The process of instructional design can be likened to the design of a blueprint for a building. Just as architects carefully plan and design every aspect of a building, from the foundation to the fixtures, instructional designers (IDs) meticulously craft learning blueprints to support learning performance. Within these blueprints, it is important for IDs to establish a solid foundation that supports the organization’s learning goals. This can be achieved by conducting a needs assessment to gain an understanding of the organization’s objectives, employees’ needs, and performance gaps that require training solutions. It is imperative that training aligns with learners’ needs and the organization’s immediate and long-term goals to maximize learning and transfer in the workplace.

A common goal among all L&D programs is to design instruction that is efficient, effective, and contributes to the ease of learning. This can be achieved by ensuring the fit, alignment, and congruence of your instructional materials, training goals, and intended performance outcomes.

Ensuring Fit Between the Learner and Content

It is important to set up learners for success through training. Ensuring fit between the learner and the content is just as crucial as identifying topics to be covered in training. L&D professionals can ensure fit by delivering instructional content that meets learners’ needs when they need it most. This helps increase learner engagement by providing instruction that is valued and relevant to their respective roles within the organization.

Aligning Instructional Activities with Evaluative Outcomes

Most workplace training includes assessments, but aligning instruction with desired evaluative outcomes requires careful consideration. Workplace training should involve alignment between instructional content and activities, assessments, and evaluative outcomes. L&D professionals can accomplish this by keeping the end goal in mind and considering the expected outcomes of the training.

Different learning outcomes warrant different instructional strategies. By focusing on the desired performance outcomes, L&D professionals can identify instructional strategies that align with and support the desired changes in performance. Learning objectives should guide the content and selection of instructional strategies. Assessments should be designed to measure learners’ knowledge and retention of topics covered in training, linked to the desired instructional goals and outcomes. Alignment helps ensure fit among all elements associated with the instructional design process, making a stronger case for training by demonstrating a direct link between instruction and evaluative outcomes, thus improving the return on investment for L&D.

Achieving Instructional Congruence by Empowering Learners

From an organizational development standpoint, congruence in the workplace is achieved when there is alignment between employees’ attitudes, values, and behaviors and the values and goals of the organization. A similar harmony is achieved in L&D when there is congruence between employees’ perceptions of workplace learning values, instructional content, and intended learning and organizational outcomes. Congruence takes into account learners’ needs and preferences, structuring training that is consistent and appropriately sequenced to support learning performance.

By motivating learners and helping them see the value and utility in what they are learning, L&D departments can reap the rewards of a more engaged and satisfied workforce and alignment between training and organizational goals. Fit, alignment, and congruence in L&D help ensure that training initiatives work together effectively, are consistent with each other, and align with the organization’s goals, thus maximizing the impact of workplace learning.