A Global Training Checklist

Guest Editor – Laura Last and Michael Ratican

There are many things to consider when developing and executing global training.

Congratulations! You have just been promoted to a new global learning and performance role in your organization. You’re excited to start traveling business class, exploring beautiful cities and eating amazing food with your colleagues around the world. You’re feeling very confident in your ability to train disease state and brand content. You’re an expert on the organization’s selling and coaching platforms and you’ve developed a new advanced sales skills course that you are excited to roll out. You are ready for this new challenge!

It’s week one and you’ve already had a request for training in a growing affiliate of your organization. You are eager to plan your first global course and are about to Skype the general manager to start planning. But before you make that call, there are just a few things to consider.

Global Learning Manager Checklist:

What is the learning objective of this course? What behavior are you trying to change? Who is your audience? How will you measure success with the affiliate over the next 12 months?
Have you established a planning committee with the appropriate cross functional partners? Are you working with an in-country partner to assist with on-site planning? What is your timeline?
Do you or your participants have travel restrictions? Does the course need to be taught face-to-face, or can you utilize virtual synchronous or asynchronous technology? How far is the training venue from the airport? Do you need a visa to enter the country? Does your passport meet the appropriate requirements? And will your shipped training material clear customs?
How will you manage language differences? Should you have simultaneous translation? If so, have you identified a supplier? Should written content (such as pre-work, slide decks, participant guides, posters, surveys) be translated? How will you manage getting content translated? Have you allowed enough time to have content translated before the training event?
How will you manage logistics? Are there cultural or religious practices that need to be honored within the schedule? Are certain times of the year restricted for vacations and holidays in different countries? How many participants are you expecting? How much content should you plan for workshop versus didactic time?
Is the curriculum you are teaching standardized across the affiliates? If not, what do you need to do to align the content? Does any of the content need to be customized to account for affiliate differences? Do you know the competence level of your audience in this affiliate?
Have you looked to governance for resources and content to decrease duplication of work? What content already exists in the affiliate? Is this a new course, or has something like this been taught before?
Do you understand the access and reimbursement differences in the affiliate? Have you spoken with an access and reimbursement specialist and/or a sales professional to understand the challenges?
What approvals will you need from legal and regulatory in the affiliate? Have you aligned with legal and regulatory teams prior to creating content? Do you understand the legal and regulatory guidelines for the affiliate?
How does the corporate organizational structure differ across affiliates? Have you looked at an organization chart for the affiliate? Do you understand the roles and responsibilities of the individuals that you will be working with and training?
What other cross-functional partners do you need to include in planning and execution? Have you included medical, legal, pricing and contracting, regulatory, sales, and marketing? Have you considered that staff in small affiliates tend to do more than one job?
Do you know how to work with this culture? Have you looked in to cultural navigators to help prepare your mindset for preparation and facilitation of your workshops?

As you can see, there are many things to consider when developing and executing global training. Many of the items are similar considerations for any training, but there are some unique – and sometimes unexpected – things that occur when training in a different country.

Use this checklist as a guide when planning your next initiative. Finally, the amazing food that you have with your colleagues will matter. As Anthony Bourdain said, “You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together.”

Good luck in your new role and enjoy the adventure.

Laura Last is executive director, global commercial operations learning and performance, for Amgen. Michael Ratican is director, intercontinental learning and performance, for Amgen. Email Laura at llast@amgen.com. Email Michael atmratican@amgen.com.