This is a short but essential and, sometimes, difficult part of the training process – writing out the “objectives” for your employees’ training.
You will find that if you don’t take the time to do this step correctly, you will never know for certain how good the training is. When we get to the entry on evaluating training, the objectives are the benchmark for effectiveness.
Ask yourself, “Specifically, what do I want the employees to know, to do, not to do?” and so on. If you have made a good list of training needs, this should not be so difficult.
Write these as statements. An example would be, “employees should be able to locate MSDSs.”
Then you want to include the conditions and the desired, measurable results.
Something like this: “After this training, each employee will be able to locate the MSDS for each chemical product in their work area.”
For the above example, the conditions are:
- After the training
- Each employee
- Each chemical
- In the work area
Adding a measurable result, such as “100% of the time” would make a complete objective:
“After this training, each employee will be able to locate the MSDS for each chemical product in their work area 100% of the time.”
However, you must be careful. Ask yourself, “Can I actually measure that result by observing, quizzing, etc. the employee?” In the case of this example, you probably cannot. That is why you should always test your objectives before you start designing your training.
Try this one: “Each employee will be able to locate the MSDS for each chemical product in their work area demonstrated by successfully answering review questions at the completion of the training session.”
You will make at least one objective for each identified need. Don’t try to combine objectives. Keep everything simple and you will find that the process becomes easier to handle.
Next post will be on planning the training delivery.
Let’s all give thanks for the many blessings in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!
