Learning and Development Fundamentals for HR Professionals Training Course

Course overview

HR professionals are frequently asked to respond to performance issues, compliance changes, leadership requests, and workforce capability gaps with training. The challenge is separating a genuine learning need from a process, management, resourcing, or policy problem—and then designing an intervention that can be justified with evidence. Without a disciplined approach, organisations invest in courses that attract attendance but do not change behaviour, improve performance, or demonstrate business value.

This five-day course equips HR and L&D practitioners to manage the full learning cycle: consulting with stakeholders, conducting training needs analysis, defining measurable learning outcomes, selecting delivery methods, designing learning journeys, sourcing or briefing providers, and evaluating results. Participants work with practical methods including competency gap analysis, performance consulting questions, ADDIE, Bloom's Taxonomy, Kirkpatrick evaluation levels, learning metrics, and ROI assumptions. They also learn how to build a business case, manage learning budgets, and produce governance-ready reporting.

The course is delivered through instructor-led teaching, facilitated case work, design workshops, peer review, and hands-on use of planning templates. Participants apply each method to a realistic organisational challenge or a live requirement from their own workplace. By the end of the week, each participant leaves with a structured L&D project pack containing a needs-analysis brief, learning objectives, solution design, evaluation plan, stakeholder map, and implementation roadmap that can be adapted for immediate use.

It is designed for HR professionals moving into L&D responsibility, L&D coordinators formalising their practice, and HR business partners who need to advise managers on capability development with greater confidence and rigour.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Conduct a performance-focused training needs analysis using stakeholder interviews, evidence sources, and competency-gap mapping
• Distinguish learning needs from non-training causes using a root-cause diagnostic framework
• Write measurable learning objectives using Bloom's Taxonomy and observable performance criteria
• Design a blended learning solution using ADDIE, learner personas, modality selection, and learning-journey mapping
• Create an assessment blueprint that aligns knowledge checks, practice activities, and workplace performance evidence
• Build a Kirkpatrick-aligned evaluation plan with Level 1 to Level 4 measures and data-collection responsibilities
• Prepare an L&D business case containing cost assumptions, benefits measures, risks, and implementation milestones
• Produce a complete L&D project pack for a defined workplace capability challenge

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• HR Officers and HR Advisors — who are taking responsibility for staff development requests and training coordination
• Learning and Development Coordinators — who need a repeatable method for scoping, designing, and evaluating learning initiatives
• HR Business Partners — who advise operational leaders on performance and capability priorities
• Talent Development Specialists — who need to connect development programmes to competency frameworks and business measures
• Training Administrators — who are moving from course logistics into learning design and stakeholder consultation
• People Managers with L&D responsibility — who must commission targeted development rather than simply approve training requests

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic experience in an HR, people operations, training coordination, or supervisory role and be comfortable discussing job roles, performance expectations, and employee development needs. Familiarity with common HR processes such as onboarding, performance appraisal, competency frameworks, or employee records is useful. Participants should also be able to work with basic spreadsheet calculations and prepare short documents or presentations using Microsoft Office or equivalent tools. Prior instructional design experience, adult-learning qualifications, learning management system administration, e-learning authoring, statistical analysis, and finance expertise are not required. Complete beginners to HR should first gain practical exposure to core HR processes before attending.

Training methodology

Each day combines focused instructor-led sessions with structured application to an L&D case involving a measurable workplace performance gap. Participants analyse stakeholder evidence, map competencies, write objectives, compare delivery options, and build evaluation measures using supplied templates. Small-group design reviews test assumptions and expose practical issues such as manager support, learner time, budget limits, and data availability. The instructor provides feedback on participants' own project materials throughout the week. The final session uses an implementation-planning workshop in which participants refine their project pack and prepare a stakeholder-ready recommendation.

Course outline

Day 1: Diagnosing capability and performance needs

• The strategic role of learning and development within the HR operating model
• Performance problems versus training problems
• Stakeholder analysis using influence-interest mapping
• Training needs analysis at organisational, role, and individual levels
• Evidence sources for learning diagnosis including performance data and employee feedback
• Competency frameworks and role-based gap analysis
• Root-cause analysis using the five whys and fishbone diagram

Workshop: Participants analyse a business performance scenario and produce a needs-analysis brief that identifies evidence gaps, stakeholders, root causes, and recommended next actions.

Day 2: Designing learning for workplace performance

• ADDIE as a practical project framework for L&D work
• Learner personas, prior knowledge, and accessibility considerations
• Bloom's Taxonomy for measurable learning objectives
• Writing behavioural objectives with condition, behaviour, and criterion
• Adult learning principles and deliberate practice
• Selecting classroom, virtual, digital, social, and on-the-job learning methods
• Learning-journey mapping from pre-work to workplace application

Workshop: Participants convert a capability gap into a learner profile, a set of measurable objectives, and a draft blended learning journey.

Day 3: Building effective learning experiences and assessments

• Content prioritisation using must-know, should-know, and nice-to-know analysis
• Session architecture using the explain-demonstrate-practise-feedback sequence
• Scenario-based learning and realistic workplace simulations
• Facilitation techniques for classroom and live online learning
• Assessment blueprinting and constructive alignment
• Knowledge checks, skills observation, and workplace evidence methods
• Inclusive learning design and accessible learning materials

Workshop: Participants create a session plan and assessment blueprint for one priority learning objective, then receive peer and instructor design feedback.

Day 4: Implementing and evaluating L&D initiatives

• Kirkpatrick Levels 1 to 4 and appropriate evidence for each level
• Leading and lagging indicators for learning impact
• Baseline measures, comparison points, and data-collection timing
• Learning transfer plans and manager reinforcement practices
• Learning management system reporting and completion data limitations
• L&D budget categories, vendor costs, and resource assumptions
• Risk registers and implementation governance for learning projects

Workshop: Participants build a Kirkpatrick-aligned evaluation plan, data-collection schedule, and implementation risk register for their learning solution.

Day 5: Making the case and managing L&D delivery

• Constructing an L&D business case for senior stakeholders
• Cost-benefit assumptions and practical ROI calculations
• Writing provider briefs and evaluating external training proposals
• Procurement criteria for learning providers and digital content
• Project planning with milestones, dependencies, and ownership
• Stakeholder communication plans and sponsor engagement
• Presenting L&D recommendations with evidence, options, and decisions required

Workshop: Participants finalise and present their L&D project pack, including a business case, implementation roadmap, and evaluation plan, to a simulated leadership panel.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Forms, Articulate Rise 360, SCORM 1.2

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions