What Do Your Employees Need? Better Learning Design

It’s easy to assume that when employees struggle with a process, make mistakes, or need additional support, the answer is they need more training.

But more training isn't always the solution. Sometimes the problem isn't a lack of information, but the information was never designed to help people learn, remember, and apply it in the first place. Instructional design can help here.

What Is Instructional Design?

Instructional design is the process of creating learning experiences that help people develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviors they need to accomplish a specific goal.

Good instructional design goes beyond putting information into a PowerPoint presentation or creating a lengthy employee handbook. It starts with a more important question: What does the learner need to be able to do when the training is over?

The shift from what information should we present? to what should people be able to do? can completely change the way training is developed.

Information Isn't the Same as Learning

Consider a new employee who is given a 60-page manual on a company's procedures. They read it, complete a knowledge check, and receive a certificate. Then, three weeks later, they encounter a situation that wasn't covered exactly the way they remember it. What happens next? They may not know what to do.

That's because knowing information and being able to apply information are two different things. Effective learning experiences give people opportunities to practice, make decisions, solve problems, receive feedback, and apply what they've learned. The entire goal is to make your employees capable, not just knowledgeable.

Start With the Performance Problem

One of the most important questions an instructional designer can ask is:

“What problem are we actually trying to solve?”

Imagine a company has noticed an increase in customer complaints.

The immediate response might be to create customer-service training.

But what if the real problem isn't employee knowledge?

Perhaps:

• Employees don't have authority to resolve common customer issues.

• The procedure is confusing.

• The software makes the process unnecessarily difficult.

• Employees were trained six months ago but haven't had an opportunity to practice.

• Managers are giving employees conflicting instructions.

• The performance expectations aren't clear.

Training won't automatically fix those problems. Good instructional design begins by determining whether training is actually the appropriate solution.

Adults Want Training to Be Relevant

Adults bring experience, knowledge, expectations, and opinions into the learning environment. You also have to address WIIFM (What's In It For Me?)

If learners can't see the connection between training and their real responsibilities, engagement can disappear quickly. That's why effective training should connect concepts to realistic situations. Instead of simply telling an employee to follow your five-step customer escalation process, a better learning experience might present a realistic customer scenario and ask: “The customer has already contacted your department twice and is now requesting a supervisor. What should you do next?”

Now the learner isn't simply recalling information. They're using it.

That's a fundamental difference between training about a task and training someone to perform the task.

Good Learning Design Doesn't Have to Be Complicated

Instructional design sometimes sounds like a highly technical field filled with models, theories, assessments, learning objectives, and terminology.

Those things can be valuable.

But at its core, good instructional design is about answering a few basic questions:

1. Who needs to learn?

2. What do they need to be able to do?

3. Why do they need to do it?

4. What is preventing them from doing it now?

5. What practice will help them improve?

6. How will we know the training worked?

Those questions can improve almost any training program—even a short orientation session or a 15-minute microlearning course.

The Real Measure of Training

A successful training program isn't necessarily the one with the highest attendance.

It isn't necessarily the one with the most impressive presentation. And it isn't necessarily the one with the longest course. The more meaningful question is: Did the training improve performance?

If employees can demonstrate the skill, make better decisions, avoid preventable errors, serve customers more effectively, or perform their jobs with greater confidence, the training is doing its job. That's the real promise of instructional design.

Training Should Change What People Can Do

At Spivey Training Solutions, we believe training should be an intentional learning experience designed around the people who will use it.

Because ultimately, the purpose of training is to help someone perform better when the course is over. And sometimes the best training solution isn't more training, just better training.