If you have worked for more than a few months in a training capacity, you’ll know it is no secret that there are a lot of companies and resources out there to aid in training you and your staff. I have worked in the training and development industry for the last decade and wanted to share some things I have learned along the way.
External training companies can be beneficial for big companies with internal training teams, as well as small companies with no internal training department. Finding the right solution and partner (not provider) is paramount in the success of any training initiative.
I sat down and started writing out a checklist of things to consider when looking for a learning partner. While there are a ton of factors to consider when making this critical (and often costly) decision, there are really only six major things that are most important when making a decision on a learning partner.
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Simplicity
This is very important. You can have the best training content, but if your users are confused by the site/system used to access the content, they won’t use it. There is nothing worse than wasting time and money to purchase and implement a solution that only a few people end up using. - Content Quality
Anyone can record and put up content on a topic. Always make sure to get a free trial of the product you are considering. If a free trial is not available, that should throw up a big red flag. When sampling content, the questions you should ask yourself are:
- Am I actually learning anything from this content?
- Can I use what I learned in a practical application?
- Does the training content fit with my needs and/or the needs of our workforce?
- Does the content cover topics that address the deficiencies of my workforce?
If the answer to any of those questions is “No,” the provider is most likely not a good fit for you and your company.
- Administrative Functionality
You need to be able to measure the utilization and progress of your staff to determine if the solution was at all worthwhile. If you cannot check user progress, manage users, report on user data, etc., then what is the point?
- Service
Finding a provider that is easy to get in touch with, answers your questions directly, listens to you, and works hard to ensure the success of product adoption by your staff should be high on the list when choosing a learning partner. I may be unique in this regard, but I would even at times pay a little more for better service. This is not only true for learning partners, but all the companies I do business with professionally and personally. Look for partners that have adoption plans, marketing assets, speedy communication, and on-staff technical resources.
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Content (Library) Offerings
There are hundreds (if not thousands) of e-learning providers out there. Their libraries include topics such as survival skills, technical software training, basic software training, business skills, cooking skills, and everything in between. It may sound attractive for your staff to have a giant library of courses from which to pick. The problems, however, with that mentality include:
- Paying more for a larger library, where most of the skills taught in the library are not applicable to you or your workforce.
- The applicable content is hard to find and buried under other less relevant content.
- Titles are not updated as quickly (since there are so many more of them).
- ROI (Return on Investment) for time spent in training is diminished if users are watching content that does not apply to their job role or function. In this case, LESS can most times be more.
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Cost
This is obviously important when deciding on a learning partner. We all want the best content and quality for the best price. However, it only ranks #6 on my list as the above factors are, in my opinion, more important. Even if you can find a free or very low-cost solution, if your users are not accessing the solution, it isn’t worth anything anyway.
Bonus: SCORM and SSO (Single Sign On) Capabilities
If your company has an internal learning management system (LMS) product (e.g., Litmos, Cornerstone, etc.), you may want to look for a partner that can send SCORM packages for upload within your current LMS. Your company likely has spent a lot of money on that system and will want to use it. Single Sign On (SSO) also can be helpful, in combination with SCORM or standalone, to make it easier for your employees by using their existing network credentials to validate their login to an external system.
Bonus: Mobile Apps and Responsive Design
If you are comparing two solutions that are seemingly identical, the deciding factor could be the availability of mobile applications for at least Android and Apple phones. This allows your users to access the training content from more than just their desktop PC. Additionally, look for partners that have responsively designed Websites. Have you ever navigated to a Website on your mobile device and noticed it looks a bit different from the desktop version? Maybe there is more scrolling and additional menus that are not found on the normal site? That is a good indicator that a site is responsively designed to be optimized for viewing on devices of different types and sizes.
John Dukarski-French works for Intellezy (which offers solutions built to align with the items mentioned in this article) and has more than a decade of experience in conducting, developing, and editing online and traditional classroom instruction and curriculum. In 2015, he began concentrating on implementing and developing new training platforms/Websites and managing training projects in the nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, being outdoors, and spending time with his friends and family. For more information, e-mail Info@intellezy.com or call (781) 295-1410.
