Define (and secure) a sufficient budget
According to CareerBuilder, you first need to secure and define a sufficient budget for employee education. Of course, high quality training programmes are not free of charge, whether they involve paid external training or internal costs associated with in-house education.
Ensure management recognises the importance of employee development
Company management plays a crucial role in preparing the training strategy, so ensure they understand the importance of employee development and agree with them on the key priorities of the training programme.
Be aware of real needs of employees
Don't rely on a generic model of what employees should learn; instead, determine their actual needs. What do their roles require? What do they themselves want? And what are their needs and preferences regarding learning? A survey among employees may provide helpful insights.
Remember that training must suit all sorts
Don't forget that your workforce consists of different types of people. Employees have various preferences and needs, perform different roles, and above all have diverse attitudes toward learning and development. Your training strategy should accommodate all these types of people.
Consider metrics for measuring and evaluating success
How will you assess the success of the training? What will the evaluation criteria and metrics be, and under what conditions will you revise the strategy?
Make learning as easy as possible
Remember that for many employees, training represents a disruption to their daily routines They often lack the time or motivation for learning. Make it easier for them by ensuring, for example, that they are not required to perform all their regular duties at the same level despite attending training, thereby having to make up retrospectively the time spent on training.
Don't be afraid continuously to evaluate, optimise and change strategy
Just because you have once defined a strategy doesn't mean it can't be changed: on the contrary, evaluate the course of training continuously and, if necessary, optimise the plan or completely overhaul it.
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