Management and Administration of Training: The Training Program Toolkit

While training is being designed and developed, the management and administration of training endeavors need to be in place. To be fair, this post should have been first in the Training Program Toolkit series. Nevertheless, managing and administering training is a crucial element to an organization’s training function and should not be overlooked. In most cases, the training function in organizations will rest in the hands of just a few people. It’s not all that uncommon to witness one-person training departments where the lone member is responsible for everything from analysis to development and delivery of training. Regardless if there are one or more members in your organization’s training department, you should have the following in place to be effective.

Project Management

It goes without saying that requests for training in organizations stem from a need to fill a knowledge, skills or abilities gap in performers to meet specific goals or objectives. When that request is made, it is important align your work with “big picture” goals and objectives for the organization. The training department must interact with several functions and leaders within an organization. Therefore, staying organized, task-focused and goal-oriented is crucial. Project management is the key to staying on target in the organization’s training function. Managing training projects requires:

Knowledge of training request origins (the who, where and why behind training requests)
Knowledge of when training needs to occur
Resources to support training delivery

Budget Planning and Monitoring

Budgeting is as simple as allocating funds to support training and then tracking expenditures to make sure you are not going over budget and becoming a liability to the organization. Always be thinking ahead in regard to your training budget. Find ways to cut costs, but not at the expense of the training – it’s goals and objectives.

Instructional Design Process

Have a defined process for creating training. By following a process, you can create effective training that is instructionally sound and cost effective. When you create training through an instructional design process, it can be completed in a timely fashion and more importantly be objective.

Outsourcing

Be open to hiring consultants or freelance instructional designers to work on some training projects. By outsourcing the design and development of selected training to third parties, you are able to free up resources that you can dedicate to more important training programs. A colleague at company in Boise, Idaho uses this method to focus his training team on the ongoing, mission-critical training programs in his organization. While they work on those programs, the one-time training events that are important, but not crucial, are handed off to consultants he manages.

Training Resources

Resources to support the development and delivery of training are wide and varied between companies. Training budgets often dictate what what access you have to tools and resources for training. Try to allocate the resources you need and find creative ways to use what you have available. You may find ways to deliver training that is efficient and cost-effective.

Evaluation Process

Create processes and models to measure the effectiveness of your training. The most popular evaluation methodology is drawn from Donald Kirkpatrick’s model of evaluation. Typically, evaluation of training programs will measure reaction to the training program or how well it was received. This is commonly known as a Level 1 Evaluation. A Level 2 Evaluation will test or quiz your learner’s knowledge of the subject matter after they have been trained. The data gathered from these forms of evaluation will provide guidance to you on what changes to the training need to be made, if any.

Conclusion

By looking at your training department from this perspective, you can effectively manage, organize and plan company-wide training. Any training you create out of your training function will then be aligned with your business’s objectives and demonstrate its ability to be an asset rather than a liability.

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