Change Management

Train-the-Trainer: The Critical Investment Most ERP Projects Overlook

Your training approach determines user adoption. Here's how to do it right.

For any technology project, it's common for businesses to easily invest large amounts of money in work directly related to building the system, while leaving other areas with minimal funding. Those areas can include training, change management, project management, and even testing. This is a battle between the tangible and intangible. While data readily detail the importance of all these areas, executives still struggle to see the value.

This is especially damaging for ERP projects, which are among the most expensive investments businesses take on. Often, an ERP project isn't just an ERP project. It's a complete digital transformation with many systems involved. The higher the magnitude of change, complexity, and degree of disruption, the higher the risk of financial loss if the project fails. Yet these core areas are still underinvested in.

Probably the most common underinvested area is training. It can seem simple. Get your staff in a room and have the vendor demonstrate key workflows, right? Wrong. Your business has nuances and what-if scenarios that must be addressed, especially when the project brings completely new business processes covering multiple systems. You want training delivered in a way that makes sense to the business, relating the new system to processes and things they already know. This requires deliberate thought.

The Train-the-Trainer Approach

Bridge the gap between system and business knowledge

One of the best ways to tie the knot between business and system knowledge is the training approach known as train-the-trainer. In this approach, actual members of the business (usually project members) are trained on the system, then they execute the actual end user training. Since they've been on the project team and are experts on the business, they can more competently explain the relationships between new and old processes, why certain design decisions were made, and more. Additionally, if the right people are selected, they'll have more credibility than outside trainers, which matters when process changes occur. End users won't accept change as readily when someone who "doesn't know their business" tells them it's time to operate differently.

This doesn't make train-the-trainer a silver bullet that magically leads to successful training. You must ensure proper planning, adequate time, and successful execution of training the trainers. It's harder to sell these things than the approach itself. You may have your leaders nodding when you explain how train-the-trainer works, then shaking their heads once they hear everything that must happen to prepare for it. That said, regardless of your training approach, this challenge will likely occur.

Below are four key areas to focus on in preparation for a successful training program:

Adequate Time Planned Upfront

Train-the-trainer requires two formal waves of training

One for the trainers, another for the end users. This adds to the timeline and you must avoid both activities becoming too short. As one of the most critical activities for user adoption, great care and time must be allocated to training. Cutting either the training of trainers or end users short will lead to a lower quality program and decreased adoption.

Holistic Focus

Training is about more than the system

System integrators are generally focused on one thing when it comes to training: the system itself. However, this is a digital transformation that will result in all kinds of new processes. It takes partnership with your integrator or whoever is managing training to ensure the training actually gives end users everything they need to do their job in the transformed state.

Up-Front Planning

Execution depends on preparation

Planning for logistics and materials must begin way upfront. For both training instances, you must have a clear idea of who is needed in which sessions, who needs to travel, and how the sessions will be run. Training materials must be created, as well as presentation materials. Given that training can be forgotten in the heat of build and test activities, you as the project manager must stay on top of this stream actively.

Train-Backs

A dry run that matters

I consider this hugely valuable and I have seen the difference in trainer competency between when it is used and when it is not. Based on everything discussed, it should not surprise you that it is often not used. If training emphasis is a tough sell, and train-the-trainer a tougher sell, then train-the-trainer with train-backs is even tougher. It adds a third event to the schedule. But it is absolutely worth the battle. Train-backs are essentially a dry run where identified trainers get an opportunity to practice teaching at least a few sections back to the initial group that trained them. This increases the confidence and competence of the trainers before they set out to train the end users.

Your Success Depends on Expertise

Following these principles will help set a baseline for a successful training program. But reading this will obviously not be enough. Regardless of whether it's your implementation vendor, an in-house training expert, or a separate specialist, having your training led by a seasoned professional will be critical for success. If you go with your implementation vendor, dig into how they plan to approach training. They generally specialize in implementing software, but training is a whole other beast. Not all firms are skilled in both.

Do note that there are hybrid options in how you execute training, where some is done with the train-the-trainer approach while other areas are trained directly by the training provider. There are also additional training methods you can use to supplement primary training, such as quick tips, short videos, and more. These can be quite helpful to reinforce learnings and even extend them beyond the formal training period.