Building training materials versus buying.
Why All Businesses should be increasing their training offer via Customisable ‘Off-the-Shelf’ Professional Development Training.

 

Studies show that professional development employees can increase workplace productivity by more than 8%, exceeding the wage gains of upskilled staff. But more than that, employees often report that they value the opportunity to use their skills and abilities at work more highly than pay. This point is particularly important in times of low wage growth.
In other words, training has benefits for your employees as well as your business. It builds staff confidence and motivation. It also provides employees with opportunities for advancement and a reason to stay with your company.

Low wage growth tends to go hand in hand with smaller budgets. So how can you increase professional development opportunities with a more modest budget?

Consider purchasing customisable training materials, also referred to ‘off the shelf’ learning programs or materials.

So, what’s the difference between off the shelf, customised training and customisable training?

Off-the-shelf Learning modules are courses that have been pre-designed and are available for purchase to the masses on a subject.

Customized training is training: that is designed to meet the unique requirements of a business based on identified learning outcomes and tailored scenarios. Training delivery can be instructor lead, virtual, elearning, or blended.
Training may be designed and deployed by internal learning teams, or an external business or consultant may have been engaged to design, or design and deliver.

Customisable training materials Are a blend of learning and development resources that have been created for purchase and deployment in the workplace. Quality customisable training materials enable workplaces to tailor scenarios, examples, policy and procedure, including brand look and feel.

Customising ‘off the shelf’ learning materials provide the perfect opportunity to save time and money.

How long does it take to create training materials?

Creating quality training materials from scratch takes longer than you think.It also assumes that you have instructional design skills and a resource that can be dedicated to course creation.

According to the Chapman Alliance, http://www.chapmanalliance.com/howlong/
22:1 - ILT training, Simple learning content, possible repurposing of learning source material, with minimal learning support materials
*43:1 - ILT training, average project for creating corporate ILT class with well documented deliverables (Lesson Plan, Handouts, Workbooks, PowerPoint Visuals)
82:1 - ILT training, Complex subject matter, very custom, extended time spent on formatting classroom deliverables

The cost of design, research and development indicate that quality, detailed training materials averages circa $5,934.00 per hour.

The biggest problem with off-the-shelf course content is that it’s not linked to the organisation’s business outcomes or context. This however can be overcome when you purchase customisable training references and materials.

 Save Money

Chances are, you have been asked to reduce your budget while increasing value and development opportunities. Keeping your spending costs down is always near the top of the priority list, especially for small and medium or large organisations.
This is where off-the-shelf training programs come in – you can provide informative and engaging training content for your employees at less than half the price of customised training programs.

By purchasing customisable training materials that have already been created, means that you don’t have to worry about hiring consultants, designers or experts to create a course. Off-the-shelf training courses help businesses to stretch their budget further and get value for their money.

Since employee development is ongoing and organisations should be encouraged to continue providing new sources of learning, off-the-shelf training courses provide ready-made options to add to your training catalogue, even when you’re on a tight budget.

How can I maximise the benefit of ‘off the shelf’ training materials?

The answer is customisation. No one knows your business better than you.
Quality off the shelf training materials enable you to download, print and train immediately using detailed facilitator guides, adult learning principles and relevant learning models.

However, time is well spent when you take the content, one step further and adapt elements to reflect your workplace and organisational goals.

*Change language and terminology, so it reflects your business
 *Change generic case studies to ones that reflect specific examples from your workplace.
* Edit workbooks, quizzes and slide decks to using your organisations brand colours and guide lines.
* Swap out images to ones that represent your workplace.
 *Link to policy and procedures
 *Link learning outcomes to business goals and strategy.

Quality, off the shelf training materials such as those from Facilitated Training, will highlight these opportunities.

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Let’s review the main benefits of off-the-shelf training and why all businesses should use it for professional employee development.

Training that is ready  to schedule and train.

When you want to start new employee development courses in your company, you don’t want to wait another few weeks to begin training.
When you choose independent consultants to  customised training, you’ve got to select the courses, create the content, contribute to the design process and wait the course to be tested and verified. This all takes time that businesses don’t have to waste.

But, with off-the-shelf courses, you can have training right when you need it. The content is available immediately after purchase – all you do is download and print. Accessing quality training content has never been easier or faster!
With Facilitated Training’s customisable Off-the-shelf training courses means that you have detailed facilitator guides, workbooks, slide decks and or videos, materials and exercises right at your fingertips.

You can pick and choose the modules that you want to incorporate into employee training programs or catalogue and add more modules at a time that suits. Best of all, training materials can be used again and again.

Purchasing customisable training materials enables access to tried and tested quality content for your business, with a range of different topics and course areas to choose from.

You can access this content almost instantly after downloading.

No delays, messing about or waiting around.
And who can forget, you can also save money in the process.

Does it get much better than Customisable off-the-shelf training?

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Author: Colleen Condon. Chief Learning Officer at Facilitated Training.

With over 25 years of experience in adult learning, Colleen is a solution driven thinker who generates and executes ideas at strategic and tactical levels. A creative visionary with a passion for learning, she has worked across Asia Pacific in diverse industries such as retail, fmcg, telecommunications, hospitality, insurance and banking. As Chief Learning Officer, Colleen is responsible for the overall solution design and development behind Facilitated Training’s customisable courseware. With an eye on ensuring content and solutions are engaging and adult learning and business relevant, ensures a quality outcome for learner and business’ alike.

About Facilitated Training.

Facilitated Training has the solution that you need. Editable training materials that can be used again and again. Insert your company logo, add in case studies or examples form your workplace, or train using the quality training materials, as is.

Facilitated Training is your one-stop shop for world class, customisable training and professional development resources.
Facilitated Training offers training and organisational development resources to facilitators, trainers, coaches, HR managers and individuals.

Specialising in customizable leadership and management skills, Facilitated Training features a wide variety of products, including Training resources, Professional development courses, assessments, ebooks, videos and more.
www.facilitatedtraining.com