Follow this commissioning training checklist:
1. Don’t take any risks …ask the company if you can see them in action somewhere or ask them to deliver a taster session. Most reasonable companies will do this for you as they understand the risk that you are taking.
2. If you can’t get to see the training company in action, get as many references as you can from previous clients.
3. Discuss how you will measure the outcomes with the training company beforehand.
4. Ask the training company about their training methods. How do they reach out to all learning styles and different levels of aptitude and commitment from the delegates?
5. Spend as much time as you can giving the training company details of why the training is needed, the main issues that it is addressing and what outcomes you want.
6. You might want to think about the answer to the following question:
As a result of the training, what is it that we want the delegates to: know, do, and feel, as a result of these sessions?
7. If you are using drama-based training see if you can come up with the typical scenarios yourself from feedback from your colleagues, this will go a long way towards helping the trainers design ‘real’ sketches that delegates will connect with.