Section 7. Developing Training Programs for Staff

Training programs help new staff develop the knowledge and skills required for their positions and help continuing staff keep their practice current as responsibilities, evidence, technology, community conditions, and professional requirements change. A well-designed training program responds to both staff and organizational needs and supports continuing improvement in the quality of the organization's work.

This section will help you think about how to plan, conduct, support, and evaluate training for people throughout your organization.

What is a training program?

A good training program is just that -- a program, not simply a one-time workshop or presentation. It is an organized approach to building and maintaining the knowledge, skills, judgment, and competencies people need to do their work effectively.

Orientation introduces a new employee to the organization, the position, the people and communities connected with the work, workplace systems, policies, and expectations. Training goes further by developing the specific knowledge and abilities needed to carry out responsibilities effectively.

The two may overlap. Some essential job training may begin during onboarding, while more advanced learning may occur after the employee has gained enough experience to understand and apply it.

Training may include learning a new skill, understanding a policy or professional standard, practicing a procedure, discussing complex cases, receiving coaching and feedback, learning new technology, reviewing current evidence, or strengthening the ability to respond to changing circumstances. It should continue as needed throughout a person's work with the organization.

What is included in a training program?

The scope of a training program should reflect the organization's mission, risks, resources, staffing, legal and professional requirements, and actual learning needs. A small community organization may not have a training department or a large budget, but it can still identify essential learning needs, use internal expertise, partner with other organizations, and build learning into ordinary work.

A comprehensive training program may include:

• Initial job training. Training for new staff who need to develop knowledge or skills required for their positions.
• Organization-specific training. Training for staff who may already have experience in the field but need to learn the particular systems, evidence-based practices, program models, technology, policies, or procedures used by the organization.
• Ongoing staff development. Continuing learning that helps employees maintain and strengthen the competencies required for their current responsibilities.
• Professional development. Learning that deepens expertise, supports career growth, prepares employees for additional responsibility, or develops knowledge and skills beyond immediate job requirements. Possibilities may include:
  • College, university, certificate, or continuing-education courses
  • Conferences, institutes, professional meetings, or webinars
  • Communities of practice, peer-learning groups, or study groups
  • Workshops or courses developed in response to practitioner needs
  • Mentoring, coaching, job shadowing, stretch assignments, and other practice-based development

Staff and professional development require organizational support. When training is required or directly connected with employees' current work, the organization should determine how wage-and-hour requirements apply and provide compensated training time when required.

Other forms of organizational support may include:

• Tuition or continuing-education assistance within established limits
• Registration, travel, lodging, or other approved professional-development expenses
• Paid time to attend required or approved learning activities
• Access to professional memberships, publications, software, certifications, or learning platforms
• Coaching, mentoring, supervision, and opportunities to practice new skills

Learning opportunities should be available equitably across the organization. That does not mean every employee needs the same training. Different positions require different competencies, risks, credentials, and levels of responsibility.

Why run a training program?

Developing and maintaining a training program requires time and resources, but it can strengthen both employee performance and organizational effectiveness.

For new staff, training can:

• Help them understand how to perform important responsibilities safely and effectively
• Demonstrate that the organization is prepared to provide the information, tools, supervision, and support needed for the work
• Increase confidence by providing opportunities to learn, practice, ask questions, and receive feedback
• Help them understand the organization's methods, professional standards, and reasons for using particular approaches
• Establish shared terminology and expectations where those are necessary for communication and coordination
• Shorten the time required to develop competence in unfamiliar responsibilities
• Increase independence while also making clear when consultation, supervision, or additional help is appropriate
• Reduce preventable errors and strengthen safety, quality, accessibility, ethical practice, compliance, and organizational reliability

For experienced staff, continuing training can:

• Strengthen and update existing skills
• Introduce current research, evidence, technology, professional standards, policies, and other developments in the field
• Provide new challenges and opportunities for learning and reflection
• Expose staff to approaches and perspectives used by other practitioners, organizations, and communities
• Support professional growth and, where appropriate, career development and retention
• Help the organization continue learning, evaluating its own practices, and adapting when better approaches become available

Training is not a solution to every performance or organizational problem. A knowledge or skill gap may require training, but inadequate staffing, unclear responsibilities, inaccessible technology, poor supervision, unrealistic workload, weak processes, or lack of resources will not necessarily be fixed by another workshop. Part of planning a training program is determining when training is actually the appropriate response.

When should you run a training program?

Initial training should begin early enough that employees do not perform responsibilities for which they are not yet prepared. Some training may be required before independent work begins, particularly when safety, confidentiality, professional practice, technology access, or legal requirements are involved.

