The Training Program

Manager’s Playbook
Table of Contents
9 Characteristics of Top Training Programs 4

Program Management 7

Identify Needs 9

Create a Curriculum 11

Master Excel: A Tutorial 14

Additional Resources 22
 Talent development professionals face a unique challenge – with
often limited resources, they must strategically train and optimize
the talent of their entire workforce. With the right strategy, this
effort can have a tremendous impact on an organization, but
this leaves little time for program managers to develop their own
talents.

This is seemingly paradoxical because the more that a program

manager invests in their own skills, the more potential impact
they can have on an organization, and yet so little of their time
goes into developing their own skills.

One of the biggest barriers for program managers and their

personal development is discovering where to start.

We looked at some core competencies of program managers and

compared them against the nine characteristics we’ve identified
in great training programs.

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9 Characteristics of Top Training Programs

Program Management Relevancy

This means that the program manager knows and follows best This characteristic takes the idea of alignment a step further, and
practices for establishing effective learning and increased says that not only must training be aligned to business goals, but
performance. training events must be relevant to the achievement of those
goals.
Needs Assessment
Creativity
This means the program manager is able to identify
organizational needs and align those needs to the training being The most relevant, aligned training program will suffer to
conducted. achieve results without marketing and buy-in from people. Here,
creativity becomes a key characteristic for strong programs.
Alignment
Communication Strategy
This competency shows that program managers can address
challenges within an organization through training, in an effort to That creativity must also be infused with a distinct strategy that’s
support business goals. designed with your audience in mind and effectively increases
engagement with your training program.
Goals and Metrics
Post-Training Reinforcement
This step in the training process ensures that training isn’t only
aligned to business goals, but is being measured and reaching Training programs that actively reinforce learning see better
milestones on the way to achieving those big goals. learning retention and application on the job, and therefore much
higher returns on their training investments.
Leadership Buy-In

Leadership buy-in drives the perception of your training program

across the organization – having leaders who understand the
value of your program will help you achieve greater results!

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These characteristics are consistently strong measuring sticks
to gauge the effectiveness of a training program, and program
managers’ personal development should be aligned with these Develop &
characteristics. Deliver
Solutions
To dig deeper, we compared these competencies to existing
frameworks, and found significant overlap.

Evaluate Optimize
We’ll be tying our competencies specifically to the nine
Performance Processes
characteristics of top training programs and to this framework,
based on Training Industry’s Training Manager Competency Model:

Develop and Deliver Solutions

Strategic
Alignment
Identify Needs

Manage Technology Select &

Identify
Manage
Needs
Resources
Strategic Alignment

Optimize Processes
Manage
Technology
Select and Manage Resources

Evaluate Performance

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These competencies have lots of overlap with our nine
characteristics of top training programs, and they act as an
excellent framework for developing competencies for program
managers.

This workbook will provide practical applications combined with

resources to assist with mastery of these competencies. You can
refer back to any section at any time – repetition and testing are
powerful learning tools, and we recommend that you leverage
them, not just as you train your employees, but as you refine your
own skills.

In this ebook, we’re going to focus specifically on skills related

to program management, needs assessment, goals and metrics,
and leadership buy-in. By focusing on these competencies, you’ll
improve your own skills, and thus, the results of your program!

Each skill we outline will also be tied back to a competency, and

we’ll explain how application of these skills will impact your
program!

There’s a lot, so don’t feel like you need to work through this all
at once. Start with one area of weakness you see in your program
and focus on improving your competencies until you see changes
start having an impact!

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Program Management
This subject covers several of Training Industry’s competencies:
managing technologies, optimizing processes, and developing
and delivering solutions.

Effective program management is the backbone of a strong

program – the skills needed go beyond simply training knowledge.
They include vital soft skills like active listening, coordinating with Write down a few people who you could learn from!
others, managing people, and problem solving.
1.
Additionally, we want to focus on business acumen as a crucial
2.
skill for program managers – this connects to the “needs
assessment” core competency. Understanding your market, your
3.
product, your sales cycle, and the challenges your organization
faces can only make you a stronger program manager.
4.

One of the best ways to both improve your relationships with

5.
others and your business acumen is to discuss various business
challenges with the stakeholders in your organization.

Take a few minutes and identify some key stakeholders who you’d
like to learn from. They could be middle managers who are faced
with a unique business challenge, or they could be senior leadership
and have key insights into your organization’s strategic goals.

