Making sure your learning objectives hit the mark is more of an art than a science. Owen Smith says it's all a matter of semantics.
It’s no great secret that when it comes to writing any training or learning intervention, starting with the ‘end in mind’, i.e. the objectives, is best. But how can we ensure these objectives really demonstrate that an individual ‘gets it’ and that add value to the business, creating a step-change in behaviour or performance?
Choosing the right words
The simple SMART acronym has been around a long time and is well known, and is still a great basis to start your objective-writing, but what I will now explore further are the verbs you use when writing objectives.
Let me illustrate this with an example:
By the end of this article, the reader will:
- understand how to write effective learning objectives
- know some of the best verbs to use in learning objectives
This does indeed describe what I hope you will come away with after reading this article. However, the key verbs – ‘understand’ and ‘know’ – are too passive. How would I measure and validate that you, the reader, truly understand and know how to write more effective learning objectives?
The answer is simply to use more active verbs that invite ‘action’ on behalf of both the trainer/facilitator and the learner. Now consider the same objectives re-written following the ‘action verb’ rule:
By the end of this article, the reader will be able to:
- demonstrate writing effective learning objectives
- describe some of the best verbs to use in writing learning objectives
"The key point is to remain realistic with what the actual learning intervention will achieve: Only 10% of learning happens in the classroom so make sure that that part is really robust and achieves its remit."Admittedly it’s a fairly subtle change, but the introduction of the words ‘demonstrate’ and ‘describe’ immediately make these objectives more effective and measurable. As the ‘trainer’, it is now my responsibility to validate that you, the ‘learner’, have really got it. If this were a workshop or one-to-one coaching session, I could then ask you to complete any number of exercises that immediately show to me whether you do indeed know and understand the best way of writing learning objectives.
As a general rule, learning objectives can be broken down in to the 5 main categories shown below. This list is by no means exhaustive, but gives a flavour of what learning objective action verbs look like.
PLAN | ACT | CONTROL | |
Analyse Budget Calculate Develop Decide Forecast Investigate Plan Prepare Schedule Translate | Achieve Build Conduct Create Demonstrate Draft Establish Interpret Maintain Produce Specify Test Utilise | Advise Appraise Authorise Decide Determine Evaluate Facilitate Mediate Regulate Select Supervise | |
MOTIVATE | COMMUNICATE | ||
Assist Coach Co-operate Counsel Delegate Encourage Support Train | Advise Consult Define Describe Explain Inform List Recommend Translate Write | ||
Strategic or tactical?
The next question you need to ask yourself is what is the remit of the learning intervention you are designing, and what can be achieved by the end of the actual session? It is well worth-while reading up on the Kirkpatrick model at this point.
Let’s say you are working on a three year L&D plan within the organisation. You’ll almost certainly be relating this directly to your business strategy, so you will be able to link your objectives to business KPIs, being clear about how you can measure the ROI/ROE. You’ll be able to include objectives such as;
- achieve a 7% increase in LFL Sales through the implementation of improved selling skills for all staff
- reduce staff absence by 15% by improving adherence and delivery of the company absence policy
This works well on a strategic level, and is easily measurable, but what about the specific learning interventions that support these objectives? If you had the second example above as an objective of an Absence Workshop, you would be setting yourself up for immediate failure, as at the end of a one-day workshop on absence the candidates could not have had any impact on the absence rate of the organisation at that point. The immediate learning objective here should be to validate the knowledge of the individual attending the workshop, for example:
Candidates will be able to:
- explain the key steps in the company absence process
- calculate an individual’s absence %
- demonstrate the skills required to run effective absence reviews (through role-play)
This supports the strategic objective described earlier by giving the individuals the knowledge and skills to adhere to and deliver the organisation’s absence policy.
The key point here is to remain realistic with what the actual learning intervention will achieve. As described by the Kirkpatricks, only 10% of learning happens in the classroom – so let’s make sure that that part is really robust and achieves its remit. The great L&D practitioner will then follow up on how to support the remaining 90% ‘on the job’, but that’s a different subject.
Invitation to Action
It’s time for me to practice what I preach – returning to my objectives for this article, making those action verbs come to life…
- demonstrate writing effective learning objectives
- describe some of the best verbs to use in writing learning objectives
Firstly, have a look at the learning objectives of any piece you are currently writing or perhaps have recently written. Do the objectives contain action verbs? Have a go at re-writing them, and then consider how this may have changed the way that you validate the effectiveness of the learning, both during and at the end of the piece concerned.
Secondly, go and share what you know about effective learning objectives with someone else. Describe the benefits of using action verbs over passive ones, and give them some real-life examples to illustrate your point.
Finally, it would be great to share how you get on with using action verbs, so please do come back and post your stories and experiences by adding your comments to this article.
Owen Smith is Learning & Development Partner at Bhs. He is one of TrainingZone’s bloggers, and you can follow his musings at https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/blogs/owensmiff/owens-observations.
