The document provides tips for overcoming five common challenges faced by corporate learning and development organizations: 1) reducing the costs of developing training, 2) reducing the costs of delivering training, 3) quickly addressing workforce skill gaps, 4) communicating the importance and relevance of training, and 5) decreasing administrative costs of supporting training programs. Some suggestions include using development software and templates to streamline creation, transitioning to blended learning, incorporating user-generated content, improving assessment techniques, and outsourcing work to experts.

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2. CONQUERING CORPORAT E
CHAL LENGES
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T I P S T O H E L P B Y PA S S T H E TO P F I V E
L E A R N I N G I N D U S T RY R O A D B L O C K S
Whether you’re trying to keep afloat in today’s economy or your Learning &
Development organization is sailing through smooth waters, you probably face
daily challenges to improve training products within budget. Listed on the
following page are five challenges learning leaders throughout our industry
have pinpointed as their top roadblocks.
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How to reduce the costs of developing training: Industry standards such as 220:1 for developing e-learning and
Check Out the Results
40:1 for developing classroom training are being reevaluated by learning leaders because they just aren’t realistic for
In 2008,
restricted L&D budgets. Organizations need more affordable, efficient ways to create these types of training programs.
TrainingIndustry.com and
Expertus partnered to
How to reduce the costs of delivering training: The high costs involved with traditional classroom training (travel,
produce a survey that asked
accommodations, time away, etc.) make this delivery format much less appealing in tough financial times. How can
training leaders about the
efficiency of their organizations transition more of their training to budget-friendly formats?
organizations, opportunities
and plans to reduce costs How to quickly address the skill gaps of a rapidly changing workforce: As companies face a reduction in
and how they plan to
workforce, the remaining employees must quickly adapt to newly-assigned responsibilities and an increased workload.
reinvest cost savings. The
On the other hand, as companies begin hiring employees again, new employee skill gaps must be addressed. How can
Training Cost Optimization
Survey has some the L&D organization flex to meet these ever-changing needs?
interesting results!
How to communicate the importance and relevance of training: In order for L&D organizations to prove their value
and justify their costs to the executive team, they must find better, more effective ways to demonstrate how and why
training is important to the entire organization.
How to decrease administrative costs of supporting training programs: Respondents to a recent industry survey
indicated that almost ¼th of their training budget is spent on administrative costs. This seems like a reasonable place
to make cuts, but how can it be done without affecting the overall training quality?
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Are you facing these challenges? Are they a bit overwhelming? Don’t fret. Here are some tips for overcoming them!
Development software
Sometimes, a small investment can reap huge rewards. This is especially true for software that can help you develop effective, innovative training.
What does your team currently use to develop training? When was the last time you researched innovative tools that may be able to cut your
development time?
Templates and standards
When scoping a project, a critical question to ask is “Do you have established
templates or style guides that you use regularly for training?” If the answer is
“yes”, you can reduce design and development time for the overall project
because these models help you hit the ground running with established fonts,
styles, navigation elements, design elements and much more. You can create
templates for slideshows, participant and facilitator guides, job aids,
storyboards, websites, help files, e-learning shells and more! Additional
advantages of using templates include being able to offer a cohesive,
consistent curriculum and learning experience for your audience.
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User-generated content
Why take on the responsibility of creating all the training yourself? With informal learning opportunities like blogs,
wikis and online forums, your subject matter experts and learners can share their thoughts, questions and
experiences. These methods are very low cost, surprisingly self maintaining and customized to your
learners’ needs.
As user-generated content becomes more prevalent, corporations are concerned about managing these new tools
and technologies. To learn more about the inherent security risks, risk management challenges and how
organizations are overcoming these challenges, listen to this podcast from BankInfo Security.
Blended learning
In a recent survey conducted by Expertus and TrainingIndustry.com, training leaders were asked how they were
going to reduce training delivery costs. 65% of the respondents indicated that they were going to migrate from
classroom training to e-learning or blended learning. After all, downsized organizations need to keep their
employees as productive as possible, and this can happen with on-demand, reusable chunks of training that
minimize time away from the job. Remember, though, transitioning from classroom training to blended learning
means much more than just converting PowerPoints to electronic presentations. Don’t sacrifice quality when you
make the transition; instead, ensure that the materials you develop reflect the learners’ needs.
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Innovative delivery technologies
If you want to migrate to blended learning, remember that there’s more to it than just classroom training mixed with e-learning. Try mixing things up a bit!
Here are some things to consider and possible blended learning solutions that could meet your needs:
Consideration Possible Solutions
Content Is your training content subject to continuous change, Stable content Unstable content
or it is relatively stable?  Printed workbooks  Online resources
 Online help  On-the-job training
 Printed job aids  Listservs
 Workshops  Online bulletin boards
 Blogs
 Email
 Social media
Development time How long do developers have to create the training Limited time Extended time
solutions?  Role modeling scenarios  Facilitator-led training
 Job aids instead of full workbooks  E-learning
 Webinars  Simulations
 Coaching  Video
Learner needs For learners to develop their new skills, attitudes, or Collaboration Independence
competencies, how much human interaction do they  Coaching  Knowledge databases
need? Can independent learning be integrated into  Blogs  Online help
the mix?
