How to assess training providers

There something about September that gets us thinking about learning. No doubt it hardwired into us from our school days. For many organisations too, September marks the end of the annual leave scheduling challenges and the beginning of a new ‘term. We can continue with our development plans for staff and start thinking about what we will need in next year budget. Having recently joined SouthWestern in Clonakilty, West Cork, I needed to get a clear picture of who in the area offers what in terms of courses, and for what value. There is also a required focus on transfer of learning and productivity we want to make sure that any training intervention, no matter how short, will improve the participants performance.

Rather than take the risk of learning from a potential bad experience, I decided to document some questions and circulate them with a closing date for answers to the local training providers and those who the company have used in the past. The answers to these questions could be inputted on an Excel spreadsheet so that comparisons can be easily made between the various respondents. Once the learning needs analysis is complete, we have some useful information available with which to meet identified needs.

Even if you know the market in your industry with regard to meeting your learning needs, it can be a useful exercise to refresh the memory and see where savings can be made. 

The type of questions to ask could include:

Section One: Company Details
1. What is the registered name of your company?
2. How long is the company in operation?
3. Is the company owned by a parent company?
4. Please list 5 companies with whom you have worked in the last 2 years who are willing to provide you with a reference.

Section Two: Details of Instructors
5. Please give the names of your employed instructors (excluding contractors).
6. Please give the names of your contractors.
7. Please outline the experience and qualifications of each of your instructors (employees and contractors).
8. How are your instrutors evaluated by you as opposed to your client?

Section Three: Methodologies used – give examples where possible
9. Please detail, how you have delivered customised solutions to your clients.
10. Please show how your instructors ensure the transfer of learning to the workplace.
11. Does your company have a measure for increased productivity of learners?
12. How do you measure transfer of learning?
13. What methods do you use to deliver training?

Section Four: The Content
14. Who writes your course content?
15. How often is it updated with new material?
16. How do you keep your methodologies current and relevant to the current workplace?
17. How do you ensure that the methodology used for delivery is exactly relevant to the individual client needs?
18. Are your courses accredited by a third party?

Section Five: X company  Requirements
19. Does your company have any experience with delivering to this industry? If so please give examples.
20. How will your company prepare for any training delivered at x company given that we cannot allow material to be brought in and loaded onto our computers due to our committment to data protection?
21. Will your company be willing to work with sample data from X company as opposed to your own sample data?
22. Do your instructors have their own laptops, overhead projectors, markers and flipcharts?

Section Six: Courses and Charges
23. Please give details of your charges for one day delivery at X company premises?
24. Please give details of your charges for one day delivery at your premises?
25. Please list in a table all the courses your company deliver with their associated total costs: please note costs must be all-inclusive (mileage, hotel etc may not be charged for later).

Section Seven: Any other relevant information
24. Please include any other relevant information about how your company can design, deliver and evaluate learning for SouthWestern? Please include no more that 300 words.

Monica Murphy