Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2020 - 5

KEN TAYLOR

FROM THE
EDITOR

BUILDING A GREAT
TRAINING ORGANIZATION

As organizations work to navigate the
significant changes occurring in 2020,
this edition of Training Industry Magazine
provides a collection of ideas to help
learning and development (L&D) leaders
develop great training organizations. For
your journey, I thought it would be helpful
to share a framework for great training
organizations based on over a decade
of extensive research conducted by
Training Industry. We have learned that
building any type of great organization
requires an understanding of where
the organization is positioned across
three areas: its process capabilities, best
practices and the ability of those practices
to support continuous improvement and
innovation.

IT IS MY BELIEF THAT
UNDERSTANDING
MEANS DOCUMENTING.
PROCESS CAPABILITIES
The process capabilities associated with
great training organizations include eight
key areas:
* Strategic alignment: Ability to design
learning programs that align with
business objectives.
* Content development: Ability to design,
manage and maintain content.
* Delivery: Ability to manage an instructor
network and deliver training using
multiple modalities.

* Diagnostics: Ability to identify problems
and make recommendations.
* Reporting and analysis: Ability to define
business metrics and report data to
make improvements.
* Technology integration: Ability to
integrate learning technologies with
other technologies and corporate
applications.
* Administrative services: Ability to
manage scheduling, registration,
technology and other support functions.
* Portfolio management: Ability to
manage, rationalize and maintain large
portfolios of learning solutions.
Each of these process capabilities
have varying impacts on organizational
performance depending on the
circumstances the organization is
experiencing. As data from our pulse
survey of the learning industry tell us,
many organizations have been converting
training programs for virtual delivery, so
their capabilities in the areas of content
development, delivery and technology
integration are being put to the test.
PRACTICES
The first step toward establishing a great
training organization is understanding
what we already do in each of these
eight areas, and it is my belief that
understanding means documenting. For

example, the process of documenting
what practices your organization executes
in support of strategic alignment might
include understanding the business
objectives your programs are designed
to support. How are you doing that today,
and who is involved?
As you document these practices,
you should also assess how mature
your practices are. We developed a
training practices maturity model to aid
your assessment.
MATURITY MODEL
Maturity ranges from an ad hoc approach
to optimized practices. When practices
are optimized, processes are replicable,
monitored, and continuously assessed
for improvement.
Hopefully, this brief introduction to a
framework to improve the impact of your
learning efforts is one helpful step on your
journey toward achieving a great and
process-oriented graining organization.
We teach this model as part of our Certified
Professional in Training Management
(CPTM) program, so if you'd like a better
understanding, just ask a CPTM graduate.
As always, we love to hear your thoughts
about the perspectives shared in this
edition. Feel free to send any suggestions
for us to consider.
Ken Taylor is the president and editor in
chief of Training Industry, Inc. Email Ken.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE - BUILDING A GREAT TRAI NI NG ORGANI ZAT I ON I WWW. T RAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2020

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