Focusing on the Client

In order for a training session to become a successful project, it requires a detailed analysis and planning, high quality delivery and finally, the assessment of results. All these things have a major importance, as long as the training is meant to have a beneficial impact on the organization, teams and their individuals.

The 10 steps presented below shall provide an explanation of the complete approach mode of a training session, based on the specific needs of the client’s organization:

1. The evaluation of the need for the course is aimed to determine and analyze the training needs of individuals, the degree to which the course shall fulfill these needs and the manner in which its success shall be measured after the course is completed;
2. Obtaining the sponsor’s support with regard to the manner in which the organization shall support the participants in applying the things they learned at the course in their work;
3. Establishing the contents of the course, so that its objectives are properly fulfilled;
4. Talks with the participants, prior to the course, initiated and conducted by their supervisor; the purpose is to explain to them the part played by the course in their development and the expectations of the organization regarding their labor and conduct, as result of the participation in the course;
5. Defining the contents and methods of delivery, so that the entire program (agenda, presentation, practical exercises and sessions, interactions with the participants) is consistent with its objectives and the specific nature of the audience;
6. Knowledge assessment and delivery session; firstly, it provides the volume of knowledge required and helps participants practice and assimilate the utilization mode of the knowledge in their work; secondly, during certain topics as well as at certain moments over a course day, the degree to which the participants apprehended the new knowledge that were provided to them is tested;
7. Action Plan which comprises the key domains that need to be improved, the actions to be taken in this respect and the completion terms, all of which are to be filled out by the participants at the end of the course;
8. Talk with the participants after the course; during such talk the participants shall briefly explain to their superior what they did at the course, their action plan and determine the degree of involvement of each party in the achievement of such plan;
9. Clarification meetings, attended by the trainee and her/his supervisor, or trainer, with the purpose of finding out concerns and questions regarding certain knowledge learned from the course and help the participant clarify all these concerns and questions;
10. Subsequent development sessions; they need to be conducted on a regular basis by the direct superior and are aimed to continuously upgrade the skills of the trainee.

The duration of the modules and the manner in which they shall be combined in order to form a course or a series of courses shall be determined according to the extension and urgency of the training needs of the participants. Moreover, the level of details and the adaptation of the theoretical topics to the specific nature of the participant’s work are of utmost importance when it comes to creating a course.

Clear and concise objectives are defined for each module, explaining the audience what it shall become capable of doing by the end of the respective module. The formulation of the objectives must offer the participants the possibility to assess the degree to which such objectives are fulfilled.