 Discussion boards  E-learning
 Listservs  Podcasts
 Facilitator-led training  DVDs
 Team role play  Self-paced workbooks
Cost How much is your organization willing to invest to Small budget Large budget
achieve the desired outcomes?  Knowledge databases  Simulations
 White papers on company Intranet  DVDs
 Listservs  Podcasts
 Email  E-learning
 Work groups  Facilitator-led training
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You can also try these on-demand opportunities:
If you’d like to learn more
 Instead of spending time in a classroom, give learners a case study to solve. A popular way to complete case
about these resources, visit
studies is to complete a webquest.
the following sites:
 Hold online debates to enhance collaborative learning without pulling employees away from their desk.
 webquest.org: Clearly
 Create a learning portal on your content management system, where employees can easily access reference
explains webquests
and gives you tips and materials, case studies, FAQs, lessons learned, charts, job aids and other materials that have been
tricks for using them in repurposed from your existing classroom training.
your training.
 itdl.org: Learn how a
major university used Stakeholder involvement
online debates to
enhance collaborative If you want executives to realize the importance of your training, invite them into the trenches with you! Encourage
learning. them to attend your kickoff meetings, where you clearly identify the business case for the training. Ask to tap into their
 onlinelearn.edschool.virgi wisdom during analysis and design so they become champions of your efforts. Get them involved in development—
nia.edu: Learn how to
they can act as subject matter experts or just receive regular communications about what’s happening and why it’s
craft your own online
debates. important. Encourage them to spend some time with the target audience to better understand their needs, maybe even
like the “Undercover Boss” TV show! Then, after training is delivered, be sure to show the ROI with evaluation metrics.
Don’t forget to include a plan for improvement with the metrics, to demonstrate your dedication to meeting the needs of
the entire organization.
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Improved assessment techniques
How do you prove the effectiveness of your training to the executives who approve or trim your budget? You need more than a smiley sheet or basic
multiple-choice test at the end of a course because the margin of error for these methods can contribute to an unrealistic measurement of
competence. Some major strides have been made in improving the validity of Level I and II assessments, including Certainty-Based Marking (CBM).
This technique incorporates two equal assessment measures: knowledge and certainty. Learners answer questions about training content and, with
each question, they evaluate their level of certainty about their answer. Besides helping learners analyze how well they understand concepts and
identify misconceptions early on, this assessment technique gives you a much higher level of reliability. And, by encouraging higher level thinking, you
develop a stronger, more competent workforce. Don’t you think these benefits would interest the corporate suite? If you’d like to learn more about
CBM, feel free to download the What is Certainty-based Marking? article on our website.
Streamlined, intelligent reporting and evaluation
What reports do you generate to evaluate your training programs? If they are limited to costs, number enrolled/completed/passed and percent
mastery, you may not be meeting the needs of your executive team to measure business results. Instead, consider enlisting the support of business
group managers. They are probably already measuring their teams’ performance, and you might be able to tie those metrics to training you’ve
provided to their employees. Wouldn’t it be nice to correlate their 20% increase in sales or 5% increase in customer satisfaction for the month to the
training program you provided to their team a few months earlier? Most of the time, the line managers who request a training project have beginning
metrics, so the widely bemoaned legwork could be minimal. In any case, actionable data results are well worth it the effort to make results quantifiable.
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Hosted LMS
Many companies are finding that they can substantially reduce all the internal manpower it takes to support training
by implementing a hosted learning management system. Instead of their own staff managing an in-house LMS, they
are choosing to let third-party vendors handle all the dirty work. And why not? These organizations have the
expertise and manpower that’s hard to find in your own staff. With their service and support, you can better manage
your administration expenses. If your organization has been thinking about purchasing an LMS but the price tag has
been too high, a hosted LMS may be a more viable option. If you’re interested in learning more about this solution,
here’s an interesting article that compares “behind the firewall” with hosted LMS solutions.
Outsourcing to experts
Outsourcing your training projects can actually save you money. How? The consulting companies have expert
designers and developers who have fine tuned their craft so they can build effective learning solutions very
efficiently. However, before choosing a vendor, be sure to ask how they’ve adjusted their processes for these
economic times. Ask for examples of how they’ve handled your specific training issues and see what budget-friendly
ideas they can share with you. Training consulting companies like Michaels & Associates, just like your team, should
be able to deliver effective programs well within industry standards. Don’t be afraid to ask for their case studies.
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Regardless of economic tides, we are all in the same boat. We need to do more with less, and we need to make sure we’re meeting business needs.
However, you may have some unique challenges within your organization, and you may have discovered some nice techniques yourself! If you’d like
to share tips and tricks in the business of learning and development, please contact us. At Michaels & Associates, we’re always interested in
exchanging ideas! That’s collaboration: It’s what we do best.
marketing@michaelsandassoc.com www.michaelsandassoc.com toll-free: 877-614-8440
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