Running head: INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

Instructional Design
Kimberly Kruse
CUR/516
October 12, 2015
Joan Beckner

Instructional Design
Title: The Art of Curiosity
Targeted Audience and Audience Description: This course will focus on front
line sales team advisors and their management staff, a total population of 45
employees. . The median age of this employee group is 32, with an average of 2
years of sales experience. The front line sales team averages 3 years of sales
experience and the management team averages 7 years of sales experience. This
employee population works remotely across the United States. Currently training is
administered regularly via Web-Ex, Clear Slide and Skype and most employees are
comfortable with this delivery medium. Participants will be required to attend and
therefore might not be willing participants.
Delivery Modality: Virtual
Length of Course and Anticipated Start Date: The duration of instruction will
last 3 weeks, to include 1 hour of instruction and 1 hour of self-study each week. A
total of 6 hours of instruction. Our anticipated start date is January 4, 2016 and will
conclude on January 22, 2016.
Course Description: Based on the book, A More Beautiful Question by Warren
Berger, this training focuses on the value of professional curiosity. Participants will
gain an understanding of the purpose in asking questions, how to form meaningful
and purpose driven inquires and how to evaluate their progress in obtaining
resolutions. The sales team will gain perspective on how conducting discovery
questions can lead to a more tailored and needs-based sales proposal, which will
result in increased transactions.
Learning Goals and Objectives:

Goal 1: Learners will understand the importance of asking quality questions.

o Objective: Sales Executives will recite 3 benefits of asking quality
questions.
Goal 2: Learners will develop skill sets to aid in formulating quality questions.
o Objective: Sales Executives will create 10 open ended questions for a
specific client discovery appointment.
o Objective: Sales Executives will demonstrate open ended questions
during a mock client discovery meeting for 70% of the conversation.
Goal 3: Learners will develop enhanced knowledge of their clients needs.
o Objective: Sales Executives will demonstrate an understanding of their
clients trainings needs by accurately stating the clients desired
outcomes.

Description of Objectives:
The outlined learning objectives include problem based learning techniques,
designed to empower participants to conduct research, integrate theory and
practice and apply knowledge and skills. A collaborative learning environment is

also present in the medium of instruction. The online classroom platform

encourages cooperative learning and teamwork in preparation of assignment
completions. Both elements are vital to the success of this course given the
geographical restrictions and desired outcome of the course.
Instructional Strategies and Activities:
This course will be administered by including simulations, instructional videos,
individual reading and assignment completion. Week one our activity will require
participants to listen to a video instruction by our instructor, complete an individual
reading assignment and fulfill an assignment to assess their comprehension. Week
two participants will also listen to a video instruction by our instructor, watch a
recorded demonstration of an effective client appointment and fulfill an assignment
designed to assess their understanding. Week three sales executives will participate
in a simulation of a client appointment, following their completion of observing this
weeks instructor lesson.
Instructional Technologies:
Participants will be immersed in a virtual learning environment via a platform
referred to as XXXXXX. This platform allows real time and asynchronous instruction,
allowing participants to log in for live professor instructions if and when their
schedules allow or review the lecture at their leisure. This platform also allows
participants to turn in individual assignments directly to the instructor and
participate in conversations and debate with fellow colleagues across the globe. For
the final assignment, participants will select a scheduled time for a live client
appointment demonstration which will also occur in the classroom, using vide o
capabilities.
Implementation Team:
The following people will be involved in the implementation of this course:

Human Resources Team Disperse and administer surveys/questionnaires

Learning and Development Team Evaluate survey results, establish learning
objectives, curriculum development and administration of assessments
Instructor Development and facilitation of coursework
VP of Sales Channel Communication of training objectives and assisting with
post-training assessment
Managers and Sales Executives Participate in training and complete weekly
learning objectives and assignments.

Implementation Strategy:
Communication about this training will begin with an announcement email from the
Vice President of Sales. This email will be sent on November 2, 2015 and will outline
the benefits of this training and will include a save the date meeting planner for our
planned training dates of January 4 -22, 2016. Those benefits will include increased
understanding of clients needs, increased comfort in conducting client discovery
and ultimately an increase in closed sales. Once the email has gone out, the HR

team will administer an online survey to all advisors and managers, participants will
be asked to complete this survey by November 25, 2015. Two final survey reminders
will be sent to any employees who have not completed the survey by November 16
and November 20, 2015. The learning and development team will analyze the
results of the survey the week of November 30th. The learning and development
team will work with the instructor and any subject matter experts to begin crafting
the content. The learning objectives, content and assessments will be finalized
December 18th. In an effort to get our participants excited about the training, the VP
will be asking all participants to identify 3 things they hope to gain from
participating in this training. Since implementation of learning occurs long after the
course is complete, each sales executive and manager will be given the book, A
More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger. Managers will be asked to sprinkle in
lessons from the book for 2 months following the training.
Materials Needed:
Successful implementation of this course will require utilization of the online
learning platform, function of all employees laptops and webcams with home office
equipment, access to a WebEx account for final assessments, and 45 books for all
managers and sales executives. Assessments and activities will also need to be
created for all 3 weeks to increase participation
Assessment Overview:
Pre-assessment evaluations will be developed to gauge the advisors current level of
open-ended discovery questions. Questionnaires will be developed and
administered to both sales executives and their supervisors, these will evaluate the
motivation and desire to improve the advisors skills and their current perception of
their skills in this area. At the end of week 1 a worksheet will need to be created to
Pre-assessment evaluations will be developed to gauge the advisors current level of
open-ended discovery questions. Questionnaires will be developed and
administered to both sales executives and their supervisors, these will evaluate the
motivation and desire to improve the advisors skills and their current perception of
their skills in this area. At the end of week 1 a worksheet will need to be created to
test the comprehension of the first weeks material. The second week an
assessment will include the advisors ability to generate open ended questions after
probing questions and scenarios are presented. Lastly, in the final week, a
simulation will be administered to immerse advisors in a mock client appointment.
This will assess an advisors ability to perform open ended discovery questions
during a client interaction and truly gauge their comprehension and application of
new knowledge.
Evaluation Instruments:
Our instruments will include a pre-training questionnaire administered through
Survey Monkey. This will allow our team to collect electronic feedback and quickly
analyze the results and trends. In addition to this formative evaluation, an
assessment will be built to gauge the understanding of week 1 and week 2 material.
A summative evaluation will take place in the final week to determine the overall

success of our instruction and the comprehension and application of material by our
students. This assessment will be a simulation administered in WebEx and
leadership will gauge the advisors ability to ask meaningful open ended questions
during a mock client appointment.

Reference

Berger, W. (2014). A More Beautiful Question. New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA.