Chapter 6. Using Training to Prepare Your Stakeholders

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Define different types of training

• Identify the groups that need to be trained

• Gather training input from all relevant teams

• Build training development and delivery plans

• Develop training evaluations

• Create a training sustainability plan

We are now ready to look at the last Pillar of Change: training.

When people think about Change Management, training is one of the first activities that come to mind. Training is one of the most visible aspects of a Change Management program. It also requires some of the most detailed and structured planning and execution.

The steps required to plan and deliver a robust training program could fill an entire book. Therefore, this chapter is designed to help you develop a high-level training strategy. By completing the exercises throughout the chapter, you will create a clear direction for your training program. This direction can then be broken down into more detailed...

The importance of training

I have heard more than one client say, "Why do we need training? The new system's easy. Everyone will be able to figure it out on their own."

If someone at your organization says this to you, ask them to consider these questions:

• Is everyone as technologically savvy as you?

  Most likely, the answer is "No." I typically find that the people who don't think training is necessary are the people who are very comfortable with technology. Remind them that there are people in the organization who will struggle with learning a new system.

  Note

  Tip

  It is never safe to assume that everyone has the same level of comfort and knowledge with using technology.

• How quickly can people learn the system on their own? Are we willing to wait that long?

  Even if the new system is extremely easy and people can learn it on their own, it will take them time. If your organization doesn't mind waiting for days, weeks, or even months while everyone figures it out, then you might not need a training...

Building knowledge through blended learning

There are a number of different ways to train people. In most situations, the best approach to training is blended learning.

Note

Tip

Blended learning combines multiple types of training to ensure that the training program presents information in the most effective format based on the kind of knowledge you are building and the learning style of your audience.

As you create your blended learning approach, it is important to consider the following points:

• The best learning situation for each type of training

• The benefits of each training delivery method

• The drawbacks of each training delivery method

The following chart will help you determine how to incorporate each type of training into your training program:

Identifying your training audience

When people begin planning for training, they automatically think about training the system end users. As a result, a lot of time and effort goes into planning, developing, and delivering training for this group, while other groups are forgotten. As you plan your training program, keep the following groups in mind as well:

• Project team: This training is especially important if your project team has members who have not done project work before.

  Note

  Tip

  Remember that although the processes and tools used on a project might seem obvious and easy to you, they can seem overwhelming and difficult to someone who has never worked on a project before.

  Consider holding a training session at the beginning of the project covering the following topics:

  • Project objectives and guidelines: Ensure that everyone on the team understands what the project is trying to achieve and the guidelines they should follow while working toward this goal.

    Note

    Tip

    You may think that because...

Gathering training input

On most projects, it's not possible for one person to determine all of the topics that require training.

Note

Tip

You will need to work with people and teams across the project and company to gather training input.

Before you reach out to others, you should gather all of the information you already have. Begin by looking at the Change Impact Analysis you conducted in Chapter 4, Managing Your Stakeholders. The process and technology impacts that you identified serve as a good starting point for creating a list of training topics.

Once you have the change impact analysis in front of you, fill out the following template to organize the impacts into training topics. I have filled out the first line as an example. Notice that multiple related impacts can be formed into one training topic.

Training type	When to use it	Pros	Cons
Instructor-led training	For training topics that are difficult to learn For topics that will generate a lot of questions among participants When you have a small-to-medium group of people that need to be...

Planning for training development

Training development takes a long time and can involve a lot of people. This is an area where most projects underestimate the amount of time and effort involved. At a high level, the standard training development process looks like this:

This process looks deceptively simple. After all, it's only eight steps. How long can it take? I typically advise projects to use the following development-to-delivery ratios when planning how long it will take to develop a training course:

• Fully interactive e-Learning: Plan on 200 hours of development time for each hour of finished training. Yes, that is five full weeks. I know that right now you're thinking I'm completely off the mark and you're already mentally cutting that number to about 20 hours. Don't. That number is accurate.

• Semi-interactive e-Learning: Plan on 100 hours of development time for each hour of finished training.

• Instructor-led classroom training: Plan on 40 hours of development time for each hour of...

Planning for training delivery

One of the few things that is as difficult as planning for training development is planning for training delivery. There are a large number of moving parts that all need to be coordinated in order for delivery to run smoothly. I have included four checklists to help you with the planning process.

