3 questions to ask yourself to determine the goals of your training

For good training, clearly defining a goal is extremely important. This is a step that must precede the development of your educational programs and the creation of content adapted to employees. These objectives will differ depending on the function performed in the company. You need to ask yourself 3 key questions. How do you decide on ideal goals? How to prioritize them in order to meet everyone's expectations? How to measure them using the right indicators (KPIs)?

The main types of training objectives

Before starting, trainers must distinguish between 2 main types of learning objectives:

• Training objectives or objectives: this is the set of new actions and behaviors that must be observed in the reality of the workplace. These must be mastered by the learner at the end of the training. This will allow him to achieve specific goals.
• Educational objectives: these are knowledge, behavior and actions that the learner or participant must master at the end of each of the training sequences.

As a trainer you should organize the multitude of goals that are presented to you in order to clearly define the 2 main types of objectives. To achieve this, remember that the objectives of corporate training differ depending on the point of view adopted. This means that each of the members of prise will take a different look at a training program or action plan.

The training objectives differ according to the interlocutors.

When you start building your training programs, you will need to define the objectives in 3 main categories:

• Establishing results objectives: Achieving this objective makes it possible to understand why the company wants to carry out the training. For example, increase productivity gains, increase turnover by developing performance or by limiting production errors. You need to achieve these impact goals for the success of your training program.

• Set realistic goals for implementation. These are still referred to as operational goals. These are the concrete actions to be implemented to reach your objectives strategic. To achieve multiple operational goals, focus on how participants practice the skills they have learned. The establishment of operational objectives must involve managers, as they will consolidate the acquisition of skills by employees.

• Set learning/pedagogical goals: these are objectives defined by the instructional designer and his team in order to establish the observable knowledge and behaviors to be mastered at the end of the training. To determine your learning goals, it's important to break them down into sequences. Each sequence should correspond to a defined objective. As soon as you define your goals, make sure they can be measurable through an assessment at the end of your learning. These goals should be based on operational goals. At the end of the training, the teaching staff must be able to monitor the effectiveness of the employee's participation in the training. Instructors can use simple quizzes to assess engagement, level of assimilation, knowledge, skills, and abilities taught.

Use the SMART method

At this level, the aim is to verify that the educational objectives are operational, clear and measurable. Here, the aim is to eliminate goals that have no coherence. To achieve the desired objective, you must be realistic and take into account the analysis of needs and expectations. Second, you must set an audit goal by sifting each objective through the criteria of the SMART method. Therefore, each objective should be:

• Specific (see if the goals are clear for learners)
• Concrete and measurable;
• Achievable;
• Realistic (see if the goal is achievable)
• Defined taking into account the available time resource;

Keep in mind that your objective is to define everything that could allow learners to better assimilate soft skills, skills to be put into practice at the workplace.

Be able to measure training objectives

To achieve this goal, you need to think about performance indicators. These are supposed to be determined early in the process of formulating the three categories of objectives. Thanks to these indicators, you will be able to analyze your results. Therefore, they will allow you to identify what your training action plan has achieved and what has not been achieved.

Take a step back if necessary

To define new goals for your training program to be deployed, do not hesitate to take a step back. By doing this, you can set specific and measurable goals that will clearly serve the interests of the business or organization. Feel free to work collaboratively with external experts to understand and further improve the action plan. By doing so, you manage to reach the objectives more easily, regardless of their type (commercial objectives, professional objectives...).

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