ELearning provides a cost-effective and versatile way to onboard and train channel partners, wherever they are based, at a time that fits their schedule. However, one of the key challenges of eLearning is to make the content engaging and effective.
There are many different types of channel partners and different staff within those channel partner organisations. Providing the same training to all of them simply won’t cut it. Each of these learners should receive relevant training, for them and their role, to ensure high engagement with the material and completion of the required courses. This is where learner pathways come in.
What Are Learner Pathways?
A learner pathway is a designated, structured route through a training program, guiding a learner from the initial recognition of the need for training to the completion of the program and the practical application of acquired knowledge in real-world scenarios.
These pathways are learner-first, which is why it is important to define your audience and understand their goals and skill gaps before the training route is designed. All aspects of the program are then developed around the learner to deliver the most effective training possible, from the course content to the delivery method.
Learning pathways consist of linked courses and modules that the learner moves through based on their needs. Organisations can define the learner pathways based on objectives, certification requirements and partner’s contractual agreements. This allows a level of control for the organisation and the learner while encouraging opportunities to reinforce the knowledge found in previous modules by connecting it to the new module.
At the end of a learning pathway, the learner may receive a form of certification, allowing organisations to build competencies, plug specific skill gaps and ensure learners get the required certifications.
Understanding your Audience
Not only do channel businesses deal with multiple types of partners such as retailers, distributors, installers, designers, and franchisees, but each of those partners will have employees in various roles, all of whom will benefit from training.
How Do Needs Vary Across Different Partners?
Depending on their role, learners might need to understand the key selling points of your product and its benefits over its competitors, how to install the product, the lifecycle of the product, or how to maintain it, in a support sense.
However, a salesperson will not need all the same information as a marketer. There will be areas that overlap, such as a business’s branding, core values, and maybe even product features, but an eLearning course on upselling, for example, would be irrelevant for someone who works in marketing.
Even learners in the same category may not benefit from the same training. Different levels of training come into play here, depending on the partner’s level of experience and involvement with your business. Training may need to be split into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, so you don’t risk overwhelming a new partner or wasting resources teaching an experienced partner information they already know.
Training needs can also differ based on your partner’s market, size, standards, and level of experience with your products or services. For example, it would normally be expected that larger partners may resell a larger pool of products, therefore more training would be required.
While providing personalised training for individual learners would be ideal, in most cases, it is simply not achievable. However, you can create learner personas based on audience research and then provide valuable training for each. Different partners and roles will have their own learning goals, but there will be multiple learners in your network who fit into these personas.
Aligning Partner Needs with Organisational Goals
It is also important that once you have identified the training needs of your partners, you align these with your organisation’s goals. There are a several strategies you can employ to map your channel partner’s training goals to the broader objectives of your organisation.
For example, if one of your organisational objectives is to achieve market-leader status,keeping channel partners certified and recertified will ensure product standards are upheld globally.
Highly trained partners allow organisations to offer longer warranties to the end user. This could link to an organisation’s objectives of competitive differentiation, improving brand confidence, or reducing the number of returns.
Producing higher revenue is often a key objective for organisations, and by training channel partners effectively, you will be enabling them to expand product sales.
Partners that sign up for training are often tied in for a specified amount of time, offering the organisation confidence that they buy into their products. This could link back to organisational objectives of building long-lasting relationships or reducing churn.
It’s also important to remember that while your training will be designed to align channel partner activities with your organisational goals, the same training will help those partners reach their own goals, such as meeting sales targets.
Training is mutually beneficial for all parties, so it is crucial to ensure effective training delivery that engages users through using learner pathways.
Benefits of Learner Pathways
Resources are not wasted
In many training programs, learners are presented with a set of standardised courses that cover all bases, making it difficult for them to identify what they need to know for their role. Instead, learner pathways set clear objectives for learning and connect the right learners with the right resources.
Resources placed in a resource centre might be ignored or overlooked, but relevant courses being signposted within a learner pathway are more likely to be engaged with. Their value, in terms of specific role development or training objectives, is more apparent.
