The big C that makes a training program successful from start to finish is not necessarily content. It is in fact, communication.
This may not surprise a lot of people because communication have often been viewed as something that is important. It will help you make improvements in your life – both professional and personal. It is powerful enough to build up your life or tear you apart.
When it comes to elearning and training programs, the significance of communication, although it is recognized, is greatly undermined. But if you focus on the information that you need to know in order to make the program succeed, then you will understand the role that communication has in the course.
There are three areas in your training program when communication matters the most.
Communication while creating the program
First of all, you need proper communication while you are creating the program. This is generally because of the components that you need to incorporate in the course. But the main reason for the need to communicate is for the content. After all, in any educational material, content will always be king.
There are two sets of people that will give you the information that you need. The first is from the instructor. Naturally, you want to know what the lessons will be. More importantly, you should understand how the content should be delivered in the course. Communicate carefully with the instructor, training manager and other departments that initiated this course. They should be able to give you the materials needed for the program.
The second set of people who will give you valuable information are the learners who will participate in the training. These are the employees, new recruits, etc. You need to know what they are expecting from the course so that you can align that with the goals, objectives and content that will be coming from the instructors.
Communication during the learning process
After the training program is created and it is delivered, you need to continue communication for the learning process. You need to monitor the people involved during this process to gauge how the course is holding up against the objectives and expectations during the creation stage.
You want to get information from the instructor or trainer to find out if they are implementing the program correctly. You want to be able to check if they understand how the course is supposed to be delivered. For the employees, trainees or learners, whichever is applicable, you want to get information about how they are coping with the learning process. This is to ensure that at the end of the program, both the instructor and trainees will be satisfied.
Communication after the training program
The last stage that would need communication is at the end of the program. The main reason for this is for improvement. You want to know if there is room for improvement and what they will be.
First of all, you need to know how the program compares with the goals, objectives and expectations of everyone involved in the learning process. If some were not met, you need to determine what you can do differently so everything will be met the next time this same course is used.
You also need to know the tools, activities and other elements of the training program that worked. At the same time, you want to know what did not work so you can remove it. No need to clutter the course with something that does not contribute in the learning process anyway.
Lastly, you want to get feedback from the employees and participants of the program to determine if it was effective in improving their knowledge and skills. This communication should not only be done right after the course. You should try to get feedback from them a few weeks, or months after the course. That way, you can check how useful the course was even after a long time.
These reasons should be enough to help you realize just how important communication is to your training program – from start to finish.
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