In-house training enables skills to be developed as closely as possible to operational needs, while at the same time making the most of the know-how of experienced employees. But the project still needs to be structured so that it has a lasting effect. Philippe Argouges, an expert in training engineering and needs analysis, guides you step-by-step through the process of designing, managing and evaluating an internal training project that will have a real impact.
In turbulent times, companies tend to err on the side of caution. Yet there is one area that can't wait when times are uncertain: employee skills development.
To react quickly to change, the company needs to be able to count on adaptable employees. This means training them. A recent report by LinkedIn Learning. Companies that are leaders in career development perform better than others.
For one-off requests, catalogue training offers the best value for money. But when large teams need to upgrade their skills, in-house training projects are more appropriate. Provided they are well designed. So how do you make these projects effective?
Above all, by adopting a formal mode of construction.
Structuring the internal training project
Like any training project, an internal training project is divided into four phases:
- Analysis of requirements
- Device design
- Deployment
- Analysis of results
Needs analysis: an essential step
We don't set up training just for the sake of it. We do it because the teams are faced with a situation that requires skills they do not possess.
Annual appraisals are a key tool for identifying the skills that need to be developed, and the results should be exploited. You can also use internal surveys or audits to highlight skills gaps.
To get the project off to a good start, ask yourself the right questions. Some may seem obvious: who are the people to be trained, what is their initial knowledge? Others are more often forgotten, but they are crucial:
- Why set up this training course?
- What concrete results do you expect from the training?
- What would be the consequences if the training did not take place?
- What would be proof of success?
The purpose of all these questions is to force the manager requesting training for his team to qualify his project. They need to check whether the training is the appropriate response to the situation they are facing.
All these responses will feed into the specifications and enable us to build a suitable in-house training programme.
You can call on an outside organisation to design and/or run the training, or you can rely on in-house trainers. In the latter case, training courses for occasional trainers will help them to be more motivated and effective in passing on their knowledge and sharing their experience.
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Occasional trainers: why and how should they be trained?
"How many employees who excel in their field are given in-house training and willingly accept out of curiosity and/or a desire for change? And how many end up becoming discouraged and/or unable to pass on their skills? Experience proves it: they need support to train effectively and get the results they want.
[Training]
Being a trainer can't be improvised. Just because you have knowledge doesn't mean you know how to pass it on. Would you like to acquire the tools and methods you need to run successful occasional training courses? Discover the training programme Training occasional trainers.
They're talking about :
"Very fun, active and interactive training". "I will be able to apply certain methods with new arrivals. "The content is dense, but the practical cases make this course very interesting."
Rolling out the internal training project
Designing a training course involves more than simply writing a course material. Depending on the professional situation that led to the design, you first need to define the skills that the participants will need to acquire. Then translate them into learning objectives. Finally, these learning objectives need to be combined to build a programme.
Choosing the right tools
Relying on AI is possible. But be careful: these tools only give you ideas. It is essential to check and rewrite what they suggest.
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To manage these different stages effectively, you can use project management tools such as Monday or Microsoft Project. They offer planning and resource management functions that are very welcome if the project is large.
Choosing the right formats
Synchronous or asynchronous? Face-to-face or remote? Very often, the choice is first and foremost an economic one. However, pedagogical criteria are just as important. So, depending on the type of knowledge involved, different systems are equally effective:
| Devices | Types of knowledge | Special features | Examples of training |
| On-site | Knowledge, interpersonal skills, know-how | Easier exchanges, organisational constraints | All |
| Remote | Knowledge, individual skills, IT know-how | Fewer group discussions, less travel | IT, professional writing, project management, etc. |
| Asynchronous | Knowledge, interpersonal skills (awareness), know-how (without validation of prior learning) | Little or no feedback, learner autonomy | Regulations, office automation for individual learning, personal development |
Involving learners
It is always important to involve learners as early as possible.
Here's a concrete example from an audiovisual group. In 2021, this group of some fifteen television and radio channels wants to unify its programme management system.
The new system can be used to manage the broadcasting of programmes, films, series, music videos and even adverts down to the second. It can then easily calculate the expenditure and revenue generated by each programme across all the Group's media. Finally, it facilitates programming via streaming or replay sites. Until now, the channels used different systems that were not very compatible. It was complex to programme a programme on one channel and then on another. It was even impossible to calculate precisely the costs and revenues associated with a given programme if it was reprogrammed on several channels. Unification was therefore necessary.
In practice, 2,500 Group employees will be using the new software. To support its roll-out, the Group relies on around thirty volunteer employees, who are themselves users. As ambassadors for the product, they helped to define the requirements and then received technical training. I then ran a train-the-trainer course for them. They were then able to train their 2,500 colleagues in 6 months. Depending on the profiles, the training sessions lasted between two hours and two days.
By involving these ambassadors as early as possible, this audiovisual group was better able to support the change. What's more, reluctant employees were trained by colleagues, which helped to limit refusals and objections.
Communicate
Generally speaking, engaging learners requires communication. A simple e-mail may suffice.
For example:
Hello Marie,
You are registered for the Present technical information which we have set up specifically for the team. In your new role as project manager, you'll be presenting your project to various committees on a regular basis. This training course will help you to be more effective in this area. Please find attached a description of the course and, in particular, the learning objectives.
Let me know if they meet your needs. In addition, I invite you to think beforehand about the concrete results you expect from this training. You can then share this information with the trainer when the time comes, so that the course is better adapted to your activities.
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Key points:
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Measuring the impact of the internal training project
As training courses are designed to meet specific needs, it is vital to measure their impact.
To do this, you can use the 4-level model developed by Donald Kirkpatrick, Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin and a leading figure in training evaluation. This model suggests :
- Participant feedback → on-the-spot surveys
- Knowledge acquired → exams or self-assessment
- Applying knowledge → cold surveys
- Results obtained → cold surveys
While feelings and acquired knowledge are always evaluated, results are less so. Yet there are some good practices that are easy to adopt:
- Have managers report back to the training manager on the application of training by employees. This can be done through annual appraisals.
- Set up simplified cold surveys and involve managers to maximise feedback
- Set up complementary systems (communities of practice, feedback workshops)
And, above all, to make the most of this feedback. The aim is to keep the schemes alive, to avoid repeating the same mistakes and to capitalise on the successes.
To sum up, an effective in-house training project starts with a well-defined need, an appropriate design and visible results for the business. By involving your teams and checking what really changes, you can optimise your training investment. What about tomorrow? The rise of generative AI and blended learning opens up new avenues to explore.
