September 1, 2020 by Stacey Carrillo

Four Steps to Creating an Exceptional Team Learning Experience

 

An effective training program does not create itself; it requires a proper assessment of learner needs, curriculum development, and mechanisms to assess mastery of the topics and learner progress. It may seem overwhelming to set up an effective program especially when you have different organizations with different needs and varying skill levels to consider.  

Calix Education Services has worked with hundreds of customers to figure out their training needs and suggests these four steps to create a successful learning program that will make your team highly effective and knowledgeable. 

Step 1: Develop a skills gap analysis.

Are you upgrading your network with new technology or rolling out new services? Or maybe you’ve encountered the same customer satisfaction issues crop up time and time again? Perhaps you have a blend of experienced technicians and newer support staff and need to level up certain groups on what’s new. Identifying the knowledge gap areas, job roles, and team members that you want to upskill will allow you to formulate the training requirements. 

Step 2: Create a list of learner personas.

Organizations have different needs when it comes to the technical level and breadth of training. Take Wi-Fi as an example. Your marketing, customer support, and field technicians all have to be proficient to some extent on Wi-Fi concepts, but their roles may require varying levels of understanding of the underlying technology. Identifying and segmenting the learners into organizational personas helps better target the depth and scope of training needed by your teams.

Step 3: Align your business needs with training goals. 

It’s not always practical to pull all your customer support and field installers in at one time to attend multi-day training sessions. Identify and leverage different delivery methods (like eLearning, instructor-led, and hands-on lab courses), and determine if remote or onsite options would make training less disruptive to your business. 

Step 4: Establish and track learning paths by job role. 

The one size fits all model doesn’t work with training. Persona-based content and effective delivery that leverage eLearning, instructor led, and hands on courses will resonate with your learners and teach them the skills needed to be productive. Make sure you can track and validate progress on your employees’ training journey to ensure they are finishing in a timely manner and mastering the skills so they can confidently apply them in practice.

Still sounds daunting? Calix Education Services professionals can help develop a comprehensive training curriculum tailored for your team. Calix Education Services can curate and recommend multiple learning assets including Calix Academy eLearning and instructor-led courses, TAC TV videos, Community pages and informative webinars. Together, these resources give your team members what they need to be productive and successful. Contact us today to set up a time to discuss custom learning playlists and personalized training.