How can I measure if my training has been succesful?

Comments

[Damon Runyon]

A good question. What's the answer?

[Mark Jacobs]

I would like to answer that! - the short answer is best practice mmanagement. Let me expand.

Training and Development companies (like us) will often use feedback forms as a gauge to the success or otherwise of a training course.

But clients are not looking to find out if the delegates thought the training was good or useful, they really want the delegates to do things differently following the training (especially into long term long after the training has finished).

The problem is that most of us leave training wiht great intentions but do not get around to implementing much of what we learned and that is because on Monday morning it is easier to do what we have always done than try new things that are not yet comfortable. Several "manic days" later the learning points are becoming distant memories.

The key to gaining success in training is to make sure that the managers monitor / review any measures developed during training and to monitor the actual implentation of the new techniques by the team memebers.

If we want our team to do things differently then training acts as the catalyst but management must then take over and to embed best practice by making it important.

Management as always is the key. I would suggest that when we embark on training, that the manager should be very clear about what the team or team member should be doing differently.

The manager needs to consider how the will measure / monitor the change. In most instances this will be a mixture hard measures and softer "wathcing" of performance.

Example: Lets say a manager wants his customer care team trained in handling customers better. A good measure of a succesful training programme would be redction in comlaints or an improvement in (or development of) a customer survey.

We would also recommend that the manager spends time in just sitting with the team to see how they do things and to feed back both positive and developmental issues in a constructuve way.

Challenge? Most managers are too busy to do any of this so send teams on training courses which sit like an oasis on their own with no managerial back up.

It sounds like I blame the managers, but having been a manager for years I understand how difficult it is to extracate myself from the shear volume of stuff to do!

So the way we approach training teams is to start with the managers and develop a paper based or online system of review and measurement of real world improvements.

That was the long answer.

Mark Jacobs