In our previous article, we talked about the Gnowbe mindset—pairing the science of microlearning with intentional instructional design. Now, you might be itching to jump into Gnowbe and start creating.
Hold that thought!
Before you lay down a single brick, you need a blueprint. In this article, we're going to tackle the most crucial step of the entire curation process: defining exactly who you are building this for and what you want them to achieve.
Why Do We Need Clear Goals?
It is incredibly easy to fall into the "content trap." This happens when you have a mountain of information (like a 50-page PDF or a 2-hour webinar recording), and your only goal is to get it over to your learners.
If your starting thought is, "How do I push all this information out to my team?" you are setting yourself up for failure. Why? Because simply reading a PDF doesn't confirm understanding, change behavior, or build skills!
"We’ve turned up the volume, Ziggy, but it’s still falling on deaf ears!"
Setting clear goals and learning objectives shifts your focus from content delivery to learner transformation.
It helps you identify exactly what knowledge or what skill is essential, and what is just fluff. When you have a clear target, every single session, video, and quiz you build will serve a specific purpose. If an action doesn't serve the goal, it doesn't make the cut.
1: Identifying Your Target Audience
You cannot design a great learning experience without empathy. Before you write a single objective, you need to step into the shoes of your learners.
"Trust me, your learning objectives will look a lot better once you walk a mile in these."
A leadership program designed for senior executives will look, feel, and sound completely different from a product knowledge program designed for newly hired retail associates. Ask yourself these questions about your audience:
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What is their daily context? Are they sitting at a desk, or are they on their feet on a sales floor?
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What is their current knowledge level? Are they complete beginners, or do they just need a quick refresher?
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What are their pain points? Why should they care about this program? What problem does it solve for them?
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What interests or motivates them to learn? Are they eager to master a new skill, looking for quick solutions to their daily challenges, or simply trying to check off a mandatory requirement?
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How much time do they have? Are they squeezing this in during a 10-minute commute, or do they have dedicated training time?
💡 Pro-Tip: Give your audience a persona. "Meet Sam, a busy store manager who barely has time to check her email." Whenever you design a program, ask yourself, "Would Sam find this useful, or just annoying?"
2: Crafting Clear Learning Objectives
Now that you know exactly who you are talking to, what do you want them to achieve? This is where you create your learning objectives.
The first step in this process is identifying the gap you are trying to close. Ask yourself: do my learners need new knowledge, or do they need to develop a new skill?
"Knowledge, skills, or both? Because reading about espresso won't wake anyone up, but pressing buttons blindly is a great way to roast the machine."
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📚 Knowledge (The "What"): This is about acquiring information, concepts, or facts. For example, a barista needs the knowledge to identify the different roasts of coffee beans.
- 🛠️ Skills (The "How"): This is about application and physical or behavioral action. It’s the ability to actually perform a task. For example, that same barista needs the skill to properly froth milk for a cappuccino.
Once you identify whether you are teaching a concept (knowledge) or a behavior (skill), you can figure out how to measure it. Think of learning objectives as the specific, measurable targets your learners must achieve and reliably demonstrate by the end of your program.
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A common mistake is writing objectives using vague verbs like "understand" or "know." For example, "Learners will understand our new safety protocols." The problem? You cannot easily measure understanding. How do you prove someone understands something?
Instead, build your learning objectives around action verbs tailored to whether you are testing knowledge or skills. Always finish this sentence: "By the end of this program, the learner will be able to..."
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Knowledge-Based Objective:
- Weak (Vague): ...understand the new sales strategy.
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Strong (Measurable): ...list the three core pillars of the new sales strategy.
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Skill-Based Objective:
- Weak (Vague): ...know how to use the new software.
- Strong (Measurable): ...successfully log in and generate a monthly expense report in the new software.
When your learning objectives are rooted in measurable actions, you create a clear roadmap for your content and can easily prove that the learning actually happened!
Now that we know why we are building and what we want to achieve, it is time to look at the tools we have to make it happen. Next up, we will dive into The Anatomy of a Gnowbe Program to see how Programs, Sessions, and Actions fit together!
👉 3: The Anatomy of a Gnowbe Program