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Friday, January 20, 2023
The Science & Thinking behind the Wonderway Continuous Training Method
What is ‘Continuous Training’ at Wonderway?
We provide a platform on which training can be created easily. We designed the editor to act as a scaffold, allowing for the building of effective training that is easy and quick to create.
While the training editor in Wonderway is flexible enough to create any type of training, we encourage customers to make it short and targeted for continuous training of reps.
Continuous training
This training is focused on solving key problems or skill gaps that a rep is experiencing. It is typically short, targeted, and immediately usable in the real world. It is constructed with blocks made up from a mixture of information, links, tasks, and assessments.
This training is typically short, targeted, and immediately usable in the real world
What is the structure of our Training Programs?
One of the elements that make Wonderway training effective is that it is built to be short, useful, and usable in the real world having real performance impact quickly.
- [Intro] An introduction to the training to set expectations
- [Learn] Digestible information and links to learn from, along with a short quiz or tasks to help the information stick
- [Apply] A prompt to try the learnings ‘on the job’ for a number of days (off Wonderway)
- [Review] A review and reflection of the progress, along with an assessment to understand whether the training has stuck
- [Outro] A place where we review the takeaways along with an opportunity to capture whether the Training has increased confidence in the topic covered
A mixture of assessment and task types to engage all types of learners
We provide a mix of assessments and tasks to ensure that information can be learned quickly by a range of learners. Quick quizzes, written texts, checklists, video recording, meetings, or role-play tasks combine to provide a rounded understanding of the topic at hand.
This approach is based on evidence
Our continuous training methodology is grounded in scientific theory and practice.
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory
Our training structure is based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory which involves learning from experience. It is based on the premise that a person learns from direct experience or ‘learns by doing’.
Experiential learning encourages active participation, critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication skills.
This learning cycle is applied as:
- Understanding and analysing (information, tasks, and assessments)
- Experimenting on-the-job (real-world application)
- Reflecting on the outcomes (tasks and reviews)
Knowles’ Theory of Andragogy
We want to improve performance outcomes for sales reps which means our learners are adults, working in high pressure and results-orientated businesses. Knowles’ Theory of Andragogy shows us that adult learners are self-directed and expect to take responsibility for decisions.
Knowles shares five assumptions about adult learners:
1. Self-Concept:
Adults are at a mature developmental stage allowing them to take part in directing their own learning
2. Past Learning Experience:
Adults have a vast array of experiences to draw on as they learn
3. Readiness to Learn:
Adults have reached a point in which they see the value of education and are ready to be serious about and focused on learning
4. Practical Reasons to Learn:
Adults are looking for practical, problem-centred approaches to learning
5. Driven by Internal Motivation:
Adults are more internally motivated to learn
Knowles also provides examples of applying andragogy principles to the design of training:
- There is a need to explain the reasons specific things are being taught
- Instruction should be task-oriented instead of promoting memorisation
- Instruction should take into account the wide range of different backgrounds of learners
- Since adults are self-directed, instruction should allow learners to discover things and knowledge for themselves without depending on people. However, learners should be offered guidance and help when mistakes are made
These assumptions and examples of applying the theory help us ensure that our training is relevant, useful, and effective when applied.
Kirkpatrick Training Evaluation Model
The Kirkpatrick Model is probably the best known model for analysing and evaluating the results of training and educational programs. It takes into account any style of training, both informal or formal, to determine aptitude based on four levels criteria.
Making it possible for customers to use this model in their training ensures that the training is relevant, useful, and always being measured for effectiveness.
It is made up of four levels, all of which Wonderway enables:
- *Level 1 Reaction: *****measures how participants react to the training (e.g., satisfaction?)
- Level 2 Learning: analyses if they truly understood the training (e.g., increase in knowledge, skills or experience?)
- Level 3 Behaviour: looks at if they are utilising what they learned at work (e.g., change in behaviours?)
- Level 4 Results: determines if the material had a positive impact on the business / organisation
Why our continuous training is effective for sales reps
- Wonderway helps to deliver targeted training to sales teams that has a direct impact on the areas of a reps’ performance that matter. These trainings are easy to use, fast to learn, and immediately usable in live deals.
