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Training Plan Templates

45 employee training plan templates (word, excel, pdf).

In all companies, one of the greatest assets is its workforce. As an employer or the HR head, you must provide your employees with the necessary training that will strengthen their skills, which ultimately boosts company growth. Giving them the right training reduces weaknesses that can slow down your company’s growth, operations, and the overall success. To achieve the targets in this regard, you need a training plan template.

Table of Contents

• 1 Training Plan Templates
• 2 What is a training plan outline?
• 3 Training Schedule Templates
• 4 Why do you need a training plan?
• 5 Training Curriculum Templates
• 6 How do you write a training plan?
• 7 Training Programs Templates

What is a training plan outline?

You use a training plan template as an outline for the needs, objectives, curriculum, and strategies that you need to address when the employees use any enhanced or new changes in your company. Your plan should include your target audiences and the topics that it will cover.

Training Schedule Templates

Why do you need a training plan?

Since your employees are your most valuable asset, you want them to become efficient in their jobs. In turn, this will be good for your company. This is the main reason why having a training plan template is one of the most important things you can do for your company.

The employee training plan template provides you with the tools that guide your employees in improving their productivity. These days, training plans or training schedule templates differ from the ones in the past. This is because these plans need to adjust to the changing conditions in the world of business.

A sample template allows you to build your own plan from scratch or you can customize it to suit your needs. Here are the benefits of having this plan:

• It gives you an advantage towards your employees’ productivity and it promotes a healthy work culture.
• Your new employees will have a clear path to productivity as the plan will set them up for success.
• It provides empowerment and realistic expectations in the workplace to create a thriving culture that will come to fruition.
• It helps you be better than your competitors. Since a plan helps your employees succeed, then your team will have better chances to win in the market and in the eyes of your customers.

Training Curriculum Templates

How do you write a training plan?

It is essential for you to “do your homework” by thoroughly researching your company’s situation. This is a must before you start making your training plan template.

You will be much better prepared to create a customized and relevant plan if you gather as much information as you can in the different key areas of your company. Here are a few tips to help you make your training programs template:

• Determine your company’s training needs You can use your company’s various resources to help you determine your employees’ training needs. Before creating your training plan template, consider the following: Company Goals Reference your company’s goals to help you define your training program’s goals. You should align your goals with those of your company’s in such a way that when your employees meet these goals, they would also meet your company’s goals. Job Descriptions You should include job descriptions as your basis for the training your employees need. HR Complaints Reviewing employee complaints will help you prioritize training on harassment, discrimination, overtime, and other common employee issues. Legal Obligations You have to make sure that your training curriculum template includes all the required training to meet legal and government obligations. This is a must.
• Determine the Employees You Will Train As soon as you have finished compiling all of the topics to cover in your training, it’s time to determine which of your employees need training. You can use other available resources of your company to identify these employees. For this, you can refer to: Company Policy For certain subjects or areas, it can be your company’s policies that will determine who needs training and in what frequency. Use these policies to start your list of employees. Employee Records Reviewing the records of your employees will help you determine which employees might need more training. Some examples of training include those for discrimination and harassment complaints, sensitive training, those who need to improve their performance, and those who need to improve their skills. Performance Data Reviewing the performance information of your employees will help you identify any weaknesses. Those who have such weaknesses might need refresher training. For instance, in how to properly use machines and equipment more efficiently or how to apply productive measures while working. You can also develop your own methods for determining which employees will need training in your company. Observations Vigilantly keeping your ears and eyes open in the workplace will help you identify those employees who need training in specific areas. Informal Discussions Make it a point to talk to your employees, supervisors, and managers frequently. Doing this enables you to get candid information about areas where employees feel well-equipped to perform their jobs and areas where they feel they need to improve. Focus Groups This involves selecting a group of employees who you will ask designed questions regarding training. The activity will be your chance to gather relevant information in a short amount of time. Focus groups are ideal for brainstorming and can be a valuable information source. Just make sure that the group you choose consists of people who are both outspoken and articulate. A quiet group might not have anything to contribute. Interviews Another effective way to discover what training your employees want or need is through personal interviews. However, this method can be time-consuming. Therefore, it’s recommended for specialized training that only affects a small number of people in your company. Questionnaires Come up with a questionnaire specific to the training plan template Excel you’re planning to create. This method is effective for new or elective training areas. Make sure to keep all of the answers confidential so that your employees will feel comfortable enough to provide honest answers. Demonstrations or Skill Tests Conduct written tests or have your employees perform demonstrations on certain equipment to determine who needs additional training.
• Learn How to Train Your Employees Adults are generally self-directed learners. They have their own learning styles, which usually include certain parameters. As a trainer, you might have to structure your training programs to meet these parameters. Despite this, you might still encounter reluctant learners. To overcome this issue, can consider these factors: Motivation Start with an open or friendly tone for each session to create a feeling of concern then set an appropriate difficulty level for your training. Other motivators for adult trainees may include: Personal achievement, which gives your employees an opportunity to attain a higher job status in your company. Social well-being, wherein you include opportunities for your employees to perform work in the community. External expectations where your employees will have to meet the expectations of a formal authority figure. Social relationships where you include opportunities for your employees to make friends and satisfy their need for association. Stimulation to break your employees’ work routines and provide contrast in their lives. Interest in learning to provide your employees with knowledge and satisfy their curiosity.
• Know Your Audience You can make each training session as effective as possible by analyzing the participants in each of the groups. You should also know the learning styles of your employees are. The three most common learning styles are: Visual These learners best receive information by reading and seeing it. Their brains process the visual information then retain it after seeing it. These learners benefit best with diagrams, written instructions, handouts, videos, overhead projections, and other visual presentations. Oral These learners best receive information when they hear it. They learn best through audio-conferences, speakers, Q&A sessions, discussion groups, and other oral presentations. Tactile or Kinetic These learners best receive information through their sense of touch. They can best benefit from “show and tell” or hands-on activities where they handle the materials. They also learn effectively if you give them the chance to practice. As a trainer, you must cater to different types of learners. Therefore, it becomes important to include a combination of teaching styles into your plan for training.
• Draft a Comprehensive Blueprint After your research, you will determine what your training needs are, who needs training, and how you can best train them. Next, it’s time to develop your plans. Here are the steps to do this: Use quantifiable measurements for the accomplishments that you want your employees to achieve after their training. Examples of this include an increase in their production quota in the case of sales training or a decrease in office injury rates in the case of safety training. Whenever possible, use charts, tables, and graphs to present specific trends and numbers that your training program should achieve. For instance, charting an increased productivity curve you want your employees to reach with your training or graphing the injury rate you want to see after a certain amount of time. Your target goals should be both achievable and realistic although they don’t have to be too easy. You should know your employees well enough to know how to challenge them to improve their performance. For instance, you can check the highest production peak your employees have achieved even if it only has happened one time. This time, set targets slightly above the point they achieved. Your employees will know that they can achieve the goal because they’ve done it before. But they also know that you’re challenging them to do better.

Training Programs Templates

More Templates

Emergency Contact Forms

Birthday Calendars

Staffing Plan Templates

Vacation Trackers

One to One Meeting Templates

Employee Schedule Templates

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8.4 Designing a Training Program

Learning objectives.

• Be able to design a training program framework.
• Understand the uses and applications of a career development program.

The next step in the training process is to create a training framework that will help guide you as you set up a training program. Information on how to use the framework is included in this section.

Training Program Framework Development

When developing your training plan, there are a number of considerations. Training is something that should be planned and developed in advance.

Figure 8.6 Training Program Development Model

The considerations for developing a training program are as follows:

• Needs assessment and learning objectives. This part of the framework development asks you to consider what kind of training is needed in your organization. Once you have determined the training needed, you can set learning objectives to measure at the end of the training.
• Consideration of learning styles. Making sure to teach to a variety of learning styles is important to development of training programs.
• Delivery mode. What is the best way to get your message across? Is web-based training more appropriate, or should mentoring be used? Can vestibule training be used for a portion of the training while job shadowing be used for some of the training, too? Most training programs will include a variety of delivery methods.
• Budget. How much money do you have to spend on this training?
• Delivery style. Will the training be self-paced or instructor led? What kinds of discussions and interactivity can be developed in conjunction with this training?
• Audience. Who will be part of this training? Do you have a mix of roles, such as accounting people and marketing people? What are the job responsibilities of these individuals, and how can you make the training relevant to their individual jobs?
• Content. What needs to be taught? How will you sequence the information?
• Timelines. How long will it take to develop the training? Is there a deadline for training to be completed?
• Communication. How will employees know the training is available to them?
• Measuring effectiveness of training. How will you know if your training worked? What ways will you use to measure this?

Human Resource Recall

Can you think of a time where you received training, but the facilitator did not connect with the audience? Does that ever happen in any of your classes (of course not this one, though)?

Needs Assessment

The first step in developing a training program is to determine what the organization needs in terms of training. There are three levels of training needs assessment: organizational assessment , occupational (task) assessment , and individual assessment :

• Organizational assessment. In this type of needs assessment, we can determine the skills, knowledge, and abilities a company needs to meet its strategic objectives. This type of assessment considers things such as changing demographics and technological trends. Overall, this type of assessment looks at how the organization as a whole can handle its weaknesses while promoting strengths.
• Occupational (task) assessment. This type of assessment looks at the specific tasks, skills knowledge, and abilities required to do jobs within the organization.
• Individual assessment. An individual assessment looks at the performance of an individual employee and determines what training should be accomplished for that individual.

We can apply each of these to our training plan. First, to perform an organizational assessment, we can look at future trends and our overall company’s strategic plan to determine training needs. We can also see how jobs and industries are changing, and knowing this, we can better determine the occupational and individual assessments.

Researching training needs can be done through a variety of ways. One option is to use an online tool such as SurveyMonkey to poll employees on what types of training they would like to see offered.

As you review performance evaluations turned in by your managers, you may see a pattern developing showing that employees are not meeting expectations. As a result, this may provide data as to where your training is lacking.

There are also types of training that will likely be required for a job, such as technical training, safety training, quality training, and professional training. Each of these should be viewed as separate training programs, requiring an individual framework for each type of training. For example, an employee orientation framework will look entirely different from an in-house technical training framework.

Training must be tied to job expectations. Any and all training developed should transfer directly to the skills of that particular employee. Reviewing the HR strategic plan and various job analyses may help you see what kind of training should be developed for specific job titles in your organization.

After you have determined what type of training should occur, learning objectives for the training should be set. A learning objective is what you want the learner to be able to do, explain, or demonstrate at the end of the training period. Good learning objectives are performance based and clear, and the end result of the learning objective can be observable or measured in some way. Examples of learning objectives might include the following:

• Be able to explain the company policy on sexual harassment and give examples of sexual harassment.
• Be able to show the proper way to take a customer’s order.
• Perform a variety of customer needs analyses using company software.
• Understand and utilize the new expense-tracking software.
• Explain the safety procedure in handling chemicals.
• Be able to explain the types of communication styles and strategies to effectively deal with each style.
• Demonstrate ethics when handling customer complaints.
• Be able to effectively delegate to employees.

Once we have set our learning objectives, we can utilize information on learning styles to then determine the best delivery mode for our training.

Learning Styles

Understanding learning styles is an important component to any training program. For our purposes, we will utilize a widely accepted learning style model. Recent research has shown that classifying people into learning styles may not be the best way to determine a style, and most people have a different style depending on the information being taught. In a study by Pashler et al., the authors look at aptitude and personality as key traits when learning, as opposed to classifying people into categories of learning styles. Bearing this in mind, we will address a common approach to learning styles next.

An effective trainer tries to develop training to meet the three different learning styles 1 :

• Visual learner. A visual learner usually has a clear “picture” of an experience. A visual learner often says things such as “I can see what you are saying” or “This looks good.” A visual learner is best reached using graphics, pictures, and figures.
• Auditory learner. An auditory learner learns by sound. An auditory learner might say, “If I hear you right” or “What do you hear about this situation?” The auditory learner will learn by listening to a lecture or to someone explaining how to do something.
• Kinesthetic learner. A kinesthetic learner learns by developing feelings toward an experience. These types of learners tend to learn by doing rather than listening or seeing someone else do it. This type of learner will often say things such as “This feels right.”

Most individuals use more than one type of learning style, depending on what kinds of information they are processing. For example, in class you might be a visual learner, but when learning how to change a tire, you might be a kinesthetic learner.

Delivery Mode

Depending on the type of training that needs to be delivered, you will likely choose a different mode to deliver the training. An orientation might lend itself best to vestibule training, while sexual harassment training may be better for web-based training. When choosing a delivery mode, it is important to consider the audience and budget constrictions. For example, Oakwood Worldwide, a provider of temporary housing, recently won the Top 125 Training Award for its training and development programs 2 . It offers in-class and online classes for all associates and constantly add to its course catalog. This is a major recruitment as well as retention tool for its employees. In fact, the company credits this program for retaining 25 percent of its workforce for ten years or more. Table 8.1 “Types of Training and Delivery” looks at each of the types of training and suggests appropriate options for delivery modes.

Table 8.1 Types of Training and Delivery

How much money do you think the training will cost? The type of training performed will depend greatly on the budget. If you decide that web-based training is the right delivery mode, but you don’t have the budget to pay the user fee for the platform, this wouldn’t be the best option. Besides the actual cost of training, another cost consideration is people’s time. If employees are in training for two hours, what is the cost to the organization while they are not able to perform their job? A spreadsheet should be developed that lists the actual cost for materials, snacks, and other direct costs, but also the indirect costs, such as people’s time.

Delivery Style

Taking into consideration the delivery method, what is the best style to deliver this training? It’s also important to keep in mind that most people don’t learn through “death by PowerPoint”; they learn in a variety of ways, such as auditory, kinesthetic, or visual. Considering this, what kinds of ice breakers, breakout discussions, and activities can you incorporate to make the training as interactive as possible? Role plays and other games can make the training fun for employees. Many trainers implement online videos, podcasts, and other interactive media in their training sessions. This ensures different learning styles are met and also makes the training more interesting.

Considering your audience is an important aspect to training. How long have they been with the organization, or are they new employees? What departments do they work in? Knowing the answers to these questions can help you develop a relevant delivery style that makes for better training. For example, if you know that all the people attending the training are from the accounting department, examples you provide in the training can be focused on this type of job. If you have a mixed group, examples and discussions can touch on a variety of disciplines.

Content Development

The content you want to deliver is perhaps one of the most important parts in training and one of the most time-consuming to develop. Development of learning objectives or those things you want your learners to know after the training makes for a more focused training. Think of learning objectives as goals—what should someone know after completing this training? Here are some sample learning objectives:

• Be able to define and explain the handling of hazardous materials in the workplace.
• Be able to utilize the team decision process model.
• Understand the definition of sexual harassment and be able to recognize sexual harassment in the workplace.
• Understand and be able to explain the company policies and structure.

After you have developed the objectives and goals, you can begin to develop the content of the training. Consideration of the learning methods you will use, such as discussion and role playing, will be outlined in your content area.

Development of content usually requires a development of learning objectives and then a brief outline of the major topics you wish to cover. With that outline, you can “fill in” the major topics with information. Based on this information, you can develop modules or PowerPoint slides, activities, discussion questions, and other learning techniques.

For some types of training, time lines may be required to ensure the training has been done. This is often the case for safety training; usually the training should be done before the employee starts. In other words, in what time frame should an employee complete the training?

Another consideration regarding time lines is how much time you think you need to give the training. Perhaps one hour will be enough, but sometimes, training may take a day or even a week. After you have developed your training content, you will likely have a good idea as to how long it will take to deliver it. Consider the fact that most people do not have a lot of time for training and keep the training time realistic and concise.

From a long-term approach, it may not be cost effective to offer an orientation each time someone new is hired. One consideration might be to offer orientation training once per month so that all employees hired within that month are trained at the same time.

Development of a dependable schedule for training might be ideal, as in the following example:

• Orientation is offered on the first Thursday of every month.
• The second and third Tuesday will consist of vestibule training on management skills and communication.
• Twice yearly, in August and March, safety and sexual harassment training will be given to meet the legal company requirements.

Developing a dependable training schedule allows for better communication to your staff, results in fewer communication issues surrounding training, and allows all employees to plan ahead to attend training.

Communication

Once you have developed your training, your next consideration is how you will communicate the available training to employees. In a situation such as an orientation, you will need to communicate to managers, staff, and anyone involved in the training the timing and confirm that it fits within their schedule. If it is an informal training, such as a brown bag lunch on 401(k) plans, this might involve determining the days and times that most people are in the office and might be able to participate. Because employees use Mondays and Fridays, respectively, to catch up and finish up work for the week, these days tend to be the worst for training.

Consider utilizing your company’s intranet, e-mail, and even old-fashioned posters to communicate the training. Many companies have Listservs that can relay the message to only certain groups, if need be.

What can happen if training is not communicated to employees appropriately?

Measuring Effectiveness

After we have completed the training, we want to make sure our training objectives were met. One model to measure effectiveness of training is the Kirkpatrick model (Kirkpatrick, 2006), developed in the 1950s. His model has four levels:

• Reaction: How did the participants react to the training program?
• Learning: To what extent did participants improve knowledge and skills?
• Behavior: Did behavior change as a result of the training?
• Results: What benefits to the organization resulted from the training?

Each of Kirkpatrick’s levels can be assessed using a variety of methods. We will discuss those next.

Figure 8.7 Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation

Review the performance of the employees who received the training, and if possible review the performance of those who did not receive the training. For example, in your orientation training, if one of the learning objectives was to be able to request time off using the company intranet, and several employees who attended the training come back and ask for clarification on how to perform this task, it may mean the training didn’t work as well as you might have thought. In this case, it is important to go back and review the learning objectives and content of your training to ensure it can be more effective in the future.

Many trainers also ask people to take informal, anonymous surveys after the training to gauge the training. These types of surveys can be developed quickly and easily through websites such as SurveyMonkey. Another option is to require a quiz at the end of the training to see how well the employees understand what you were trying to teach them. The quiz should be developed based on the learning objective you set for the training. For example, if a learning objective was to be able to follow OSHA standards, then a quiz might be developed specifically related to those standards. There are a number of online tools, some free, to develop quizzes and send them to people attending your training. For example, Wondershare QuizCreator offers a free trial and enables the manager to track who took the quiz and how well they did. Once developed by the trainer, the quiz can be e-mailed to each participant and the manager can see how each trainee did on the final quiz. After you see how participants do on the quiz, you can modify the training for next time to highlight areas where participants needed improvement.

It can be easy to forget about this step in the training process because usually we are so involved with the next task: we forget to ask questions about how something went and then take steps to improve it.

One way to improve effectiveness of a training program is to offer rewards when employees meet training goals. For example, if budget allows, a person might receive a pay increase or other reward for each level of training completed.

Once the training framework has been developed, the training content can be developed. The training plan serves as a starting point for training development.

Career Development Programs and Succession Planning

Another important aspect to training is career development programs. A career development program is a process developed to help people manage their career, learn new things, and take steps to improve personally and professionally. Think of it as a training program of sorts, but for individuals. Sometimes career development programs are called professional development plans.

Figure 8.9 Sample Career Development Plan Developed by an Employee and Commented on by Her Manager

As you can see, the employee developed goals and made suggestions on the types of training that could help her meet her goals. Based on this data, the manager suggested in-house training and external training for her to reach her goals within the organization.