Continuing training should occur when there is a demonstrated need rather than according to one universal schedule. Relevant triggers may include:

• Changes in laws, regulations, professional standards, contracts, or funding requirements
• Changes in technology, cybersecurity risks, or information systems
• New programs, services, responsibilities, or organizational strategies
• Changes in evidence or accepted professional practice
• Performance or quality data showing a knowledge or skill gap
• Safety incidents, near misses, complaints, or other identified risks
• Employee requests and learning needs
• Community or participant feedback
• Credentialing or continuing-education requirements

Some organizations may include brief learning activities in staff meetings, while others may provide periodic workshops, online courses, coaching, simulations, or longer professional-development opportunities. Frequency should follow the need and purpose of the training, not an arbitrary monthly or annual quota.

When participation in professional development is expected, consider employees' access to paid time, registration costs, travel, technology, disability accommodations, language access, and other practical conditions. An expectation that employees personally fund required development can create inequitable access.

Who should be in charge of the training program?

Several different responsibilities need to be distinguished:

• Who identifies required competencies and training needs
• Who decides which training is required
• Who designs or selects the training
• Who delivers it
• Who coordinates scheduling, records, accessibility, technology, and logistics
• Who evaluates whether the training worked

One person may handle several of these responsibilities in a small organization. A larger organization may divide them among supervisors, human resources, learning-and-development staff, subject-matter experts, compliance or safety staff, and other departments.

Whatever the structure, someone should have clear responsibility for coordination. Without it, required training may be missed, materials may become outdated, records may be incomplete, and learning activities may become disconnected from organizational priorities.

Determining training priorities

Training priorities may be influenced by:

• Supervisors, program leaders, human-resources staff, or training coordinators
• Organizational policies, professional standards, licenses, grants, contracts, or legal requirements
• Individual employees or teams
• Staff-wide needs assessments or organizational reviews
• Program participants, community members, partners, or others whose experience can identify gaps in organizational practice
• Outside specialists, professional organizations, regulators, funders, or training providers

A combination of these sources often produces the strongest training plan.

Organizations with similar needs may also collaborate on training. Joint learning can reduce costs, bring together a wider range of expertise, and create useful relationships among practitioners. Topics such as conflict resolution, accessibility, community engagement, supervision, safety, technology, or trauma-informed practice may be relevant across organizations even when their missions differ.

Employee participation in training decisions is valuable because people doing the work often know where procedures are unclear, what situations are difficult, and which new skills would help. Their input should have a meaningful effect on the training plan.

At the same time, staff preference cannot be the only source of training priorities. Employees may not yet know about a new legal requirement, safety risk, evidence-based practice, community concern, or technology threat. Training should therefore combine employee input with organizational responsibilities and other evidence.

Conducting the training

Training may be delivered by:

• Supervisors or internal subject-matter experts
• Experienced staff members
• People with relevant lived or community experience
• Professional trainers or consultants
• Colleges, universities, professional associations, government agencies, or other organizations
• Online learning providers
• Mentors, coaches, or peer-learning groups

Choose trainers according to the subject, the learning objectives, required qualifications, and the credibility and accuracy of the material rather than assuming that the same person should deliver every topic.

Before using outside training, determine whether it is current, accessible, relevant to your context, and consistent with applicable law, professional standards, and organizational policy. Also clarify responsibility for accommodations, technology, records of completion, and confidentiality when appropriate.

How do you actually develop and run a training program?

Four broad areas remain useful:

• Planning
• Methods
• Logistics
• Evaluation and follow-up

Planning

Begin with a needs assessment.

Before developing training, determine what problem or opportunity you are trying to address and whether training is actually the right intervention.

A needs assessment may use:

• Employee and supervisor interviews or surveys
• Performance or quality data
• Community or participant feedback
• Program evaluation findings
• Incident or safety information
• New legal, regulatory, contractual, or professional requirements
• Changes in technology or organizational strategy
• Existing competency frameworks

If the underlying problem is lack of staffing, unclear policy, inaccessible systems, inadequate equipment, conflicting priorities, or poor supervision, address those causes rather than expecting training alone to solve them.

Involve staff members in planning.

Employees can identify situations they find difficult, skills they want to strengthen, topics that are unclear, and practices they believe deserve reconsideration. New staff can also identify areas in which they feel least prepared.

Participation should be meaningful. If staff repeatedly identify a training need, either address it or explain why another approach is being used.

Develop clear learning objectives.

State what participants should know or be able to do after the training. Useful objectives make it easier to select content, choose methods, determine what should be practiced, and evaluate whether the training worked.

For example, instead of "Employees will understand de-escalation," an objective might be: "After the training, employees will be able to identify the organization's three required steps for responding to an escalating interaction and demonstrate them in a realistic scenario."

Keep content accurate, current, and relevant.

