How to Use the ADDIE Model for Training and Development

The Benefits of using the ADDIE model

The ADDIE model helps HR professionals ensure that their training programs meet employee needs and achieve the desired learning outcomes.

It also provides a clear framework for delivering content in an engaging and effective way, which can improve employee engagement and retention.

Lastly, the ADDIE model helps human resources professionals continually improve their training programs over time by enabling them to assess which components are working well and which need improvement or tweaking.

Applying ADDIE model training to HR

The ADDIE training model is used in human resources, corporate training, and e-learning to create compelling learning experiences. When applying the ADDIE model, it is important to define your training program’s specific goals and objectives. Specific objectives help ensure that the instructional design activities are explicitly tailored to meet those needs.

Depending on the needs of your project or training program, the ADDIE model can be applied sequentially or iteratively. ADDIE is commonly portrayed as a linear sequence, starting with analysis and ending with evaluation. However, it’s more accurate to view ADDIE as a feedback loop where each step can inform the ones before and after it.

Before you begin working through the ADDIE model process, create a centralized system (such as a Google doc or task management software) to keep track of the progress. Your system should be a working document that is regularly updated until the training program is complete.

With that, let’s take a look at the five phases of the ADDIE model.

Phase 1: Analysis

The Analysis phase involves gathering information about the learners, the workplace environment, and the desired learning outcomes. During this phase, instructional designers will often conduct interviews, surveys, or focus groups to better understand what knowledge, skills, and abilities are required for success in the workplace.

During this phase, HR professionals need to determine who needs training, what their training needs are, and how best to meet those needs. From learning materials and courses to an increase in benefits or amenities, there are many factors that affect employee performance.

A few ways to collect information about employee training needs include:

• Conducting a performance and learner analysis
• Analyzing tasks and workload
• Sending outemployee surveys
• Evaluating the working and learning environment
• Determining if an online course or an in-person course would be more effective

Phase 2: Design

The Design phase is when instructional designers begin developing course materials based on the information gathered during analysis. They may use various instructional techniques, such as multimedia content, interactive exercises, and assessments, to help learners master the desired skills and knowledge.

As an HR professional, start by setting overall learning objectives to keep your design process focused. Learning objectives are verb statements about what a student will achieve by the end of the course. These objectives will help you design your assessments and the resulting learning materials.

As a form of assessment, use a quiz to prove that your employees remember the information they’ve been taught. Or, provide a case study with open-ended questions to test your employees’ evaluation and analytics skills.

During this stage, you’ll also want to select a learning management system (LMS) to run your training program.

Phase 3: Development

During the Development phase, or the most time-consuming phase, instructional designers work with subject matter experts (SMEs) to turn learning objectives into practical course materials.

Deliver this course content in a variety of formats, such as written content, interactive activities and learning modules, instructional videos, or other multimedia materials.

During this development process, HR teams work with designers and training developers to create storyboards that help decide how you will organize and present the materials in an interesting and easy-to-understand way. To succeed in your training, ensure your objectives, material, and assessment are always aligned.

At the end of this stage, your training and development program should be complete and launch-ready.

Phase 4: Implementation

The Implementation phase is when instructors and learners begin using the new training materials. It involves coaching and feedback to ensure effective learning objectives are met. The implementation stage also consists of tracking and evaluating performance outcomes to determine if further improvements need to be made.

During this stage, HR professionals act as the quality assurance department of the course. Use a checklist or rubric to keep track of course performance and effectiveness. Create a list of tasks and milestones associated with the course. Then assign responsibilities to your instructors, developers, or anyone involved in the program’s design and maintenance.

At the end of this stage, your training program is ready to be distributed on your chosen platform.

Phase 5: Evaluation

Despite the Evaluation phase being the 5th phase, it is not necessarily the final stage of the process. This formative evaluation can happen at various times throughout the learning process (not just at the end).

The Evaluation phase helps ensure that training materials are effective and continue to meet the needs of learners over time. It may involve collecting feedback from learners, performing continuous assessments, improving the learning template, or gathering usage data on how the materials are used. To evaluate the work, many instruction designers use the Kirkpatrick model of training evaluation. 

This information allows HR teams to adjust any other steps in the ADDIE training model as needed. For example, your evaluation might find that you didn’t assess employee needs correctly. In this case, you’ll have to go back and reassess or re-do your initial learning objectives. 

At the end of this stage, you will produce a report illustrating how well the training assisted in meeting your goals. You will also be able to make suggestions for changes that would improve the next iteration of your program.

Making the most of training and employee feedback

Implementing practical training and employee feedback is vital to any successful training process. If you can’t learn from your own learning program, then you haven’t reaped the most essential benefits of it all!

Following the ADDIE model is just the first step toward a higher-performing group of employees. The next step is to note feedback that is unrelatedto the learning and development program itself. For example, did your employees mention needing a quieter workspace? Did they complain about burnout? Were they unmotivated to participate in yet another upskilling program?

This type of feedback is often related to an imbalance in work-life wellness. Now that you have the tools to create new programs, it might be time to launch a new wellness program. Not only will it improve their wellbeing, but it will also help your organization achieve its learning goals and build a skilled and engaged workforce.​

Want to learn more about how to increase wellbeing in the workplace? Talk to a Wellbeing Specialist today!