Career development programs are necessary in today’s organizations for a variety of reasons. First, with a maturing baby-boom population, newer employees must be trained to take those jobs once baby boomers retire. Second, if an employee knows a particular path to career development is in place, this can increase motivation. A career development plan usually includes a list of short- and long-term goals that employees have pertaining to their current and future jobs and a planned sequence of formal and informal training and experiences needed to help them reach the goals. As this chapter has discussed, the organization can and should be instrumental in defining what types of training, both in-house and external, can be used to help develop employees.

To help develop this type of program, managers can consider a few components (Heller, 2005):

• Talk to employees. Although this may seem obvious, it doesn’t always happen. Talking with employees about their goals and what they hope to achieve can be a good first step in developing a formal career development program.
• Create specific requirements for career development. Allow employees to see that if they do A, B, and C, they will be eligible for promotion. For example, to become a supervisor, maybe three years of experience, management training, and communication training are required. Perhaps an employee might be required to prove themselves in certain areas, such as “maintain and exceed sales quota for eight quarters” to be a sales manager. In other words, in career development there should be a clear process for the employees to develop themselves within the organization.
• Use cross-training and job rotation. Cross-training is a method by which employees can gain management experience, even if for short periods of time. For example, when a manager is out of the office, putting an employee “in charge” can help the employee learn skills and abilities needed to perform that function appropriately. Through the use of job rotation , which involves a systematic movement of employees from job to job within an organization, employees can gain a variety of experiences to prepare them for upward movement in the organization.
• Utilize mentors. Mentorship can be a great way for employees to understand what it takes to develop one’s career to the next level. A formal mentorship program in place with willing mentees can add value to your career development program.

Figure 8.10 Career Development Sample Process to Become an Accounts Payable Manager

There are many tools on the web, including templates to help employees develop their own career development plans. Many organizations, in fact, ask employees to develop their own plans and use those as a starting point for understanding long-term career goals. Then hopefully the organization can provide them with the opportunities to meet these career goals. In the late 1980s, many employees felt that career opportunities at their current organizations dwindled after seeing the downsizing that occurred. It gave employees the feeling that companies were not going to help develop them, unless they took the initiative to do so themselves. Unfortunately, this attitude means that workers will not wait for career opportunities within the company, unless a clear plan and guide is put into place by the company (Capelli, 2010). Here is an example of a process that can be used to put a career development program in place (Adolfo, 2010):

• Meet individually with employees to identify their long-term career interests (this may be done by human resources or the direct manager).
• Identify resources within the organization that can help employees achieve their goals. Create new opportunities for training if you see a gap in needs versus what is currently offered.
• Prepare a plan for each employee, or ask them to prepare the plan.
• Meet with the employee to discuss the plan.
• During performance evaluations, revisit the plan and make changes as necessary.

Identifying and developing a planning process not only helps the employee but also can assist the managers in supporting employees in gaining new skills, adding value, and motivating employees.

Figure 8.11 Career Development Planning Process

Key Takeaways

• There are a number of key considerations in developing a training program. Training should not be handled casually but instead developed specifically to meet the needs of the organization. This can be done by a needs assessment consisting of three levels: organizational , occupational , and individual assessments .
• The first consideration is the delivery mode; depending on the type of training and other factors, some modes might be better than others.
• Budget is a consideration in developing training. The cost of materials, but also the cost of time, should be considered.
• The delivery style must take into account people’s individual learning styles. The amount of lecture, discussion, role plays, and activities are considered part of delivery style.
• The audience for the training is an important aspect when developing training. This can allow the training to be better developed to meet the needs and the skills of a particular group of people.
• The content obviously is an important consideration. Learning objectives and goals for the training should be developed before content is developed.
• After content is developed, understanding the time constraints is an important aspect. Will the training take one hour or a day to deliver? What is the time line consideration in terms of when people should take the training?
• Letting people know when and where the training will take place is part of communication.
• The final aspect of developing a training framework is to consider how it will be measured. At the end, how will you know if the trainees learned what they needed to learn?
• A career development process can help retain good employees. It involves creating a specific program in which employee goals are identified and new training and opportunities are identified and created to help the employee in the career development process.
• Develop a rough draft of a training framework using Figure 8.8 for a job you find on Monster.com.
• Write three learning objectives you think would be necessary when developing orientation training for a receptionist in an advertising firm.
• Why is a career development plan important to develop personally, even if your company doesn’t have a formal plan in place? List at least three reasons and describe.

1 “What’s YOUR Learning Style?” adapted from Instructor Magazine , University of South Dakota, August 1989, accessed July 28, 2010, http://people.usd.edu/~bwjames/tut/learning-style/ .

2 “Oakwood Worldwide Honored by Training Magazine for Fifth Consecutive Year Training also Presents Oakwood with Best Practice Award,” press release, February 25, 2011, Marketwire , accessed February 26, 2011, http://www.live-pr.com/en/oakwood-worldwide-honored-by-training-magazine-r1048761409.htm .

Adolfo, J. T., “The Career Development Plan: A Quick Guide for Managers and Supervisors,” n.d., National Career Development Association, accessed July 29, 2010, http://associationdatabase.com/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/6420/_PARENT/layout_details/false .

Capelli, P., “A Balanced Plan for Career Development,” n.d., Microsoft, accessed July 29, 2010, http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/a-balanced-plan-for-career-development-HA001126815.aspx .

Heller, M., “Six Tips for Effective Employee Development Programs,” CIO Magazine , June 15, 2005, accessed July 28, 2010, http://www.cio.com/article/29169/Six_Tips_for_Effective_Career_Development_Programs .

Kirkpatrick, D., Evaluating Training Programs , 3rd ed. (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2006).

Pashler, H., Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer, and Robert Bjork, “Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 9, no. 3 (2008): 109–19, accessed February 26, 2011, http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/PSPI_9_3.pdf .

WonderShare QuizCreator, accessed July 29, 2010, http://www.sameshow.com/quiz-creator.html#172 .

Human Resource Management Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Assignment Samples & Examples

Table of Contents

Assignment samples, assignment instructions & rubrics, useful tools to plan assignments, useful tools to search & organize sources, useful tools to analyze sources & develop your ideas, writing strategies, learning strategies.

Here you can find the complete list of all the student assignment samples as well as practical tools and examples that are hyperlinked as PDF, Word or Excel files across Resource Pages.  

This is a full literature review paper written by an OISE student on the topic of Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) and Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) in Writing Centers (WC). Throughout the paper, you will find several annotations. Yellow annotations refer to the structure of the paper, its content and how ideas are developed. Purple annotations refer to writing elements and language elements (e.g., paragraphs, paraphrases, summaries, quotes, stance and voice, cohesion, etc.).

This assignment sample is hyperlinked in the following Resource Pages: 

• How to Draft an Academic Paper
• How to Write Introductions
• How to Write Conclusions

This is an experiential reflection assignment written by OISE student Hongyu Chen about their observations of a Mandarin language class and language teaching methodologies.

This assignment sample is available the following Resource Pages: 

• What is Reflective Writing?
• How to Write Reflectively

These are two examples of annotated bibliographies with slightly different structures.

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• What is an Annotated Bibliography? 
• How to Write an Annotated Bibliography

This is a research proposal paper written by an OISE student on the relationships between textual production, student collaboration and social networking sites. Hover over the highlighted parts to find annotations and comments about the structure and content of this research proposal.

This assignment sample is hyperlinked in the following Resource Page: 

• How to Write a Research Proposal Paper

This is a set of instructions for a final paper with notes written by an OISE student. The notes show you the process of understanding and planning the assignment on the student’s part.

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• How to Understand & Plan Assignments

This is a rubric for an Annotated Bibliography assignment that shows the professor’s expectations and evaluation criteria. Students can use these evaluation criteria as guidelines when working on the assignment.

This rubric is hyperlinked in the following Resource Page: 

These are detailed guidelines on how to prepare a quantitative research proposal. Adapted from the course APD2293 “Interpretation of Educational Research”.

These guidelines are hyperlinked in the following Resource Page: 

Download this template and use it when planning your work for an assignment.

This template is hyperlinked in the following Resource Page: 

This is an example of how to start planning and thinking about your research proposal assignment. You will find a student’s notes and ideas about their research proposal topic - "Perspectives on Textual Production, Student Collaboration, and Social Networking Sites”.

This example is hyperlinked in the following Resource Page: 

Download this template and use it to brainstorm keywords for core concepts and related terms when searching sources for your assignment.

This template is hyperlinked in the following Resource Page:

• How to Find Sources for Assignments

Download this template and use it to keep track of your library searches when looking for sources for your assignment. At the top, you’ll find an example of how to use the template.

Download this template spreadsheet and use it to record and organize the bibliographic information of the sources you found. It will help you keep track of the sources collected. At the top, you’ll find an example of how to use this spreadsheet.

• How to Organize Literature

Download this template spreadsheet and use it to record and organize the key information of the sources you found + your notes about the relevant points from each source after reading them. It will help you when you analyze your sources and need to develop ideas for your assignment. At the top, you’ll find an example of how to use this spreadsheet.

The examples and templates below are linked in the following Resource Page:

• How to Analyze Literature and Develop Ideas for my Literature Review

Download this spreadsheet for an example of how you can summarize findings and record your analysis for each source you’ve read. The research topic in this example is assessment practices of online mathematics and statistics courses at the undergraduate level, with a focus on students’ and instructors’ perspectives. You can first browse the overall information of the example sources and pay attention to the final two columns for findings and critical analysis.

This is an example of how to use a table to organize your ideas and visualize the connections among them. These will become the points to include in your assignment.

This is an example of how to use a concept map to organize your ideas and visualize the connections among them. These will become the points to include in your assignment.

This is an example of how to use a literature review matrix to organize your ideas and visualize the connections among them. These will become the points to include in your assignment.

This is an example of how to use an outline to organize your ideas and visualize the connections among them. These will become the points to include in your assignment.

For users with accessibility needs: this example shows a well-structured paragraph featuring three main elements: a topic sentence, supporting statements and a conclusion or transition sentence.

You can find this example as an image in the following Resource Page: 

• What are Paragraphs

For users with accessibility needs: this example shows the structure of a paragraph using the sandwich strategy.

• How to Write Paragraphs  

For users with accessibility needs: this example shows how different voices are used within a paragraph.

• What are Stance & Voice and How to Apply them in Academic Writing

This example with annotations shows how a student writer takes a stance and shifts between voices in a paragraph about Mathematics programs.

This example with annotations shows how a student revised a paper section by identifying the key points to make sure they flow logically.

• Revising, Editing & Proofreading

This example shows how to use concision strategies in a paragraph.

This example with annotations shows how a student revised, edited and proofread the introduction paragraph of a paper on language policies in Beijing.

This sample shows a student’s notes during a lecture about the topic “Assessments in online mathematics courses in the post-secondary context”.

• How to Take Notes in Class

This sample shows how a student reviewed, consolidated and organized their notes after class. These notes refer to a lecture about the topic “Assessments in online mathematics courses in the post-secondary context”.

This sample shows a student’s notes of an academic article using the Cornell system.

•   How to Take Notes of Readings

This sample shows a student’s notes of an academic article using the outline method.

For users with accessibility needs: this sample shows a student’s notes of an academic article using the mindmap method.

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How to Develop a Training Module: A Step-by-Step Guide

content creator

Helen Colman See full bio →

Did you know that employees value learning opportunities more than free snacks and nap pods? Unfortunately, many corporate training modules are dry, irrelevant, and fail to capture employee interest. This leads to disengaged learners and ultimately hinders your organization’s development.

In this article, we’ll equip you with the tools you need to create interactive training modules for employees that spark engagement and empower learning.

What Is a Training Module?

A training module is a self-contained unit of course content that focuses on a specific topic. Each module is like a chapter in a book, leading to the next. Together, these modules form a complete story and provide a full understanding of the subject.

Types of Training Modules

Striking the right balance with a variety of content types enables you to craft a more enriching training experience for all your learners. Here are some examples of employee training modules that cater to different learning styles, along with tips on how to effectively utilize them:

1. Informational e-course

An informational eLearning course is a popular online training module format that typically includes a set of slides with text, pictures, and “Next” buttons. This provides learners with information on a specific topic and can be used in different aspects of the business sector. When you create online training modules, focus on clarity of look and optimal length to help learners focus on the learning topic better.

Example of an informational e-course

A ‘Work from Home’ course made with iSpring Suite

Check out an online training module →

Best suited for

• Delivering standardized knowledge, such as the onboarding of new hires, or safety, security awareness, or compliance training .
• Providing information on a new product, technology, or policy update.

2. Interactive assessment

An interactive assessment is a type of online quiz that incorporates a variety of question types , custom branching, and scenarios. The more these knowledge checks engage learners by prompting them to move, compare, or choose objects, the more effective they are for the learning experience.  For this reason, it might be a good idea to use multiple-choice , true or false , fill-in-the-blank , drag-and-drop , matching , and sequencing  question types in your online training modules.

Example of an interactive assessment

Check out a complete training module →

• Measuring your learners’ level of knowledge relevant to their work and/or ability to apply knowledge.
• Challenging tasks that require certification or credentialing.
• Proof of completion of learning activities.
• Identifying learners who may need additional support.

3. FAQ interaction

An FAQ interaction is a layout that gives users one-click access to reference information and frequently asked questions on a specific topic. You can present an FAQ interaction as a series of questions and answers or a list of certain topics and details. You can also add keywords to your FAQ interaction to enhance search functionality within your online course.

Example of an FAQ interaction

An FAQ training module template in iSpring Suite

• Creating a standard format to organize and present basic information.
• Glossaries, definitions, or other basic knowledge-level facts.
• Providing information that is supplementary to the main content of the training course.

4. Video lectures and screencasts

If you opt for a video-based training format, chances are it will comprise video lectures and screencasts. A video lecture is an instructional video that has been recorded and saved for viewing at a later date.

Example of a video lecture

A screencast is a video recording which captures the actions that take place on a screen, like accessing programs or navigating certain features.

Tutorials to demonstrate basic business tasks, such as how to access programs, how to navigate through an online system, or how to fill out forms.

• Providing a large audience of learners with access to a particular portion of knowledge, like a lesson.
• Creating an effect of presence and enhancing comprehension.

Also read  → The Ultimate Guide to Lecture Capture

5. Role-play scenarios

Role-play scenarios help your learners build communication skills by applying their knowledge in conversations with colleagues and customers and measure their performance. These online training modules are basically dialogue scenes with branching scenarios that immerse learners into practicing in a realistic, yet risk-free environment, which is perfect for sales training.

Example of a role-play

Check out a complete sample training module for employees →

• Scenario-based learning for customer service and sales teams to develop customer relationships and close sales.
• Educating coaches and instructors who have to communicate information systematically to individuals or audiences.

Also read  →  Retail Sales Training – How to Move It Online

6. Microlearning module

A microlearning module is a bite-size lesson that provides a focused answer to a single problem or question. These eLearning modules can usually be completed in about five minutes at the point of need. If they’re too long, it’s better to break them down into smaller segments. The key principle to follow is: one idea per module.

Example of a microlearning module

• Employee training during an idle moment and immediate practice of the new knowledge.
• Taking courses about a new product or services, updated policy, or new terms super quick.
• Providing the basics of a learning topic prior to face-to-face training sessions.

7. Digital job aid

A digital job aid is a document or presentation that is accessible virtually and can be played, downloaded, saved, or printed by the learner. Typically, it can be a flipbook made from Word, PPT, or PDF files.

Example of a digital job aid

• Accessing manuals, guides, instructions on mobile devices, or on an internal drive.
• Microlearning initiatives within a company.

Also read  →  5 Types of Employee Training

By using these various training module formats, you can create online training for employees that is both engaging and effective. Each course module example provided above shows how diverse training approaches can meet specific educational goals and enhance the overall learning experience.

Components of a Training Module

Before diving into the guide on how to create a training module, check out the components it might include:

1. Introduction : This section provides an overview of the training module and sets the context for the learning objectives.

2. Learning Objectives : This module should clearly state what participants will be able to understand or do after completing the training.

3. Content : This is the main body of the module, where the actual training material is presented. It may include text, images, videos, interactive elements, and other multimedia resources. 

4. Activities and Exercises : To enhance learning, modules often include activities and exercises that allow participants to apply new skills. Developing training modules with interactive exercises can significantly improve retention and understanding.

5. Assessments : These are used to measure participants’ understanding and retention of the material. Assessments can take various forms, such as quizzes, tests, or practical assignments.

6. Summaries and Reviews : At the end of each section or module, a summary or review section is often included to reinforce key concepts and provide a quick recap of the material covered.

7. Resources and References : Additional resources, references, and recommended readings may be provided to further support learning and provide participants with other relevant content.

8. Conclusion : A course module should conclude by summarizing the key points and reiterating the original objectives.

By focusing on these elements, you can create training modules that are well-structured and impactful.

How to Develop Training Modules

Creating training modules, as well as developing a training curriculum, requires careful planning and execution. In this comprehensive guide, we walk you through the process of developing an effective training module. 

Whether you’re a seasoned instructional designer or just want to learn how to create training modules, this guide will provide you with valuable insights and practical tips that will empower you to create an impactful training module.

Step 1: Define the Problem

The first step to achieving training success is to solve the right business problem!

Ask detailed and probing open-ended questions to find out:

• What is the nature of the problem to be solved?
• What knowledge or skill is needed to bridge this gap?
• What is the level of knowledge or performance that your people actually do have?
• What is the expected level of knowledge or performance your people should have on this topic?

The answers you get will ensure a clear understanding of the business problem and help you set up learning objectives for your online training modules.

At this stage, it is also important to gather information about your audience. This will enable you to select the appropriate level of difficulty and tone for the modules.

Step 2: Write a SMART Objective

A training goal or learning objective establishes the reason for learning and communicates the focus of the training module. For best results, when building a training module, think SMART and create a goal that is:

• Specific – the learner knows what they will learn or be able to do after finishing the course;
• Measurable – learners will leverage this knowledge consistently for each report;
• Achievable – the learner will be able to perform the tasks you expect them to;
• Relevant – the content will be focused on job essential knowledge and skills;
• Timely – the learner will be able to complete it in a timely manner.

A SMART goal will motivate the employee by showing them “what’s in it for me” in learning.

Step 3: Decide on the Right Content Format

After you explore the problem and decide on your objective, you’re all set for the practical part!

The secret to building great training is to match the right kind of training module to the learning task at hand. The chart below aligns different content formats with particular learning needs.

Whether you’ve never worked with an eLearning tool or you’re an eLearning pro who wants to expand your repertoire and make content quicker, iSpring Suite will help you develop training courses that are both effective and engaging. It’s able to create varied formats of interactive learning content easily, in the PowerPoint interface and even from existing ppt, Word, and pdf files.

iSpring Suite provides the near-limitless options to populate your slide-based course with quizzes, ready-made interactions, and characters, build role-plays by simply pasting script lines when needed, and record any type of instructional videos without high-tech video editing tools. Plus, it allows you to co-create and review online training modules together with colleagues in real time, which is great for our next step.

Step 4: Feedback and Revision

After a bit of work on your part, the first version of your training module is ready! Now, it’s time to send the first draft to your Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and Stakeholders and collect their feedback.

