Knowing Your ‘Worth’ as an Instructional Designer: Which Hat Will You Wear Today?

Over the years, I have noticed that the title of Instructional Designer has varied in its job description. It seems every industry has its own definition of what an instructional designer should be and do. Here is the list of descriptions I have compiled so far:

• Responsible for creating job aides, curriculum, user guides, workbooks, and facilitator/participant guides.
• Responsible for managing learning programs, managing external resources for the project (such as voice talents and developers), and mentoring junior instructional designers.
• Responsible for creating style guides for learning projects and maintaining consistency throughout all the training materials and courses produced.
• Responsible for creating eLearning storyboards and ensuring Quality Assurance throughout the entire module.
• Responsible for editing training materials and curriculum on an academic level.
• Responsible for developing eLearning modules.
• Responsible for converting PowerPoints to eLearning.
• Responsible for conducting training needs analyses and creating the design document for a training program (classroom, online, or a combination of both).
• Responsible for the maintenance and content updates of the organization’s training materials within SharePoint, as well as the eLearning modules within the LMS.

Pretty extensive list, right? How many of the bullets above are part of your current job role?

I’m guessing it’s not hard to believe that in some cases, industries are looking for an Instructional Designer to be two, three, or even ALL of the above within this ONE title.

Next, let’s consider a few of the basic skills that are required to be an Instructional Designer:

• The ability to analyze large chunks of data simultaneously and merge them into a concise high-level or detailed outline that flows logically for the learner.
• The ability to create meaningful, measurable, and performance-based course objectives.
• Excellent grammar and writing skills, including sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation.
• The ability to prioritize tasks and multitask.
• Time management skills.
• Technical skills, which may include the ability to use MS Office, custom or proprietary software, phone and video conferencing tools, file-sharing tools, search engines for research, and development tools for course development.

When you consider all the responsibilities and elaborate skills required to do your job as an Instructional Designer, you must then consider if you are truly earning your ‘Worth’.

Why is this important?

Because Instructional Design freelancers and full-time employees have to know their ‘Worth’ in order to determine if they are being compensated fairly and what the right role is for their lifestyle. For example, freelancing may provide a higher rate and allow you to spend more time with family and friends, and even travel, but it is not stable throughout the year and offers no healthcare or investment benefits (such as a 401K).

And even if freelancing works for your lifestyle, if you do not know your ‘Worth’, you may even shortchange yourself in the wording of your contracts with clients.

For example, do you include project management hours, meetings, technical support (such as LMS consulting), and revisions and scope changes? ALL of these items should be specified in detail within your Statement of Work, and benefit both you and the client. Every minute of your time as an Instructional Design freelancer (or consultant) is critical to your livelihood.

What happens when a client cancels halfway through a project? How do you get compensated for that? You have brought on a team for the project, spent countless hours preparing for kickoff and analyzing content, and now you lose all those hours. You have to account for your ‘Worth’ in every aspect of the job and document how to handle these instances in your contracts.

Conclusion

So, the next time you are applying for a role as an Instructional Designer, consider your ‘Worth’ and make sure you are getting the maximum benefits from that role…because the role of Instructional Designer is not just one task. It is a multi-faceted role that encompasses various tasks and requires specific skills that not everyone possesses. And that makes YOU special.

Hats off to all my Instructional Designers. You wear many hats, and you wear them well.

Until next time…