Training should reflect the best available evidence and current policies or professional standards relevant to the work. Subject-matter experts should review technical content where appropriate, and organizations should establish a process for updating or retiring training when information changes.

Schedule training around actual needs.

Training should occur early enough for employees to apply it before they are expected to perform unfamiliar or high-risk responsibilities independently. For continuing staff, consider operational schedules, workloads, time zones, accessibility, caregiving responsibilities, travel, and other factors affecting participation.

Give adequate notice when possible and build in flexibility to address emerging issues that affect the work.

Remember that you're planning a program

A training program should have structure and purpose rather than becoming an unrelated series of presentations. It might be organized around a competency framework, annual priorities, a progression from introductory to advanced practice, regulatory requirements, or the major functions employees must perform.

It should also remain flexible enough to respond when conditions change. A new technology, public-health issue, safety concern, law, program challenge, or community need may require learning that was not anticipated when the annual plan was created.

Decide what areas your staff training should cover

Content will depend on the work, employees' roles, organizational responsibilities, and identified needs. Common areas may include:

• Job-specific knowledge and skills. The methods, procedures, systems, professional knowledge, and technical competencies employees need for their positions.
• Organization-specific practices. Program models, documentation systems, policies, protocols, technology, or other methods particular to the organization.
• Developments in the field. Current evidence, technology, professional standards, policies, laws, regulations, and emerging practices relevant to employees' responsibilities.
• Cross-cutting competencies. Depending on the work, these may include communication, conflict resolution, accessibility, cultural humility, trauma-informed practice, ethical boundaries, supervision, leadership, data security, privacy, documentation, or crisis-response procedures.
• Issues affecting the organization's work. Relevant community conditions, health or social issues, policy changes, funding changes, technology, public systems, or other developments that employees need to understand.
• Safety, legal, and compliance requirements. Training required because of the organization's activities, professional responsibilities, contracts, licenses, insurance, or applicable law.

Employees who already demonstrate a competency generally do not need introductory instruction in that skill unless a refresher, organization-specific procedure, or legal requirement makes it necessary. Training resources are better directed to actual gaps and changes in practice.

Determine how much training staff need, and when

There is no universal number of training hours appropriate to every employee.

• Initial training. Determine which competencies must be demonstrated before independent work begins and which can be developed gradually with supervision.
• Ongoing staff development. Determine what continuing learning is needed based on performance, changes in the work, employee goals, and organizational priorities.
• Professional development. Establish equitable opportunities for employees to deepen expertise, maintain credentials, prepare for new responsibilities, or pursue relevant career growth.

Some organizations use individual learning or professional-development plans. An employee and supervisor might identify competencies to strengthen, learning activities, available organizational support, and goals for applying what is learned.

Such plans may include courses, workshops, conferences, mentoring, peer learning, certifications, observation, reading, research, job shadowing, or stretch assignments. Review them periodically rather than treating the plan as a fixed annual contract.

Methods

Training methods should follow from the learning objectives, the content, the learners, and the work environment.

If employees must perform a skill, provide opportunities to see it demonstrated, practice it, receive feedback, and apply it in realistic circumstances. If the objective is primarily knowledge, reading, discussion, presentation, or another concise format may be sufficient.

Possible methods include:

• Facilitated discussion and peer learning
• Small-group problem solving and case analysis
• Video, digital presentations, interactive online learning, and other multimedia
• Individual problem solving or guided reflection
• Role plays, simulations, demonstrations, and scenario-based practice
• Written reflection, learning logs, or action planning
• Individual or group research
• Readings, job aids, reference guides, and searchable resources
• Presentations or lectures when they are an efficient way to convey the needed information
• Coaching, mentoring, observation, job shadowing, and supervised on-the-job practice

Avoid assigning people to fixed "visual," "auditory," "kinesthetic," "right-brain," "left-brain," or similar learning categories. People may have preferences, but the training method should be chosen because it fits the material and learning objective.

Using several complementary methods can still be useful. A policy training might combine a short explanation with a written reference and realistic case examples. A technical skill might combine demonstration, guided practice, feedback, and a job aid. The reason for using multiple formats is to strengthen understanding, accessibility, practice, and application -- not to match people to supposed fixed learning styles.

Provide opportunities for practice and feedback.

Feedback is especially valuable when employees are learning skills or applying judgment in complex situations.

Useful feedback should generally be:

• Specific rather than vague
• Focused on observable performance rather than personality
• Timely enough to inform the next attempt
• Respectful and proportionate to the learner's level of experience
• Actionable, with enough information for the employee to understand what to continue or change
• Connected with the learning objective or performance standard

Learners can also benefit from self-assessment and peer feedback when those methods are appropriate. Giving useful feedback can itself deepen understanding of a skill.

Video or audio recording can sometimes help employees analyze performance, but recording should be used only when appropriate and with clear procedures for consent, privacy, access, storage, and deletion.