Don’t be surprised if subject matter experts leave a LOT of feedback on your initial efforts and want to put it all into the online training modules. This may cause an endless feedback loop which you can successfully prevent with a three-step design protocol, known as alpha/beta/gold:

• The first draft of a training module is known as the alpha draft. For an experienced instructional designer, an alpha draft should be about 75-80% correct. This is typically where you will get the most feedback from your SMEs.
• The revised second version of a training module is the beta draft. If you’ve received quality feedback during the first round, your beta version should be about 95-98% accurate. So, you should have far fewer revisions at this point.
• The final draft is called the gold version. Unless your SMEs have missed vital information in the previous rounds of review, the gold version should be 99-100% correct. SME and Stakeholder review of the gold draft should go quickly, and you now have an awesome trai

Step 5: Run a Pilot with a Test Audience

As a best practice in training course development, you should run a pilot of any new training before putting it into circulation across your organization. To get started, select a test audience that consists of a small group of employees who are not proficient in the given topic. Then, gather feedback from them to find out what worked best and what could be improved in the training module. If the intended performance goals are not achieved, think of the gaps that might exist. Discuss the ways how to fill in these gaps with SMEs and stakeholders.

Step 6: Create a Final Version, Upload, and Launch

At this stage, you’re ready to create the “final final” version of your training module and provide access to it through the learning management system (LMS). You may want to work with your business partners, change management, or project management to coordinate a formal roll-out of the new learning initiative.

You may also want to provide detailed reporting data about learning consumption and results 30, 60, and 90 days after your training program is launched. Tracking data for o n-the-job performance metric s is a great way to show the training’s impact on employee development and actual work performance.

Also read :

→ The 11 Best HR Tools for Streamlining Your Workflow

→ 17 Key Recruiting Metrics and How to Improve Them with Online Training

Create interactive online courses like a pro

Master every stage of interactive course development with 20 video lessons. Apply theory to practice with expert instructional designers.

FAQ on Training Modules

Here are answers to some common questions about creating a training course. 

What is the purpose of training modules?

The purpose of online training modules is to provide information and instruction on a specific topic or skill. This so-called “modular learning” aims to educate and train individuals to improve their knowledge, skills, or performance in a particular area. Different modules may include various interactive elements, assessments, and resources to enhance the learning experience.

What is the difference between a training module and a training manual?

Online training modules are designed to deliver information and instruction through a combination of multimedia elements, such as videos, audio clips, interactive activities, and quizzes. They often utilize e-learning platforms or software to provide an engaging and interactive learning experience. Learning modules are particularly effective in scenarios in which hands-on practice, simulations, or demonstrations are required.

On the other hand, training manuals are typically in a written format, consisting of detailed text-based explanations, diagrams, charts, and examples. They provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of the training content, allowing learners to study and reference the material at their own pace. Training manuals are commonly used in self-paced learning environments, where learners can read and review the information independently.

Ultimately, the choice between a training module and a training manual depends on the specific training objectives, target audience, and available resources. Both formats can be valuable tools for delivering effective training, and often a combination of both may be used to cater to different learning preferences and needs.

Takeaways on Creating a Training Module

• Solve the right business problem!
• Adhere to SMART objectives. 
• Try different styles in online learning. 
• Use an authoring tool such as iSpring Suite to create engaging learning materials, and an LMS to manage training.
• Bear in mind SME participation, feedback, and revision.
• “Test drive” this new initiative before making it available organization wide.

Training is never a one-and-done experience. Organizations always starve for improvement, so the shelf life of even the best eLearning can be anywhere from a few months to just over a year. Review all of your online training modules at least twice a year for accuracy; expect that you will need to either update or completely revise your content on an annual basis.

Now that you know how to develop a training module, it’s time to put your new knowledge into practice. Still don’t have iSpring Suite Max? Download this course authoring software for free now and start creating impactful training modules right away!

If you’re looking for a reliable, easy-to-use LMS, get an i Spring Learn trial or request a demo!

iSpring Suite

Create online courses and assessments in record time.

Content creator

Helen Colman

She enjoys combining in-depth research with expert knowledge of the industry. If you have eLearning insights that you’d like to share, please get in touch .

How to Track Employee Training: Here Are the 5 Best Ways

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Corporate Training 101: The Basics

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10 On-the-job training examples

April 8, 2021

Guest Author Gavoy Small

Start training your teams today.

On-the-job training refers to training that employees receive while working. This type of training is useful because it provides hands-on experience for employees. It’s a lot more effective than off-the-job training. We have compiled a list of on-the-job training examples and training programs for you.

1. Self-instruction training

Self-instruction training is as the name suggests. Among training program examples, these are employee training and development courses that can be accessed at any time by the trainees, and they go through the courses at their own pace.

These courses are great because they are often mobile-compatible, easy to scale for the company, and allow employees to train at their own pace. As long as employees don’t lose focus and stop their training process, they will be fine. There are LMS platforms, such as SC Training (formerly EdApp) , that can be used to create these courses. Some even have tested templates for you to work with.

2. Orientation

Orientation is a very common type of on-the-job training that is used in most workplaces. A lot of people do not even consider onboarding to be training of new employees, but in a lot of cases, it is. Whenever employees start a new job, they will need to get oriented to the environment and all the processes and procedures involved with the job.

Among examples of training programs, it allows you to get to know your supervisors and human resources better during this time. Some companies also include information such as benefits, the company’s culture, the company’s policies, and paperwork. This entire process is technically on-the-job training and development, as it prepares you for everything to come.

Start using SC Training (formerly EdApp) , the best on-the-job training tool!

3. Co-worker training

Employees involved in co-worker on-the-job training are pretty much receiving knowledge from colleagues who are doing the same job they are expected to do. This type of mentoring is unique because there is no hierarchy, just trained employees making each other better. This way, you can train your staff at a lower cost.

This method of training example usually lasts between a few weeks to a few months, depending on the level of training required, and it will gradually taper off until it’s no longer needed. This type of training helps to build morale as co-workers will get to know each other while they work together, but it can lead to a sense of dependency.

4. Shadowing

Shadowing is a very common type of on-the-job training method in most organizations. This type of training is somewhat similar to co-worker training but also different at the same time. When a new employee or transferred employee goes through a shadowing process, someone who is very good at the job shows the new employee what to do, and then they will allow employees to try.

Throughout the shadowing process, the more knowledgeable employee usually provides suggestions and feedback to help the process along. Like other on-the-job training examples, this is a very hands-on training approach that promotes quick information transfer. Unfortunately, if the mentor or senior employee in charge of the shadowing exercise is a poor teacher, the process can last longer.

5. Internship

Almost everyone is familiar with the internship process. If you aren’t, the internship process is an employee development position often offered to college students. Internship programs allow young people to get effective training which serves as a boost to their careers. When learning on the job through internship education and training examples, the process is usually focused on empowering college students by giving them experience in the real world so they can make the transition from college easier. The internship program at your company can be a valuable recruiting tool to get quality Talent for your team.

6. Job rotation

Not too many people will look at Job rotation as a type of effective training program, but it really is. It is just as the name suggests it to be. It involves employees doing different jobs and learning the processes and procedures that go along with them. These types of training methods are quite unique because they don’t necessarily train you for a role you will keep, but they focus on knowledge.

Job rotation training provides employees with the knowledge of the entire process so they can turn over shifts properly. It is good to train your employees via job rotation to promote cohesiveness in your workforce. Be careful when applying this because when you rotate knowledgeable employees, production can be reduced.

7. Practice Simulations

Practice simulations are on-the-job training opportunities that place employees in situations similar to that of the job. These scenarios are often done to be close in likeness to the real deal. Sometimes they come in the form of online training and computer-based training.

When using practice simulations to help employees better understand the job that they will be required to do, make sure that you don’t hold back. Practice simulators need to be thorough. In addition to training new employees, practice simulations can be used to train and upskill existing employees.

8. Delegation

Delegation is a type of on-the-job training that approaches the concept of training requirements from a slightly different angle. Delegation occurs when a superior assigns responsibilities for a particular task to an underling and provides them with the authority to complete the task autonomously.

There may not be much guidance provided by the superior after the task is assigned, however, there are situations in which the superior or other members of the team will offer guidance to the underling so that they can complete the assignment correctly. This type of training is very valuable because it serves as a staff morale booster and awards knowledge from completing tasks.

9. Refresher training

Refresher training courses are courses that serve to refresh employees’ knowledge on particular procedures learned and can also be used to teach new ways of doing an old task.

There are free tools such as SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s Rapid Refresh , which easily enables knowledge checks, and refreshers, seamlessly tracking results all in one place. These types of training are often required, especially after changes in technology or if a long period has passed since the last training. You should use refresher training sessions to keep your workforce up to date.

10. Committee assignments

When employers have talented employees whom they want to train, they can assign them to committees tasked with solving problems faced by the organization. Members of the committee will work together to achieve a common goal, and this will help to build team spirit while exposing them to new experiences that will either teach them new lessons or new approaches to solving problems.

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Training structure: examples and downloadable template, share this article.

Think of a training structure as the blueprint for your B2B training business. It’s like an architect drawing up plans for a home – it outlines what materials are needed, where to place them, and how it all comes together.

This article will explore comprehensive training structure examples and templates for B2B training businesses to help you create the perfect program to generate revenue and scale operations. 

We’ll look at how to create an effective learning plan, design the curriculum, select the best delivery methods, and present it in a way that resonates with your audience. 

Skip ahead: 

Understanding the Basics of Training Structure

Sequential training structure, modular training structure, layered training structure, blended training structure, spiral training structure, training structure templates, best practices for implementing training structure, optimizing online training structure, additional training structure examples and templates, frequently asked questions, significance of a well-structured training program.

Creating a comprehensive training structure for your B2B training business can be daunting. However, understanding the importance of such an undertaking is necessary to ensure success. 

A well-structured training program can help you scale and increase revenue in ways that few other strategies can provide. At its core, a  well-structured training program allows you to plan better and manage resources to maximize profits while delivering quality services. 

This helps you create a bigger return on the time, energy, and money invested in your business.

Overview of Training Structure Examples and Templates

When designing your online course, there are many training structure examples and templates to consider. The proper training structure can significantly impact your B2B training business’s success. 

You have many training options to choose from for your online course, such as self-paced, blended, modular or spiral instruction. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages depending on the type of content being taught and the objectives that need to be met. 

Additionally, templates provide an easy way to create a consistent style throughout your course materials without needing extra effort from you or your team. 

Before diving into examples or templates for your business’s training structure, understanding the basics of this concept is essential.

Defining Training Structure and its Core Elements

A training structure is an organizational framework for your online courses that helps ensure each product functions as intended to reach its goals. Core elements of a training structure include: 

• Defining the learning objectives and outcomes of each particular course or lesson. 
• Establishing the topics and content presented in each lesson. 
• Crafting assessments and quizzes to measure student comprehension. 
• Setting up any additional resources, such as video content, audio recordings, or printable worksheets needed for the course. 
• Integrating feedback mechanisms so students can ask questions or provide comments throughout their journey. 
• Collecting data such as learner engagement and completion rates to determine the effectiveness of your program. 

Incorporating these features in a well-defined training structure can help maximize return on investment while building a loyal customer base through educational content.

Key Considerations for B2B Training Programs

There are several factors to consider when structuring your B2B training programs, some of which are necessary to differentiate them from B2C training programs and courses , including:

• Utilizing a scalable platform that can accommodate larger audiences. 
• Automating processes to streamline the delivery of content.
• Incorporating interactive elements such as quizzes, polls, and case studies.
• Offering personalized coaching or mentorship opportunities. 
• Establishing marketing tactics to attract potential clients. 
• Crafting customer success stories to demonstrate the ROI of training programs. 
• Creating dynamic pricing models based on student needs. 
• Providing tailored material based on industry or company size.

Now that we know the basics let’s examine different training structure examples and templates you can use to create your next educational product.

Explanation and Benefits

This incremental process is an effective way to organize your business’s training program. It involves creating a series of courses that build on each other and provide a logical progression for learners. Doing so creates a clear path or “ sequence ” from novice trainees to advanced experts while helping them make the most of their learning journey. 

The benefits of using this kind of structure include: 

• Encourages learner engagement : When customers can see progress and understand how far they have come, it boosts motivation and keeps them engaged in their learning journey. 
• Easier onboarding process : Setting steps makes it easier for new trainees to understand what to do and how far they have left. 
• More effective training : Structured courses make learning more efficient, as learners can focus on specific topics or skills without feeling overwhelmed by too much information. 
• Improved customer satisfaction : Customers’ satisfaction levels increase as they become more knowledgeable about your product or service.

Step-by-Step Implementation Guide

• Identify the core topics of your course and the desired learning outcomes for each.
• Organize these topics into a logical sequence that builds on previous knowledge and facilitates mastery of skills as learners progress through the course content. 
• Create individual modules based on these topics, ensuring they are concise yet comprehensive in their subject coverage. 
• Develop activities within each module to reinforce key concepts and provide opportunities for learners to practice newly acquired skills interactively.  
• Include quizzes or assessments throughout the course to assess learner progress toward mastery of all objectives. 
• Add a final assessment to the course that requires learners to demonstrate mastery of all topics and objectives. 
• Provide support materials, such as worksheets or reference documents, for learners who need additional guidance throughout their learning journey.

Case Study: Corporate Finance Institute (CFI)

Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) has successfully utilized Thinkific’s online training resources to boost revenue and reach over 7 million students across 170 countries. Co-founded by Tim Vipond, CFI offers comprehensive financial analyst programs for individuals and renowned institutions like Deloitte, HSBC, and Amazon.

Transitioning from in-person classes to online courses with Thinkific Plus, CFI initially launched with a bundle of 10 courses. This allowed them to gather feedback and expand their offerings continuously. 

Now providing over 140+ courses through the Thinkific Plus platform, CFI continues to experience strong yearly growth in both student enrollments and revenue generation while reinvesting earnings back into course improvements and expansion efforts.

A modular training structure organizes and delivers training that allows you to mix and match different elements. It’s helpful for businesses looking to create custom learning experiences that meet their customers’ needs. 

The advantages of this approach include: 

• Flexibility : You can tailor your courses according to customer preferences. 
• Streamlined delivery : It makes managing complex teaching scenarios with multiple instructors, locations, and topics easier. 
• Cost savings . Since each module can be reused in different contexts, companies save time and money by not having to develop entirely new courses each time. 
• Increased engagement : Learners can explore topics in more depth since modules are organized into smaller, digestible chunks.
• Define your goals : Identify the objectives of your training program and how you want to measure success. 
• Organize content : Divide information into logical modules or topics that can be accessed in any order. 
• Determine delivery method : Decide if you will deliver the training through an online platform, a webinar series, or other forms of instruction, such as text-based emails or videos. 
• Create structure : Design a framework for each module, including an introduction, main body with learning activities, and conclusion. 
• Develop content assets : Create relevant materials such as slides, quizzes, tutorials, and other assets to supplement the learning experience. 
• Monitor progress : Track student engagement with metrics such as completion rates and feedback ratings. 
• Evaluate outcomes : Analyze data to understand your program’s effectiveness and identify improvement areas.

Case Study: Blisspot

Blisspot , an online well-being solution, offers resources to support mental, physical, and emotional health for individuals and companies. Referred to as the “Netflix of well-being,” Blisspot provides users with easy access to expert resources like courses, podcasts, meditations, and goal-setting tools. The platform primarily targets small to midsize companies lacking in-house wellness programs or dedicated HR departments.

Initially experimenting with live events and workshops, Blisspot realized that online learning through Thinkific Plus would allow them to reach more people effectively. This seamless integration has enabled the company to offer personalized features such as tailored content recommendations based on user interests and goals. With a monthly membership fee of only $17 dollars per individual user or group subscriptions for employees offered by businesses participating in the program, accessibility is increased for all.

Thinkific Plus has helped Blisspot deliver enriching content while providing exceptional customer support that aligns with their mission of improving personal well-being and team performance across various industries.

A layered training structure is a way to organize online learning into multiple levels or stages. This approach allows learners to progress from basic concepts and knowledge to more advanced skills and understanding at their own pace. 

The pluses of using this learning strategy include the following: 

• Greater comprehension for the learner as they pass through each layer 
• Increased engagement in the learning process due to its progressive nature 
• Ability to tailor content based on learners’ needs and abilities 
• Clear evaluation points along the way so trainers can monitor the success
• Establish the purpose of your training structure : What do you want to achieve (e.g., customer education, revenue generation)? 
• Outline goals and objectives for each layer of the training structure : Consider what you would like to teach customers or how much revenue needs to be generated from each program tier. 
• Create a timeline for implementation : Once you have set your goals and objectives, decide how long it will take to deliver them in line with customer requirements and expectations. 
• Design content that meets the needs of learners at different levels : Structure content so that those new to the subject can easily understand basic concepts. In contrast, more experienced learners can deepen their skills. 
• Develop a system for tracking and measuring progress : Set up metrics for monitoring learner engagement, completion rate, satisfaction levels etc. 
• Establish an assessment process : Create assessments that measure how well learners have understood your training content and how successful they are in achieving goals set out in the program. 
• Assign resources to promote and support your training structure : Make sure you have adequate staff or technology resources available to ensure customers receive quality service throughout their learning journey. 
• Evaluate performance regularly : Review learner data and adjust the program as needed.

Case Study: BankersHub

BankersHub® , co-founded by Erin O’Donnell and Michael Beird, is a leading financial services training company dedicated to supporting and educating financial institutions worldwide. They offer the latest industry best practices, research insights, economic trends, and consumer views through their online education platform. Utilizing Thinkific Plus has allowed BankersHub® to stay ahead of the curve in financial services training while increasing both revenue and client engagement on their platform.

Recognizing the need for accessible online education following the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis, BankersHub® used Thinkific Plus to set up their training academy – BankersCollegeTM. This provided an easy-to-use platform for seamless B2B selling with built-in administrative and communication features that improved customer experience without requiring additional headcount. 

Since launching courses on Thinkific Plus, they have experienced steady growth in course enrollments and an 8% increase in revenue last year – attributed mainly to customers’ satisfaction with a more formal learning process.

This format combines in-person and online learning activities to create an engaging learning experience. It is advantageous for B2B training businesses as it provides the following: 

• Flexibility : Learners can access content anytime, anywhere. 
• Cost savings : Reduced travel costs for instructors and participants. 
• Increased engagement : A diverse range of delivery methods engages participants more effectively. 
• Improved reach : More people can join sessions remotely or via video conferencing technology.

Step-by-Step Implementation

• Develop a blended training plan that incorporates both online and in-person components. 
• Decide which topics your customers will learn best from an in-person session and which can be taught effectively online. 
• Outline the objectives of each program component to ensure they are aligned with customer education goals. 
• Create content for each aspect of the blended learning structure, including videos, webinars, and physical materials like workbooks or handouts, if applicable. 
• Select appropriate content delivery platforms, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS) or virtual classrooms, for synchronous online sessions. 
• Assign instructors or facilitators for each program component and provide training as needed. 
• Launch your blended training structure and measure its success over time to ensure it meets customer education needs and generates revenue.

Case Study: Wallbreakers

Wallbreakers, an AI-powered platform co-founded by Andrea Guendelman, Leah La Salla, and Isaac Saldana, aims to bridge the skill gap between recent computer science graduates and top employers’ expectations for software development engineers. The company focuses on recruiting and retaining diverse talent from underrepresented backgrounds in the tech industry.

To manage a growing number of candidates and specialized training programs, Wallbreakers utilized Thinkific Plus to launch its online certification courses. This move enabled them to better monitor student progress while providing valuable certifications that make candidates more marketable to partner organizations like Amazon and Visa. 

By using Thinkific Plus features such as weekly reminder emails, group analysts, multimedia capabilities, and analytics support, Wallbreakers has successfully enhanced both candidate success rates and customer experiences in their program. Consequently, they have witnessed rapid growth through word-of-mouth marketing on social media platforms like LinkedIn.

This strategy presents information in a manner that is both progressive and cyclical. It begins with the most basic concepts, then introduces more complex ideas and builds on them as they are repeated throughout the course. 

