By P.S. Wright, M.S. Ed. IDOL
What’s the best way to teach newly hired employees about the systems, resources, and documents they’ll need to perform their daily tasks in a way that adds real value? One effective approach is to tie those tools and processes directly to the roles, responsibilities, and tasks new hires are expected to tackle. The key to making this connection lies in using competencies as the foundation for your instructional design. Let’s break this down step by step, starting with the basics.
By leveraging competencies, you create a clear, actionable path that bridges the gap between abstract systems and real-world responsibilities.
What Are Competencies?
A competency is the combination of skills, knowledge, qualifications, or abilities required to perform a task successfully. Think of it as a guidepost. In instructional design, competencies keep you focused, helping you unpack systems, resources, or processes in a way that’s meaningful to learners. They form the framework that everything else builds upon.
How to Develop Competencies
To create competencies, start by gathering insights about what new hires need to know and do to succeed in their roles.
Here’s a practical process:
- Start with the Job Description: Review the roles, responsibilities, or tasks assigned to new hires.
- Identify Knowledge Areas: List the information they need to understand to complete each task.
- Pinpoint Skills: Define the abilities they must demonstrate to perform those tasks.
- Map It Out: Organize competencies, knowledge, and skills into a clear structure.
Example: Let’s say a sales team member’s task is to "prepare for a client renewal meeting by examining the current contract for meaning." Here’s how that might look:
| Competency | Knowledge | Skill |
|---|---|---|
| Access contract information | What the contract repository system is. | How to access the contract repository site and locate needed information within the system. |
| Interpret the contract language for meaning | What contract terms mean. | How to look up unfamiliar contract information to prepare for contract renewal. |
Connecting Competencies to Systems, Resources, and Processes
Next, link these competencies to the specific tools and processes new hires will use. Identify the systems (e.g., software), resources (e.g., documents), and procedures (e.g., SOPs) tied to each knowledge area and skill, then add them to your framework.
Updated example:
| Competency | Knowledge | Skill |
|---|---|---|
| Access contract information | What the ContractEz system is. | Use SOP 023 to access the ContractEz system and locate needed contract information. |
| Interpret the contract language for meaning | What contract terms mean according to our Corporate Glossary Document. | Use the Corporate Glossary Document to look up unfamiliar terms. |
This chart becomes your roadmap for designing training that’s practical and relevant.
Building the Instructional Design
With your competency framework in hand, it’s time to design the training. The model you choose depends on the learning experience you want to create: a traditional, teacher-led approach or a learner-driven, collaborative one. Here are two options.
Option 1: Instructivist Design (Teacher-Centered)
One popular Instructivist design model is ADDIE, however, my personal favorite for a teacher-centered instructional design model is Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction because it can be adapted to different learning styles. In this model Gagne identifies nine events that are designed to work in sequential order but can be rearranged or even streamlined depending on the need of the learners.
Using our chart as the framework for the design and incorporating Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction you could develop an instructional design plan as follows:
- Gain Attention: Story of a case where a sale was lost due to lack of understanding of the contents of the contract.
- Inform on Objectives: Lecture - Learn to use ContractEz system and the Corporate Glossary.
- Recall Prior Knowledge: Ask what they already know about common contract terms.
- Present Content: Teach the “how-to” on to access ContractEz using SOP 023 and using the Glossary. Present the most common legal terms and their meanings.
- Guidance: Offer examples or demos. Provide resources and job aids.
- Elicit Performance: Let them practice. Examples include presenting scenarios for various types of contract search needs and having learners develop a glossary cheat sheet.
- Feedback: Review their practice by debriefing the activity. Ask learners to share the most common terms they selected and why they selected them.
- Assess Performance: Test their skills using a scenario-based quiz.
- Enhance Retention and Transfer: Reinforce learning by having learners write down one new concept they plan to apply when they have completed mentoring.
Option 2: Constructivist Design (Learner-Centered)
Constructivist design models are learner-centric. For a collaborative, self-directed experience, try the R2D2 Model (Read, Reflect, Display, Do). It encourages active engagement. For more information on this model check out my blog entry Why the R2D2 Model Should Be Your Go-To for Learner-Centered Design / Blog | DigiLearn Lounge.
Again, using our chart as the design framework we might incorporate the R2D2 Constructivist design as follows:
Read: SOP 023, review the Corporate Glossary Document, watch a video demonstration of the ContractEz system, read scenarios of successful and unsuccessful contract keyword searches.
Reflect: Share questions in a facilitated peer session.
Display: Build a glossary cheat sheet containing the most commonly searched terms and their definitions.
Do: Role-play a sales meeting prep with a sample contract.
Final Thoughts
Training new hires doesn’t have to be a daunting task. By leveraging competencies, you create a clear, actionable path that bridges the gap between abstract systems and real-world responsibilities. Whether you prefer the structured guidance of Gagné’s model or the collaborative energy of R2D2, the result is the same: confident, capable employees ready to contribute from day one. So, take a moment to map out your competencies, pick your design, and watch your onboarding process transform into a powerful tool for success.
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