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Curriculum Development Best Practices

by Sat Duggal

Custom Marketing Framework

Curriculum Development ImageWith year-end approaching, you’ve put together the pieces of your marketing plan and are thinking about how to grow your capabilities in 2014. Have you considered improving your curriculum to better train your marketers? Have no fear - we’ve pulled together some best practices for you.

Framework first, training content next – We have seen many businesses dive into curriculum and associated content development before reaching agreement on the underlying and integrated framework. This usually leads to courses that are poorly connected to each other. Therefore, they don't present a seamless, integrated flow to participants with concepts that build on each other.

Include senior management – Often times, the training is targeted at junior users with senior practitioners exempt because of professed expertise and lack of time. This often creates issues where the concepts learned are difficult to apply because the senior practitioners are not aligned. Additionally, users tend to take courses more seriously when their senior managers are involved. (This does not mean that senior managers have to go through the same training as recent practitioners.)

Incorporate learning transfer – The biggest challenge in most training initiatives is getting participants to take the learning and apply it in their jobs. This does not happen accidentally. It requires careful design, follow-up, and accountability. The curriculum must account for this.

Think teams over individuals – Most marketing work is highly collaborative and done in teams. It is better to bring entire teams into the training rather than do it with an ad-hoc collection of individuals. During the training, teams can talk about how they can apply the concepts together and how they can resolve challenges. When considering a curriculum, consider how teams versus individuals learn.

Leverage blended learning for dispersed teams – It is hard and expensive to get everyone from a dispersed team into one location all the time. Judicious use of blended learning can stretch training dollars substantially and is also more efficient with people’s time. Blended learning has participants create an actual work product.

Create accountability for learning and application – Adult learning principles advocate placing the responsibility for learning on the participants and not the trainer. The curriculum design has to reflect this principle and ensure that participants understand and take accountability for learning as well as applying the concepts.

Ensure fit with current paradigm – Most effective training programs are customized to reflect the unique business, structure, enterprise processes and other key elements of the organization for which they are being designed. While standard programs can be a good start, they are often not enough to ensure application and adoption in the long term. Also, customized content ensures that examples and case studies of successful implementation are showcased through the training. Make sure the curriculum reflects the business cycle and culture.

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Keywords: Custom Marketing Framework