Milestones chart progress for both trainer and trainee
Milestones and checkpoints can be used to assess progress towards the primary training objective. These checkpoints allow the learner to create connections between what they have already learned and determine the best step to take next. Clearly defined milestones and learning objectives also make it easier for organisations to step in and provide extra support when necessary.
Cater to different experience levels
Learner pathways can also be used to address different ability or experience levels. Some lessons that might benefit beginners but not experienced partners can be skipped by completing a simple assessment. They can then be directed to more appropriate content. However, providing additional optional resources along the pathway might be equally relevant for new partners and experienced ones looking for a refresher.
Save admin time
By using learner pathways, you can also save valuable admin time, because you don’t need to manually enrol learners on each individual course – they can be provided with an LMS login and the pathway will guide them/they can guide themselves.
Control the rate of learning
Learning paths also give you the ability to control the rate of learning. You can set a timetable for when you want each course to become available and prevent the learner from trying to complete all the courses in one go, reducing the chance of properly processing the information.
Creating Learner Pathways
Learning pathways can vary greatly due to their personalised nature, but flexibility and clear training objectives are key for creating effective and engaging training programs. Learner pathways should have a clear trajectory and milestones. They should also identify what the overall learning objective is as well as how it will be assessed.
Learning paths need to contain personalised content that supports the individual development journey, so start with your learner personas. Are you designing training for a retailer or an installer for example? What size of organisation do they work for? How experienced will they be at the start of the training program? This information will help you to design the learner pathways for each persona.
Once you know who you are designing training for, you need to map out the learning journey. As well as the core learning objectives, your learner pathways should branch out into related topics that give an opportunity to broaden knowledge and create a complete picture of a topic to help recognise connections and dependencies.
Learning paths can also be sequenced or defined by learner choice. Sequenced learning paths present courses in a particular order. As the learner completes one course, they are given access to the next. All courses need to be completed to complete the path.
These paths are good for courses that increase in complexity, as they ensure foundational knowledge is obtained (and proven through an assessment) before moving on to harder topics. They also prevent the learner from being overwhelmed by optional information.
Learner choice paths give more flexibility. You may decide that a learner needs to complete 3 out of 5 available courses to move on to the next stage or complete the training, or you may decide that all courses need to be completed, but the learner can decide in which order they complete them.
Steps for Implementing a Learning Pathway
Identify learning goals
What do you want to accomplish? Upskilling? Product knowledge? You can identify skill gaps by conducting a skills analysis and collecting feedback. Identify what skills are valuable and how they can be taught in your training program.
Decide on a learning model
Consider what type of training fits best around your learner persona’s schedule. For example, digestible training such as gamification and microlearning can help deliver training to those who need to fit learning around busy schedules. Decide also whether a sequenced learner path is necessary, or whether learners will respond better to choosing their own path.
Set milestones
Set milestones that need to be reached on the way to the overall learning goal. These are useful for understanding how much progress has been made, how far is left to go and what is expected of the learner. Milestone completion can also increase motivation and it allows trainers to track progress.
Decide how learning will be assessed at each stage
It is a good idea to provide regular assessments throughout the path, rather than a single exam at the end of the training program. Quizzes, games and multiple-choice questions can be a good way to ensure information has been absorbed before the learner moves on to the next module.
Related Resource: How Assessments Can Enhance Your Channel Partner Training Program
Incorporate feedback loops
Feedback is a crucial part of assessment, and should be constructive, providing the learner with actionable steps on how to improve, as well as what they did well. This should also be a two-way conversation so that the learner can provide an honest assessment of the training program, and how it can be improved.
The use of learner pathways creates more engaged learners, because the training they receive is relevant to them and their role, is set at the correct difficulty level, and the delivery suits their learning style. Couple this with the flexibility to take training at a time that suits their schedule, and your channel partners will develop a well-rounded skillset that makes them an invaluable asset to your business.
Here at Wahoo Learning, our experienced team has the capability to work with you to create learner pathway-oriented training programs that ensure you get the most out of your investment. What’s more? We implement it all for you. To learn more about our managed learning services, please get in touch.
