I was recently teaching my son how to drive. I had two choices. I could either teach him the mechanics of driving—turn here, put on the brake, go to reverse. Or, I could teach him a more holistic approach to driving—always be aware of the other driver, be cautious in traffic, etc. Of course, I wanted to teach him a larger view of driving.

Training is the same way. The first and most basic type of training centers on teaching employees to improve their performance of required skills and tasks. The second type of training also includes skills and behaviors that align with larger company initiatives and goals.

But how do you do that in planning your company's training process? Promotional Consultant Today shares these four important steps.

1. Define and keep your most important objectives in mind. Begin with the end in mind. Are you striving to create a company known for delivering superlative customer satisfaction? That is a great objective, but reaching it means defining specifics that can get you there. For example, you could plan to train your phone reps to resolve 90 percent of all complaints during customers' first calls. Or you could focus on training those reps to deliver the kind of care that gets 90 percent of callers to report that they are "extremely satisfied" on post-call surveys. When you define goals, you can design training that achieves them.

2. Break down the silo walls. What if your trainers thought outside the silos of their specific departments and delivered valuable instruction that resulted in improvements across your entire organization? One way to reach this objective is to initiate discussions between your training team and the people who create marketing and advertising, manage your supply chain, oversee your online presence and more. The more disciplines you invite into the process, the more likely your training team will find ways to make the training process more encompassing and effective.

3. Don't create training in a vacuum. Whether your training team works in-house or you use an outside training development company, make sure to engage them in conversations regarding company collateral. This should include everything from company quarterly reports, relevant trade publications, news stories about your organization, press releases and all other pertinent documents you can provide. Do all those materials suggest any untapped opportunities to align your training specifics with larger trends, goals and initiatives?

4. Tie your training to measureable metrics: It is essential to develop a set of clear metrics to measure before and after training. It is the only way to understand what your training has accomplished and how much closer you are to meeting your goals.

If you ask a group of businesspeople to define what training is, chances are that most of them will say something like, "Training is a process that teaches people the skills they need to do their jobs better." Of course, that is true. But if you then go on to ask a series of deeper questions like, "Wouldn't you like your training to create a workforce that builds your brand, helps your company achieve its mission and communicates what you stand for to the world?" many of those business people should enthusiastically reply, "Yes, we would!"

As you launch new training initiatives or refine those you already have, keep those larger issues in mind. The better you can align training with your business goals, the more successful you can become.

Source: Cordell Riley is the founder and president of Tortal Training, a leading provider of training solutions in the franchise industry. Cordell is a 20-year franchise veteran and a Certified Franchise Executive. Before joining Tortal, Cordell was with Driven Brands in various operations and training roles with increasing levels of responsibility. He currently serves on the Educational Foundation of the International Franchise Association.