How do you find your perfect Training Partner

How do you find your perfect Training Partner?

by Ken Kavanagh, Founder & CEO of Orion Learning

Ask training organizations these seven questions and you could find the training that fits your expectations and needs.

Finding the right training organization to help you achieve your learning and development goals is not easy. It’s more than just hiring someone who says they have the materials that meet your needs, you need to find out about them and their material. Here’s some questions that you should ask to make sure you’re hiring the right training organization and getting the right content for your training goals:

  1. Are you accredited? Would you sign up for an online degree course with a college you knew nothing about? Nor would I! By going to an Accredited Training Organization (ATO) you’ll go to a recognized organization, on a recognized course and get a recognized qualification. The accreditation process assesses the competence and reliability of training organizations and the knowledge and skills of the trainer.
  2. What’s your track record? When you’re investing good money in training, some timely research can help ensure it’s money well spent. Find out how long an ATO has been in business. Ask for pass rates, evidence of success, testimonials and for a client portfolio; that way you’ll be sure that it has the depth and breadth of experience to understand your business.
  3. What kind of expertise do your trainers have? Just as you’d do background checks on potential employees, so you should verify the quality of an ATO’s trainers. Check who trained them, check they haven’t just passed a training course themselves (yes, it happens!), check they’ve got real-world experience and make sure support tutors can answer questions (inexperienced trainers hate them!).
  4. What kind of learning experience can you offer? Let’s face it, training can be like going through a sausage machine. So pick ATOs offering learner-centred courses designed to help you retain training and deliver change in the workplace. Look for quality materials, newsletters, downloads, video tutors, full tutor support, exam simulations so you can assess progress, mobile games, forums, blogs, social networking through sites like Twitter and Facebook as well as the chance to try the course before you buy it. People live and work in a rich, multi-media technological world and ATOs should be able to reflect that in your learning experience.
  5. How flexible is your learning delivery? Geography, time and budget can limit an individual’s or a company’s ability to go or send people on classroom courses so it’s worth hunting around for the ATO that gets this and provides a choice of delivery methods to suit you. Classroom learning should be supplemented by blended, mobile, live virtual classroom, digital learning and social learning to optimise costs, time, and of course, learning. If you’re new to digital learning, there are some simple steps you can take to make sure that your training project goes to plan.
  6. How much is it going to cost and what do I get for my money? It’s the old story: you’re on a great course and then they hit you for things you thought were included in the price. A committed ATO will go that extra mile. Our service holds your hand through creating the right set of courses for digital learning so that you capitalize on the experience and maximize your Return on Investment. They’ll take care of everything from designing your programme, and tracking and reporting learner progress, to organizing exams.
  7. What development opportunities can you offer? People and organizations want opportunities to grow. They want to develop their skills, careers or the business. A good look at an ATO will tell you if it’s a one-trick pony or if it will stay the course and grow with you. Ask yourself if its programmes complement each other and if it develops new courses and services and ways to deliver and support them.

==============================================================

Orion Learning, a global leader in providing accredited internationally recognized learning solutions. Our learning solutions include a robust learning management system (LMS), thousands of hours of learning content covering 16 learning categories including certification courses and examinations such as Project Management, Change Management, Financial Management, Risk Management and Service Management.

Get Certified, Get Trained and Get Started with Orion. More information on Orion solutions can be found at www.orionelearning.com

 

Share