How Managers Make Training Work At Every Stage Of Learning Design

Managers are the most underused resource to make training work.

I say underused because most L&D teams only involve them for some development feedback and launch week.

But in my experience, involving them deeply at each stage drastically increases the chances that training works.

There are a few reasons behind this:

• Managers know their team members’ skills and struggles better than anyone

• They can track and influence learners’ behavior every day

• They are measured on the same metrics the training is meant to move

That's why we build manager involvement into every program in a structured way.

I mapped the main actions at each stage of our learning design lifecycle below.

In the first three stages, managers inform the design.

And in the last three stages, they drive adoption.

1. Diagnosis

Before we design anything, we need to know if training is the right solution.

And managers can help us find the answer.

They can rule out process and tool issues that look like skill gaps.

They can tell us what has already been tried to fix the performance issues.

So we don’t design something the team already went through a few months ago.

Plus, they can share team-level data that reveals patterns.

Without this input, L&D teams risk building training for a problem that training cannot fix.

2. Needs Assessment

Once we confirm it’s a training problem, the next step is needs assessment.

Here, managers help us understand:

• What good performance looks like on the job

• What skill or knowledge gaps prevent learners from achieving it

• What tasks matter the most based on their risk, complexity, and frequency

So we can design the program for the right needs of the learners and the business.

3. Development

Waiting until development is finished to get managers’ feedback usually causes delays in the project.

That’s why we involve managers while developing the material.

They review scenarios and simulations.

They provide feedback on role-specific content.

And they help us tailor job aids to the actual workflows of the learners.

So thanks to their involvement, we move faster and increase the quality of the modules.

4. Launch

When we involve managers heavily in the previous steps, it gives us an advantage that makes the remaining steps easier.

Because by now, managers are invested in the training program.

They are on our side and want the program to succeed.

So they are much more likely to stay involved in the launch, sustainment, and measurement.

And that increases the chances of training actually changing behavior.

For the launch, we ask managers to:

• Endorse the training in emails, team meetings, and 1:1s using the talking points we provide

• Set the bar for participation

• Protect learning time

5. Sustainment

Every L&D team knows the importance of sustainment theoretically.

But not many teams plan for what happens after the modules go live.

That’s why most training dies there.

For us, sustainment is a major step.

And involving managers makes a big difference in keeping training alive even months after learners take the training.

To do this, we equip managers with prompts for coaching and regular check-ins.

We also give them a sustainment schedule to follow.

So they can coach their team on the job, praise the new behavior, and keep the desired behavior top of mind in meetings.

All these are simple actions, but they drastically improve the returns we get from a training program.

6. Measurement

L&D can track completion rates, assessment scores, and metric changes from a dashboard.

But managers are the closest to the learners.

They are the best source of qualitative feedback.

Like if the training caused a noticeable behavior change.

Or if learners are more confident handling related tasks.

So they can tell us what worked as expected, and what needs to improve for the next training.

These types of signals are hard to get through only quantitative measurement.

That’s why managers are also great allies for measuring training’s success.

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The moral of the story?

Most L&D teams involve managers at launch and hope for the best.

But that leaves a lot on the table for L&D teams and the organization.

So involve them in every stage.

You'll build training for the right problem.

And months later, learners will still be using it.