Guide #019: How to create an internal training program for your product team

Understand the landscape in which the training program needs to exist. Needs assessment interviews must include the intended target audience. Are there existing training programs? What are their pros and cons? Who is the target audience (i.e., the learner, for the program being created)? What inclusion variables do you need to consider—location, seniority, culture, accessibility, etc? Will the content need to be delivered in different languages, or adjusted for local context and nuance? What are the learning objectives? Is it to level up or teach technical skills? Are there success factors outside of the content, like peer learning, mentorship, or community building?

Analyze the needs assessment and make recommendations to the training sponsor. The training sponsor is your program champion. The guidance from the sponsor will help you create a project plan. Document who your partners and stakeholders are and what their roles will be. Do you have a champion outside the training sponsor that can also speak to the necessity of the program? Is the training program a quick fix or a continuous initiative? Does it need to scale? Is there a desired start date? Do you have funding for the program? Are there budget constraints? Determine what feedback loops will be necessary and how often they should be delivered.

Tie your training program to business goals and objectives. This will help you define the metrics of success for your training program. While these goals might mostly be people related, get a clear understanding of how the business will advance if the training program is successful. For example, if the goal is to “decrease the learner’s ramp-up time in a specific role”, gain as much clarity as possible for what this means. What does “ramp-up time” mean for the role and how is it measured?

Collaborate with learners during the development process to ensure alignment of the program with their needs. Along with the learners, also talk to the people invested in their success—their managers, leaders of the department, and any corporate learning and development teams. Also gather input from the partners, collaborators, and stakeholders of the learners to understand how the learning objectives are viewed from the receiving/output end.