Training Management

Training management begins with your organization's strategic plan, your office's work plan for the year, and your workforce or succession plan. Begin by answering the following questions:

1. What work needs to be accomplished?
2. Can training help avoid or overcome specific deficiencies or roadblocks to success?
3. Will major work changes be implemented that will require a number of employees to acquire new skills?
4. Will training (classroom, on-line, coaching or mentoring, or by performing a special work assignment) build on strengths to improve performance?
5. Do employees need active coaching and more interaction in carrying out assignments?
6. Would a career development program benefit and support retention of employees?
7. Do employees need to develop additional budgeting, contract management, project management, or other business management competencies?
8. Do employees have promotion potential? Would they benefit from training and development to enhance their overall competence level?
9. Are employees leaving? What informal and formal training and coaching will their replacements need?
10. Is additional employee reserve strength needed to support your organization's unique position or issues?

Team leaders, supervisors, and managers also can add questions of their own. The organizational and workforce questions are a framework you can use to evaluate employees' Individual Development Plans (IDPs) and to structure three specific outputs for each:

1. A skills or competency need assessment.
2. An approved individual development plan.
3. An overall training plan for each work group, office, and/or program.

IDP instructions provide a starting point for the skills assessment discussion you'll need to have before finalizing your IDP. Supervisors and managers can suggest or require training that will support work objectives or improve a specific element of an employee's performance. IDP instructions can be found at Getting Started with Your Individual Learning Plan.

Once finalized, IDPs need to be combined into a training plan that balances training needs and opportunities with work demands. For example, a Headquarters budget office is very busy from November 1 through January 30, so scheduling a two-week training session for an employee during that period may not be appropriate. You can complete a basic training plan with the following guide: Training Plans.

Page last updated: 01/15/2010