With this approach, learners can continually review materials to solidify their understanding without getting overwhelmed by long lists of topics or competing ideas. The advantages for learners include: 

• A greater level of comprehension due to multiple repetitions 
• More straightforward navigation through content as similar subjects are grouped
• Opportunity to quickly master foundational concepts before progressing further 
• A more engaging learning experience as lessons are reinforced through repetition 
• More accessible course updates, allowing content to be cycled out and replaced with new material 
• Greater flexibility in creating different levels of courses or modules based on learners’ existing knowledge or needs 
• Faster delivery times due to fewer topics needing to be covered at once
• Define the key objectives of your educational course 
• Break down your content into modules 
• Designate a pre-requisite for each section 
• Create an assessment to gauge the trainee’s understanding and progress 
• Establish a spiral approach by linking topics from different modules together 
• Implement feedback loops throughout the training program to ensure proper comprehension and retention of materials 
• Monitor learner performance to adjust learning paths as needed 
• Integrate revenue-generating strategies such as upsells or referrals throughout the training program 
• Provide additional resources for self-paced learning or in-depth study 
• Track outcomes to measure and analyze the success of your training program

Case Study: Epoch Education

Epoch Education, a national leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training, offers over 50+ courses to educators, students, and corporations across the USA. Founded by Dr. Nancy Dome, their RIR Protocol™ – recognize it, interrupt it and repair it – forms the foundation of their training courses. Prior to Covid-19, Epoch Education facilitated in-person trainings throughout the US but quickly shifted to online education via Thinkific Plus in March 2020.

Thinkific Plus has enabled Epoch Education to deliver personalized and engaging DEI training content securely while improving learning experiences and increasing revenue. By expanding its focus beyond education towards small businesses and corporations – as well as utilizing multimedia lessons on Thinkific Plus platform for wider reach – they have successfully engaged clients from various sectors across the country with audiences up to 3500 people at once.

Course Outline Template

Overview and Purpose: A course outline template organizes the main topics, objectives, and learning outcomes of a training program to ensure a coherent structure throughout the course.

Key Sections and Subsections: Introduction, Training Objectives, Training Content & Schedule, Training Methodolody, Conclusion.

Sample Format: 

Title & Description

• Course Name: ABC Training Program
• Introduction: A comprehensive training program on XYZ skills.

Training Objectives

• Module 1: Topic A (Introduction to XYZ)
• Subtopic 1: Background and history of XYZ
• Subtopic 2: Importance of mastering XYZ skills in today’s market
• Module 2 etc.

We at Thinkific have put together a comprehensive template for you to use and customize. Download it here to fast-track your session planning.

Lesson Plan Template

Overview and Purpose: A lesson plan template provides instructors with a detailed guide for each session or module of the training program, including specific activities and resources required for effective learning.

Key Elements and Components: Objective(s), Timeframe, Materials/Resources Needed, Teaching Methods and Techniques (e.g., lecture presentation, discussion, group work), Activities and Tasks for Learners.

Sample Format:

Objective(s)

• By the end of this session, participants will be able to identify key components of the XYZ process.

Time Allotted: 90 minutes 

Materials/Resources Required:

• PowerPoint slides for presentation 
• Handout with key concepts and examples 

Instructional Technique(s):

• Lecture Presentation [30 min]

Activity/Task Description:

• Participants will listen and take notes during the lecture.

Training Session Agenda Template

Overview and Purpose: Overview and Purpose: This template helps trainers create an organized schedule for each session of their training program by allocating time to different topics while ensuring smooth progress throughout the event.

Key Sections and Time Allocation: Welcome/Introduction; Lecture Sessions; Breaks; Workshops or Discussions; Q&A and Closing Remarks.

08:30 – Welcome / Introduction [15 min]

09:00 – Presentation topic (Module 1) [45 min]

10:00 – Coffee break [15 min]

10:15 – Workshop activity (Group discussion on Module 1) [60 min]

Assessment and Evaluation Template

Overview and Purpose: The assessment template ensures that learners are evaluated effectively based on their understanding of course material through various assessment methods like quizzes, tests or practical assignments.

Key Criteria and Assessment Methods: Critera could include Multiple-choice Questions, Open-ended Questions, Practical Assignments/Tasks, Self-Reflections.

Assessment Title – Final Exam for ABC Training Program

Section I – Multiple-choice questions (20 points)

Question #1 –

Which one is a component of the XYZ process?

• a) Component A, b) Component B, c) Component C

Training Material Design Template

Overview and Purpose: This template guides trainers in creating visually appealing and engaging training materials that effectively communicate key concepts to learners while maintaining a consistent design throughout the course.

Key Sections and Visual Elements: Visual Elements can include Cover Page; Table of Contents; Headers and Footers with section names; Subheadings; Images & Graphics (charts/graphs/icons); Consistent Fonts & Colors.

Cover page template example:

• [Title] ABC Training Program Workbook [/Title]
• [Logo] Your Company Logo [/Logo]

Table of Contents template example:

• Table of Contents
• Introduction …………………………………………………. Page i 
• Module/topic name …………………………………………… Page ii
•  Subheading(s) ……………………………………………….. Page iii

Headers/Footers with section names template example:

• Header: ABC Training Program Workbook
• Footer: Module # – Topic Name | Page #

Images & Graphics template example:

• [Image] Diagram illustrating the XYZ process [/Image]

Consistent Fonts & Colors template example:

• Font Family: Arial or Calibri, Font Sizes: Titles (24pt), Subheadings (18pt), Body text (12-14pt); Colors: Company Branding colors for title/subheadings and black/grey for body text.

Once you’ve selected your training structure examples and templates for your online B2B learning products, you will add value to your offering when you apply the following strategies.

Customizing Training Structure for Specific Needs

By tailoring content to the needs and goals of a company, you will be able to provide an individualized approach that is more likely to engage customers, help them reach their objectives, and generate revenue for your business. 

Ensuring Seamless Transitions and Flow

Ensuring your modules have a smooth and orderly progression is key to optimizing the learning journey of each user. Best practices for achieving this include mapping out an organized curriculum, breaking it down into logical steps, providing clear objectives at the start of each session, and creating natural pathways that lead users from one topic to another. 

Incorporating Engaging Activities and Interactions

Incorporating dynamic and interactive elements such as quizzes, puzzles and activities can help customers to absorb and retain information in a more effective way. This will provide them with the tools needed to make the most out of their training experience.

Assessing and Adjusting Training Structure Effectiveness

It is essential to continually monitor, assess and refine your training structure in order to ensure that it remains effective. This can include regularly assessing customer feedback, evaluating the performance of employees trained using these measures and making necessary adjustments to stay up-to-date with industry trends.

Online training requires a different approach than in-person training, as the medium is drastically different and requires optimization to be effective. Here’s a look at several virtual learning strategies.

Adapting Training Structure for Virtual Learning

To adapt your educational course to the virtual environment, focus on creating an engaging environment through interactive activities such as polls and surveys, provide more self-guided resources like eBooks or podcasts and utilize customized tracking tools for progress assessment. 

Leveraging Technology and Interactive Tools

Technology has revolutionized the way we learn, offering us an abundance of virtual tools to create a more engaging and effective online learning environment. Here are some popular types of technology you can use for bringing your training online with courses: 

• A Learning Management System like Thinkific to build your courses 
• Video conferencing platforms such as Zoom or Skype 
• Virtual whiteboards for collaboration with course participants 
• Online quizzes with automated grading capabilities 
• An online community for your learners 
• Digital library resources that provide access to ebooks and other reading materials 
• Interactive teaching software that offers multimedia lessons and activities 
• Mobile applications that enable learners to access courses on their phones

Enhancing Learner Engagement and Interaction

When you move your training program online, you gain the ability to engage customers in a more interactive and progressive way. Some of the most inventive and popular methods include:

• Incorporating multimedia such as video, audio, and animation
• Utilizing chat boxes to allow for real-time communication and discussion
• Introducing gamification elements to motivate users
• Allowing customers to collaborate with peers via virtual classrooms, discussion rooms, or project groups

All of these tactics help keep participants engaged and can lead to greater knowledge retention.

Let’s examine a few more training approaches you can use as you develop your educational product.

Gamified Training Structure

Gamified training structure is a method of teaching and learning that uses game-like elements, such as points, badges, leaderboards, and rewards to motivate learners. It can be used to encourage engagement with content and reward progress toward the desired outcome or goal.

Role-Play Training Structure

This form of comprehensive training program encourages participants to simulate scenarios and practice in real-world situations. It focuses on replicating challenges and building skills for dealing with them, allowing employees to gain experience without the risk of failure.

Problem-Based Learning Structure

Instead of simply giving learners information, challenge-based learning immerses them in a problem and allows them to develop skills as they work toward a solution. 

Peer-Learning Structure

This learning approach encourages individuals to learn from each other by sharing their knowledge and experiences. It fosters collaboration between participants, creating an environment of mutual learning and growth.

Simulation-Based Training Structure

Programs built around this training method use virtual environments to simulate real-world scenarios. This process helps learners build skills and experience in safe, risk-free settings by allowing them to practice without consequence.

This article has explored various training structure examples and templates, such as sequential, modular, layered, blended, and spiral approaches. We’ve also discussed strategies for enhancing learner engagement through technology integration and virtual learning adaptation.

It’s essential to tailor your chosen training structure to suit the unique needs of your clients while ensuring a smooth flow between course modules. Regularly assessing your program’s effectiveness allows you to stay current with industry trends and maximize return on investment. 

By implementing these best practices within your online courses or training programs, you can cultivate engaging educational experiences that drive revenue growth for both your business and its clients. 

Download the Training Structure Template

Harness the power of well-structured training. This free template guides you in outlining a cohesive, engaging structure for your training programs or courses. Save time, enhance learning effectiveness, and ensure your training delivery is top-notch. Secure your copy today and elevate your training framework.

Q. Why is it important to have a structured training program for B2B businesses?

It is important to have a structured training program for B2B businesses because with a structured program, businesses can create online educational products that are tailored to their customers’ needs while also generating income from these products. In addition, having a well-defined program helps ensure quality assurance of the product, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Q. Can I modify the provided training structure examples and templates to align with my business requirements?

Yes, you can absolutely modify the provided training structure examples and templates to align with your business requirements. In fact, it is highly recommended that you tailor these structures to fit the unique needs of your clients and industry. Customizing your chosen training approach helps ensure a more engaging and relevant learning experience for your customers.

Q. How do I determine which training structure is most suitable for my B2B training programs?

To determine which training structure is most suitable for your B2B training program you should consider your program’s goals, budget, and customer needs. Evaluate what type of content you need to create, how long it will take for customers to complete the training program, and if any additional resources or support is needed. Additionally, think about how you can track progress and measure success in order to optimize your B2B training structure.

Daniela Ochoa is the go-to Content Marketing Specialist at Thinkific Plus. With years of experience in marketing and communications, she is passionate about helping businesses grow through strategic customer education, content marketing, and online learning at scale.

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5 Training Needs Analysis Templates (Excel, Word, and PDF)

• Lauren Farrell
• March 4, 2022

Needs Assessment Templates to Guide Your Learning Solutions

You can operate on hearsay when it comes to understanding the training needs of your organization – but hard data is always better. That’s where training needs analysis comes into play.

By standardizing the way you understand the skills gaps in your organization and the training needed to fill them, you can prioritize learning solutions that have the most potential to impact the employee experience and the bottom line of the business.

What is a training needs analysis?

A training needs analysis (or training needs assessment) is the process of identifying the skills or knowledge your employees, and your organization at large, need to succeed. Training needs analysis is usually undertaken by learning and development teams in partnership with management and partners throughout the business. 

The result is typically skills assessments and training needs analyses for individual employees which can then be rolled up into an overall skills gap analysis for the organization.

Conducting a training needs assessment is a critically important process for L&D departments. It helps to inform learning strategies and training initiative prioritization so the team can focus their resources on learning solutions that are of the most importance and benefit to the organization. 

Why use a template for training needs assessment?

There’s a lot of organization, data gathering, and analysis that goes into training needs analysis. Whether you’re conducting analysis on the training needs of an individual or the whole organization (or both) a template can help to keep you on track.

The type of template you use depends entirely on your organization and how you prefer to work. So we’ve gathered five different types of needs assessment templates including PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, and complete toolkits.

5 training needs analysis templates to download now

1. free training needs assessment template from cognota.

Here at Cognota, we’ve developed a training needs analysis PDF that includes links to download further documents that you can customize to your needs. It Includes a stakeholder survey template, employee survey template, and guidance on using the data gathered to conduct a skills gap analysis to inform your learning strategy. With this training needs analysis template, you’ll be able to:

• Align with stakeholders to identify and diagnose performance issues
• Understand the goals and challenges stakeholders are facing
• Gain insight into the employee perspective and their training needs
• Discover critical skills and knowledge gaps
• Conduct a gap analysis to identify appropriate training solutions

Download Now

Cognota also provides a centralized training intake portal to receive all requests in one place, prioritize them, and collects data to provide training intake insights for data-driven decision making. Try it out for free or speak with sales to learn more.

2. Individual needs analysis outline from SHRM

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has created a template form for your employees to define their existing skills and their competency levels in each one. This type of needs assessment is very useful for the design phase of training development, so you can ensure the learning objectives of your course are aligned with the existing skill level of the learner.

3. Excel training needs assessment from skillshub

If you prefer to work in spreadsheets, this template from skillshub enables you to evaluate the skills levels of individual employees while combining the data in one place for an overall needs assessment. 

The template is already formatted to help you identify which skills you should focus on in your learning and development strategy. It’s particularly useful for conducting a training needs assessment for individual teams or functions in the business.

4. Training needs assessment toolkit from Training Folks

This needs analysis comes as a complete toolkit, so you get a checklist, tools for data gathering, and guidance on the six phases of training needs assessment. The idea is that the toolkit walks you through each phase of needs analysis from competency assessments to strategic org-wide analysis. It might be overkill for simple needs assessments, but it’s a great tool for those who are just getting started and are looking for a predefined process to follow.

5. Training needs analysis PDF from 360Learning

While you won’t find a template here for individual needs assessments, fillable word documents, or customizable spreadsheets, this handy one-page PDF from 360Learning provides insight and guidance into how you can conduct an effective and useful needs analysis. 

The checklist-style process guides you through building organizational support for your needs assessment, right through to measuring the business impact of your learning solutions after the fact.

Needs analysis software for training teams

Without the right technology in place, even the most organized L&D team quickly find themselves shuffling through emails and multiple spreadsheets to conduct and maintain a thorough training needs assessment.

With Cognota, you can manage your entire training intake process in one place, including the creation of training request forms that allow you to conduct a training needs analysis from the first point of contact with your business partners. See for yourself with a 14 day free trial or contact sales for a personalized demo.

• Tags: Needs Assessment Templates , Templates for L&D , Training Needs Analysis , Training Templates

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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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How to run a Training Needs Assessment (tips + templates)

A training needs assessment (TNA) is a process through which training program designers come to define key elements of a future learning intervention (could be a class, course, program, experience, workshop). 

The main aim of a training needs assessment is to clarify a current and desired state of things, and understand how to bridge the gap between the two . In this guide, we'll explore how to run a training needs assessment and share tips on how to use the information you receive and make this the basis of an effective learning solution.

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Training needs assessments come in many shapes and sizes. Let’s say, for example, that legislation which impacts your company is about to change. A training needs assessment will go into details about what knowledge and skills are present in the company currently, and what needs an update. 

Depending on the context, a TNA will imply a lot of documentary research, collecting competence audits and reviews of performance materials from the past, as well as interviews with clients and participants. In this article we will go into details about what such a process entails. 

Whatever the scope of your training program, you can certainly find some inspiration that will help you target your content and design specifically to real-world needs. 

In this article, we will cover:

Training Needs Assessment vs Training Needs Analysis (TNA vs… TNA!)

Does TNA actually stand for needs assessment, or needs analysis? Is there any actual difference between the two? While I have seen assessment and analysis used interchangeably in a lot of L&D literature, they actually refer to two slightly different processes. 

The word “analysis” is usually used to refer to a vast, holistic audit of an entire organization’s training needs. The objective here is to examine the workings of a company or institution as a whole and figure out strategic training directions and needs. This process is likely to be run by an L&D department or external consultants.

When we talk about learning needs assessment we are generally referring to a more targeted process, typically aimed to design a training program or course that is already in the stars. It is shorter than a Training Needs Analysis and might be run by individual trainers or a few people in an L&D team. 

The two processes are, of course, closely related to each other. If your organization has already run a training needs analysis, your job to assess individual training needs will be much easier. And any training needs assessment is likely to include some elements that look at what is going on in the organization as a whole, in order to align with general strategies and understand performance gaps.

Because this article is written mainly with trainers in mind, we’ll be focusing on the Assessment side of things, but keep in mind that some processes and tips are common to the two, just working on two different levels. 

Why should you run a Training Needs Assessment? 

Running training courses just for training’s sake is a recipe for disaster. We see it happen sometimes when funds are made available for training, perhaps because of a government subsidy, and courses are set up without much thought having gone into them. The result are disengaged participants, resources spent, and a day of work lost. This is trap we should not fall into!

Instead of training for training’s sake, it’s important for organizations to carefully consider what their problems and needs are, and figure out how to bridge this divide.

In a training needs assessment you’ll be looking at organizational, operational and individual training needs (more on those categories later) to understand where it’s most worth investing time and energy. Is the root cause of recurrent issues related to communication skills, for example? Are parts of the organization bogged down by technical matters that could be solved by upskilling part of the workforce?

Take the time to run a training needs assessment before establishing what resources to allocate to learning interventions, will ensure that:

• Courses are fit for purpose;
• Resources are used appropriately, with a good Return On Investment (ROI);
• The organization’s goals are fulfilled;
• Participants gladly spend their time in training;
• Trainings are well-received and effective.

Suppose you come to this game as a relatively experienced trainer or learning designer. If that is you, it’s worth noting that a needs assessment is also a great way to sift and choose among the many ideas , methods and directions you can imagine your programs going in.

Learning needs assessments are great ways to set the direction of larger projects and avoid costly mistakes . I was recently involved as a workshop facilitator in a public project on nature conservation in which learning needs were assessed too late, to tragicomic results.

The original project insisted on multi-stakeholder, participatory workshops, to be led by yours truly. 

As a passionate facilitator and advocate for the sort of event where diverse participants come up with solutions to complex problems themselves, I was thrilled to join. But when a few months into the project we looked at the actual needs of the locals involved (farmers and cattle-breeders living on the borders of national parks) we realized their problems stemmed from a lack of information. 

Participants to this program did not, in fact, need multi-stakeholder problem-solving but rather an update to their technical knowledge base, better achieved through classes with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) sharing specific knowledge (in this case, veterinarians). 

I still joined the classes to support participatory learning but, frankly, resources were misdirected. Running a learning needs assessment earlier would have quickly revealed that subject matter expertise was the way to go in order to share necessary skills in the target audience. A facilitation role might have been more useful at a later stage.

What is the output of a Training Needs Assessment? 

Now that we’ve defined what a training needs assessment is for, you might start wondering what it looks like. While there are numerous templates available online, there is not one universal agreement on what the output of a training needs assessment should be. It might look like a report, a table, or a short course outline, depending on the context and on the preferences of trainer and client.

