Skills, Challenges, and Trends in Instructional Design, a free white paper available from The Association for Talent Development (ATD), is a must-read for everyone in the training industry. It’s the result of surveys of 1,381 training professionals that was conducted by researchers from ATD, the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET), and Rothwell & Associates. We urge you to download a copy and review its findings about current training practices, challenges, and emerging trends.

Today, we’d like to focus on one aspect of the report’s findings . . .

Challenges that the survey’s respondents are facing in instructional design

According to the study, these are the top six obstacles that are impeding professional trainers’ ability to develop effective training. Perhaps you are facing them too?

1. Not enough time to develop training – 29% of respondents said they always face this issue; 53% said they often
2. Insufficient budget – 21% of respondents said they always face this problem; 37% said they often
3. Failure to evaluate past training when planning new training – 17% of respondents said they always face this problem; 49% said they often
4. Lack of recognition for the value added by instructional designers – 15% of respondents said they always face this problem; 36% said they often
5. Difficulty in obtaining approval from IT to use new technologies and methods – 14% of respondents said they always face this problem; 36% said they often
6. Security concerns from IT – 13% of respondents said they always face this problem; 23% said they often

What We Believe Underlies those Difficulties

When we stop to consider those problems, it becomes clear to us that they result from a few underlying issues that are common in many organizations.  When companies are in a hurry to use training to “fix” problems that have been recently uncovered, problems #1 and #3 arise. When company leaders see training as a cost and not a profit-builder, problems #2 and #4 happen. And failure to make IT an integral part of planning leads to problems #5 and #6.

What can you do if you or your organization is confronting those obstacles?  We recommend that you take a few minutes to read “Why Training Deserves a Seat at the Table in Your Company,” a post we published on this blog on October 28, 2015.

Here’s one suggestion from that post:

Talk about Dollars, Income and Profit – If you tell company leaders that customers will be 15% more satisfied because of your training program, they will probably miss its value. But if you show that the salespeople who took part in a training program three months ago each brought in $40,000 more than they did in the previous quarter, that is going to get attention. So the message is clear. Talk dollars and show exactly how training has affected the bottom line.

That is only one way to get company leaders to buy in and support your training development. If you would like to explore more solutions, we invite you to contact Tortal Training today.