Training for results activity based VS processed based curriculum
Developing Process Oriented Training that Produces Business Results
The traditional model of technology training has been mainly concerned with content
(activity training); in contrast, a curriculum that focuses on process learning will lead to
business results that assists an organization in achieving its goals. It also provides workers
with the skills and knowledge that can be easily transferred to the job. However, a
curriculum that is processed based cannot stand-alone, management must take an active role
in providing a supportive workplace that encourages the new skill transfer.
The formula below demonstrates a fundamental concept when you are developing training
for business results.
Learning Experience x Work Environment = Business Results
Business results occur when skills taught in a training program are applied to the job,
yielding improved performance. For this to occur you need a well designed and skillfully
developed and delivered training program that allows participants to learn how newly
acquired knowledge and skills relates to the job. As a result, the “learning experience” side
of the equation equals 100%. Learning by itself will not produce business results. A work
environment that reinforces the knowledge and skills taught in the program and holds people
accountable for using those skills is critical to the overall process. If one of these is missing
in the equation, business results are not met. Recalling basic arithmetic, 100 multiplied by 0
equals 0 in terms of on-the-job results. A superior training program acting alone without the
work environment supporting the skills taught will suffer and produce limited results from
the training effort. This dilemma is the common failing of a training program. The
concentration is placed on the learning side of the equation with little effort ensuring the
work environment supports new skills.
Relate this equation to a hypothetical case study involving an administrative staff in an
Accounting organization. The manager wants his administrative assistants to learn Excel to
create invoices and spreadsheets for the Accounting organization. The curriculum truly
demonstrates activity training. All of the Excel functions are covered in the instruction (i.e.
sum, cut, paste, etc.), but the training does not provide the specific processes, knowledge and
skills needed to translate this new information to the job. Hands-on exercises are limited to
using the software, so when training was completed, trainees’ know how to use the functions
of the software but do not know how to operate it. Trainees return to their jobs and with no
idea “how to” create the invoices or spreadsheets. In this hypothetical case study, results
from the training effort are minimal, largely because the training program did not provide
specific application skills that related to the actual job requirement. On the other hand,
management was eager to support, coach and hold people accountable for using the
knowledge and skills. Now relate this scenario back to the equation, 0 for Learning
Experience and 100% for Work Environment, which still equals 0 in terms of business
results.
Combining a learning experience that relates to job responsibilities and processes with a
work environment that supports the skills taught and holds people accountable to use the
skills produces business results at 100%.
Developing Process Based Training
Once your training needs assessment is complete and has proven the benefits are worth the
investment; and with management’s commitment to creating a supportive work environment,
your next step is to develop a training program that transfers the skills and knowledge
immediately to the job. This is known as process-based training.
As organizations implement new technologies (or re-engineer), processes and procedures
usually change. Part of an organizations’ change management strategy, includes modeling
the new processes to reflect the changes to the organization. The newly modeled business
processes can become the bases for your process-based results-oriented training curriculum.
Modeling business processes can also identify other technologies that are tied to a specific
technology being trained. This exercise links the relationship between technologies thus
providing the opportunity to deliver training on a variety of systems during one training
session. For example, if access to a Work Order tracking system is required to create a
design in the GIS application, the Work Order tracking system is included in the curriculum
design.
Once business processes are modeled, it is important for curriculum developers to understand
the business process and how it influences the skills and knowledge that needs to be taught.
The best way to understand the new processes is to conduct a series of interviews and
meetings with process team members and key personnel to gain the knowledge necessary to
develop a comprehensive training strategy. By reviewing business processes and
interviewing process owners, technology ‘touch points’ can easily be identified to determine
other technologies that need to be trained during the same training session. Touch points are
interactions with specific information systems through out the process model.
The following illustration demonstrates an abridged version of a GIS Work Order Design
process. GIS touch points are identified in gray.
