2. Key Learning Outcomes

You’re reading an excerpt of Great Founders Write, by Ben Putano, writer, entrepreneur, and book publisher. He’s the founder of Damn Gravity Media, a publishing house that inspires and educates tomorrow’s great founders. Purchase now for lifetime access to the book and on-demand video course.

With your building blocks in place, it’s time to start creating new material. But don’t just dive into the first module. Before you start writing, you need to identify your key learning outcomes.

Key learning outcomes, or KLOs, are what you want your audience to be able to do differently after completing each section.

Each section of your training program should focus on a single learning outcome. Learning outcomes can range from remembering factual information (i.e., definitions) to creating new solutions to complex problems. Your KLOs depend on your team’s level of prior knowledge. Less-experienced trainees should start with learning factual information, while veterans can jump straight into more challenging tasks.

For a great example of well-defined KLOs, check out The HubSpot Academy, a free online training portal for marketers, salespeople, and customer success professionals. For example, their course on website optimization is split into five lessons. The first video is simply titled, “The Importance of Website Performance.” The learning outcome for this video is crystal clear: after watching the video, the viewer should understand the importance of website performance for their company.

Creating KLOs does not need to be complicated. Barry’s team uses the tried-and-true SMART framework to develop KLOs for their clients:

• Specific—What will your trainee be able to do differently after this lesson?

• Measurable—How will you know your KLO has been achieved? For example, HubSpot Academy uses quizzes after each lesson.

• Attainable—Can your audience realistically achieve the KLO given their level of prior knowledge?

• Relevant—Will the KLO have a positive impact on your audience’s work or life?

• Time-bound—How long should it take to achieve the KLO?

At the end of each section, your audience should be able to do one thing differently than before. Get clear on what you want that one thing to be.