Planning training materials

Training materials can include printed training binders for classroom courses, supplemental hard-copy materials that accompany e-Learning courses, and any props you might need for training exercises. As you plan for training materials, consider the following points:

• Lead time: Remember that binders need to be printed and collated, materials that are going to multiple locations need to be mailed, and items for classroom exercises may need to be ordered and shipped. These things take time. Do not wait until the last minute to create your training materials.

• Review, review, review: You do not want people interrupting your training class to point...

Evaluating participants

A major area of debate in many training programs is whether to evaluate participants, and how to do so. Some people will advocate testing participants to ensure they have learned the content. Others will say that evaluating participants isn't necessary. If you're not sure where you stand on this hot topic, think about the following five questions. They will help you determine what type of evaluation is most appropriate for your training program.

• Is training mandatory? Think carefully about this question. If you decide to make training mandatory, your organization's leadership needs to be prepared to follow through and make sure that everyone attends the required training. Consider the training topic to help determine whether it should be mandatory. Mandatory training is ideal for topics that people must understand in order to avoid harming the organization, such as legal regulations or how to properly manage a budget. It may not be necessary though for topics such...

Building continuous improvement into training

Your work doesn't end once the training is developed and delivered. Throughout the delivery process, it is important to review the effectiveness of the training and make updates to improve the training experience.

Evaluating the training

Along with evaluating the participants, you also need to evaluate the training. There are five areas of the training you need to evaluate, depending on the training type:

• Training content: I am a firm believer that the best way to determine whether training content is effective is to see whether participants can leave the classroom and actually do their job in the new system. This isn't a realistic option though if training occurs before the system is live, or if the training content is critical and you must evaluate whether it was effective before letting people in the real system. There are two ways to evaluate the training content in these instances. Both options can be used for classroom training and e-Learning...

Developing a sustainable training program

When all of your training courses are delivered and the new system goes live, it's nice to take a deep breath and relax after months of hard work. If your training program isn't sustainable, however, your relaxation will be short-lived.

Note

Tip

Without a sustainable training program in place, you could spend weeks or months fielding questions from end users that could have easily been answered by content from the training material. A sustainable training program is designed to ensure that quality training remains available and up-to-date on an ongoing basis, even after the official training program is complete.

Why sustainable training is necessary

There are four main reasons why sustainable training is necessary:

• Missed training courses: As I've mentioned before, there will always be people who miss the training delivery window. They may be on vacation, off sick, or on maternity leave. They could be new employees who were hired after training was...

Summary

Training is an important part of Change Management. It is one of the most labor-intensive and time-consuming activities you will plan and deliver. Although we didn't dive into the details of every aspect of developing and delivering training, you should now have a solid understanding of training concepts and a good start on your training strategy.

As you start to work on turning your strategy into a plan, remember these six basic steps:

Congratulations! You have successfully completed a very practical training course on Change Management. Continue to the last chapter (it's short, I promise) to review everything you've learned.

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Authors (1)

Emily Carr

Emily Carr has been working as a Change Management consultant for over a decade. As a consultant, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies to develop and execute successful Change Management, communications, and training programs for large-scale business and IT projects. These programs have had global reach across the United States, Australia, India, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Emily is also the author of the popular Change Management blog, Practical Change Management.

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Change impacts	Training topic
The Purchasing department will need to: Select preferred vendors Arrange for better pricing Negotiate better payment deals	Negotiating skills for purchasers...

Identifying your training audience

When people begin planning for training, they automatically think about training the system end users. As a result, a lot of time and effort goes into planning, developing, and delivering training for this group, while other groups are forgotten. As you plan your training program, keep the following groups in mind as well:

• Project team: This training is especially important if your project team has members who have not done project work before.

  Note

  Tip

  Remember that although the processes and tools used on a project might seem obvious and easy to you, they can seem overwhelming and difficult to someone who has never worked on a project before.

  Consider holding a training session at the beginning of the project covering the following topics:

  • Project objectives and guidelines: Ensure that everyone on the team understands what the project is trying to achieve and the guidelines they should follow while working toward this goal.

    Note

    Tip

    You may think that because...

Gathering training input

On most projects, it's not possible for one person to determine all of the topics that require training.

Note

Tip

You will need to work with people and teams across the project and company to gather training input.

