Consider this: A local bank in Oman observes a dip in the average customer service ratings of retail banking customers. On further analysis, it is found that customers who called the call center for support have been put on hold for a long time before being attended to. It was also found that in some cases, customers have been abandoning the calls after waiting for a while (perhaps in frustration). Further investigation reveals that the average number of calls taken by the call center in a day is much lesser than the average calls received per day. It was later understood that the calls taken per employee per hour are just 50% of their capacity based on industry average. On further study, it was recognized that the agents had an issue with product knowledge which made them put customers on hold as they referred to product information before responding. This was understood the key reason leading to long hold time and eventually low call handling rate. Following this analysis and finding, a decision is taken to train the call center staff on the bank's products.
But how do we go about the task of structuring and creating an effective program? What is to be done first. Who is to be involved? What are questions to be asked? This is the subject matter being addressed here.
ADDIE Model: An effective model to consider when creating training programs is the ADDIE Model. The ADDIE model supports a robust approach to determine training needs, come up with relevant interventions and to evaluate outcomes. It stands for Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate.
Purpose: At the outset, it helps to bear in mind that at the heart of every training program lies its “core purpose” – the primary reason for which the training program exists (e.g. solving a specific a performance problem). In the above example, the purpose of the training program is to enhance the customer satisfaction rating.
Each of the steps of the ADDIE process is to be devoted to the purpose of the training program. This results in creating an effective training program that addresses the needs from three different perspectives: organizational perspective, team perspective, and individual employee perspective.
Analyze: The Analyze phase is the foundational phase in the process of structuring corporate L&D interventions. An effective analysis leads to the creation of not only an efficient program but also one that is aligned. This makes it easier to bring forth engagement from all of the three critical perspectives (company, team, and individual). This phase is also often referred to as “Training Needs Analysis”.
The analysis phase involves establishing the problem to which the proposed training intervention is a solution. In this phase, we collect data to recognize and estimate gaps between actual and desired performance levels (in the above example the desired number of calls that the agent is expected to take Vs the number of calls each agent is currently taking). A needs analysis will also enlist other potential performance issues in order to determine which of those could actually be solved by training. For example, it is possible that the low performance is on account of poor employee morale owing to disappointment resulting from the distribution of bonuses. This is not something that training can necessarily solve.
Design: In the design phase of ADDIE, training professionals need to apply vision and creativity. It fundamentally involves coming up with two statements. The first, a brief statement depicting the purpose and reason why the program exists. This will also contain information w.r.to the subject matter, duration and target audience. Secondly, during the design stage, we come up with learning objectives particularly taking care to describe what participants will learn and be able to do as a result of the program. Care must be taken to keep the objectives measurable as much as possible. For example, “after the training you will be able to listen empathetically” is a bit ambiguous and therefore not measurable. However, this could be restated thus: “After the training, you will be able to enlist and define the four principles of empathetic listening”. This is comparatively clearer and measurable.
Develop: The Develop stage is the critical pre-execution stage of training and development. As the saying goes, “proper preparation prevents poor performance”. The Develop phase of training and development involves identification/creation, grouping, and sequencing of Learning Objects (or LO’s) for each training program.
“Learning Object” refers to tools or resources aligned to specific learning objectives. They may include Videos, workbooks, audios, group exercises, PowerPoints, notes, tests, activities, etc. Some LOs are reusable which means they are portable and fit into other scenarios. For example, a training video on “Introduction to Interviewing skills” is an LO that can be used in a foundational course as well as an advanced course on interviewing skills.