Three of the most common ways to package a training needs assessment into an output document are:

• A course outline. This implies that the trainer or training team has already done the work of translating their needs assessment directly into a proposal. A course outline is an appropriate output of a TNA for short, targeted interventions. You’ll be creating a course outline, for example, if you are running a TNA as part of the process of designing a training you’ve already been commissioned to hold.
• A report, containing key information gathered and making a business case for future training interventions. This is more likely to be a required output for a medium-to-long term training program. In such cases, training needs assessments and training need analysis, which we’ve defined as a process looking at knowledge and/or skills gap in the entire organisation), might overlap.
• A table or canvas outlining information gathered. This type of output, which feels more like a work-in-progress, is most appropriate if your TNA is feeding into the work of a training or L&D team. You’ll be gathering with the team to look at results of the Assessment and use them together for later design stages. Such a table or canvas is also extremely useful if you are working alone, as you can use it to inform a course outline proposal but also go back to it at any time during later stages, to check your thinking.

To help you along the way, we’ve created a training needs assessment template you can check out from this link . You’ll find guidance on how to run client meetings and participant interviews (more on this below) as well as a canvas to download and fill out as you collect training needs information. 

We hope this is a great starting point, but remember to check and add any missing parts, depending on your specific context!

What information are you looking for when assessing training program needs? 

In essence, a training needs assessment is a document containing results of pre-design research. The aim of this research is to inform training organization and design. So, what kind of information should it contain?

A training needs assessment should include information of three types:

Information on the participants

• Information on the client (i.e. the group, organization or institution that commissioned this TNA)
• Information on the context (depending on the specifics, this might include research on the specific field, market trends, competitors and more).

Let’s look at these three areas in turn.

Here are some of the questions you may want to answer in your training needs assessment, related to participants. Note that in some cases this information can be very specific, such as if you are designing a training for an established team, while in others it will be more generic, such as when working on an education program for students who have not enrolled yet.

• Who are the participants?
• What is known about their demographics and backgrounds?
• What would their motivation be to join?
• What are they likely to know already (knowledge)?
• What are they likely to know how to do already (skills)? 
• What stage of their career development are they at? 
• What other learning courses are they taking part in? What comes before and after, in their learning journey?

When collecting information on prospective participants, I feel a little bit like an investigator, and tend to take notes even on apparently random things that might come in handy later.

During a TNA I ran for a small political party wanting to upskill its staff and volunteers before an electoral cycle, for example, I learned that quite a number of volunteers were working single parents. 

I put that information in my notes, and pulled it out again to advocate for holding training courses outside “normal” working hours. This eventually led to organizing weekend workshops, complete with a baby-sitting service. 

Information on the client

There is never enough of this one. I have learned throughout my career, over and over again, that a lot of waste and trouble can be avoided by taking time to sit down with the people commissioning a training intervention and building a shared understanding. 

If you are working as a learning specialist within your own organisation, you may find the term “client” does not apply. It might be a specific department asking for your support, rather than an external client. In any case, this is about drawing out information on the entity that requested a training intervention in the first place.

• Why has a training assessment been requested? What is the ambition?
• What needs are present in the organization? 
• What is not working as well as it should be? What are the performance gaps?
• Where and how will participants be expected to apply learnings?

I like to begin client meetings by asking everyone involved to state their “high dream” or ambition, asking questions such as

• What is success for you? How do you know when things are going very well?
• In the best of all possible worlds, what would you want everyone in the organization to know, or know how to do? 

Other type of information you’ll need to gather for a TNA are related to current parameters and company ways of working. To define relevant job behaviors and performance gaps, you’ll be looking to answer questions such as:

• What do you need staff members to learn how to do well?
• Where and how will they apply such knowledge? 

Any knowledge you can gather about past training experiences will be invaluable:

• What has worked well in past training courses?
• What did not work so well?

These are key questions to identify the type of training program that will be the best fit for a certain organization. 

If you’ve come so far you’ve probably already realized that the first question you’ll need ask yourself is: which questions do I need to answer in order to collect useful information for this specific context? What do you need to know about your client? 

A note of caution: sometimes participants’ needs and client needs can contradict one another and even clash. This can be a critical time for facilitators and trainers. I believe all one can do in such cases is be open and aware, including of our own biases (are we taking the client’s side because, ultimately, they are the ones paying?), and navigate situations on a case-by-case basis. 

Here’s an example: in 2021 I was hired by a social service organization wanting to train all their staff in specific facilitation methodologies and digital tools.

I began running interviews with some prospective participants and realized that after Covid-19 they were teetering close to burnout. Staff members had little to no motivation in learning new tools: instead, they expressed the need for spaces to meet their peers and recuperate, sharing self-care tips and resilience skills. There was, in my understanding, no room in those heads and hearts to learn any new technical solutions at all. What do you do in such a situation? 

In that case, fortunately for me, I had kind, open-minded clients who listened to my observations and allowed me to change the program almost completely. Instead of learning how to host online and hybrid workshops, we focussed on inner resilience.

As facilitator and guide, I created spaces for staff members to share how hard the Covid years had been for their lives and work. We parked the new tools course for next year, when it was very well received.

Information on the context

This heading includes anything you’ll want to know that is not specifically related to the client you are designing for. Think market research: 

• What else is going on in this field? 
• What competencies are newly emerging as important? 

Training needs to be forward-thinking: what skills will staff need in a couple of years? Let’s say you are collecting training needs for our marketing department here at SessionLab. In the current scenario, a quick look at what is going on in the overall field might lead you to include training on generative AI as a possible option.

In large organizations, what is needed at a department level will not coincide with overall organizational strategy, but you still might want to keep that in mind as well.

• Where is the organization going? What is its long-term strategy?
• What skills are needed to get there?

Three levels to keep in mind when running training needs analysis

Another way of looking at the types of needs analysis you may need to run before a training divides needs into organizational, operational and individual , depending on the scale you are looking at. 

Organizational needs

Here you are enquiring about needs on the scale of the entire organization and looking for answers to questions such as:

• What are the knowledge gaps in the entire organization?
• What are the skill gaps?
• What are the training needs implied in the organization’s strategy?
• What has changed, or is going to change, in the organization? 
• What are the organization’s objectives and goals? How could training help reach them? 

Operational needs

This means looking at the scale of a single team, department or, in education, NGO or civic society work, of any small group formed around doing something together. Here you are analyzing whether the teams involved have all the resources, knowledge and skills they needed to perform a specific set of tasks. You’ll be asking questions such as:

• How well are jobs and tasks being performed?
• What is working well, what is missing? 
• What skills or knowledge is missing in this team or group, in order for it to best perform its function?

Individual needs

Looking through the lens of individual needs simply means translating the discoveries made above to the level of a single person.

• What skills do people need to perform their job descriptions well? 
• What is standing in the way of excellent job performance?
• What core competencies do people have? What are they missing?

We will see below how 1:1 interviews can help you uncover answers to such questions. 

How to run a needs assessment process. 

Gathering information for your TNA can happen in a lot of different ways. In the next paragraphs, we will look at a list of common ways to go through a needs assessment process. 

Depending on the case at hand, you’ll need to perform at least two or three of these activities to get enough information to create a relevant course outline, needs canvas or full report. 

Client meetings and some basic research might serve you well enough in many cases , although I will say that getting information directly from stakeholders and potential participants is often the most invaluable action. I cannot think of any case where all these tactics might be needed – that would be paralysis by analysis! 

To kick off with a practical example, in the latest training course I organized, a two-day workshop with university students, I based my assessment on a (written) brief, a series of client meetings, and motivational letters from participants. This gave me enough information on the expectations of all parties involved to start designing.

How to collect client needs

The most common way of collecting needs from your client is through meetings. These can be team meetings, or 1:1 calls and conversations. 

In this template based on the ADDIE framework of learning design, you can find an example of how to run a client meeting on the first page, dedicated to A for Analysis. I am a big proponent of having clients and stakeholders in the same room (virtual or in person), as long as the meeting is well facilitated and its purpose is clear. 

When going into a meeting that is part of your training needs assessment process, you’ll be directing the conversation in order to get answers to some of the questions we’ve discussed in the previous paragraphs.

I think about the topics to be discussed as two separate categories: non-negotiables and negotiables. Things that are already decided and cannot be changed are the first things I like to know (for example, potential locations, or lists of attendees), as they will form the boundaries of later designs. 

Once the main non-negotiables are clear, guide clients to go a bit deeper into explaining their needs and intentions. After this initial meeting, conversations might continue via email or other forms of direct communication. 

Another source of information from clients for your training needs process is a training brief , if it exists. Sometimes learning designers get brought in after various elements of the training have already been decided and discussed, and this material is summarized in a brief. 

A final source of information that comes from the client are any reports and documentation on past learning interventions and training courses. Collect whatever material you can find on this: what worked? What didn’t? This will help you avoid repeating content, and repeating mistakes. 

How to collect participant needs

A few years ago, before I was aware of how useful a needs assessment might be, I was tasked with training staff members from the local government office on the topic of mediation and human rights. Walking in the room, I had no idea where participants stood, what they already knew and what they didn’t. So I started with an introduction and then moved on to co-designing the program together. 

This was great fun, and very exciting for the novice trainer I was. But in retrospect, I now wonder: was taking half a day to decide the topics of the training together really the best use of everyone’s time?

Co-design can begin well before the training starts if we carefully collect information, hold interviews and focus groups with participants. If I had done some prep work, I would have arrived better informed, and we would have been able to spend more time discussing the role of mediators, which was the key topic the group arrived at and that they wished to explore at length.

Your clients will of course be a direct source of information on prospective participants: who they are, how many will be expected to attend, their roles and expected performance and so on. That’s all well and good, but you can gain a deeper level of insight and empathy with participants by contacting them directly . Here are some ways of doing that.

Interviews and focus groups

Nothing beats direct contact with the people who will join a training program. If you can, run 1:1 interviews with some participants. These don’t have to be lengthy: a 30 minutes call is enough to get a sense of what is needed. In this template you can find a guideline on how to run such interviews. 

Prepare for each interview by focusing on the questions you are looking for answers to. I generally prefer to start by asking for stories and insights from the past, as I find it keeps the conversation more grounded. 

• Can you tell me about past trainings you joined? What do you remember? What was effective, what did not work so well?

It takes establishing a bit of trust before people will readily share what is not working well in their jobs. Sharing openly the purpose of your research, and guaranteeing confidentiality if that’s helpful and applicable, can help you reach a point where you feel it’s ok to ask questions such as:

• What are you struggling with at work right now? What could the company do to help you be more successful? 

Try and also collect some logistical information. What dates and times are best to ensure people’s availability? Are there any major events in the calendar coming up that would make it impossible for some people to join? In my experience, clients tend to neglect these very pragmatic aspects of organizing training courses, so it may be up to you to surface them. 

Focus groups are a different approach to collecting information from participants. In this case, you’ll be asking a group of about 8 people to spend about an hour together discussing a topic. 

If you have the opportunity to run a focus group on training needs, make sure you figure out the best way of taking notes, as a lot of information gets shared in little time.

You might want a co-facilitator on board to note-take, or record the session and summarize your findings later (alone or with the help of some nifty AI transcribing and summarizing tools). 

Motivation letters

Because I work a lot with Higher Education Institutions (HEI), I will often design courses that participants have to apply for, generally through a motivation letter. Yes, motivation letters can be rather rote (and, in recent times, sloppily written with substantial help from OpenAI’s ChatGPT), but they still contain useful information.

Prospective participants will generally share some key information about themselves, such as their background and interests. I like to read through motivation letters with the question in mind “What are participants’ expectations for this course?” and see if I catch anything that might change my course plan and design.

Just last week me and my co-facilitator Giulio went through 26 motivation letters for a workshop on Information Ecology. We received these letters quite late in the process; theoretically, our needs assessment was done already, via client interviews. Our design was already setup in SessionLab , where we had written up activities, timing and objectives for each section. 

But facilitators are flexible, and we didn’t feel great about not having had opportunities to include the participants’ needs in our design directly. So we read the letters, then met to discuss “Have participants expressed any needs that are not yet addressed in our session plan?” 

We found many letters stating a need for practical tools they could take away after the session and apply to their consumption and creation of media. As a consequence, we redesigned our final session and changed one of the group discussion questions to make sure this topic was covered. 

Questionnaires 

It’s quick and easy to prepare an online questionnaire for participants to fill out in order to collect some more information that might help identify training needs and inform course design. Here are some of my tips for success with pre-training questionnaires:

• Keep them short. Avoid people dropping out after the first few questions by asking FEW questions. I generally start with closed answers and only include a couple of open questions. 
• This is important: questionnaires also contribute to setting expectations of how a training will be conducted. Keep them coherent with the tone and style of likely training interventions. 
• Your questionnaires can multitask. Use them to collect practical logistical information as well, such as dietary preferences for lunch breaks. 
• Always involve your client in checking over questions, they might have preferences and no-goes. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about what they think about training needs in their organization. 

In an example related to this last point, I recently created a questionnaire for prospective participants to a training on a new technical instrument for local authorities. I wanted to ask participants for their expectations for the training in an open question, but my client disagreed.

The technical content of the training was well established, he said, and he didn’t want participants to feel they could do much to change that. 

In response to his observation, we changed the question to a set of quantitative measures asking participants to self-assess their pre-training knowledge of the topics. It was still extremely useful for me to read though, and the process of arriving there improved mutual understanding between me and my client. 

What research to do for a Training Needs Assessment

Here we move into the realm of research you might be able to do as part of your analysis. Depending on the context, there are some areas you could investigate and find materials on, such as:

• Employee performance reviews. If these are documented, they can be a great source of information to identify skill gaps and define relevant job behaviors.
• Competition analysis. What is going on in the field? What are competitors doing? What new skills are emerging as relevant?
• Organizational strategy and other organization-wide documents. What are the company’s strategic aims? What are the current targets? How could training interventions help reach them? 
• Shadowing and observation . Spending time on the company floor, or shadowing members of the organization in general, might also help gain new insights and feed into your analysis. 

Do you have other tactics to add to this list? Let us know in the comments or join the discussion, we host a free online community of trainers and facilitators keen to discuss the finer points of their profession. 

How to organize information gained from the assessment process

Whatever you choose to do, you’ll probably be combining a few of these tactics, and collecting information in a single place, until you have answered most, if not all, the questions you set off with. 

Think carefully about how to organize the information you gather, and organize it in a way where you can efficiently find it at a later stage. We’ve set up a ready-made canvas you can use to take notes as you work through your TNA. Keep it all together and use it to inform your session design!

One important thing to remember is that training is not the only possible solution. Actually, training in isolation is unlikely to ever effectively change anything in a company or organization. Your needs analysis might uncover other ideas of practices to encourage besides, or alongside training. 

For example, if your organizational assessment reveals issues with communication flows, besides a dedicated training you might want to suggest introducing a messaging system or some team rituals , to make sure change sticks beyond the duration of training initiatives. 

How to use your needs analysis to design training programs

Once you feel you have gathered enough information on skill gaps, organizational goals, and all the other points detailed above, the next step is to use the information collected to define learning objectives. These are usually encapsulated in a few short sentences, often with a structure that sounds like:

• Upon completing the training, participants will know how to…
• Having completed the training, participants will be informed on…

Learning objectives are the north star of your training plans. Once I start designing, I like to make sure I am working on an effective training plan based on the needs identified by color-coding each learning objective in the SessionLab planner and ensuring I have included sections for each. 

I also add a note on top of my plan where I summarize the overall objective of the same training, to make sure I always keep it in mind when making design choices. I’ll always keep a completed canvas close, to make sure I include results from my analysis every step of the way. 

What next ?

Once you have worked on the analysis phase of learning design, it will be time to move to designing and eventually delivering your workshop or training program. 

For more information on what workshop planning implies, and a step-by-step guide to creating great workshops that ensure employee engagement and performance improvement, we’ve put together a comprehensive resource here . 

If your findings lead in the direction of creating e-learning courses for staff, you’ll be more interested in how storyboarding works for flexible, self-paced learning. Find out guide to storyboarding. 

As mentioned above, we have set up templates and canvases to help you speed up the process of gathering training needs.

You can find the canvas, as well as an example template of how to collect training needs with a combination of individual work, client meetings and participant interviews, in this training needs assessment template.

Lastly, to learn more about the next steps in learning design, check out our guide to ADDIE , the most well-known model of instructional design, guiding you from Analysis to Evaluation. 

Let us know if you have other tactics and tips for training needs assessment in the comments below, or join the conversation in SessionLab’s Community !

Deborah Rim Moiso is an Endorsed Facilitator with the  IAF – International Association of Facilitators and former co-chair of the Italian IAF Chapter.

She is the author of a manual and deck of cards on facilitation available in Italian ( Facilitiamoci! ). Deborah has been working with groups since 2009 in the fields of innovation in education, citizen participation, and environmental conflicts.

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The 11-Step Guide to Developing a Great Training Program (Plus 9 Practical Examples)

Developing a high-quality employee training program is beneficial for both employees and organizations alike. Employees thrive when they have the knowledge and skills to do their jobs well, and to develop new skills to support them in different roles. 

Training also increases engagement and employee loyalty because people feel more invested in and prepared for their role. As a result, organizations benefit from increased employee retention, better performance, and higher productivity.

Despite these clear benefits, it can be challenging for organizations to make the switch from highly manual and unstructured training programs (or no training at all) to streamlined, robust learning and development programs. In this comprehensive guide to developing a training program, we'll explore the following:

• What an employee training program is and the signs of an effective program
• Our eleven-step overview of the entire process
• Nine common types of training programs that can benefit your organization

As you read through this guide, you can start identifying how your own training program will take shape, the resources you need, and the actionable steps you can take today.

What is a training program?

Employee training programs provide new hires and employees with general training exercises and access to learning resources. Employee training can develop employees' direct job-related tasks such as handling specific software, technical skills, or soft skills that cross-apply to different roles within an organization. 

Training programs comprise multiple courses or a single class, and they can be part of larger employee development programs . The core purpose of an employee training program is to ensure each employee has the skills and knowledge necessary to adequately perform work tasks and responsibilities. Some common types of employee training programs include onboarding training, leadership training, and compliance training.

9 Tips to Help You Create Great Training Courses

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What makes an effective training program?

Training programs must be carefully designed and managed to ensure effective learning and retention. Some critical aspects that can transform training programs into effective learning opportunities include:

• Starting from a known baseline : Assessing employees at the beginning of each training program or course can ensure that learning material is properly curated to meet learners' needs.
• Personalization : Every employee learns differently. Personalization software and capabilities can match learners' with the materials, exercises, and ongoing learning opportunities that fit their content needs, learning styles, and goals.
• Self-directed learning : Traditional training programs such as all-day seminars, intermittent lectures, and passive access to material is not sufficient. Instead, effective training programs allow participants to learn at their own pace, with online access to learning materials and individual dashboards for tracking performance and completion.
• Integration with role responsibilities : Many employees will be eager to take advantage of training programs, especially if they want to learn new skills or grow their careers. However, not all employees will have the time or drive to learn. Even employees who want to learn may not have time when faced with a lot of other responsibilities. Instead, make ongoing training and development part of each employee's job responsibilities and ensure there is plenty of work time allocated for fulfilling that responsibility.
• Rewards and incentives : Tie ongoing development and training to positive outcomes. This can include access to internal promotions and job opportunities, and compensation. Virtual trophies, recognition, and certificates can also motivate employees to participate.

When you're crafting a training program or series of learning courses for your organization, go the extra mile to ensure the program is personalized, rewarding, and easy to access. Developing your training program will be an iterative project: you can present learning resources, monitor performance, and make revisions over time to continually optimize learning for employees.