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These are people in your organization who have key information
that could improve the way you train – don’t ignore this, even if
it’s cheesy or uncomfortable.

After discovering who you’d like to speak with, consider reaching

out via email or in person to schedule some time to chat – it
doesn’t have to be formal, but here’s a template you can use:

Hey                 ! I wanted to reach out to you because I know you’re familiar with               .
(recipient name) (challenge)

I’d like to pick your brain and learn more about                                    and how this
(challenge)

affects                . Maybe we can put our heads together and think of ways we can use training to improve results!
(company name)

During these conversations, spend time asking open-ended

questions, and try to discover as much as you can about the
challenges your organization faces.

Not only will this exercise improve your relationships, but you’ll
get crucial information that can help inform the way you align
your training to business goals.

For specific details on best practices in corporate learning, be

sure to refer to our ebook “Learning Science for L&D,” where we
present and analyze research that should help you make the best
decisions for how you conduct your training!

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Identify Needs
Needs analysis is one of the toughest jobs for program managers,
The exercises we listed in the program management section
because it requires not only collaboration and discussion with
are still great exercises to help you identify needs, but this
stakeholders who hold key insights, but also because it requires
section goes a little deeper into needs analysis. We chose this
sharp business acumen, and a deep understanding of your own
competency to develop because identifying the specific needs of
business.
your organization are vital to conducting successful training.

Here’s an example to show you what we mean: One activity that may help you
Imagine a scenario in which you talk to your sales director about identify needs is to work backwards
increasing sales revenue. The sales director tells you that your
sales reps are not closing enough deals.
as you create a curriculum.
As you work backwards, keep in mind that your company has a
This information can be learned through discussion. Identifying
set of processes, and those processes are what tell employees
needs, however, requires further investigation. The conversation
how to do their jobs.
above may suggest that sales reps need training on how to close
deals – but what if the problem exists before sales reps ever
Everything your employees do, whether it’s create new business,
attempt to close deals?
recognize their coworkers, or ask for a raise, happens through a
specific process at your organization.
The problem could be that sales reps are struggling to qualify
the right prospects – maybe the sales reps are using closing
When a business challenge occurs, it can almost always be traced
techniques on prospects that don’t have the budget, the need, or
back to these processes breaking down in some way.
the authority to sign a deal.
Because of this, it’s especially important to specifically
If this was true, then no amount of training around closing will help
understand the process you’re trying to improve.
achieve sales goals, because that’s not where the need exists.

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Let’s use compliance as an example.

In this example, you are the head of safety for a manufacturing

plant. Last year, on average, employees missed 11% of the year
due to workplace injuries, including repetitive stress injuries.
Because of these absences, you missed your productivity goals by
5%.

In this instance, your business challenge is related to productivity

and compliance, but the process that is breaking down occurs
somewhere in how a machine is used.

At some point in the manufacturing process, employees must

wear a brace before operating a given piece of machinery, but
they feel that this process takes too long, and often ignore this
step. This is leading to injuries.

In this example, the process is breaking down at the point that

employees wear the brace. This step in the process is simply
being ignored.

Almost all your business challenges

are related to one or more process
breakdowns, so your training
should be aligned with improving
those breakdowns.

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Here’s a quick framework you can use to suit your needs!

Business Challenges Diagnosis

What business challenge am I trying to solve? Where do I think the problem exists?
If my training is successful, what will that What is my reasoning?
success look like?

Understand the Process Implementing Training

What process am I trying to affect? How can I use my training program to help solve this
How is that process run today? business challenge?

How is that process helping us get closer to How will I measure my success? (Be sure to check out
our strategic goals? our “Unpacking Kirkpatrick” ebook to learn more
about training results measurement)

Stakeholders and Initial Impressions This framework should help you identify needs, but it’s not the
What stakeholders have key insights into this end-all be-all. You should add or modify the questions to better
align with your program and processes, but these are very much
business challenge?
the types of questions you should be asking as you work through
Where do they think the problem exists? assessing needs.

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Develop Your Goals and Metrics

In the section on needs analysis, we said that your organization

is built from a system of processes – your training program is no
different!

This ties into two core competencies – evaluating performance

and identifying needs.

