By Sue Iannone

For any learning and development (L&D) program, training managers and directors will create learning objectives.  These objectives articulate the discreet things that learners should be able to do after participating in a program.  Learning objectives are extremely important, but they’re only part of the story.

Ultimately, L&D efforts are about driving behavior change in the field, so behavioral objectives are just as important.  Unfortunately, learning professionals often fail to develop behavioral objectives.  In this article, we describe the differences between learning objectives and behavioral objectives.  We also explain how they should work together to drive business results.

Learning Objectives

As mentioned above, learning objectives articulate the key things that learners should be able to do after completing a given training program or learning experience.  L&D professionals usually take great care to properly write these objectives for a given learning resource or training course, as well as for units within a  course

Each learning objective relates to a specific capability or skill and is expressed using an action verb.  For example, after completing a course, learners should be able to:

1. Describe the mechanisms that underlie disease X
2. List common treatments for disease X
3. Articulate the mechanism of action for drug Y
4. Handle the most common customer objection to prescribing drug Y.

Learning objectives can relate to “lower order” (e.g., knowledge-based) thinking skills as well as higher-order (e.g., evaluation-based) thinking skills.  L&D professionals the world over are familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy, which arranges the “action verbs” for learning objectives into various levels, from lower-order to higher-order.  Figure 1 shows this taxonomy.

Behavioral Objectives

Behavioral objectives articulate the specific behaviors that learners are supposed to exhibit in the field after completing a training program.  To perform a desired behavior, a learner might need to absorb and master numerous individual pieces of knowledge and multiple skills.  So, while a single behavioral objective might have only one or two learning objectives, a behavioral objective may often have many discreet learning objectives embedded within it.  Another way to look at it is this:  Behavioral objectives can focus at the “macro” level while learning objectives focus at the “micro” level.

Putting it All Together

Ultimately, we create training programs and learning experiences because we need to achieve some business result.  If you find yourself getting hyper-focused on only the learning objectives, it may be time to take a step back and ask yourself:  What is the business objective which needs to be met?  What are the associated behaviors required to meet this business objective?  To guide program development, L&D pros must:

1. Articulate the desired business result(s).
2. Determine which behaviors will deliver the desired business results, then develop the behavioral objectives.
3. Develop discreet learning objectives for each behavioral objective.

Below is a hypothetical example of how these three components relate to one another.  Note that multiple desired behaviors might be needed to achieve the business result.  We have limited it to one desired behavior in each example, just to keep it simple.

Desired Business Result:  Increase the number of “product X” prescriptions written for new patients.

For Sales Representatives:

• Desired Behavior 1: Articulate the unmet need for patients suffering from disease Y to healthcare providers.
• Learning Objectives for Behavior 1: List the hallmarks of disease Y; Describe the burden of disease for patients suffering from disease Y; Relate patient dissatisfaction with current treatment options

For Field Reimbursement Managers:

• Desired Behavior 1: Remove reimbursement barriers that may impact a new patient’s ability to access product X.
• Learning Objectives for Behavior 1: Identify the most common access challenges encountered by new patients and office staff; Recognize common problems related to billing and coding; Recognize common problems related to prior authorizations; Describe the fulfillment pathway for product X

From all this, one thing becomes crystal clear:  Learning objectives are important, but they may be only part of the story.  They are a vital component in a cascade of things that begins with the desired business result(s), moves through the behavioral and learning objectives, and then culminates in effective program design.  All learning professionals create learning objectives, but the BEST learning professionals consider the business need and the desired behaviors.  Adopting this approach is one key to becoming a true performance consultant!

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By Nathan Pienkowski

Should a Learning and Development (L&D) organization deliver above and beyond the call of duty, going “all in” to apply the latest in instructional design to every single project?  That’s an interesting question and, like most interesting questions, it defies a simple yes or no answer.

Sometimes, the answer is yes.  However, in a world of limited resources for L&D, department leaders would be wise to “dial it back” sometimes.  In this article, we’ll consider the circumstances in which it might make sense to do a little less and conserve precious resources for other initiatives.  It all comes down to the business objectives at play.

Keeping Business Objectives in Mind

In L&D, much thought is given to the learning objectives behind a training initiative.  Those objectives drive curriculum and instructional design decisions, and L&D teams take great care to clearly articulate them at the outset of a project.

In most cases, L&D teams are rightfully proud of their expertise in curriculum and instructional design, and in their knowledge of learning science.  They’ll work to apply that expertise and knowledge in full measure to deliver on learning initiatives for their internal clients.

However, there are times when L&D leaders should remember that their departments are powerful tools.  In most cases, they can be wielded to teach learners new knowledge and skills.  But, they can also serve other valid purposes.

For example, L&D teams can be used to demonstrate regulatory compliance or to provide management leverage.  In these cases, the L&D team might want to remember the business objectives at play, and act accordingly by keeping the initiative simple.  Let’s explore this idea a bit more with a hypothetical example.

A Hypothetical Example

Assume for a moment that a company has developed a new policy or procedure.  The policy or procedure itself is not complex and complying with it doesn’t require development of any new skills.  However, it’s very important to management that everyone comply.  So, L&D is asked to develop a training initiative related to it.

Before spending a lot of time articulating the learning objectives for the training initiative, L&D needs to consider the business objectives behind it.  What does management really want to achieve?  Remember that the policy is simple and easy to understand, so the key business objectives are most likely to:

1. Demonstrate that management is serious about compliance
2. Provide a mechanism for managing compliance later (for example, non-compliant employees will have no excuse, because training will have been provided, making corrective action much easier)

In this hypothetical example, the L&D team should most likely conserve its dollars and personnel resources, and just develop a simple training program that achieves the business objectives without going overboard from a curriculum or instructional design standpoint.  In short, L&D should “check the box,” achieve the business objectives, and move on.

A Real-World Example

Here’s a real-world example that’s a bit more nuanced, but that illustrates the same principle.  Our team was tasked with training a range of healthcare professionals in third world countries to vaccinate large portions of their local populations.  Administering the various vaccinations involved a range of different syringes and techniques.

The learners included not only the health workers who would administer vaccinations, but also district public health officials who would oversee and evaluate the health workers.  Obviously, the health workers needed to receive complex hands-on training, administering simulated injections with all the various types of syringe.

The public health officials also needed to understand the injection techniques and when they needed to be used, even though they wouldn’t administer any injections.  We could have trained them in the same manner as the health workers, as that would have satisfied the learning objectives for the initiative.

However, we adopted a different and lower-cost approach.  Rather than giving the public health officials hands-on training, we had them watch the different injection techniques and educated them on when certain techniques were required vs. others.  This saved the client’s resources, and still fully equipped the public health officials to do their jobs effectively.

Keeping Learners in Mind

The point of this article has been this:  In a world of limited L&D resources, remember the business objectives behind a training initiative, and deploy the resources needed to achieve those objectives.  Don’t go overboard.  There’s only so much time, budget dollars, and personnel resources to go around.

However, there’s another way to look at resources, too.  Your learners’ time and attention are also resources, and the L&D team needs to make the most of them.  It’s best to avoid overloading learners with a high-powered learning program if something a lot simpler will achieve the underlying business objectives.

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