Before you reach out to others, you should gather all of the information you already have. Begin by looking at the Change Impact Analysis you conducted in Chapter 4, Managing Your Stakeholders. The process and technology impacts that you identified serve as a good starting point for creating a list of training topics.

Once you have the change impact analysis in front of you, fill out the following template to organize the impacts into training topics. I have filled out the first line as an example. Notice that multiple related impacts can be formed into one training topic.

Planning for training development

Training development takes a long time and can involve a lot of people. This is an area where most projects underestimate the amount of time and effort involved. At a high level, the standard training development process looks like this:

This process looks deceptively simple. After all, it's only eight steps. How long can it take? I typically advise projects to use the following development-to-delivery ratios when planning how long it will take to develop a training course:

• Fully interactive e-Learning: Plan on 200 hours of development time for each hour of finished training. Yes, that is five full weeks. I know that right now you're thinking I'm completely off the mark and you're already mentally cutting that number to about 20 hours. Don't. That number is accurate.

• Semi-interactive e-Learning: Plan on 100 hours of development time for each hour of finished training.

• Instructor-led classroom training: Plan on 40 hours of development time for each hour of...

Planning for training delivery

One of the few things that is as difficult as planning for training development is planning for training delivery. There are a large number of moving parts that all need to be coordinated in order for delivery to run smoothly. I have included four checklists to help you with the planning process.

Planning training materials

Training materials can include printed training binders for classroom courses, supplemental hard-copy materials that accompany e-Learning courses, and any props you might need for training exercises. As you plan for training materials, consider the following points:

• Lead time: Remember that binders need to be printed and collated, materials that are going to multiple locations need to be mailed, and items for classroom exercises may need to be ordered and shipped. These things take time. Do not wait until the last minute to create your training materials.

• Review, review, review: You do not want people interrupting your training class to point...

Evaluating participants

A major area of debate in many training programs is whether to evaluate participants, and how to do so. Some people will advocate testing participants to ensure they have learned the content. Others will say that evaluating participants isn't necessary. If you're not sure where you stand on this hot topic, think about the following five questions. They will help you determine what type of evaluation is most appropriate for your training program.

• Is training mandatory? Think carefully about this question. If you decide to make training mandatory, your organization's leadership needs to be prepared to follow through and make sure that everyone attends the required training. Consider the training topic to help determine whether it should be mandatory. Mandatory training is ideal for topics that people must understand in order to avoid harming the organization, such as legal regulations or how to properly manage a budget. It may not be necessary though for topics such...

Building continuous improvement into training

Your work doesn't end once the training is developed and delivered. Throughout the delivery process, it is important to review the effectiveness of the training and make updates to improve the training experience.

Evaluating the training

Along with evaluating the participants, you also need to evaluate the training. There are five areas of the training you need to evaluate, depending on the training type:

• Training content: I am a firm believer that the best way to determine whether training content is effective is to see whether participants can leave the classroom and actually do their job in the new system. This isn't a realistic option though if training occurs before the system is live, or if the training content is critical and you must evaluate whether it was effective before letting people in the real system. There are two ways to evaluate the training content in these instances. Both options can be used for classroom training and e-Learning...

Developing a sustainable training program

When all of your training courses are delivered and the new system goes live, it's nice to take a deep breath and relax after months of hard work. If your training program isn't sustainable, however, your relaxation will be short-lived.

Note

Tip

Without a sustainable training program in place, you could spend weeks or months fielding questions from end users that could have easily been answered by content from the training material. A sustainable training program is designed to ensure that quality training remains available and up-to-date on an ongoing basis, even after the official training program is complete.

Why sustainable training is necessary

There are four main reasons why sustainable training is necessary:

• Missed training courses: As I've mentioned before, there will always be people who miss the training delivery window. They may be on vacation, off sick, or on maternity leave. They could be new employees who were hired after training was...

Summary

Training is an important part of Change Management. It is one of the most labor-intensive and time-consuming activities you will plan and deliver. Although we didn't dive into the details of every aspect of developing and delivering training, you should now have a solid understanding of training concepts and a good start on your training strategy.

As you start to work on turning your strategy into a plan, remember these six basic steps:

Congratulations! You have successfully completed a very practical training course on Change Management. Continue to the last chapter (it's short, I promise) to review everything you've learned.