One thing we strongly advise for our clients is to not only create
a list of goals for your program, but understand the degree to
which you achieved your goals by creating you can rely on to
improve your training.

Data collection and data analysis are advanced skills for program
managers, but they are two skills that truly separate average
training programs from those that are a vital and instrumental
part of an organization’s success. In this regard, experimentation
is a crucial element for gathering good data.

Here are a few tips to improve

your data analysis skills:

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Remember That Correlation Is Not Causation
Training events are designed to change behaviors, but training
It can be hard not to jump to conclusions when you’re working processes are designed to change results.
with data. For instance, imagine you run a sales training event,
and the quarter after you train, sales increase by 40%. A well-thought-out plan suggests “If X behavior changes, then
Y result will change as well.” If you’re already comfortable in
It can be really easy to attribute your sales training to that Excel, feel free to skip ahead – that said, Excel is often underused
increase, but what if you hired a new sales director who has done despite its powerful capabilities. If you can’t confidently make a
a great job of leading your sales team? In this event, you cannot pivot table or chart, this exercise may be useful!
produce reliable statistics by attributing 100% of the growth to
your training program.

Leaders are wary of over-exaggerated ROI claims, and if your data

isn’t reliable, you’ll struggle to gain further leadership buy-in.

The best practice is to look for many factors to attribute your data
to. In doing so, you’ll be able to parse through large quantities of
data to find the results relevant to your program.

Feel Free to Experiment

A strong training process is highly scientific, and the process

closely aligns with the scientific method.

A training goal is essentially a hypothesis, in which you identify a

challenge, and theorize that focused training, designed to change Experimenting means changing
behaviors, will help overcome this challenge.
your X variable, but still following
Even when training doesn’t change results, that’s still valuable informed and educated decisions.
data you can use to inform your next move – eliminating things
that don’t lead to your desired results will bring you closer to the
variables that do change your results.

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Master Excel Step 1: Create a Chart

Excel spreadsheets are a powerful way to record, sort, and We’re going to use made up data for this exercise – it doesn’t
visualize your data. Mastering advanced fundamentals like really mean anything, it’s just there as a placeholder!
pivot tables, charts, and sorting tables will improve the way you
handle data. Here, we’ll give you an example of data charting and I. Start by copying this data:
visualization in Excel!

In this exercise, we’re going to try to visualize the relationship

between average test score, and courses completed.

If you’re not totally confident in your Excel skills, create a new

spreadsheet and do these steps in there as you read through
them. Repetition is key!

(Note that this tutorial uses Excel 2016.) II. In your Excel spreadsheet, right click the cell at A1,
and select “Paste as Values.” It should look like this:

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III. Next, click the A1 cell, and press CTRL + t.
This will pop up:

Make sure the box that says “My table has headers” is checked,
and then press OK. Now, you have a great looking table that you
can sort through easily!

Let’s say you wanted to see who in your company has completed
the most video courses.

IV. Click the area next to the Courses Completed

header and select “Sort Largest to Smallest.”

Now you can quickly see which learners

have completed the most videos!

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Step 2: Create a Pivot Table

Now that we have our table, we can get closer to visualizing the
relationship between courses completed and average test score.

The next step is to create a pivot table.

I. First, highlight all your data. A tab called “Table

Design” will populate in the navigation bar.

II. Click on “Summarize with PivotTable,”

which you’ll see here:

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III. Another pop-up will appear, and you can press OK. IV. On the right side is the interface where you’ll
You should now see this: create the Pivot Table.
Drag and Drop the “Courses Completed” and the
“Average Test Score” entries so your interface
looks like this:

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V. That will populate a pivot table that looks like this:

This process gives us a strong breakdown, eliminating data that

we don’t need, and brings us closer to visualizing the relationship
between Courses Completed and Average Test Score!

Step 3: Visualize Data with a Chart

This step is easy! Click “Insert” and then “Recommended Charts.”

It will look like this:

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Once again, a pop-up menu will appear. Feel free to explore and
look at the various types of graphs and charts you can create.

For this example, we’ll stick with bar charts, since our sample size
is small. Here’s what we get:

Keep in mind, this was a quick guide to help you understand

some more advanced parts of Excel. There are plenty of ways to
improve upon this basic data visualization!

Now that you know how useful it can be, look for other ways to
improve your Excel skills! BizLibrary users have access to a lot
of courses on Excel, which are broken down into quick videos
covering specific skills like the ones we just covered.

