Want to set meaningful learning objectives that lead to tangible results? Here’s how.

Many of us rush into creating learning content before we’ve even considered what we’re trying to achieve. Setting realistic learning objectives is important not just for you as an L&D professional, but also for your company and for your learners. 

Of course, it’s not super glamorous, but it does set your courses up for success as they stay as a point of reference throughout the learning process. 

So, how exactly do you set the right learning objectives? 

Keep reading to learn: 

• What effective learning objectives look like 
• The benefits of having learning objectives in place 
• How to write your training objectives 

Let’s get started. 

What effective learning objectives look like 

Training, or learning objectives, like any objective, should be defined and measurable. 

The SMART model is a good one to follow here too. 

Having training objectives allows you to create a framework for your learners. 

Training goals vs training objectives 

Training goals are broad and set out the desired outcomes of a training program. They look at big picture outputs like improving collaboration or decreasing costs. 

In short, training goals are aspirational. 

Learning objectives meanwhile are specific and much more actionable. They break down training goals into smaller, more measurable outcomes and are much more skill-specific. 

For example, a training goal might be “improve sales” but a training objective might be “train employees on the new product release for x% less time spent looking up prices/details”. 

The benefits of having learning objectives in place 

Before you start building out your training objectives, ask yourself “what do I want to achieve?”. 

Setting this can feel like a bit of hard work, and might feel like a distraction from getting on with things, but the benefits are worth it: 

Better employee retention 

Employees that feel like their companies invest in them, stick around. 

Employee training and career development are closely intertwined for a good reason. Building skills in your team, no matter if they’re directly linked to their current job or not, is always beneficial and can result in them sticking around for longer. 

Improved employee performance 

Not only does training support retention of employees, it also improves their performance. 

Investing in skills and knowledge, unsurprisingly, results in better skills and knowledge being retained in your business all which leads to better performance. 

Compound this over a number of employees and you’re driving a fully streamlined system. 

More quality services and products 

When you’re investing in better skills, your employees are therefore better at their jobs. When given the room to grow and develop, employees are going to be much more likely to see what’s not working, or spot room for improvement. 

Following a good idea can lead to better services or products for your customers which is good news for everyone. 

How to write your training objectives 

So now you know what training objectives are, and why they’re important, you next need to learn how to actually write them. 

Getting started feels a lot scarier than actually starting, so here’s a quick to do-list you need to run through: 

• Set one clear overriding goal
• Define the training objectives 
• Draft your training objectives using the SMART format
• Review and publish! 

Set one clear overriding goal

Most importantly, you want to make the purpose of your training clear. 

Not just for your learners, but also for your learning team. 

When you get stuck in the weeds of creating content, you should be able to think back to this goal and find your focus. 

Are you trying to improve employee performance? Address a particular knowledge gap? 

Whatever it is, make it clear and upfront from the outset and throughout. 

Define the training objectives 

Using your overriding goal, sketch out some core learning objectives that learners will need to hit to achieve that goal. 

Avoid vague words like “understand” or even “learn”. 

Instead, try and opt for tangible objectives like “create” or “calculate”. 

So instead of, By the end of this course, you will be a Word Doc pro, opt for, This course will teach you how to create designed Word Documents for business proposals. 

Draft your learning objectives using the SMART format

Now you have your rough objectives, it’s time to apply the SMART format to them. 

This is the gold standard for goal setting. 

Review each draft training objective and amend it to be: 

S – Specific Who will gain what? 

M – Measurable Give stats e.g. improve call rate success by 85%

A – Attainable Ensure your goals are realistic and not pie-in-the-sky thinking 

R – Relevant What’s in it for the learner? 

T – Time-bound Add a time element or deadline to set expectations. 

Review and publish! 

Once you’ve applied the SMART methodology to your objectives, you’re ready to go. 

Share them with your learning team, and weave them into the learning design and content to make sure that learners get the most out of the course. 

Examples of learning objectives

You might have gotten to this part of the blog and think, “Yes I know how to make a training objective in theory, but what does it look like in practice?” 

Well, we’ve taken some training objectives that we’ve seen from customers, or read online and shown you how to make them fit your business. 

Example One: 

• Learners will know how to use HubSpot

• At the end of this course (Time-bound and Attainable), you will be able to create (Measurable) leads, edit their fields and apply automations to key marketing messages (Specific and Relevant)

Example Two: 

• Get better at selling the new product 

• At the end of this module, you will be able to recall key data on the X model release in order to more accurately sell to potential customers. 

Hopefully, you can see the difference between each example pre and post SMART formatting and take this forward with you when it comes to setting your own. 

Wrapping up 

It might feel like extra effort for little gain, but remember, doing this one simple task can massively benefit your learning impact. 

With that, you stand to gain a lot in so far as employee performance, retention and skill sharing between your employees. 

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