Airfares are skyrocketing. Budgets are dropping. Safety threats hover at high levels. Free time is shrinking. How is an organization supposed to train its people with all these growing constraints? Macro-, micro-, mini-learning, WBT, CBT, ILT: The training jargon goes on and on! How is a project manager or HR professional supposed to pick the right training solution?
ACTIONS can help you decide what is right for your organization. The acronym, originally developed by Tony Bates in 1989, reminds you of the most important considerations when choosing a training solution:
- Access:How will participants access your course? Will they be able to attend in person? Are they co-located or geographically dispersed? Do they have computers and access to the internet?
- Cost:What’s the budget for training? How much is earmarked for development? How much is available for delivery?
- Teaching advantages / limitations: How effective is the proposed solution in helping participants to learn?
- Interactivity required: How much does the proposed solution actively engage the learner? The more the learner actively uses the brain, the more learning is likely to occur.
- Organization support required: How supportive of the training initiative are senior and first line managers? How willing are they to reinforce the key messages from the training?
- Novelty factor: Especially for technology-based solutions, what is the “wow factor?” A new course taught on a 1990-style platform is not likely to impress many people, and may cause the company to appear outdated.
- Sustainability:How easy will it be for the organization to continue running the training program? How many and what kind of resources does the organization need to continue offering the program?
Choosing the right solution requires balancing your organization’s needs against these criteria and making the trade-offs that give you the most bang for your corporate buck.
The workplace learning specialists at Comprehensive Learning Solutionscan help you assess the situation, recommend appropriate solutions, and find the right course of actions. If you need help determining an appropriate training strategy for your organization, contact Comprehensive Learning Solutions.