Training Providers: Peace Through Preparation

A couple of weeks ago I attended a Design Meeting with a client in Dallas, Texas. The night we arrived 12 tornadoes tore through two communities a few miles south of our location. We were never in danger, but it was surreal and sobering to be so close to so much devastation, and yet need to carry on with our meeting objectives and specific action items. Nevertheless, we had a productive and invigorating design meeting and we came away excited to implement the design we mapped out and begin the production process.
Much of the training we design helps organizations, employees, and the public prepare for such disasters. This very client we were visiting has among its objectives to “save more lives.” This is a humbling and motivating factor in my efforts to align performance objectives to specific components of the course I’m creating.

At Allen we have a proven ANSWER analysis that helps us quickly identify the targeted audience and their unique requirements, reveal their specific training needs, and begin customizing training that will really target their needed behaviors. Our Performance Map process helps us align specific performance objectives with the overall business goal by defining behaviors needed to achieve the business goal and increase in ROI. We then identify skills, knowledge, and motivation that the learner will need to perform those behaviors. We can then align activities, content pages, motion pieces, and other interactive elements that will specifically target those objectives.

These Allen processes have evolved through many years of working in the training and development industry as a leading training provider, and they help us be prepared to tackle the challenges of each unique course we create. But most importantly, they help us create training that helps learners feel prepared and ready to face the challenges in their life. At least that is what we try to do. At our meeting in Dallas we identified a number of key skills learners need to “save lives.” We drew a clear picture of the learners, where they typically fail, and identified motivating factors for them to really retain the information. We want them to feel prepared.

After we returned, more devastating tornadoes hit Oklahoma and the surrounding areas. It is scary to realize the raw power of nature and the vulnerable place we inhabit in the world. The only recourse or comfort we might have is in preparation. We can prepare to face the challenges of this world through education and training. I am grateful to have a small part as a training provider in that preparation process; teaching skills, communicating key processes, and motivating learners to retain life-saving information. As this storm season continues, and we enter other seasons of difficult weather, my heart goes out to those in nature’s path. Let us all be safe