Guest blogger Liz Barnes, an expert in the training evaluation process, looks at best practice thinking on the evaluation of training
With all departments under increasing pressure to prove ‘best value’ for all expenditure, the need for L&D professionals to demonstrate value from training programmes looks set to continue. However, there is much variation in how – and whether – organisations are evaluating training programmes effectively.
Many of our clients use a structured approach to L&D evaluation with internal systems for pre, during and post training evaluation. And such investment can pay real dividends.
But where do you start?
The most common training evaluation question we hear from clients looking at developing a robust training evaluation process is: “What should I evaluate?” And it is a very valid starting point, because it is easy to get bogged down with the course detail and forget to determine the WHO, WHY and WHAT of training evaluation.
But unless you start in the right place, you won’t be able to measure what matters. So build a training evaluation process by first asking:
- Who cares about evaluation and who are we evaluating for?
- Why are we evaluating – do we want to measure effectiveness, efficiency or both?
- What learning are we evaluating and what are the costs and benefits of that learning?
When it comes to answering these questions, start with the needs of your stakeholders. Make sure you include all relevant stakeholders in your thinking. And remember to consider the practicalities of what it is they want to know. For example, how do they want this reported and how will they use it?
No doubt your stakeholders will be concerned about outcomes. Anyone who cares about training in your organisation will want to know what the results have been – they are much less concerned about the learning process. They will want to know how they as individuals, teams, departments or other groups, will benefit from the learning.
If you are familiar with the old, but still incredibly valuable, Kirkpatrick training evaluation model, this is Level 4 evaluation, and it usually requires quantifiable ways to measure the impact of the training on the organisation, such as sales figures, workplace injuries, productivity etc.
Focusing on results, means your evaluation system will have the end goal in mind. You then need to work backwards to define desired behaviours (Kirkpatrick Level 3) from the training – i.e. what is the individual doing differently in their job as a result of the training. You then need to evaluate the knowledge and understanding acquired as a result of the training (Kirkpatrick Level 2). This is about validation and seeks to measure what new knowledge or skills have been acquired. Evaluation tools might include written or performance tests before and after training.
And finally we get to the trainee’s perception of the training influenced by basic quality control measures of satisfaction, attendance and completion (Kirkpatrick Level 1). Questionnaires can assess reactions and attitudes and gather opinions about training methods, instructors, the environment and other aspects of the training process.
Steve helped us when we had a lot of change going on in the organisation. He was able to creatively bring two disparate groups together and helped us to work as one larger team. He is personable and understands his audience well. A great trainer and facilitator.
