, after all, are not generally hired based on their proficiency with a specific type of software; end users are hired for the business skills they will apply in a specific role.  Using software is just one part of that.   All organizations, therefore, face a challenge in ensuring that their end users can use software effectively.

When you’re responsible for a training program, the urge to launch right into development is strong.  However, if you don’t take the time to create a role-based training plan first, your investment could be in jeopardy.  An organized training plan is the best way to ensure that nothing is overlooked during development and that there will be no surprises during the rollout of your training.

When effective and affordable training is the goal, a training plan is essential.  Below are three areas that you should make sure to include in your plan.

1. Resource Planning – A well thought out training plan clearly identifies the time and effort required to develop training that will support user adoption.  Instructional designers and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are critical to training development.  Planning the SME time required to support training development reveals competing and overlapping priorities and ensures that needed resources are available and engaged when development must take place.
2. Prioritization – A thorough training document inventory of needed S.O.P.s, Job Aids, Quick Reference Tools, etc., enables planning and workload balancing when inevitable resource constraints occur.  An inventory with assigned priorities will allow management to make decisions about what is required for go-live and user adoption, versus what is “nice to have” and can potentially wait until after go-live.  This allows team members to have informed discussions around where to focus resources and time.
3. Scheduling – A training calendar is critical for scheduling end user participation and training logistics.  Training courses, participants and duration are all inputs to the training calendar.  Documenting the training calendar well in advance of go-live eliminates conflicts with business critical events (e.g., month end close, peak work schedules, vacations and hiring).  Managers can address and plan for conflicts before they become issues.  This early communication engages participants in the process, reduces anxiety and helps in developing backfill plans.

With these three components of a solid training plan, you will be able to keep your business objectives in mind and create customized training that is instructionally sound and effectively delivered to produce measurable results.  Your training plan will determine the highest value training that you can develop and deliver while working within your budget.