What to do when you have to whip up a training like yesterday? "The How"

Let's together elevate L&D’s value even in a slow down and in the emerging AI-economy, using “SEE-D." Welcome to L&D Playbook!  

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It was a perfectly nice day in many ways until the meeting! Right now? You're stuck. That pit in your stomach? It's the gnawing worry of having been charged to whip up a training like “yesterday”.

Feeling a bit pressed for time? Jump straight to Section 2: "The How" for actionable steps and insights on how to navigate these situations. It's not about relying on AI, which is almost ubiquitous. Instead, this is about tapping into time-tested, holistic insights, and systems around you.

For those who can stay a bit longer, let’s dive deeply  into the context and the scenarios that many of us find familiar.

Without being able to chat with end users  or a decent chunk of time to develop, doubt and anxiety creep in. Will your design make an impact? Deep down, you cannot shake the feeling that a quickly produced product, resulting from a less-than-ideal analysis, might fall short.

Does this sound familiar?  I am getting goose bumps too just as I imagine the pressure in this situation.

And sure, some folks might say take a deep breath, do your best, and chill out.

But what you’re truly craving is a way, an easy method, and guidance to make that real shift. What will platitudes do?

Today is not to discuss and debate the nature of such requests. But more to offer some ways to manage such situations with impact.

I’m here to share the “HOW” to manage such situations with empathy for yourself and for the training need!

What I am about to share stems from real-world, hands-on experiences, both mine and those who have aided in incorporating this in their workflows. Let’s dive in.

Section 1: Real-world Challenges

Let’s look at a few scenarios where a training request is made. Some of these might resonate with you. As the breadth of inputs vary, you may have to rely on your gut and experience to complete the task.

Scenario 1:

You’ve received a request to create a training in response to a sudden surge in customer complaints. The grievances focus on the support and explanations concerning a new product that’s been released. To complicate matters, there is a group of new team members who have been reported to engage unpleasantly towards customers.

The objective: The primary goal? Reduce complaints immediately.

Underlying Issue:

Delving deeper, it's evident that one of the product features has inherent issues. Unfortunately, the engineering team failed to inform or update the relevant departments about this snag.

Solution: After initial analysis, business have decided that a series of short byte sized lessons to refresh the support team’s product knowledge will help remedy the behaviour concern and reduce customer complaints.

Your challenge: Your task? Execute this project at super speed despite the heavy load on the LMS team. The catch? You only have control on how you create and roll out content.

Scenario 2:  

Your challenge: Your task? You’ve just been asked to yet again create training to reduce the errors in the supply-chain management system.

The catch? In this case, you’ve run several different formats of training and the number shifts a little and again there is a drop. You are thinking there is some other reasons here too.

Scenario 3:

Your Task: You are told that we want to simply create a training to get more people to select a specific feature in the new CRM system.

The catch? Now, this one is from experience too broad a request. There is more to this story.

How are you feeling at this point? Do you resonate with these scenarios? Many of you'll be going in your mind gosh yes!  

What will you do? Looking at the varying depth of information and almost no time to get more insights, you rely on your experience, on the standard theories that claim to work.

But that little voice tells you this might not end up generating the right value!

Section 2: How to execute in such scenarios? - “The How”

So, here’s the crux of todays conversation. These are captured as steps and straight forward actions so that you can lift and shift and execute.

Your Goal:

1.Rapid Analysis of The Situation:

->Key elements: Business goal, motivation, outcome, capacity, resources, transparent conversation with training requestors.

->Objective: At this point, your aim is to uncover if there really is a need that skilling (and learning)can solve. This will help you define the impact of the training and decide the effort required. If there are an array of other critical aspects impacting the issue at hand, and training plays a supportive role, as in scenario 3, perhaps a full-blown perfect course is not required.

Tip: For a deeper dive into the questions, you should be asking during this phase, scroll to the article's end.

2.Rapid Execution Strategy:

Take the SEE-D approach.

->Concept: Embrace speed and elasticity. Begin with available resources and content.

->Avoid: Getting stuck in “analysis-paralysis”. Don’t  obsess over creating the  “perfect” course.

->Start from where you are.  

