Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2017 - 21

BY NOELLE AKINS & KATHY TELBAN

How can an organization optimize business outcomes using learning as its critical enabler? To meet this challenge,
think business first. Align your learning outcomes with business outcomes for measurable, enterprise-wide impact.
Imagine an IT implementation for
finance and HR solutions slated to
reduce operational and administrative
costs by over 20 percent through
cost reductions, streamlined business
processes, and real-time analytics.
These gains are realized only by solid
user adoption and proficiency, which
are direct outcomes from learning.
In this scenario, training leaders
collaborate with business leads and
configuration partners at project onset
to identify and support desired business
outcomes. Committed to the alignment
of business and learning outcomes, the
training team makes strategic, datadriven decisions on essential content
for each target audience and reduces
time spent on training design and
learner time in the classroom. Focused,
hands-on sessions equip subject matter
experts (SMEs) in finance and HR,
while demos and just-in-time learning
interactions support user adoption and
learner proficiency for managers and
the broader employee audience.

THE NEED FOR AN
OUTCOMES-BASED FRAMEWORK
Common instructional design and
evaluation models like Criterion

Referenced Instruction created by
Robert F. Mager, the ADDIE model, and
The Kirkpatrick Model set standards for
design, development and evaluation
of training programs, now challenged
by emergent agile models such as
SAM. What is often missing is a focus
on learning outcomes that enable
business
outcomes.
Instructional
design frameworks have evolved from
content-based to competency-based to
an outcomes-based framework.

* What will learners do "in here"
to demonstrate evidence of
the outcomes?

A proven outcomes-based model
developed for and by colleges provides
the right framework, by adding
questions on business outcomes and
metrics. Its focused line of inquiry
guides a backward design process.
The process answers the following
key questions:

Answers to these questions define the
training scope in a one-page design
document called an Outcome Guide
(OG), read from right to left. This is
approved by stakeholders prior to
training development and ensures
alignment of all elements. Figure 1 on
page 23 provides an example.

* What are the business outcomes
where learning is a critical enabler
to realize those results?

OUTCOME ALIGNMENT:
BUSINESS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

* What data will be used to
determine when business and
learning outcomes are met?
* What do learners need to be able to
DO 'out there' in their role that we are
responsible for "in here" and that will
impact the organization's outcomes?

* What skills must the learners master
to demonstrate the outcomes?
* What concepts must the learners
understand to demonstrate
the outcomes?
* What issues must the learners
be able to resolve to demonstrate
the learning outcomes?

Alignment of business and learning
outcomes requires a focus on what
learners will do "out there" outside and
after the training experience, using the
language of stakeholders. In the training
scenario, the business outcome is: Make
faster, smarter financial and human
resource decisions within departments

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT 20 1 7 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2017