5 Key Roles of the Director of Training and Development.

5 Key Roles of the Director of Training and Development.

Directors of Training and Development are responsible for developing, planning, and implementing corporate training programs within a company. These programs are created in line with the objectives and strategies of the company. They assess the needs of the company’s employees using surveys, focus groups, and meetings with various members of the company. They manage operational budgets and find the best ways to enhance a company’s training. Also, they evaluate the results of employee training to assess their performance levels. Additionally, they research new training methods to develop more efficient teaching practices.

What roles does he play?

1. Leadership Supervisory Role:  In this position, the Director of Training and Development oversees all activities of the department and identifies the business’s developmental needs ensuring that there is consistency with core competencies and goals.

He plans, organizes, and leads training programs, ensuring proper execution at all levels of the department. The Director of Training and Development also ensures consistency in the delivery and application of training standards across the business and oversees the planning, prioritization, and development of new training programs and initiatives, ensuring that these programs and initiatives are consistent with the business overall strategies, objectives, and needs.

He is also responsible for following up with the leadership and management of all departments in order to ensure that the parties involved in each training program complete their training. The Director of Training and Development plays mentorship role to key personnel in the training and development department, ensuring constant development in their professional skills, and readying them for the occupation of his position in the event of his absence or retirement.

2. Strategic role: The Director of Training and Development plays a strategic role where he is in charge of approving and developing effective training programs and materials, making regular modifications to programs where necessary. The Director of Training and Development also plays a leading role in the development and documentation of the training path for key positions within the business and communicating this information as needed.

3. Analytic role: The Director of Training and Development is tasked with an analytical role where he conducts research, approves, and makes further recommendations for appropriate learning management systems and databases. The Director of Training and Development additionally develops, implements, monitors, and maintains both initial and ongoing training programs across the business.

4. Collaborative role: He collaborates with other human resources departmental directors in defining strategies and ensuring their alignment in order to avoid conflicts of interest. In this collaboration, the Director of Training and Development also assists other HR professionals in their training needs specific to their areas of specialty.

He also liaises with various other departmental heads and managers ensuring proper execution of ongoing departmental training programs in order to achieve the desired results and ultimately improve the overall performance of the business. The Director of Training and Development also collaborates with these departmental heads and managers in order to establish and maintain training metrics and to evaluate the effectiveness of training.

5. Expert: In this position, the Director stays up to date with the latest instructional technologies through the establishment of personal networks, attendance of workshops, reviewing of professional publications, and participation in professional industry associations. This way, the Director is able to introduce the latest and most applicable trends in training and development for inclusion in the overall strategy, constantly maintaining and updating training programs within the business.

A company’s most important asset is their employees, bar none. And while it’s important to source and hire skilled candidates from the start, there’s always room for additional training, learning, and development. Although you could outsource training and development programs, your business may benefit from hiring a director of learning and development (or director of training).