Related: 23 Employee Training Templates and Checklists for Better Training Programs

How to create a great training plan in 11 steps

According to Zippia's research , "Companies with comprehensive training programs have a 24% higher profit margin." Start by developing a training program that meaningfully aligns with your organization's knowledge and skills needs, as well as your employees' goals and learning styles. Follow this eleven-step process to create a new employee training program from start to finish.

1. Conduct a training needs analysis

Just like effective employee training starts with baseline assessments, a strong employee training plan starts with an assessment of what your organization needs. This stage can be as simple or complex as you think is necessary, but it should involve these six essential steps of creating and conducting a training needs analysis : 

• Align the business need with the training initiative
• Understand the roles and core competencies in your business
• Identify skills and performance gaps
• Prioritise training and compare your options
• Design learning experiences based on training recommendations
• Measure the success of the training needs analysis on overall performance

Looking to conduct your own training needs analysis? Download our training needs analysis template to identify the core competencies for each role in your organization and the highest-priority training areas.

2. Develop goals for your training program

Now that you have a deeper understanding of your organization's current level of knowledge and skills, as well as the gap between the current level and desired level of skill, you can create key objectives and goals for the training program. This can include specific goals such as:

• Ensuring employees in each role has a sufficient understanding of safety regulations and compliance requirements.
• Providing salespeople with the right tactical knowledge, soft skills, and product information to make more sales.
• Certifying all cybersecurity team employees with a necessary degree of credentials.

You can create these goals either by identifying gaps in knowledge that should be addressed or by considering what training goals best align with specific business goals.

3. Develop success metrics for your training program

This stage is all about building the motivational infrastructure and measurement criteria for your learning program. Different types of success metrics you'll need to develop include:

• Success criteria : At what level of competency will you consider each employee's training to be sufficient, and how will you identify that point?
• Milestones : Larger goals should be broken down into more granular milestones. For example, a complete training course would be broken down into the completion of courses, which in turn are broken down into the completion of modules.
• Feedback : Quantifiable results are not the only feedback that should guide development. Plan for ways to elicit employee feedback, so you can revise future training to include more engaging, relevant, or rewarding content.

4. Confirm the type of training program

There are numerous different vehicles and mechanisms you can use for your training programs. These include:

• In-person training : In-person training involves face-to-face instruction. This may be at off-site seminars, in-person mentoring, on-the-job training, instructor-led learning, and coaching.
• Virtual training : Online courses, recorded lectures, videoconference seminars, and AI simulations are forms of eLearning.
• Blended learning : A hybrid approach involves both in-person and virtual training. You can have equivalent options in either category to meet the accessibility needs and preferences of different employees. Alternatively, some aspects may only be available in person, while others are only virtual. Some learning platforms like 360Learning combine the best of both virtual and in-person learning by simultaneously showing learners taking the same course at the same time.

Robust training programs use a wide array of different types of learning activities in in-person and virtual categories. This ensures learners can move more fluidly through the training program. However, if you are just developing your training program, creating the fundamental materials and then adding more over time may be the best approach.

As you complete this stage, be sure to communicate with other teams, so your program reflects their needs. Many businesses will see the best results with a virtual or blended learning program. Online resources are more accessible for most users. They can also be accessed repeatedly, and training administrators can more easily analyse the results of the training activities.

5. Choose the technology you'll use

Consider the technology that will house your learning and development programs. A learning management system (LMS) is a complete software or cloud-based environment for developing, implementing, and assessing training programs.

For example, your organization could use an LMS that has all the training resources, and access will be granted to each individual employee based on their professional role and learning needs. Their progress throughout the training program can then be monitored and analysed. Most LMSs will have the following functionalities:

• L&D teams and learners can create, revise, curate, and update content (including learning materials, activities, and assessments).
• Users can progress through individualized courses, take assessments, and revisit materials as needed.
• Managers can analyse employee performance and growth to gauge readiness for new opportunities or the need for additional performance improvement interventions.

6. Develop an outline for your training program

Once you have identified the type of learning environment and training methods you will use to achieve priority learning goals, it's time to develop the training program itself, starting with an outline.

Begin by creating a general overview of each topic you want covered; include the fundamentals, actionable concepts, and advanced concepts you want to be covered throughout the program. Each discrete lesson or module should have a goal, or the information or skills users should have by the end of the lesson. 

Along the way, involve stakeholders in related departments or leadership positions to ensure the training program addresses core needs and has buy-in.

7. Design and develop your training program with the help of subject-matter experts

From there, you can pull from a library of learning resources available to you or create your own modules and lessons as necessary. Be sure to work with your subject-matter experts to develop relevant and engaging course material. Learning courses that are created by your experts make the content more nuanced and specific to your company than third-party courses would be.

Leveraging the collaboration between your experts and the L&D team allows you to create and fulfill learning needs together. As a result, employees are more invested in the learning process. They help create quality content that L&D doesn't have to buy or source through expert interviews.

Engaging your in-house experts can help you create a robust learning library tailored to your organization's needs. Even better, some learning platforms can help subject-matter experts create this library quickly and efficiently with the use of generative AI tools, like 360Learning’s AI-powered course authoring features .

8. Implement the training program

You might implement the training program as a pilot program for a test group of employees or release it to all relevant users. During the implementation stage, your program may not be complete or as finished as you'd prefer, and that's okay. This stage is to ensure the program functions, both by having all the technical aspects in place for users and providing educational value to learners.

During this stage, make sure that you or your L&D team is readily available to provide support, answer questions, and make any adjustments necessary for the training program.

9. Evaluate the program

Assess the first run of the training program from multiple angles. These can include:

• Completion and participation rates
• Demonstration of knowledge and skills through assessments
• An uptick in related performance metrics outside of training
• Feedback from managers and employee participants

This information can help you determine what areas of the training program need further revision. As your organization grows, you may need more product information courses or unique courses for different roles. Each module will also need updates over time.

As technology progresses, you might even have a range of assessments extending beyond conventional methods, such as AI-powered training recommendations and content creation. By taking an iterative approach to your program, it will continue to become stronger and stronger over time.

10. Measure the success of your program

Of course, a good training program doesn't just measure itself. There should be standardised processes for evaluating the courses and each learner. For employees, success might be measured in terms of either isolated assessments or improved work performance.

Choosing the right methods to measure success can help you confirm the value of the program with leadership teams and other stakeholders. The data can be invaluable for justifying increased budgets or growing your organization's L&D team.

You should also go back to the second step—creating goals—and resolve those goals. Did you achieve them? Are related business objectives satisfied by the new training?

Your LMS should have measurement capabilities to help you monitor completion, engagement, and other key L&D metrics. Here's what the dashboards look like in the 360Learning platform to give you an example of the metrics you can monitor to measure the success of your training program.

11. Update the program over time

Based on all the metrics, feedback, and success data of your training program, methodically begin to make updates. You can establish these processes to ensure the training program continues to grow and optimise employee performance.

• Internal audits : Information about business processes, products, and organization-specific how-tos should be audited every quarter or annual period to ensure it has up-to-date information.
• Identify gaps : Your training program won't be comprehensive at the start. In fact, your LMS may initially only have courses for a specific team or just for new-hire training. Over time, the use cases for training will expand. You'll also be able to identify smaller and more granular areas where in-depth training makes a significant difference.

Other updates for your program might include migrating to a more robust LMS, building a centralized intranet for internal and third-party learning opportunities, and more.

Nine practical examples of training programs

There are dozens of different employee training programs. Your organization might benefit from role-specific training programs, courses that teach users about legacy software and internal work processes, new hire training, or even resources on how to navigate employee benefits packages and portals. Each one will have different learning objectives, resources, and users, so they will need to be individually curated and organised . 

As you start your new training programs, consider starting with one of these nine common employee training programs. 

1. Onboarding

Onboarding training programs welcome new hires to your company. There are different phases of onboarding, such as preboarding (which covers orientation, HR topics, and company introductions), general induction and meeting team members, department- or role-specific training, and others. Onboarding training should accomplish two goals: preparing participants for new roles and continuing to "recruit" the new hire so they continue to be engaged past the 90-day mark in their new role. 

Effective onboarding training gives new hires the skills they need to contribute effectively, while also teaching them more about the company and company culture.

2. Induction

Induction is a specific subset of general onboarding training, and it's important enough to deserve its own category and attention. If your business has a lot of roles where only one person holds that type of position, then creating a library that holds the knowledge of everyone tangential to the role is essential. 

Good induction training programs allow employees to quickly perform key tasks independently to minimise the window before hiring and transitioning fully into the role.

Related: Induction to Work Checklist

3. Management training

Management training comprises technical and soft skills that will allow new hires, internally promoted employees, or current managers to have the resources they need to thrive. Management training programs can include courses from general third-party management experts, industry-specific courses, or even company-specific material.

4. Leadership training

Leadership training is similar to management training, but it has a different focus, and virtually all employees can benefit from taking part in the training. This type of program prioritises soft skills such as communication, decision-making, conflict resolution, and delegation.

Employee leadership training can help employees develop their own professional skills and make themselves more eligible for internal promotion opportunities. The organization can also use leadership training programs to see which candidates are best qualified for new leadership roles.

5. Compliance training

Industry-specific compliance training is essential for keeping your organization in good standing. Compliance training can cover industry regulations, employee rights laws, safety regulations and requirements, and more. Not only do employees often need to be certified in core compliance areas, but organizations themselves must often provide this training to remain compliant with general or industry-specific requirements.

Compliance courses will often incorporate mandated material from different third-party sources. Having an LMS that can host or deliver curated content from a variety of third-party educational authorities makes it easier for employees to stay on top of mandatory training and for organizations to verify that training is complete.

Related: Compliance Training Checklist

6. Technical skills training

Technical skills training focuses on the "hard" skills that employees will utilize as they perform their job responsibilities, ranging from how to operate different types of machinery to how to perform tasks on company software.

Your organization may need training programs for entry-level technical skills , role-specific skills, and certification programs for professional skills. Some emerging areas of technical skills development include data analysis, AI management and engineering, and people sciences.

7. Customer training

Customer training resources are conceptually very different from other training you develop. Depending on the nature of the products and services you provide, it may be advantageous to provide your customers and product end-users access to training programs. Salesforce, for example, provides free training through its Trailhead program.

If you sell advanced software, complex tools, or even general goods that become more useful for tutorials (such as hair clippers or cleaning products), developing customer training material could widen your market reach, increase customer loyalty, and decrease the risk of frustration or poor user experiences. 

Related: 3 Real-Life Customer Education Examples and What They Can Teach Us

8. Product/software training

Product and software training could be for two different audiences: end-users and customers that need more information to guide their experience, and salespeople or customer success representatives that need an in-depth understanding of every product. For the latter, you can provide employees with in-depth learning programs focused on the following:

• The target market for each product
• Popular use cases
• Features and accessory goods
• Pricing and promotions
• Frequently experienced frustration points or frequently asked questions

9. Sales enablement training

Salespeople need in-depth training sessions to perform at high levels. Not only do entry-level salespeople need the training to learn sales tactics for both cold and hot leads, but salespeople of all experience levels benefit from learning about newly emerging sales trends and practising their skills through simulations. Sales enablement training can cover product details, sales processes, key account management tactics, and modules for using tools in your organization's tech stack.

Standardize your training programs

The best programs start with the right training management software . Set your team—and your program—up for success by automating many of the processes described above, eliminating admin and time wasting. Automation allows L&D teams to focus on the most critical parts of a great training program: providing training that helps boost employee performance. 360Learning makes it easy to assess training needs, create personalized learning paths, and track employee performance, course completion, and ROI. It also lets your employees collaborate and create courses, so they can learn from one another and upskill from within.

Interested to see 360Learning in action? Book a personalized demo to get started.

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A Guide to Conducting a Training Needs Analysis [Free Template]

Want to improve employee efficiency and performance? Conducting a comprehensive training needs analysis might be your answer.

What is a training needs analysis?

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities KSA refer to the knowledge, skills, and abilities that an employee must have to perform their responsibilities within their roles. They’re listed in the job description and guide candidates and employers to assess the person’s chance to succeed. Knowledge Topics and subjects that can be used when performing work functions when the person is hired. Examples: Knowledge of accounting principles and practices  Knowledge of budget control policies and procedures  Skills Technical or manual proficiencies are usually gained or learned through training. They are observable and measurable. Examples: Skills in analysis and problem-solving  Skills in using Microsoft Excel and accounting software  Abilities Capacity to apply knowledge and skills to perform a task. It also includes personal and social traits which are innate or acquired without formal training. Examples: Ability to process large amounts of numerical data Ability to prioritize work and meet deadlines

Training needs analysis levels

• Organizational level TNA – It determines training needs related to performance metrics, new employee knowledge at the company-wide level, and continuous training to optimize company performance and productivity to achieve its goals. It’s designed to address problems and weaknesses of the organization as well as to further improve the company’s current competencies and strengths. More importantly, it takes into account other factors like trends and changes in the economy, politics, technology, and demographics. 
• Group/job role level TNA – This type of analysis identifies specific training needed to upskill a team, department, or business unit. Moreover, it determines which occupational groups experience  skills gaps or discrepancies and ways to eliminate them. 
• Individual level TNA – This training needs assessment is dedicated to an individual or individuals in a team. It is conducted in conjunction with a project or changes that could impact each team member. It is also used for an employee’s personal development for future career advancement.

What is the purpose of conducting a training needs analysis?

• Aligning training with business goals – Alignment ensures that you’re investing in training that will help your organization achieve its business goals. Identifying the short and long-term objectives for your organization and the skills needed to achieve them helps L&D professionals to focus on the scope of the training. 
• Uncovering skills and performance gaps early on  – Performance gaps occur, for instance, when a business is undergoing change or new technologies emerge. As such, employees need to constantly upskill to acclimate to these changes. TNA allows organizations to resolve these gaps before they become a major issue. However, a study by PWC pointed out that only 40% of employers are upskilling their workers to address skills and labor shortages.
• Prioritizing training  – A TNA will help you determine which training you need to prioritize with respect to time and budget . “Training needs analysis is critical if you want to ensure you don’t waste resources, time, and energy,” notes Emily Chipman, executive coach and principal consultant at Rushman Consulting Solutions . “When done correctly, people learn more quickly, there is a greater impact on job performance, and it reduces the frustration that comes for employees when taking on new roles and tasks, thereby impacting employee engagement.”
• Planning targeted training   – You can create training plans that target exactly the skills and knowledge you identified are missing, so resources are invested properly.
• Determining who gets trained  – With TNA, you can make sure that specific people get trained on what they need. Customizing your training program based on your employees’ needs allows you to maximize the benefits of your training programs.

Training needs analysis best practices

• Start with the desired outcome. Identify which activities lead to these organizational outcomes before identifying training activities. This outcome can be an organizational or departmental goal. Or it could be an individual that needs improving.
• Manage expectations. Training and training need analysis requires advanced stakeholder management. Stakeholders include employees, service users (or customers), educational providers who design and deliver the program, and internal sponsors who pay for the educational event. Ensuring that the training satisfies all groups is crucial for its success. In other words, when a manager thinks a communication training session will solve all their internal problems, you need to manage their expectations.
• Use an integrated approach. Research shows that training programs that place new skills in a broader job or organizational perspective and integrate them with other organizational processes and activities are more successful. This does not mean that you cannot focus your training on something specific, but you must place what people learn into an organizational perspective.

How to conduct a training needs analysis

Step 1. Defining organizational goals

• an organization losing its innovative lead
• a sales department struggling to increase market share for a fast-growing scale-up
• the board has come up with an organizational capability that every employee must develop.
• Introducing new technology or processes that employees need to be trained on
• Trying to improve compliance or safety within the workplace
• Wanting to develop the skills of the organization’s workforce to prepare for future business opportunities or to stay competitive in the job market
• Financial performance
• Return on Equity
• Return on Capital Employed
• Earning growth
• Share price

Step 2. Define relevant job behaviors

Step 3. Define the required knowledge & skills

Training needs analysis techniques You can apply different training needs analysis techniques to map the required and available skills. Some common techniques include: Observations: Directly watching employees perform their duties to identify skills they possess, as well as gaps and areas for improvement. Questionnaires: Distributing structured surveys to employees to gather insights about their skills, perceived training needs and areas of interest. Interviews: Conducting one-on-one or group discussions with employees to explore their training needs, challenges, and suggestions for development opportunities. Assessments: Utilizing tests or simulations to evaluate employees’ current skill levels and identify specific areas where training is needed. Skills audits and skills inventories : Conducting comprehensive reviews of the skills and qualifications currently available within the organization to identify strengths, gaps, and areas for development, and inventorizing the data. Employee development plans : Identifying groups of employees with similar KSA. HRIS data mining and text mining CVs: Applying data and text mining techniques to HRIS data, resumes and CVs to uncover patterns, trends, and gaps in the workforce’s skills and qualifications. Text mining of job descriptions or job vacancy texts: Determining required competency levels per function. Job analysis : Breaking down jobs into their component tasks and determining the necessary skills and knowledge for each task.

Step 4. Develop training

• Define instructional goals and their alignment with organizational goals
• Determine the target audience
• Recognize behavioral outcomes, and
• Identify learning constraints.

Training needs analysis examples

1. email marketing executive example.

2. Organizational level training needs analysis example

• Increase quarterly sales performance by 15% to reverse the recent decline and improve overall revenue.
• Effective negotiation with clients to secure sales
• Accurate and persuasive presentation of product features and benefits
• Advanced negotiation techniques, including how to overcome objections and close deals
• Effective communication skills for presenting product features in a compelling way
• Up-to-date information on the latest product features and how they compare to competitors
• Understanding of customer needs and how the company’s products meet those needs
• The sales team requires training in advanced negotiation techniques and an in-depth product knowledge update, including competitive analysis.
• Organize a series of workshops on advanced negotiation skills led by an external expert
• Conduct product training sessions to update the team on the latest features, benefits, and competitive positioning

3. Hiring Manager example

Training needs analysis template.

Training needs analysis questions

• What problems are occurring in the organization?
• What is the organization trying to achieve?
• Which organizational goals require the biggest change in employee behaviors?
• Which departmental goals are lagging?
• Which individual performance goals should be improved?
• Can these problems be solved through different behaviors? 
• Which job behaviors contribute to the goals defined in step 1?
• If the listed job behaviors are ‘fixed’, does that bring us closer to the goals defined in step 1?
• Do the listed job behaviors align with our organizational core values?
• Which cultural cues reinforce undesirable behavior?
• What other influences play a role in reinforcing undesirable behavior?
• Which skills are required to display the behaviors we defined in step 2?
• Which knowledge components are required to display the behaviors we defined in step 2?
• Once the listed skills and knowledge components are taught, will the relevant job behaviors always be displayed?
• What is hindering the display of relevant job behaviors once the listed skills and knowledge components are taught?
• Is all the information required to start the training design and development process present?
• Are there non-training alternatives that we can deploy that will have a similar effect?

Over to you

Erik van Vulpen

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Training Policy Guidance

This guidance is intended to provide agency heads, managers, training and development professionals, employees and other interested parties with a single, topically organized source for Governmentwide training policy. Using the policies and guidance referenced here as a foundation, agencies should develop their own training policies in alignment with their respective strategic plans and missions. Agency training policies should be communicated widely and regularly to managers and employees and should be continually updated to reflect changing directions and priorities.

About this Guidance

Agencies are responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating their training programs in support of achieving their mission and goals. To assist this effort, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) compiled existing policies, laws, regulations, Executive orders, memoranda, and directives authorizing and directing training for Federal employees into this one comprehensive Handbook. The information in this Handbook supplements and aides in the interpretation of instructions and guidelines found in the Government Employees Training Act (5 U.S.C. 4101-4121), Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 5 CFR parts 410 and 412, and other applicable statutes, regulations and directives.

