There’s a big difference between a one-size-fits-all training approach and personalized learning experience.
To achieve the latter, you have to gain a deep understanding of your audience – their needs, their preferences, their goals, etc.
The thing is, the organization will quickly tell you what it wants, but it rarely accommodates the learner itself.
That’s where learner personas can become one of the most valuable tools in your box.
Let’s look at what they are and why you need them.
What is a learner persona?
If you’ve ever dabbled in marketing, then you may have already heard of the “buyer persona” – a fictional representation of the target customer.
Well, a learner persona is kind of the same thing, only it describes the type of person who your training is aimed at.
The persona consists of standard information (demographics, job roles, etc.), but it also provides insightful details such as learner attitudes, preferences, and pain points.
It should be a fictional person created from a mix of your intended audience. Never base it on one single (real) individual. This narrows down the scope of the persona too much and isn’t representative of the wider group.
What’s the goal here, exactly?
You use the learner persona to create more targeted, relevant, and personalized training experiences. It shows you what you really have to focus on and where (and how) to concentrate your efforts.
What makes learner personas important?
Learning is for the learner, right?
By developing a learner persona, you can move the training from a management-mandated tickbox exercise into something that actually works for the audience.
Use the persona to shift the design process away from an organization’s idea of what training should be and move it to a learner-centered approach with way better outcomes.
Understand the learner’s level
Who are we dealing with here?
Individuals that understand complex information and technical jargon? Or, workers that require simplified concepts or foundational knowledge?
You need to know where your learners sit in regards to this so you can aim the content and language to fit their current level. The learner persona will clearly reveal this information.
Identify additional goals and needs
The organization will have some very firm goals in mind about what they want the training to achieve, but seldom do they recognize the additional needs of the learners.
For example, if you are tasked with designing customer service training, the organization will probably want to see an increase in customer satisfaction scores.
That’s great, but what do the learners need to get to that point?
While they may have top-notch product knowledge, they could lack conflict-handling skills. Or, perhaps they don’t have an insight into internal processes that could help them make recommendations.
These are the types of pain points you won’t uncover without developing learner personas.
How do the learners work day-to-day?
“We want a full-day training workshop that everyone must attend.”
Okay. But how feasible is that in reality?
Most people can’t leave their desks for a full day, and besides, a full day of training is heavy-going.
The last thing you want is constant interruptions, distractions, or fatigue. And a learner persona will give you much-needed insight into people’s roles and how training can best fit around them.
What are their attitudes towards learning?
Let’s face it, organizations don’t always have the best attitude toward training. Many view it as a necessary inconvenience that must be tolerated instead of embraced.
I’m not saying that this is the case for all businesses – some are amazingly encouraging. But whatever attitude they do have undoubtedly filters down to the employees and forms part of the workplace culture.
Understanding this within the learner persona will enable you to determine how much you need to communicate the value of the training. And whether you need to work to convince audiences that it’s a worthwhile exercise.
Beyond that, learner attitudes will reveal their preferences for training styles and what experiences have shaped their outlook so far. All incredibly useful stuff to know.
Do you only need one persona? Or more?
The number of learner personas you need depends on two things:
- The size and diversity of your audience
- The scope of the training design
If the organization is large with multiple groups of learners from different departments, roles, and skill levels, then you may need up to five learner personas. In contrast, if the audience is small with a lot of similarities, then one persona may suffice.
For example, a team of face-to-face salespeople will have very different traits and needs from a programming department. So, you’d need two different personas to capture accurate information.
Generally speaking, though, between one and four personas is sufficient.
How to write a learner persona in 5 steps
1. Start investigating
Start by gathering as much demographical information as you can about your audience. Use actual, real data – don’t fake it. You may have to consult with HR to gain access to what you need.
Next, you’re going to dive into the good stuff. This is where the real research begins, and you find out what makes your learners tick and what turns them off.
Some good ways to get this information include:
- Interviewing individuals from each of your demographic groups
- Running surveys and questionnaires
- Observing learners in their roles and work environments
- Reviewing existing training data
- Asking managers and supervisors about their teams
Find out as much as you can. The more information you can get, the better your personas will become.
2. Analyze
Once you have the data in hand, start analyzing it. Look for trends and patterns like common pain points, behaviors, etc.
Gather these commonalities and characteristics and group them. For instance, you might end up with a group for young, tech-savvy, go-getters and another for tech-phobic individuals who have no interest in career progression.
This will guide you in creating the right number of learner personas.
Your analysis will also reveal the goals of each persona.
As discussed earlier, these aren’t the organization’s goals but rather what the individual expects to get out of the learning experience and what they need to be successful.
3. Create a persona template
Once all your data is grouped and organized, it’s time to put it all into a readable format. For this, you need a template.
You can design one from scratch or find and use an existing template. There are plenty available online – free and paid. Just search for “learner persona template,” and you’ll be spoiled with choice.
4. Build the personas
With your template in place, you can now start filling in all the details.
Make sure they contain the right information but don’t overload them with fluff and rambling sentences. The reader should be able to tell at a glance what the persona is.
Here’s what they should include:
- Demographics
- Attitudes and beliefs toward learning
- Learner needs
- Long- and short-term goals
- Existing skills and knowledge levels
- Behavior patterns
- Obstacles, pain points, and challenges
5. Actually use them
This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s surprising how often these things are developed and then shoved in a drawer or little-used folder and then forgotten about.
If you’re going to go to the effort of creating personas, make sure you use them frequently:
- Make the learner persona an integral part of your instructional design process.
- Involve them in every decision you make.
- Keep them in a visible, easily accessible place so you can refer to them quickly and at any time.
Best practices for strong learner personas
Don’t get bogged down in personal details
Personal details are necessary to shape the persona, but don’t go overboard.
We don’t need to know that Jane has three cats and loves lazy Sunday mornings reading in bed and drinking coffee.
While I’m always eager to learn about anyone’s cats, this information doesn’t help us with training design.
Instead, what we do need to know is that Jane works in a fast-paced sales environment and is time-poor. She, therefore, prefers short, bite-sized training modules.
Avoid stereotypes
We’re not creating cartoon characters here.
Don’t let judgments and stereotypes sneak their way into your personas. You’ll end up with inaccurate profiles that don’t reflect reality.
Be careful of unconscious bias, too, and think about whether adding ethnicity, gender, religion, etc. will benefit or hinder the persona.
Watch out for overlap
A key point I need to make is that each of your personas should be completely different.
Once you start developing them, you may find that some overlap with each other. If they are not distinct, this could indicate that you need to reduce the number you have.
There’s a good reason for this. Having too many similar personas will overcomplicate your design process and create unnecessary extra work for you.
Incorporate empathy
Put yourself in the shoes of the learner. What do they think and feel?
How does this shape their attitude towards training? How will it affect their learning?
Empathizing with your audience allows you to clearly view their pain points and challenges. These super-valuable insights will help you shape your learning design into more engaging experiences.
Compare personas to the real thing and adjust
Your personas are complete, but how do they hold up in various situations? Test them out and think about how each of them would respond.
Compare the personas to your audience and see how well they represent them.
Keep them dynamic. As you gather feedback and discover more, make adjustments to the personas until they become a seamlessly accurate representation of the group.
Wrap up
If you haven’t yet added learner personas to your toolkit, then your training design could be missing the mark.
Try them for your next project and see the difference they make.
You may just find it becomes easier to tailor content, anticipate challenges, and create a more engaging learning experience.
By Janette Bonnet
Janette Bonnet is an experienced L&D professional who is passionate about exploring instructional design techniques, trends, and innovations.