3 Audiences Unique to Nonprofit Training and How Instructional Design Teams Can Overcome The Challenges They Present
What makes nonprofit training unique to corporate training or government training? While there are a number of things that are different, one thing that I thought would be fun to focus on is the three unique audiences that nonprofits create training for.
These unique audiences come with their own challenges and I’m giving you some tips to overcome those challenges.
Listen to the episode or scroll down to read the blog post ↓
Key Points:
03:00 The three audiences unique to nonprofit training
07:19 Challenges these unique audiences present and how instructional design teams can overcome them
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3 Audiences Unique to Nonprofit Training and How Instructional Design Teams Can Overcome The Challenges They Present
What's so different about nonprofit training?
If you aren't in a nonprofit, you may be wondering
What is it that's so different about nonprofit training?
What makes it unique to corporate training or government training?
While there are a number of things that are different, one thing that I thought would be fun to focus on is the three unique audiences that nonprofits create training for.
I've worked internally at a national nonprofit and serve dozens of nonprofits as a consultant through my business, Skill Masters Market. I have a growing community of nonprofit training and talent development leaders in the Nonprofit L&D Collective and I'm connected to dozens more leaders on LinkedIn.
One challenge I've seen is the types of audiences we serve with our training in nonprofits.
Yes, many nonprofits I work with have staff, and they train their staff. That's similar to any other organization providing training. But many of them also have unique audiences that stretch beyond staff.
So, in this blog post, we’re covering the following:
1) 3 Audiences Unique to Nonprofit Training
Let's think beyond staff. Who else do nonprofits train? \
1. The first unique audience is volunteers.
Many nonprofits depend on the work of volunteers. Sometimes these volunteers provide direct services to whoever their “client” is.
So let's think about your local food pantry.
Yes, there may be staff who can organize and lead the pantry operations. However, the actual food pantry is likely dependent on volunteers who give their time.
How do the volunteers know what is expected of them?
How do they know how to do certain tasks?
How do they know how you want them to interact with the people that they're providing the services?
Training
Another large group of volunteers is the board.
Nonprofits are governed by a volunteer board. And that board has to know what is expected of them, how to tell the story of their nonprofit, how to raise money, and how to uphold their unique responsibilities.
How do they know what to do?
Training
So volunteers are a unique audience in many nonprofits.
2. A second unique audience for nonprofit training is whoever that “client” is.
Think about your local nonprofit that provides workforce development to people with disabilities, people who were formerly incarcerated, or other niche audiences.
They're providing workforce development to some type of audience.
How do they prepare people to enter the workforce?
How do they help them build the necessary workforce skills?
How do they guide them through the hiring process?
Training
They are providing training to people they consider their clients, their customers.
3. The third unique audience that nonprofits train is other people’s staff.
Now this one's a bit more complicated to explain. Many nonprofits are federated. This means that the local nonprofit you know and love, doesn’t have a direct reporting line to the headquarters or corporate office.
It works a bit like the United States.
So they have some things that they have to do to be that nonprofit. Kind of like in the United States, we all have a constitution that we abide by that's at the federal level. But each nonprofit is its own entity. So they're their own 501(c)(3). And that's kind of like the states. Each of these states makes up the larger United States.
Now, in this situation, that corporate office, whatever they call themselves, is providing training to the staff at the local level, in many cases, but those local staff don't report to that corporate office. So that presents some challenges.
So those are the three unique audiences that nonprofits train. Volunteers, their clients, and other people's staff. Each of those audiences is unique. And most companies aren't really training audiences in this way.
These unique audiences present unique challenges. That’s what we’re discussing next.
2) How Instructional Design Teams Can Overcome the Challenges of These Unique Nonprofit Training Audiences
Why do these unique nonprofits create unique challenges?
Because there's no control, for lack of a better word.
How do you make sure the person attends the training?
How do you make sure they implement what they learn?
How do you even begin to identify learning needs?
These are the challenges that nonprofits face every day.
So how do we navigate these challenges?
It's complicated. And there isn't really a one-size-fits-all answer because every situation, learner, and learning need is different.
However, I do follow a few key approaches when I'm working with clients to help ensure success. I thought I could share these with you because many of you are working with unique audiences too.
1. I treat every project like a change project.
I think about it through the lens of the ADKAR change model.
Awareness: Are people aware of the change? And the need to change what they're doing?
Desire: Do they want to change? What's in it for them if they do change?
Knowledge: What do they need to know about the change?
Ability: What skills do they need to have to implement the change? And do they have those skills? Or do they need to develop them? Are there other barriers to performance? And what can we do about those, if anything?
Reinforcement: How are we going to sustain the change? And this one's usually pretty tricky in situations where you lack control, but it's a question we have to ask.
2. I do everything I can to create buy-in throughout the process.
Can we bring learners, their supervisors, or leadership into the process?
If they can help you as you identify learning needs, or help you shape parts of what you create, they will feel more bought into the final product because they felt like they were heard. And they felt like they were able to have a say in what happened and how it ended up.
So I do everything I can to create that buy-in.
3. I think about things beyond training.
At the end of the day, we want them to do something different.
So how can we make that easier for them?
Books like Tiny Habits and Atomic Habits are both amazing at helping you think through behavior change.
Training isn't the only answer. So we have to build additional supports to help create the change we want to see.
4. I create evaluations to measure whatever I can figure out to measure and to capture feedback for the future.
This will allow you to stay connected to what's happening with the training and with implementation.
You won't have direct oversight, so collecting this data becomes even more important.
What can we measure related to behavior change?
What can we measure related to impact?
How can we open up those lines of communication so that we know what's happening and can adapt as needed?
These are the four approaches that I use when working with unique nonprofit audiences to create that change that we really want to see. And I hope they help you if you're working with unique audiences as well.
To hear the full conversation I had on the Learning for Good Podcast, scroll all the way up and tune into episode 75.
The Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective
Do you wish you could connect with other nonprofit learning and development leaders?
I know what it feels like to want someone to bounce ideas off of and to learn from, someone who really understands you and your work. Imagine if you could have a simple way to meet people in the field, ask questions, and share information.
That's why I created the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective – so nonprofit L&D, talent management, and DEI leaders can connect with each other quickly and easily in a virtual space.
When you join this community, you will walk away with a new, diverse, and powerful network – and a sounding board for your staff development needs.
So if you're ready to exchange ideas and collaborate with your peers, come join the Nonprofit L&D Collective.
