Too often, we build trainings around the content we want to share—without clarifying what our learners actually need.
When we organize a training around a long list of information, we risk missing the mark. The result? Trainings that may sound good on paper, but fail to engage participants or help them apply what they’ve learned.
Let’s explore how starting with a learner profile—sometimes called a learning needs assessment—can help you design trainings that connect, inspire, and drive action.
Why Learner-Centered Design Matters
Some trainers take the extra step of asking, “What do you want to learn?” That’s a good start—but it puts the responsibility on the learner to design the training for you.
Instead, we need to go deeper and ask:
- What do they want to achieve?
- What challenges are they facing?
- What hesitations might they have about participating?
- What platforms or communication tools do they use most often?
👉 We created a simple tool to help you do this: [Download the Learner Profile Worksheet here].
Building a learner profile ensures that both your training and your outreach strategies are focused on the right content and use the right methods.
Start with What You Already Know
You might think, “I don’t want to over-survey. I already know my members, staff, or coalition partners.”
That’s great. Start by reviewing what you’ve already gathered:
- Past surveys
- Meeting notes
- One-on-one conversations
Then build out your learner profile with targeted outreach.
Notice What Is Being Said—And What Isn’t
Sometimes learners ask for one thing, but mean something deeper. Here are a few real-world examples:
- A leadership committee asked for “public speaking” training. But by listening carefully, we realized their examples all came from speaking at events—they had never been invited to facilitate dialogue with their peers. The deeper need was leading conversations, not just presentations.
- A team of organizers requested a session on “time management.” After asking deeper questions, we learned they spent more time than necessary due to a lack of organizing systems to follow up with prospective members. Training only on time management would have addressed individual frustrations, not the shared root challenge.
If we had stopped at the surface-level ask, we would have missed the group’s real need—and delivered a less effective training.
Bridge Their Reality With Where They Want to Go
Your job as a trainer isn’t just to convey information—it’s to bridge the learner’s lived reality with their aspirations, even if they haven’t fully articulated those aspirations themselves.
As Brazilian educator Paulo Freire reminds us in We Make the Road by Walking:
“I need to know in whose favor I am trying to work. [This is] the political clarity that the educator has to have.”
Building a learner profile isn’t just a technical task—it’s an act of political clarity. It helps ensure that your training is grounded in the needs, challenges, and context of real people—not abstractions.
