5 Tips On How To Know What Content Your Learners Really Need

To create a strong learning content strategy, a key area is to “really” know what content your learners actually need. Not just what the business thinks they need.

There are various processes for more of a sheep-dip type of strategy, such as a reliance on a competency matrix that is mapped to job roles, where every person with that job role gets the same content.

However, to really know what content is needed, you need to hear it from the horse’s mouth. You need to be in communication with your learners to understand what their challenges are or what processes are causing a lack of productivity.

Here are 5 tips on how to find out what content is needed:

Use surveys and polls to gather feedback from the learner population

This is a surefire way to get information straight from your learners. Make surveys and polls accessible to all employees via something like Survey Monkey. Ask direct questions like “What is your biggest challenge in your job role where training would be beneficial” and “Are there any areas of your role which could be improved by a change of process”.

Conduct one to one interviews

Choose a random selection of learners (perhaps target the more active employees within your Learning Management System) and have a one to one interview with them. This could be done as a formal set of questions, much like the surveys, or an informal discussion about where they see the training content is lacking.

Create a training request email address and Inbox

Allow users to be able to send a training request email to you at any time, where they can make suggestions for training content that is currently not available but that would be advantageous to their role and productivity. Add the email address to your LMS support page and your Intranet.

Hold regular drop in sessions

Perhaps once a quarter, set up a drop in session in a meeting or conference room where employees can come to discuss their training needs. This is a less formal option to the interviews tip but will let people voluntarily come and make suggestions on what additional content would be beneficial.

Get a speaker spot in department/team meetings

Speak to each department head about getting a speaker spot at their next team meeting. When at the team meeting, open by stating you would like to have a group discussion about training needs and collectively come up with suggestions for updated or new content that would be relevant and assist the team do their jobs better.

All of the above tips are simple ways to find out what content is really needed within your organisation. So don’t just rely on what the competencies are telling you…get into the detail with the people who are learning and find out what they “really” need.