Step 1: Needs Analysis There are many tools available to help you determine what your learners need. We must be able to differentiate among skill development, concepts, processes, experiences, and the ability to apply these elements. Skill Development: A skill is a series of activities that need to be repeated (drilled, practiced) in order to develop proficiency. Typing on a keyboard is an example. The more practice, the better the ability to input information into the computer. Unfortunately, you must practice; simply wishing or thinking about it won't develop the skill. There are two levels of skills: Compilation (skill): The person doesn't have a great deal of experience in developing this skill and must carefully think about it in order to do it. This is the lower level of skill development, such as driving a car or riding a bicycle. Automaticity (skill): This indicates that the skill is mastered and the person doesn't have to think about it—it is being done on an automatic level. Concepts: A concept is a piece of knowledge that helps you to develop an understanding about what you are learning. For example, a computer system can be a concept; data that you put in this system can be manipulated and then released in a different way to help you manage a process. You could input all the financial information into a computer system to manage it to figure out if the company was making money or losing money. You need to develop an understanding of a concept using the higher levels of cognitive abilities. Process: A process is a series of steps or events which, when taken together, put you through a systemized course of action. Learning is a process, management is a process, developing a vision is a process. It is essential to understand what goes into learning a process so that you can then break it down into parts to help your people learn it. Attitude: This reflects the employee's beliefs and opinion that either support or inhibit behavior. The text goes through the process of developing a needs analysis. You need to be aware that you can do a needs analysis on three levels: the organizational level (which would include organizational development specialists) the group or operational level (which would include the manager and need an understanding of group development) the individual level (where you will need an understanding of diagnosing performance level) The significance of the needs analysis is to both gather data and establish needs.Step 2: Training Development This is really the design phase. After determining what skills, concepts, processes, attitudes, and general knowledge is lacking, the designer then produces a method for the employee to learn the necessary elements. Other elements the designer should take into consideration include: Environment: This term is used to analyze the organizational system. What are the influencers that will impact on the learning of the employee from the environment? Areas such as technology, competition, strategy, formal procedures, customer demands, and regulations would be included. Strategy: What is the strategic plan or direction for the entire organization? What is the direction for the HRD and training programs? How these strategies are linked and interdependent may affect the training design. Structure: What processes or systems are in place to support the strategy? Examples would be policy deployment and alignment, and coordination of divisions. Trainers need to be aware of where the "fits" are and where the "misfits" are. Core Technology: This refers to what the main business process entails, such as procedures used in a health care clinic, the specialists involved in care, and well-defined ways of handling problems. What happens when the strategies and structures are not supportive of the technology? Step 3: Developing Objectives What do you want to accomplish with your design? What do you want the employee to be able to do after mastering the training? The answers to these questions are the objectives. For new trainers, this area is the most difficult to learn. Training designs must take into account the following: Desired outcomes: What do you expect to happen? Conditions: Under what circumstances or conditions do you expect the outcome to happen? Standards: How will you evaluate; what is the criteria you will use to signify that the outcome is within the acceptable range? You must also be aware of various constraints that will affect your outcomes. These include organizational constraints, environmental constraints, and resource constraints. Step 4: Transfer of Training When the employee learns the needed information, skills processes, and knowledge, we say that either that learning happened or the training has transferred (become part of the knowledge base of the employee.) This is usually measured by the criteria that indicate that a significant transfer has occurred. Step 5: Outcomes Again, we must look at the outcomes at all three levels, the organization, the work group, and the individual. By understanding the impact on each of these levels, we should have a good idea if the design has the desired outcomes. Some questions to consider: Has the behavior been changed? Is the employee able to perform the job responsibilities? Can the manager handle the group? Is this group working together as a team with a common goal, or a group of individuals each out for themselves? Is the employee adequately motivated? How is the design evaluated? What adaptations or changes need to be made for this program to be more effective? Are the conditions under which the employee must perform the job satisfactory, or are changes needed? What are the expectations Of the learner? Of the trainer Of the manager? Of the management team? Does the design incorporate the correct learning process? What kind of reinforcement or follow-up training/coaching is needed to maintain this level? What can both the supervisor and the employee's peers do to support the worker's learning and maintaining levels? What is the role of reinforcement in the learning process?
Question: After reviewing the information on training plans, develop and post a rough/draft outline of what you would include in your training plan.