- The benefits to this are:
- Allows them to immediately apply what they have learned, making the training stick
- It doesn’t take them away from their job, instead it helps them to perform their job
- And, with review and reflection points that encourage further improvement over time, the benefits of trainings made with Wonderway compound over time.
What Training Programs are available at Wonderway?
- We’ve created a number of pre-made Starter Trainings to help sales teams get started immediately with Wonderway. These are fully formed continuous trainings built by our in-house Sales Enablement consultants, modelled using our Wonderway Continuous Training Methodology, and ready to be assigned to reps immediately.
- Wonderway has 10 Starter Trainings (as of November ‘22) across skills that include Customers, Prospecting, Cold Calling, Discovery, Demos, Negotiation, Closing, and Mindset
- We have also created a series of Templates that can be used to jumpstart new Training creation. These are accessible when a new Training is started and provide an easily customisable starting point that customers can add to, helping to ensure training is very tightly relevant to their particular market, sales cycle, and process. They can not be immediately assigned to reps until they have been used to create a new Training.
- Wonderway has 44 templates that go across the all of the stages and skills a sales team needs to excel. Each template references world class experts and companies to bring to life the concepts and combines this with relevant tasks, assessments, and milestones
What role does content have in our Starter Trainings and Templates?
- Starter Trainings have a mixture of content from Wonderway and trusted third-party sources. This content has been chosen by Wonderway to best illustrate ideas for the particular skill, challenge, or method that is being shared.
- Templates have content from trusted third-party sources and is used to give depth and understanding to new ideas and concepts. It is chosen by Wonderway as a great starting point to better learn the particular skill, challenge, or method. Templates leave room for customers to add their own content (from third-party sources or their own pages and documents) so that they can be customised more to a particular customer’s needs
Do all of our Trainings include content?
- Yes. The difference is that Starter Trainings are complete and ready to be assigned, and Templates need to be used to create new Trainings and they can be adapted by the customer to suit their particular stage, market, sales cycle…
How much content do we recommend per Training / Template?
- A useful rule of thumb is there should be just enough Content provided to learn a new tactic that can be used in the job immediately
- Some skills and concepts will require more detail to encourage consideration of ideas by the learner
- If there are a lot of different ideas in a Training then our strong recommendation would be to split the Training into more specific parts to allow each idea to be learned and used quickly
Where do we get our content from?
- Our in-house Sales Enablement consultants structure the Starter Trainings and Templates based on the Wonderway Continuous Training Methodology
- We source Content from trusted third-parties and collect it together to form coherent and actionable Trainings
- We add other content from our own library of training to ensure that Starter Trainings and Templates are suitable, effective, and immediately actionable
- Finally, we occasionally partner with internationally known sales trainers to create exclusive webinars and conferences. This content is referenced when relevant to provide additional help in tricky subjects
What formats do we use for content?
- Content can be a mixture of file uploads or URLs (link to external websites, Apps, documents hosted on the internet)
- File uploads that are permissible and shown to reps within Wonderway include: .PNG, .JPG, .GIF .PDF, .DOCX, .PPTX, .CSV, .MP4., and .WAV
Why should people trust our content?
- Our in-house Sales enablement consultants have years of experience in creating and delivering effective sales training and know what type of content and assessments to use to get the most out of sales teams.
- We work closely with our customers, developing and enhancing their trainings to ensure they have the desired impact on their teams. We take time to really understand what works well with sales teams of all sizes and markets so that the Training that is created is effective.
- We monitor the efficacy of the Training that we create and our reporting suite allows us to know what types of Training results in the best outcomes for sales teams. We use this information to inform our Training output.
Why should people trust our recommendations?
- Our algorithm uses multiple inputs to determine where challenges exist for each member of the sales team. These include objective performance-based data from a CRM integration, scoring from Trainings, and more subjective scoring from our Reflection surveys.
- This enables Wonderway to use our performance intelligence system to anonymously match these challenges against similar patterns we’ve seen across customers and identify which type of Trainings were most effective in helping improve the situations.
Can we provide more Trainings than the Starter Trainings?
- This is something we are actively looking in to, and testing what would be a compelling offer to help power the Wonderway platform even more.