he design stage is one of the most crucial stages of a corporate training program. This is the stage where most of the ‘thinking’ happens and is the one which sets the platform for an effective program.
Understanding the Need
It is extremely important that an employee training program is tailor made for its audience. And for that, one needs to understand the needs of the employees and the challenges they are facing in depth. It is only then that the corporate training program can be relevant and make sense to them.
Now once you have all the details and insights about what they need, you need to think of the topics or schemes that came up evidently from the findings. These topics are now to be aligned to create a smooth flow from one topic to another. A good flow in the design is important for smooth transitioning from one topic to another. This makes it easy to understand and assimilate.
Designing the Training
The next step is to think of the various training methods and tools that can be used to bring out the learning effectively. Always remember to have a mix of various activities like games, discussions, simulations, audio visuals, concepts, models, etc. And as far as possible, try to give the participants an ‘experience’ rather than just a download of information. Adults like to learn through experience. And therefore, experiential learning methodologies are the best way to go if you want to create a successful corporate training program.
Another thing that’s of importance, is keeping enough time for self-reflection and action planning. This improves understanding and facilitate implementation of the learning.
Keeping enough buffer time is also of utmost importance while designing a corporate training program. Having a tight program schedule can get difficult. It leaves you with no scope for additional or extended discussions or last-minute changes which are sometimes essential during a program.
Asking for Feedback
Lastly, for increasing the chances of successfully delivering a corporate training services, you should always ask the client for feedback on the design. This helps in further customising the design to fulfil the needs of the participants and their stakeholders.