Accessibility and learner engagement

Training should be designed so employees can participate meaningfully.

Consider:

• Accessible physical and virtual spaces
• Captions, transcripts, interpreters, alternative formats, or other accommodations when needed
• Clear language and understandable instructions
• Language access when employees need training in another language
• Technology access, bandwidth, equipment, and technical support
• Opportunities to ask questions and receive feedback
• Relevant examples reflecting the situations employees actually encounter
• Reasonable scheduling and breaks

Engagement does not require turning every training into a game. Use questions, exercises, discussion, scenarios, practice, or other interactive methods when they help employees process or apply the content.

Logistics

Good logistics remove unnecessary barriers so participants can focus on learning.

Location or platform. Training may occur at the workplace, another accessible facility, in the field, through a virtual platform, or through a blended format. Choose the setting according to the learning objective, privacy, safety, accessibility, technology, cost, and participant needs.

For in-person training, consider:

• Physical accessibility
• Seating and visibility
• Lighting and acoustics
• Temperature and ventilation
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Transportation and parking where relevant
• Restrooms and break space
• Food, water, and dietary needs when refreshments are provided

For virtual training, consider:

• Accessible platform features
• Captioning or interpretation
• Device and internet requirements
• Technical-support procedures
• Privacy and recording practices
• How employees will participate in practice, discussion, or assessment

Materials. Prepare materials early enough for accessibility review and participant use. Materials may include digital handouts, job aids, videos with captions, checklists, reference documents, simulations, case studies, presentation slides, equipment, or practice materials.

Keep materials current and easy to find after training. Employees are more likely to apply learning when they have access to concise reference tools at the moment they need them.

If training is open to partners or the public, communicate through channels used by the intended audience. Provide clear information about purpose, intended participants, accessibility, schedule, location or virtual access, registration, cost if any, and contact information.

Evaluation and follow-up

Training evaluation should be planned while the training itself is being designed rather than added only at the end.

Start by asking what you need to know. For example:

• Did employees gain the intended knowledge or skill?
• Can they demonstrate the competency?
• Are they applying what they learned on the job?
• What prevents them from applying it?
• Did the training contribute to the workplace result it was intended to improve?
• What should be changed before the training is offered again?

Possible evaluation methods include:

• Knowledge checks or assessments before and after training
• Demonstrations or observed practice
• Case exercises or simulations
• Participant feedback
• Follow-up surveys or interviews after employees have returned to work
• Supervisor observation
• Appropriate quality, safety, program, or performance measures
• Feedback from program participants, community members, or partners when they are in a position to observe the relevant change

Participant satisfaction can help you improve the learning experience, but satisfaction alone does not show whether learning occurred. Someone can enjoy a workshop without gaining the intended skill, or find difficult training uncomfortable while still learning a great deal.

Whenever practical, evaluate whether employees actually transfer the learning into their work after enough time has passed for them to use it.

Provide follow-up support.

Training is more likely to influence practice when employees have support after the formal learning activity. Follow-up might include:

• Supervisor coaching
• Peer consultation
• Refresher activities
• Job aids and reference tools
• Communities of practice
• Additional supervised practice
• Reminders or brief follow-up learning
• Opportunities to discuss problems encountered while applying the new skill

Also examine the workplace itself. An employee cannot apply a new procedure if supervisors discourage it, software does not support it, staffing is inadequate, policies conflict with it, or necessary equipment is unavailable. Evaluation should therefore consider both the employee's learning and the conditions that support or prevent its use.

Use evaluation findings to improve the training program. Update inaccurate or outdated material, change methods that are not working, address accessibility problems, revise learning objectives when necessary, and respond when organizational systems rather than employee knowledge are preventing effective performance.

In Summary

A good staff training program is an ongoing system for developing and maintaining the knowledge, skills, and judgment employees need to perform their work effectively. It may include initial job training, organization-specific learning, continuing staff development, and broader professional development.

Strong training begins with identifying an actual need and deciding whether training is the right response. It then establishes clear learning objectives, uses accurate and current content, chooses methods appropriate to the objective, provides accessible opportunities for learning and practice, and gives employees useful feedback and follow-up support.

Training should not be designed around fixed learning-style categories or assumptions about right-brain and left-brain learners. It should use methods that fit the content and provide employees with meaningful opportunities to understand, practice, apply, and revisit what they learn.

Evaluation should look beyond whether participants enjoyed the training. The central questions are whether they learned what they needed to learn, whether they can apply it in their work, whether the organization supports that application, and whether the training contributes to the results it was intended to improve.

Building a coherent training program requires time and resources, but it also creates an organization that is better able to learn from experience, respond to change, develop its staff, and continuously improve its work.