If you don’t have access to BizLibrary, you can always request

a demo to see what our content library has to offer your
organization, or look online to further your education. Either way,
mastering data visualization in Excel will make you an even better
program manager!

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Our Last Comments on Goals and Metrics Make a Plan

Goals and metrics are a complex topic, and when it comes to Leaders are time-poor. You’re not the only one vying for their
training, metrics begin and end with The Kirkpatrick Model. time, so the first step is finding a good time to talk to leadership
about the direction you’d like to take a program. Here are some
We’ve written an in-depth ebook on this model, and if your good questions to ask yourself:
program could use help developing a process for tracking and
creating training data, please download “Unpacking Kirkpatrick: Why do I want leadership buy-in? What am I hoping
Data-Driven Decision Making in L&D.”
to achieve with the help of my leaders?

Leadership Buy-In Which quarter is busiest for my company? Which

The last skills that we want to highlight in this playbook are quarter is least busy?
around securing leadership buy-in.
Is my leader busier in the morning or afternoon?
This competency relates to optimizing processes and selecting
and managing resources – your leaders are surely one of your Does my leader stay after hours or arrive before
best resources! hours? Can I talk to them then?

Program managers’ professional lives revolve around their

program, and it can be easy to forget that leaders don’t have
the perspective and insight into the importance of your training
program that you do.

Confidently and succinctly explaining to leaders why their

investment in training is worthwhile is an important skill, and
our data shows that programs that have strong leadership
buy-in typically have stronger programs in terms of return on
investment.

Here are some exercises you can do in preparation for having

important conversations with leaders.

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Keep Your Statistics Reliable and Believable on (add a competency), and with enough work, it was successful.
After talking to (stakeholder who was involved), we noticed that
C-level executives can receive hundreds of emails each day, from (behavior that changed), and because of that, (benefit that your
both inside and outside the company. training had on your company).

Many of those are sales emails touting over-the-top ROI claims, Our next focus is going to be (add your next competencies to train
and over time you can believe that leaders become numb to here). However, we will need (add your ask here, for instance:
those ridiculous claims. time, more budget, communication to staff, etc.). Our goal with
this event is to (add benefit to your organization). Can we count
With that in mind, data analysis that gives a realistic picture of on your support with organizing this training?”
what can be achieved through training is crucial. That’s why one
of the best ways to improve your leadership buy-in is to improve Like the other frameworks, you can modify this to fit your needs.
your data analytics. If you’re stuck on leadership buy-in and don’t However, it’s important to always drive home the benefit behind
know where to start, consider refining the way you collect and your training. Ultimately, this is the only thing your C-level leaders
analyze data! have time for. Details are for you to worry about, so focus on the
big picture!

Using a Framework

Once you know what it is you’re hoping to achieve

through leadership buy-in, when you’re going
to ask, and how you’re going to make your case
through reliable statistics, consider modeling your
pitch like this:

“Good (morning/afternoon), I was hoping I could take five

minutes to run through some numbers with you and seek your
guidance on our next step. Our last training effort was focused

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Putting It All Together

Refining these skills will make you a stronger program manager,

LEARNING SCIENCE FOR L&D
The F acts and Figures That Matter
and the more you develop yourself, the better results you’ll for Your Training Program
be able to bring. There are a few central themes each skill has
in common, and we want to take a moment to highlight these Using best practices in your program will help you achieve better
themes, and offer you resources to learn more. results. In this ebook, we looked at over 20 studies and analyzed
them, making it easy for you to see what science says is the best
way to train your employees!

VIEW EBOOK

Leadership buy-in, conversations with stakeholders – these practices

both require strong people skills and emotional intelligence (EQ).
From active listening to empathy, learning the soft skills and
emotional intelligence to work well with others is crucial. This is a
free resource you can download to develop your EQ.

VIEW EBOOK

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Keeping reliable statistics is such an important part of the
training process, and our own data tells us that this step is often
overlooked. However, data-driven decision making is arguably
the only way to continuously make informed decisions for your
training program – this ebook will help you do it well.

VIEW EBOOK

If you’re not already using BizLibrary

to train your workforce, there are
a number of ways our solutions can
help you deliver modern learning
while streamlining your own
administrative tasks. Click below to
learn how we can help you create a
more effective training program!

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