Note: For a deeper understanding of the SEE-D framework, refer to my previous articles.

3.Streamlined Process:

->Control: Create your own process over. Minimize reliance on a centralized systems such as LMS or less flexible methodologies like ADDIE. This will grant you more control and flexibility on the way you build content.

->Delivery Strategy:

· Break and Measure: Rather than a one-time eLearning event, break the delivery down into digestible parts. Distribute content over weeks, measure its impact, and act based on the feedback on frequent and regular basis.

Tip: For data to measure, you don’t need more than just the LMS reports. For more on this, refer my articles on completion versus conversion .

 · Experience-Centric Approach: It's not always about fragmenting eLearning. Often, the focus should be on crafting a holistic learning experience around the content.

 Tip: Use our simple, custom, and impactful BDA (Before-During-After) framework. To delve into this approach, look out for future articles or reach out to us directly.

4.Content and Design Approaches:

->For product / services near market launch, utilize blocks of videos, quizzes, and checklists, released daily or weekly.

->For evolving content  or strategies:

·  Leverage Business Documents: When dealing with ever-evolving content or strategies, tap existing business documents. This could mean tapping product specifications, AI strategies, or any other work-in-progress documentation.

·  Instructional wrappers: Around these documents, build instructional wrappers. These wrappers provide a structure with guiding questions and document timestamps.  

Not only does this allow for quicker launches, but it also eliminates the need to constantly return to the drawing board for course revamps.

5.Consistency in Elements:

While content format can vary, keep elements like instructional wrappers, topic structures, and interactivities consistent.

->Addressing Objections: You might argue that consistency is always cherished, and varying content formats could jolt users a bit. 

I agree with your point and here’s how I jump this hurdle.  I focus on ease, relatability, and contextual relevance. From experience, learners assign value to these aspects over strict uniformity.

->Maintaining Consistency:  While some content varies in format, there are foundational  elements that remain consistent.

Instructional wrappers: These provide a structured approach regardless of the content type.

Topic Structure: This ensures that even if content varies, the flow and organization remain familiar.

Generic Content: Drawing from trusted online libraries ensures the quality and reliability of information.      

Interactivities: Incorporating quizzes and other engagement tools ensures a consistent learning experience.

6.Production and Delivery:

->Platform Choice: Here sharing my thoughts. I have created interactive engaging and dynamic platforms on Intranet such as the jive platforms, Microsoft Sway, and Forms.

But Microsoft Teams has been my best ally and saviour.

->Benefits: MS Teams facilitates microlearning, social engagement, collaboration, and agility. No need for additional tech platforms or grappling with LMS/LXP challenges. You can create, deliver, and scale training in a jiffy using this platform.

->Zero Adoption Advantage: With MS Teams, the typical challenges of new technology adoption don't apply, neither does the IT hassle. Everyone knows the platform, and access is straightforward.

 ->Using MS Teams:

· For distinct modules or topics, create individual sub-channels.

· Use the main channel for social learning, marketing, and engagement.

· Bonus: MS Teams fosters community building in the organization's virtual gathering spots.

  7. Measuring Impact and Taking Control:

With platforms such as MS Teams, you can track more behavioural data than just completions with full control, you can swiftly tweak, update, or add content as needed.

Section 3: Conclusion

Using this approach, you can actually get a course rolling within 3-4 weeks of time. Utilize your budget for more than just creating a single eLearning.

 Navigating the shift to a build-learn-measure and a continuous feedback loop might sound nifty on paper, but it can feel like trying to stretch rusty muscles after a long hiatus from the gym. And trust me, it was like that for me too. Many who have integrated this approach have experienced their fair share of "aha" and "ugh" moments. Just like any game plan, it takes a dash of grit, a sprinkling of trial, and a bit of practice to get it right. But once you practice, it's like muscle memory, it starts to flow.

Starting out can be daunting. Sometimes, all you wish for is that nudge or kick things into gear. Recognizing this, I’m offering a complimentary 30-minute consultation. My motivation? I’ve been in these sticky spots and know the drill. So, whenever you are ready you can reach out.

You can book a time by writing to info@evolvap.com or just DM me on LinkedIn. A 30-minute conversation is free until the end of November 2023.

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