The goal of the develop phase is to finalize the content as well as the approach for the proposed training programs. The approach may include one or more of a range including eLearning, blended, On the Job Training (OJTs), activities, simulation etc. The output of the Develop stage must ideally consist of every aspect/component/tool necessary for delivering the prescribed training including job aids, contents, handouts, graphs, images, videos etc. The following sequential steps may be used in the develop stage:
1. Reflect on the training need/s and design/s established in the previous stage
2. Review the existing training resources (Learning Objects) already in possession which can be used for the above programs
3. Prioritize training programs based on criticality to the business, operations etc.
4. Identify if there are any emergent training need that needs to be catered to immediately
5. Come up with a structure of aligned and sequenced Learning Objects for each course that will address all of the learning objectives of that course
Implement: The Implementation or the execution phase of training is not only the most visible of the phases in the ADDIE process but it also the juncture where the work thus far starts making an impact on the organization (and very often quite spontaneously perceptions of its value begin to arise in the minds of its recipients and witnesses). Often this is the phase where the pressure to contribute value – because things are in full public view – is felt maximum. However, it is often too late to be able to deliver deep impact at this stage (if adequate preparation planning has not been done in the Analyse, Design and Delivery phases). In other words, it is the quality and comprehensiveness of effort invested in the previous phases that will lead to success in the Implement phase. Corrections possible in the implementation phase would be minimal and have less impact. Recognition of the importance of the Implement phase is demonstrated in actually investing quality effort/time/resources in the previous phases.
Pilot Program: Often it is recommended to have a pilot program. E.g An Oil and Gas company in Sohar decided to come up with an orientation program for their new hires. They Analyzed the need for the program, Designed and Developed the program and finally come up with a set of resources for the program (including handouts, activity workbooks, videos and job aids). The idea was to create a 1000 CDs with all the resources and to further hand them to all the future new hires so they could look at them even before the training. However, the creation of 1000 CDs was not done before doing a pilot program for a batch of 5 new hires. This gave the company some valuable feedbacks which let to tweaking the material, ensuring that the materials were more appropriate for the audience and that the intended knowledge gaps were indeed being filled by the program. Often following a pilot program, content may need to be repositioned and durations of various session shortened too.
It is during the implementation phase that all of the of logistics pertaining to trainers, rooms, training infrastructure availability (smartboards, projectors, flip charts, marker pens, stationary etc) are addressed. It is also critical at this stage to ensure that the proposed schedule is convenient for the target audience.
Evaluate: Training programs are often a sizeable investment of time, effort and other resources (particularly money). Therefore, we may often face the pressure to conclude the process after delivery. However, the Evaluate phase (which is the last step in the ADDIE model) is of critical importance and therefore not to be skipped because here is where we are able to gather an assessment of the effectiveness of our program. Evaluation of the program helps us identify the strengths, areas of improvement as well understand if the program is meeting the objectives set in the Design phase. In addition, it can also give us an understanding of how different participants perceived value from the program. Perhaps this could lead to a decision for a follow-up training.
Kirkpatrick Model : The Kirkpatrick Model offers a simple and effective framework for evaluation. According to the model, there are four levels of Evaluation:
1st Level: Reaction – This is the fundamental level of evaluation where we attempt to determine the extent to which the audience found the training to be valuable, interesting and aligned to their jobs.
2nd Level: Learning – Here we aim to determine if participants actually were able to acquire the KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities) aimed for in the design stage
3rd Level: Behavior – In level 3, Our goal is to determine the extent to which the learning was applied back on the job
4th Level: Results – In the 4th Level the goal is to determine if the aimed objectives (E.g. improved performance) does actually occur (and if so to what extent) as a result of the training program
Evaluating training programs and doing it visibility – bearing in mind this could lead to exposure and often judgment – is still recommended. Why? Because L & D professionals who do so are exemplifying and communicating a keen commitment to align Learning to Organizational, Team and individual goals. And this is more likely to get the hearts of our employees, line managers, and into the game. Having our audience believe in us and work is critical to its success since they are the consumers of its fruit.
We’ve looked at how to structure training programs using ADDIE and also looked briefly at training evaluations. In upcoming blogs, I shall try and address other concepts that can lead to structuring engaging and impactful training interventions.
Happy Training!
