How are you doing it?

JD: I'm not sure what you're asking. Do you want members of your training team to seek certifications -- like certified professional technologist (ISPI) or the CPLP that ATD provides? 

No, I am looking for ideas of how other organizations are structuring training and certifications for their internal staff.

For example, a certification that would show their level of knowledge of the companies product.

Hi Jessica,

Super question. But as you probably know it's a really big topic.  So to get things started at least, here are a couple random thoughts/approaches we've used in the past.

• Please know that less is often more here.  Many organizations have grand visions for certifications, knowledge levels,  job profile required skills, etc.  In reality creating these in a way that translates to business results, administering them, and maintaining them can be far more daunting than folks first realize.  As a result, these efforts often tend to "fall apart" over time.  So my usual advice is to do tread really lightly here and go for a modest approach.
• To the point above, one sound strategy is to go with a simple two-tiered approach based on time in role; what you need to know in first x days, what you need to know after that. This allows you to incorporate the "certification" idea with some standardized new hire training, still allow for more expert knowledge when they are ready, and still not require full-blown competency mapping for each and every role in the organization.
• Often this sort of thing is managed in accordance with your LMS's capabilities. I've seen it handled as curriculum, job profiles, learning paths, competency/skills, and group structure. Ultimately you are going to have to deploy, administer, and report against this in a way that works with your LMS's capabilities.  So partner with your provider to see what best-practices their other clients are using to achieve a similar objective.
• Differentiate very carefully between "required" and "suggested" content/courses.  Ideally only a small handful of courses should be truly required.  And if they are, you will need to secure steadfast support all the way up the chain for thee need, and the consequences for not completing. This includes a published escalation strategy.  There is nothing more corrosive to the effort than requiring a ton of course and then not really holding folks fully accountable for not completing them. Think sage parenting advice here: "Have few hard rules, but really stick to the ones you have"
• Another option I've seen work, is to consider a holistic view to the roles. Especially in smaller orgs. In other words instead of having a bunch of separate categories of courses like HR-compliance, onboarding, hard skills, management skills, company history, etc; think in terms of what are the things really required to be a successful "individual contributor" in your role. Or what are the things required to be a successful "manager"  or "manager or managers' in your role.  Another side benefit of this approach is it that it easily aligns with learning community approaches where peers can learn from each other.

So hopefully some of this ramble will prove helpful, or at least stimulate some debate for you! ;-)

Hope this helps and good luck,

Bob

Jessica, a quick, bulleted approach:

1. produce a full curriculum - what courses are needed for each job position, in what order of delivery (which is the proceeding order), by which delivery method (classroom, online, games etc.), designs (case studies, learner presentation or demonstration of knowledge, proctored or open testing), etc.

2. what knowledge or outcomes are required for each course to be proficient (passing assessment scores, Kirkpatrick or similar metrics, KPIs, xAPI statements (if needed), which management reports will be expected and how often, determine how your feedback/revisions are incorporated, what's in it for me and the company

3. certification, recognition programs, rewards/game boards

4. internal marketing of your training, regular reporting of results, highlights of people becoming proficient, etc.

5. determine up front if your training will be certified by a recognized external third party and what value that is to the learners (obviously this has more value to the learner and the company than just a course certificate)

Tell me if I missed your intent.

@Bob S and @David - Great information, thank you!