This Handbook is intended to provide agency heads, managers, training and development professionals, employees and other interested parties with a single, topically organized source for Governmentwide training policy. Topics include foundation principles; basic training policy and goals; roles and responsibilities of agency heads, managers and employees; mandated training; reporting of training data; training restrictions; and training administration and operations. The policies described in this Handbook delegate training authorities to department and agency heads in ways that allow flexibility in and local control over how they are carried out, but they do so within a context of holding managers accountable for meeting certain organization and Governmentwide training goals.

Using the policies and guidance referenced in this Handbook as a foundation, agencies should develop their own training policies in alignment with their respective strategic plans and missions. Agency training policies should be communicated widely and regularly to managers and employees and should be continually updated to reflect changing directions and priorities. All cited statutes and regulations are applicable as of the date of this publication. Agencies should consult original legal source material for context and to ensure cited statutes and regulations are still current. For questions or comments regarding anything in this Handbook, please email [email protected] .

Training Needs Assessment

• 5 U.S.C. 4103

Regulations:

• 5 CFR 410.201
• 5 CFR 410.202
• 5 CFR 410.203

Executive Order:

Agencies are required to assess periodically, but not less often than annually, the overall agency talent management program to identify training needs within the agency (5 CFR 410.201(4)). This can be accomplished by conducting a needs assessment. The purpose of conducting a training needs assessment is to identify performance requirements and competencies needed by an agency’s workforce to achieve the agency’s mission (5 CFR 410.201(d)).

A needs assessment identifies the gap between performance required or desired and current performance. The assessment then explores reasons for the gap and methods for closing or eliminating gaps. An effective training needs assessment will help direct resources needed to fulfill organizational mission, improve productivity, and provide quality products and services to the areas of greatest demand. Needs assessments should examine training needs on three levels:

• Organizational assessment evaluates the level of organizational performance. This type of assessment will determine what competencies an agency needs. It determines what is required to alleviate the problems and weaknesses of the agency as well as to enhance strengths and competencies, especially for mission-critical occupations (MCOs). Organizational assessment takes into consideration various additional factors, including changing demographics, political trends, technology, and the economy.
• Occupational assessment examines the skills, knowledge, and abilities required for affected occupational groups. Occupational assessment identifies which occupational discrepancies or gaps exist that are potentially introduced by the new direction of an agency. It also examines new ways to do work that can eliminate the discrepancies or gaps.
• Individual assessment analyzes how well an individual employee is doing a job and determines the individual’s capacity to do new or different work. Individual assessment provides information on which employees need training and what kind.

Training Administration Fast Facts

Fast facts: index of laws, regulations, and other references related to training administration.

This index highlights the laws, regulations, and other references relating to Federal Training administration. The index is a valuable resource for researching major training policy subject-matter areas. Many of the cited documents are available on the Internet. You also may contact your agency's human resources office, library, legal office, or information technology office to obtain copies of the documents cited (e.g., laws, regulations, Executive orders, etc.). Since each agency is responsible for Federal training administration, it is imperative that you also consult your agency's internal policies and collective bargaining agreements, as applicable.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

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Talent Development Glossary

An agreement an employee makes to continue to work for the Government for a pre-established length of time in exchange for Government sponsored training or education.

An employee selected for training for more than a minimum period prescribed by the head of the agency shall agree in writing with the Government before assignment to training that he will—

• continue in the service of his agency after the end of the training period for a period at least equal to three times the length of the training period unless he is involuntarily separated from the service of his agency; and
• pay to the Government the amount of the additional expenses incurred by the Government in connection with his training if he is voluntarily separated from the service of his agency before the end of the period for which he has agreed to continue in the service of his agency.

A detailed guide of developmental experiences to help SES members, through participation in short-term and longer-term experiences, meet organizational needs for leadership, managerial improvement, and organizational results.

SES members are required to prepare, implement, and regularly update an EDP as specified by 5 CFR 412.401

Training that supports agency goals by improving organizational performance at any appropriate level in the agency, as determined by the head of the agency. This includes training that:

• Supports the agency's strategic plan and performance objectives;
• Improves an employee's current job performance;
• Allows for expansion or enhancement of an employee's current job;
• Enables an employee to perform needed or potentially needed duties outside the current job at the same level of responsibility; or
• Meets organizational needs in response to human resource plans and re-engineering, downsizing, restructuring, and/or program changes.
• the government of a State or of a territory or possession of the United States including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and an interstate governmental organization, or a unit, subdivision, or instrumentality of any of the foregoing;
• a foreign government or international organization, or instrumentality of either, which is designated by the President as eligible to provide training under this chapter;
• a medical, scientific, technical, educational, research, or professional institution, foundation, or organization;
• a business, commercial, or industrial firm, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, or other organization;
• individuals other than civilian or military personnel of the Government; and
• the services and property of any of the foregoing furnishing the training.

Continued Service Agreements

A continued service agreement (CSA) is an agreement an employee makes to continue to work for the Government for a pre-established length of time in exchange for Government sponsored training or education. The service obligation begins when the training is completed. If the employee voluntarily leaves Government service before completing the service obligation, he or she must repay the Government all or some of the costs of the training (excluding salary).

Agencies may require service agreements for training of long duration or of high cost. With this authority, agencies protect their investment and secure a period of service from an employee once the employee completes the training.

Regulations

Each agency head determines the conditions for requiring employees to agree to continue in service after completing training. The law states that an agency can require an employee who participates in training to continue to work in the Federal Government for at least three times the length of the training period. The agency must develop its own policy for the use of the Continued Service Agreement (CSA).  For those situations where an employee is required to sign a CSA, they must do so in writing  before assignment to training. Title 5 USC §4108(a)(1) . If the employee leaves the Government before the agreed-upon amount of service, the agency has the right to require repayment for the amount of time not served. Id. at (b) and (c) .

The head of an agency may waive in whole or in part the agency's right of recovery if it is shown that the recovery would be against equity and good conscience or against the public interest. Id. at (c) . For example, if an employee who is under a continued service agreement decides to voluntarily leave Federal service due to an impending reduction-in-force, the agency may determine that waiving its right to recovery would be in the public interest and release the employee from the agreement.

Federal Government Tools and Resources

For your reference, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has also developed a Fact Sheet on Continuing Service Agreements . In addition, many agencies have created and implemented their own CSA policies:

Department of the Army

• Continued Service Agreement

Center for Disease Control

• Policy for Continued Service Agreements

Department of Energy

• Federal Training Manual , see chapter 3

Individual Learning Accounts

An Individual Learning Account (ILA) is a learning tool that provides a flexible and innovative approach to developing Federal employees.  Similar to a bank account that pays for training and development, an ILA is an account managed by employees to provide a vehicle for funding continuous learning.  ILAs also present a flexible and innovative approach for employees to take control of their own learning and career development.  By using ILAs, agencies shift their focus from a one-time learning event to continuous learning, from required training to strategic workforce development, and incorporate resources for training while balancing work and learning time.  In addition, the employee can choose what they want to learn, how they want to learn and have the opportunity to gain the skills they need.  ILAs are also meant to encourage more employees to invest (financially) in their own future, by contributing to their own accounts along with the contributions provided by the agency.

In January 1999, President Clinton issued an Executive Order No. 13111, Using Technology to Improve Training Opportunities for Federal Government Employees ,  creating the Task Force on Federal Training Technology.  The task force was required to develop options and recommendations for establishing a Federal Individual Training Account for each Federal employee, to be used for relevant training. 

ILA Pilot Programs

At the recommendation of the task force, ILAs were piloted in the Federal government from March 2000 to September 2000.  The overall intent of these programs was to see how individuals use their accounts over time, to have them invest their own money into building up their skills and to manage their own careers.  In addition, the pilot programs were intended to demonstrate the feasibility, usefulness and effectiveness of ILAs.  At the end, some agencies continued with the ILA program, others incorporated components into existing programs, and some opted to discontinue the program completely.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

• The FDIC currently has an active ILA that still resembles the original concept of their pilot program, despite some revisions. In order to understand how FDIC designed their program, click on the link for a copy of the   FDIC ILA Program PowerPoint slides .

The Center for Disease Control (CDC)

• The CDC developed an ILA in November 2005. Full-time permanent employees are provided $1000 in a learning account each year with a $3000 cap.

Helpful Tips

ILAs can also be used to supplement existing tuition reimbursement programs. Appropriation law requires monies appropriated for a given fiscal year be expended in that fiscal year (31 USC Sec. 1502).  Executive Order No. 13111 states: "To the extent permitted by law, ILA accounts may be established with the funds allocated to the agency for employee training.  No new funds are required to implement ILAs. The best way to determine if your agency has an ILA program is to inquire at your agency’s Human Resources Office.

Lifelong Learning Accounts (LiLAs)

Most Federal agencies do not currently use ILA’s as described in the pilot program.  However, there are a few agencies that found ILA’s to be useful either by incorporating the ILA concept into established programs whose objectives are similar or they have incorporated some of its properties into another program.  ILAs and   Lifelong Learning Accounts  (LiLAs) offer a practical, sustainable way to pay for ongoing learning.  In many cases, this type of program could solve some to the training budget problems within an agency.

Short on funds?

Take a look at OPM’s  Low-cost Training Options wiki page  to see how you can stretch ILA funds while still gaining the desired skills.

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How to Conduct a Training Needs Assessment [+ Templates]

Written by: Olujinmi Oluwatoni

Employee training isn't a stroke of luck; it's an investment in the business that should generate significant returns.

To avoid investing resources in training programs with little or no impact, it’s important to identify which teams need training and their exact training needs. Hence, conducting a training needs assessment before initiating any workplace training becomes crucial.

In this guide, we’ll explore what training needs assessment entails and how to conduct an effective assessment. We’ll also provide you with some easily customizable templates that’ll assist you while conducting or reporting your assessment.

Table of Contents

What is a training needs assessment, benefits of conducting a training needs assessment, levels of a training needs assessment, training needs assessment process, how to conduct a training needs assessment, training needs assessment templates.

• FAQs on Training Needs Assessment
• A training needs assessment (TNA) is how businesses define performance standards and pinpoint the precise skills, knowledge and abilities necessary for their workforce to meet these standards.
• Conducting a training needs assessment helps companies identify knowledge and skill gaps; improve performance; save cost; promote employee retention and provide measurable results.
• The levels of a training need assessment include organizational, occupational and individual assessments.
• Follow these steps to conduct effective training assessments: Define the training purpose and goal; select data collection methods; analyze the data; develop an action plan; report the findings and recommendations and implement the training program.
• Visme provides a wide variety of templates and features to conduct your training assessments and create your professional training resources.

A training needs assessment (TNA) is the process by which organizations determine performance requirements and identify the specific skills, knowledge and abilities their workforce needs to meet these requirements.

It compares existing skills and capabilities with desired results in order to highlight current gaps. For instance, a training needs assessment may reveal that the sales team needs to undergo training to learn how to adapt a new technology into their workflow.

Training needs assessment aims to identify the gap between the current and desired knowledge, skills and abilities in an organization. Ultimately, it contributes to improved performance, employee satisfaction and organizational success.

Performing a training needs assessment is essential for a successful employee training program. Here are some of the benefits of conducting a training needs assessment:

Identifies Knowledge and Skill Gaps

The primary purpose of a training needs assessment is to identify gaps in knowledge, skills and abilities within an organization. This information forms the basis for designing targeted and impactful training programs to bridge the identified knowledge and skill gaps.

Improves Performance

A training need assessment ensures that training initiatives align with the actual needs and job requirements of the employees. By providing relevant and tailored training, employees can acquire new skills, refine existing ones, boost confidence and ultimately perform better in their roles.

Focused Training Investment

Training needs assessment focuses on developing specific skills related to current business objectives. It ensures that key areas of training are targeted, allowing for focused and effective training initiatives.

A proper training need assessment should highlight the number of employees that will be involved in the training, the methods to be used and the amount of resources needed. It allows organizations to budget and allocate resources more effectively.

This allows you to save money that would have otherwise been wasted on poorly planned and generic training programs.

Promotes Employee Retention

Investing in targeted employee development initiatives can contribute to higher employee retention rates, as employees often feel more committed to an organization that invests in their growth.

Provides Measurable Results

A training needs assessment provides a basis for measuring the effectiveness of training programs by establishing clear objectives and benchmarks.

When you’re evaluating the training, these objectives and benchmarks can come in handy to determine the ROI of the training programs. These results are useful in helping senior leaders and stakeholders recognize the worth and stay dedicated to training programs.

There are three levels of a training needs assessment: organizational level (macro), occupational level (task) and individual level (personal).

Before conducting a training needs assessment, you should decide whether to combine all three levels into a single analysis or focus on a single level, with less emphasis on the other levels.

Organizational Assessment

At the organizational level, the focus is on identifying the overarching goals, strategies and performance gaps within the entire organization.

This involves analyzing the organization's mission, vision and strategic objectives to determine how training can align with and contribute to the broader goals. It also takes into account demographic and political shifts, technological advancements and changing economic landscapes to identify areas for improvement.

A comprehensive organizational assessment will pinpoint the essential skills and competencies required to support the organization's success.

However, solely concentrating on this macro assessment could lead to training programs that don't align with the employees’ training needs.

Occupational Assessment

The occupational level of training needs assessment zooms in on specific organizational roles and responsibilities. By understanding the specific requirements of each role, organizations can tailor training programs to address the skill gaps at the individual job level.

Occupational assessment allows for more targeted training and can directly impact job performance by addressing role-specific needs. However, it is more time-consuming and may overlook organizational needs and trends.

Individual Assessment

An individual training needs assessment evaluates training needs from a personal standpoint. It highlights the unique needs and performance gaps of individual employees. These assessments can include performance reviews, self-assessments and feedback from supervisors.

Individual assessment is the most helpful approach for the personal development and growth of employees. It is, however, resource-intensive and can be subject to personal biases.

Here’s a breakdown of the training needs assessment process:

Identify Training Need Assessment Goals

Determine the specific goals of the training need assessment. This can include improving job performance, reducing turnover and retaining talent, budget allocation, technology adoption and lots more.

Gather Data

Conduct surveys, interviews or focus groups with stakeholders, employees and management. You can also review performance records, existing training materials and job descriptions.

Analyze Information

• Evaluate collected data to identify skill gaps and performance deficiencies.
• Rank training needs based on urgency, impact on performance and alignment with organizational goals.

Develop Action Plan

• Create a detailed plan outlining training objectives, methods, resources needed and timelines.
• Determine who will conduct the training and how it will be delivered (e.g., workshops, online courses, on-the-job training).

Provide Feedback

• Share the findings of the assessment with relevant stakeholders, including management, HR and those directly involved in the training process.
• Encourage stakeholders to provide their comments and feedback on the assessment process. Use this input to refine and improve the training plan and implementation strategies.

Now, let’s take an in-depth look at the different steps involved in carrying out an effective training needs assessment.

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Step 1: Define Training Need Assessment Goals

Setting training needs assessment goals helps you document what you want to achieve. It ensures your training program addresses specific skill gaps or performance improvements and aligns with your company's overall goals.

When setting your training needs assessment goals, here are some questions to ask:

• Are there any tasks or processes where your employees seem to struggle or lack efficiency?
• What are the key priorities for your organization and how can your team's skills support those priorities?
• Are there any new initiatives in your company that require additional skills or knowledge?
• Have there been any recurring issues or challenges in meeting targets or expectations?
• What feedback have you received from customers, clients or internal stakeholders regarding the team's performance?
• What skills are necessary to adapt to advancements or changes in the industry?

Clear objectives also help in evaluating the effectiveness of the training assessment and its impact on employee performance and company goals.

Typically, this first stage involves working together with crucial stakeholders, such as top-level executives, department heads and HR experts, to align your goals with the company's priorities.

Additionally, keep in mind that your goals should follow the SMART criteria : specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T.).

Read this guide to learn more about creating SMART training goals.

Step 2: Select Data Collection Methods

Next, you will have to select your data collection methods. There are many data collection tools to choose from, such as:

• Surveys and questionnaires : Creating a survey distributed among employees can help you assess their perceived proficiency levels in specific skills required for their roles.
• Interviews/Focus Groups: Conducting one-on-one or group interviews will give you deeper insights into specific departmental needs or skill deficiencies. For instance, you could interview department heads or employees to understand what skills their teams lack or areas where they need improvement to perform better.
• Job shadowing: Observation and job shadowing provide a firsthand understanding of tasks, processes and challenges faced in real work situations and where training can be most beneficial. For example, shadowing a customer service representative can help to observe their interactions with clients and note areas where additional training might improve their skills.
• Performance Reviews and Feedback: This involves reviewing past performance evaluations, assessments and feedback given to employees. By analyzing these, you can identify skill gaps, areas for improvement and specific training needs based on individual or team performance.
• Benchmarking or Comparative Analysis: Comparing the organization's performance and skill levels with industry standards or competitors to identify gaps. For instance, you could compare the sales figures and customer satisfaction ratings of your company with industry averages to identify potential areas of improvement, like sales techniques or customer service skills.

The type of data to be collected will depend on the level of TNA (organization, team or individual) and the objectives of the training initiative.

However, it is better to use a combination of data collection methods in order to obtain a helpful mix of quantitative and qualitative data.

To facilitate data collection, Visme’s Form Builder makes it a breeze to design interactive and engaging survey and feedback forms.

Here’s a survey template you can customize right away:

Step 3: Analyze Data

The next step is to review and analyze the collected data to identify the gaps in knowledge, skills and abilities within the organization.

Perform a quantitative analysis to pinpoint recurring themes and patterns. Additionally, utilize qualitative analysis to uncover recurring patterns and gain deeper insights into perceptions and experiences that can't be quantified.

You can employ statistical tools like Excel, SPSS, MATLAB and lots more to conduct a comprehensive analysis.

Your assessment might reveal a wide range of training needs or gaps. However, you should focus on crucial or immediate training needs that align with the organization's goals and strategies.

Next, delve further to understand the root causes behind these gaps. Investigate whether they arise due to inadequate resources, ineffective training initiatives or other organizational factors.

It is important to keep in mind that there are certain issues that cannot be resolved with training alone and are better addressed by general workplace improvements such as setting better expectations and promoting better working conditions.

The main focus at this stage is to identify performance issues that are caused by skills and knowledge gaps. These are the issues that are best addressed via training.

Step 4: Develop an Action Plan

After identifying training gaps, the next step is to develop a suitable action plan to close the gaps.

The action plan should include training content, instructional design, needed trainers, facilities, timelines and other essential training elements.

Creating a training plan is crucial for effectively structuring this phase.

A comprehensive employee training plan outlines the activities of a training program designed for a specific role, team or company. It includes essential components such as training objectives, methods, learning materials, checklists, timelines, budgeting, as well as evaluation and testing criteria.

Here’s a training plan template that can assist you in creating yours:

Step 5: Present Feedback and Recommendations

After conducting the training needs assessment, it's crucial to share feedback and recommendations with stakeholders to gain their support. You can use Visme's training assessment report templates for a polished report.

Consider these key points when crafting your training assessment report:

• Summarize key findings, emphasizing areas for improvement with specific, constructive feedback on identified strengths and weaknesses. Use clear examples to illustrate points.
• Prioritize critical areas needing attention and offer actionable, tailored recommendations aligned with the organization's goals and resources.
• Present your training assessment insights and data clearly, using visuals and data visualization tools such as charts, tables and graphs for clarity if needed.
• Engage stakeholders by seeking their input to refine recommendations and increase buy-in.
• Develop a follow-up plan to track implementation progress, defining milestones and metrics for assessing effectiveness.

Step 6: Implement Training Initiatives

Once an action plan is devised and you have the buy-in of stakeholders, it becomes imperative to set the training in motion. At this stage, the training program kicks into gear and employees begin to learn the skills and abilities they need to fill the gap.

For maximum engagement, it's vital for employees to comprehend the reasons behind the training and the benefits they stand to gain.

Your training timeline should also address the modules and the time allocated for them. It is important to consider work schedules, learning styles, complexity and organizational priorities when developing timelines.

The quality of your training resources goes a long way in determining the success of your training. Visme provides a diverse array of easily customizable training material templates to help you create professional training materials.

You can effortlessly craft engaging and professional handouts, training videos , presentations , checklists , manuals and much more with Visme.

If you need additional assistance in crafting a training document, you can utilize Visme’s AI document generator . This feature will help you kickstart your project effectively.

At this stage, it's crucial to choose a learning management system for the training program. Be sure to consider factors such as user-friendliness, scalability, ongoing support, reporting, analytic features and integration with other applications you use.

A perk of utilizing Visme for crafting your training content is the seamless export capability to your company's LMS in SCORM or xAPI formats. You can also download your training materials in multiple formats, like JPG, PNG, PDF, HTML5 and others.

Another great feature you can utilize is Visme's analytics feature , which aids in tracking employee engagement with your training materials. It provides detailed insights such as visit/view counts, time spent and more.

To learn more about how to develop a successful training program, read this comprehensive guide .

Step 7: Measure the Impact of the Training Needs Assessment

You should obtain a comprehensive view of the impact of your training needs assessment so that you can identify areas to improve subsequently.

Here are some ways to measure the effectiveness of the training needs assessment:

• Performance Metrics: Track changes in productivity, quality or efficiency before and after training. For example, reduced error rates or increased output could indicate success.
• Employee Feedback: Use surveys or interviews to gauge perceptions about the relevance and effectiveness of the training in addressing identified needs.
• Skill and Behavioral Assessment: Observe improvement in skills or behavior on the job to know if employees are applying new knowledge or skills gained from the training.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis: Compare the cost of the training program with the benefits obtained, such as increased revenue, reduced turnover or saved resources due to improved processes.
• Retention and Engagement Rates: Measure changes in employee retention, satisfaction or engagement levels post-training.

Carrying out a training needs assessment shouldn’t be complicated. Visme has a number of customizable training needs assessment templates you can use to get started quickly.

Hear what one of our users has to say about their experience with Visme:

Adjunct Professor

Now, let’s get to the templates!

1. Training and Development Needs Assessment Form Template

This adaptable template serves as a great tool to assess your team members' specific learning needs. Its clean and well-organized brochure layout ensures easy navigation through information. It includes sections for employee details and a detailed competency evaluation table.

Align your training assessment plan with your brand's identity effortlessly. Utilize Visme's brand wizard tool by inputting your website URL to incorporate your logo, fonts and colors seamlessly into your brand kit. Furthermore, this feature provides personalized template recommendations tailored to your brand.

2. Training Needs Assessment Worksheet Template

Seeking an efficient worksheet to evaluate your employees' daily or weekly performance? Look no further than this sleek assessment worksheet.

This template includes a table for evaluating skills or knowledge proficiency. You can conveniently edit placeholder content and add more pages as necessary. Elevate engagement by adding interactive elements like pop-ups and hover effects for an immersive experience and to reveal additional information.

3. General Training Needs Assessment Report

This comprehensive training needs assessment report template offers an excellent method to showcase assessment findings to stakeholders. It employs engaging visuals, clear layouts and well-structured content for easy comprehension.

Utilize sections like executive summary, objectives, methodology, results, recommendations and conclusion to create a thorough report.

For collaborative efforts, Visme's collaboration tool allows teams to make contributions in real time, enabling comments and edits during brainstorming sessions on the report.

4. Corporate Training Needs Assessment Report

This corporate training assessment template is another excellent way to present your comprehensive training assessment report professionally and clearly. It combines the soothing tones of blue with the crispness of white, delivering an engaging experience.

The template features sections such as the executive summary, objectives, methodology, results, recommendations and conclusions.

In the result section of the template, maximize Visme's interactive data visualizations, graphs charts and widgets to present your data in a clear format.

Worried about manually inputting data? Easily import data from Excel, Google Sheets/Analytics or Survey Monkey into each table or chart. Simply click on the desired element, connect your data source and effortlessly integrate your figures.

FAQS on Training Needs Assessment

Q. what are the 5 major components of a training needs assessment.

The five major components of a training needs assessment are:

• Define training purpose and goal
• Select data collection methods
• Analyze the data
• Develop an action plan
• Report the findings and recommendations.

Q. Which Should Be Analyzed First in Training Needs Assessment?

Training needs assessment should start with identifying organizational goals and objectives. This foundational step helps ensure that the training aligns with the broader mission and vision of the organization. It is crucial to start with a good understanding of where the company currently is and where it should be.

It is much easier to pinpoint employees' skills gaps with an understanding of the difference between the current and projected state of affairs.

Q. What Are the Challenges of Training Needs Assessment?

Conducting training needs assessments comes with a lot of challenges.

Firstly, you have to collect and analyze data from a number of quantitative and qualitative sources. This presents the challenge of having to find and deal with low-quality data.

Also, the training needs assessment process can be time and resource-intensive. Justifying the cost to the stakeholders may be difficult.

Other challenges include time constraints, biases in interpretation and difficulty in prioritizing training needs.

There are several possible challenges that may be encountered in the process of carrying out a training needs assessment. One major challenge is the need to collect and analyze data from different sources.

Q. What Questions Should Be Asked in the Needs Assessment?

Your training needs assessment has to answer the following questions:

• Why is training needed? Defining the "why" helps set clear objectives and ensure that the training aligns with organizational goals.
• Who needs training? By pinpointing specific teams or individuals who need training, organizations can design programs to address the unique skill gaps relevant to those roles. This saves time and makes the training more effective.
• What kind of training do they need? Whether it's technical skills, soft skills, compliance training or a combination, understanding the nature of the needed training ensures that the content is relevant and directly addresses the identified gaps.
• When and how will the training be conducted? Consider scheduling training sessions at optimal times to minimize disruptions to daily operations. You should also decide on the delivery methods, whether in-person workshops, online courses, on-the-job training or a blend of approaches.

Plan & Execute Excellent Training with Visme

Training is essential to retaining top talent, improving job performance and productivity and raising rates of job satisfaction. However, conducting a training needs assessment ensures that the benefits of a training program are maximized and resources are put to proper use.

Visme offers a complete toolkit to develop and implement interactive training programs, along with a range of features for design, collaboration and analytics. You can create engaging learning materials like presentations , infographics , job aids, training manuals , worksheets, whiteboards and more.

What’s more? The platform enables your team to create diverse content for HR , sales , marketing, communication, branding, project management and beyond.

Create a Visme account and start developing effective and successful employee training initiatives.

Create beautiful & interactive training materials using Visme

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About the Author

Olujinmi is a Content writer for Visme who creates human-first SEO content. She loves helping businesses smash their ROI goals with strategic content development and optimization. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her composing songs.

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11 Training Announcement Email Templates for Employees

Employee training is a cornerstone for organizational growth and efficiency. It not only enhances the skills and knowledge of the workforce but also boosts morale and productivity. However, the success of any training program begins with effective communication. This article will explore the essential elements of employee training announcements, provide practical tips, and offer a collection of email templates designed to suit various training scenarios.

Table of Contents

Essential Elements for Employee Training Announcements

Tips for communicating training announcements, training announcement email templates and examples.

• 1 All Employees
• 2 New Hires
• 3 In-person Training Announcement
• 4 Online Training Announcement
• 5 Formal Training Announcement
• 6 Informal Training Announcement
• 7 Data Protection Training
• 8 Diversity and Inclusion Training
• 9 Product Training
• 10 Role-focused Training
• 11 Mandatory Harassment Training Announcement Email

Type less. Say more.

Leave boring, repetitive copying & pasting in the past. Share text and images wherever you can type--so you can focus on what matters most.

(No credit card required)

A well-crafted training announcement should include the following elements:

• Purpose of the Training: Clearly articulate why the training is necessary and how it benefits both the employees and the organization.
• Training Details: Include the date, time, duration, and location (physical or virtual) of the training session.
• Agenda/Topics Covered: Provide a brief overview of the topics that will be covered.
• Trainer Information: Introduce the trainer or the organization providing the training, highlighting their expertise and credentials.
• Registration Information: If applicable, include how and by when employees need to register for the training.
• Contact Information: Offer details on who to contact for more information or questions.
• Call to Action: Encourage employees to participate with a clear and motivating call to action.
• Be Concise and Clear: Avoid jargon and be straightforward about the training details.
• Highlight Benefits: Emphasize what employees will gain from attending the training.
• Use an Engaging Tone: Depending on the organizational culture, choose a tone that best engages your audience, be it formal or informal.
• Personalize When Possible: Addressing employees by name and tailoring messages for different groups can increase engagement.
• Follow-Up: Send reminders as the training date approaches and a follow-up email post-training for feedback.

All Employees

Subject: Upcoming Training Opportunity for All Employees: Enhance Your Skills!

We’re excited to announce a training session designed to enrich our collective skills and knowledge, aimed at driving our success further. Scheduled for [Date], this session will cover [Key Topics], providing valuable insights and practical applications.

For more details and registration, please visit [Link/Instructions].

Looking forward to your enthusiastic participation!

Best, [Your Name]

Subject: Upcoming Training Opportunity for All Employees: Excel Mastery!

We’re thrilled to announce an upcoming training session designed to elevate our Excel skills to new heights! Scheduled for March 15th, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, this session will delve into advanced Excel functions, data analysis techniques, and visualization tools that will empower us to handle our data more effectively.

For more details and to register, please visit our intranet training page by March 10th.

Let’s harness the full power of Excel together!

Best, Jane Doe, HR Manager

Subject: Welcome Aboard: Your First Training Session Awaits!

Dear [Employee Name],

Welcome to [Company Name]! As part of our onboarding process, we’ve arranged a training session on [Date], focusing on [Topics], to help you hit the ground running.

Please find the details attached. For any queries, feel free to reach out.

Warm regards, [Your Name]

Subject: Welcome to the Team: Dive Into Our Culture and Tools!

Welcome to Global Tech Solutions! To kickstart your journey with us, we’ve scheduled an onboarding training session on March 20th, focusing on our company culture, core values, and the tools we use daily. This session will provide you with the insights and resources needed to seamlessly integrate into our team.

Please find the agenda and details attached. Should you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me directly.

Warm regards, John Smith, Onboarding Specialist

In-person Training Announcement Email to Employees

Subject: Join Us for an Interactive Training Session on [Date]!

Mark your calendars for an engaging in-person training session on [Date] at [Location]. This session, led by industry expert [Trainer Name], will cover [Topics], offering hands-on experience and interactive learning.

Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your skills and connect with your colleagues!

Subject: Interactive Workshop Alert: Mastering Project Management!

Circle your calendars for an invigorating in-person workshop on ‘Mastering Project Management’! Join us on April 5th at our downtown office conference hall. Led by industry veteran Sarah Johnson, this session from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM will cover agile methodologies, effective team collaboration, and time management strategies.

Seize this opportunity to boost your project management skills and connect with fellow team members!

Best, Emily White, Training Coordinator

Online Training Announcement Email to Employees

Subject: Boost Your Skills from Anywhere: Join Our Online Training!

We’re pleased to offer an online training session on [Date], accessible from the comfort of your own space. This session will delve into [Topics], with insights from [Trainer Name].

Please register by [Deadline] to secure your spot. Check your inbox for the access link!

Best wishes, [Your Name]

Subject: Virtual Learning Opportunity: SEO and Content Marketing!

Elevate your digital marketing skills with our upcoming online training on ‘SEO and Content Marketing’, happening on April 12th, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM. This virtual session, presented by digital marketing guru David Lee, will explore the latest SEO strategies and content creation best practices.

Please ensure your registration by April 7th. The access link will be sent out two days prior to the event.

Best wishes, Mark Brown, Marketing Director

Formal Training Announcement Email

Subject: Invitation to Participate: [Training Topic] Training Session

We cordially invite you to attend the upcoming training session on [Topic], scheduled for [Date]. This session is a vital component of our commitment to professional development and continuous improvement.

Please confirm your attendance by [RSVP Date].

Sincerely, [Your Name]

Subject: Formal Invitation: Leadership Development Program

Dear Ms. Thompson,

We are pleased to extend this formal invitation for you to attend our Leadership Development Program, scheduled for May 10th-12th. This intensive three-day workshop is designed to refine leadership skills, enhance decision-making capabilities, and foster strategic thinking.

Your RSVP by April 25th would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely, Laura Green, Chief Human Resources Officer

Informal Training Announcement Email

Subject: Hey Team, Let’s Learn Together! 🌟

Get ready for a fun and insightful session on [Topic] this [Date]! It’s going to be interactive, full of real-life examples, and maybe a few laughs along the way. 😉

Drop a message if you’re in. Can’t wait to see you there!

Cheers, [Your Name]

Subject: Let’s Get Creative with Graphic Design! 🎨

Ready to get those creative juices flowing? Join our graphic design crash course on March 29th! It’s going to be a laid-back, fun-filled afternoon with lots of visuals, hands-on activities, and yes, some cool swag. 🕺

Hit me up if you’re interested. Let’s make some art!

Cheers, Tom, Creative Lead

Data Protection Training

Subject: Essential Data Protection Training for All Employees

In today’s digital age, safeguarding our data is more important than ever. Join us on [Date] for a crucial training session on data protection best practices, led by data security expert [Trainer Name].

Your participation is key to our collective cybersecurity efforts.

Subject: Important: Data Protection and Privacy Training

In our ongoing effort to safeguard sensitive information, we’re hosting a Data Protection and Privacy training session on April 20th, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. This critical training, led by cybersecurity expert Lisa Chang, will cover the latest in data protection laws, encryption techniques, and best practices for handling confidential information.

Your attendance is vital to our collective cybersecurity efforts.

Best, Derek, IT Security Manager

Diversity and Inclusion Training

Subject: Embrace Diversity: Join Our Inclusion Training

We’re committed to fostering an inclusive workplace. Participate in our Diversity and Inclusion training on [Date], and let’s take meaningful steps together towards understanding and celebrating our differences.

Looking forward to a richer, more inclusive [Company Name].

Subject: Join Our Journey: Diversity and Inclusion Workshop

We believe in the strength of our diversity. Join us for a transformative Diversity and Inclusion workshop on May 5th, where we’ll explore the value of diverse perspectives, inclusive communication, and how we can all contribute to a more welcoming workplace.

This is more than training; it’s a step towards understanding and respect.

Warm regards, Samantha, Diversity Officer

Product Training

Subject: Master Our Products: Exclusive Training Session for [Team/Department]

Dear [Team/Department],

Elevate your product knowledge with our upcoming training on [Date], focused on [Product/Service]. This session will equip you with insights and techniques to better serve our customers and achieve our goals.

Secure your spot by [Deadline]!

Subject: Get to Know Our Newest Software: Exclusive Product Training!

Dear Sales Team,

Gear up for an exclusive training session on our latest software solution, happening on April 15th. This in-depth session will provide you with all the knowledge and tactics needed to confidently present and sell our new product.

Please confirm your participation by April 10th. Let’s make this launch a success!

Best, Rachel, Product Manager

Role-focused Training

Subject: Advance Your Career: Specialized Training for [Role/Department]

Dear [Role/Department] Team,

Enhance your expertise with our role-focused training on [Date], tailored to the unique needs and challenges of your position. This session, led by [Trainer Name], is an opportunity to advance your skills and contribute more effectively to our shared success.

Please RSVP by [Deadline].

Best regards, [Your Name]

Subject: Specialized Training Alert for Customer Service Reps!

Dear Customer Service Team,

Elevate your service game with our specialized training tailored just for you! Join us on March 22nd for a session focused on advanced communication skills, handling difficult situations, and leveraging customer feedback to improve our services.

RSVP by March 17th to secure your spot in this career-advancing opportunity.

Best regards, Kevin, Customer Service Director

Mandatory Harassment Training Announcement Email

Subject: Mandatory Harassment Prevention Training: Participation Required

As part of our commitment to a safe and respectful workplace, all employees are required to complete harassment prevention training by [Deadline]. This essential session will take place on [Date], covering critical policies and prevention strategies.

Your attendance is not only mandatory but crucial to fostering a positive work environment.

Thank you for your cooperation and commitment to our shared values.

Subject: Reminder: Mandatory Harassment Prevention Training

This is a reminder of the mandatory Harassment Prevention training scheduled for April 30th. As part of our dedication to maintaining a respectful and safe work environment, it’s crucial that all employees participate in this session, which will cover our policies, prevention strategies, and how to address harassment.

Your attendance is mandatory and essential to our commitment to a harassment-free workplace.

Thank you for your cooperation and dedication to our workplace values.

Sincerely, Alexandra, HR Compliance Officer

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New Process Announcement Email Template and Example

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Organizational Change Announcement Email Template

This article provides a comprehensive guide on crafting effective organizational change announcements, including detailed templates and hypothetical examples for various scenarios.

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Enhancing reproducibility through rigor and transparency.

Two of the cornerstones of science advancement are rigor in designing and performing scientific research and the ability to reproduce biomedical research findings. Information provided on this webpage provides information about the efforts underway by NIH to enhance rigor and reproducibility in scientific research. It also provides the extramural community assistance in addressing rigor and transparency in NIH grant applications and progress reports.

The NIH strives to exemplify and promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science. The application of rigor ensures robust and unbiased experimental design, methodology, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of results. When a result can be reproduced by multiple scientists, it validates the original results and readiness to progress to the next phase of research. This is especially important for clinical trials in humans, which are built on studies that have demonstrated a particular effect or outcome.

Grant applications instructions and the criteria by which reviewers are asked to evaluate the scientific merit of the application are intended to:

• ensure that NIH is funding the best and most rigorous science,
• highlight the need for applicants to describe details that may have been previously overlooked,
• highlight the need for reviewers to consider such details in their reviews through updated review language, and
• minimize additional burden.

Learn more about rigor and reproducibility below.

Principles and Guidelines for Publishing Preclinical Research

Explore principles to enhance rigor and further support research that is reproducible, robust, and transparent, developed by journal editors at a workshop representing over 30 basic/preclinical science journals.

Guidance: Rigor and Reproducibility in Grant Applications

Learn how to address rigor and reproducibility in your grant application and discover what reviewers are looking for as they evaluate the application for scientific merit.

Resources for Preparing Your Application

Resources for Preparing Your Application Learn how to prepare a rigorous application with select excerpts of rigor from awarded applications, authentication plan examples, and resources like the experimental design assistant (EDA), guidance on sample size calculation, and more.

Training and Other Resources for Rigor and Reproducibility

Resources and training on many aspects of rigor and reproducibility, including sex as a biological variable, research methods, reviewer guidance and more.

Meetings and Workshops for Rigor and Reproducibility

NIH has hosted a number of meetings and workshops focused on rigor, reproducibility, and transparency in scientific research. A variety of other events have incorporated these topics as important components as well.

Notices, Blog Posts, and References for Rigor and Reproducibility

We are continuously working to enhance scientific rigor and transparency in biomedical research. Learn more about the timeline of our efforts.

For NIH Staff

Still have questions? Please send them to [email protected]