Don't worry about whether you completely understand all the terms used in training or whether your business plan is perfect or not. The key is to get started, because you have to assume that your competitors already have and are on the verge of stealing competitive advantage from you. Start simple, but start!

There is little doubt that training can be a key lever for improving your business performance. It's worth taking some time to think carefully about what training is going to deliver for your business and what you anticipate getting from your investment of time and resources. If you can do this with a degree of clarity, you are already on the way to making a clear link between training input and business value output.

The following diagram illustrates a systematic cycle for linking training to your business plan and starts with the goals of your business. If you have not reviewed these for a while, it may be worth conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of your business. Use this to review, confirm or amend the existing goals for your business. This process is particularly important in a rapidly changing and competitive environment. 

A SWOT analysis is a tool that helps identify internal and external factors that add or reduce value. The elements of the model are:

• Strengths (positive internal factors)
• Weaknesses (negative internal factors)
• Opportunities (positive external factors)
• Threats (negative external factors).