Apply Strategic Foresight to Federal Training Development—in 3 Direct Steps

To be sure, training is in high demand for federal, state, and local government agencies. But is it the right type of training to educate—and engage—your employees? There are several ways to ensure that an investment in training is beneficial for your agency, but these steps can be largely ignored in the government realm.

Assessing Needs

First, an organization must identify its needs and how they fit into big picture future goals and objectives. Without identifying these needs, trainers can find it difficult to effectively teach the required skills that will help employees meet agency missions.

Second, L&D leaders need to assess the needs of the individual. It’s a mistake to assume that everyone at a training session is operating at the same level, so employees should be assessed on the front end.

Ensuring Accessibility

It is also important to ensure that training delivery or mode is easily accessible to everyone. An organization can assess its needs and set up a robust training program accordingly, but if that program is not delivered in an accessible manner, the agency is doomed to fail. What’s more, whether it is online, face-to-face, or a combination of components, the training should deliver on the unique needs of an organization—rather than taking a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

Measuring Success

Finally, it is necessary to measure a training solution’s success. Does it help the agency reach its desired goals? Did it help employees further their careers? A metrics-based system to report the success of a training program is critical in determining its value.

Case in Point

In a previous role I held as the director of diversity at Tyson Foods, I was able to engage in effective training in the private sector. We created a diversity training initiative that focused on finding talented, diverse candidates. After one year of employee management and engagement training, 18 of the 120 program members were promoted within the organization, 15 of whom were women or people of color. These employees were well-trained and prepared for their new roles because we didn’t skip any of these crucial training steps and treated the program as a comprehensive initiative.

So, have you put the training and talent development resources in place to support the changing needs of your agency? Using a strategic foresight methodology, you can identify several potential future scenarios and prepare for them. To learn how, join me for the session “Predictive Training: Hiring and Building a Resilient Workforce” at Government Workforce: Learning Innovations.