Dear Izzy

My company rarely bothers evaluating training programmes. But I can’t abide this, ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’, mentality. What can we do to monitor and measure the effectiveness of training?

The New Year – the time for some resolutions – get fit, lose weight, drink less. We’ve probably all thought (maybe even done something) about all of these at some point. But how would I know I’d lost weight if I didn’t know what I weighed at the start? What will ‘success’ look like, what is realistic and achievable? What is my plan and what help do I need to stick to it – given that I have a business trip abroad, three dinner parties and a sales conference coming up?

Evaluation demonstrates value. Measuring the effectiveness of training isn’t always easy, but it is always possible. My clients know that I will nag them about ‘metrics’; I want to know that the training we deliver brings results. Evaluating training needs a starting point – whether you are applying Evaluating Training Programs by Donald Kirkpatrick or simply evaluating ‘happy’ sheets at the end.

Let’s look at it in steps.

First, it is important to identify metrics that are clearly aligned to your business or organisational goals. For example, with one public sector client the focus was to significantly reduce stress-related sickness absence.

Another client found it was about growing margin from existing customers, not revenue or new accounts. HR and the training team should work closely with senior management to really understand the key business drivers. Build these into the programme and drive action plans as a result of the training.

Our public sector client reduced stressrelated sickness absence by more than 40 per cent. The commercial client increased margins by £55m and contract retention rose to 97 per cent – the highest in the company’s history. It works.

Second, work on your managers and encourage them to do what their job title says – manage. If each employee or team member has a clear development plan with agreed objectives and aims, any training course can link to their personal plan.

Let’s consider the need to develop someone’s presentation skills. The manager should agree which skills and behaviours need developing, discuss how this will be monitored, support them through training and monitor them afterwards, giving accurate and databased feedback.

In practical terms, as a result of attending a presentation skills workshop, that person could then deliver three different presentations within the organisation, giving their manager an opportunity to observe, review and provide feedback. Be wary of loose suggestions such as “show a significant improvement in your presentation skills” – what will that look like? How will you or the manager evaluate it?

So make sure that managers can explain clearly what improvements or changes they are looking for.

Third, at the start of a workshop or training session, ask the delegates to do a quick ‘self’ appraisal – a tick, a cross, or a question mark against each topic in the workshop. For example, how well do they feel they set objectives, cold-call or manage their time?

Fourth, at the end of each session, they review for themselves – what they’ve learned and what specifically they will do differently back in the workplace as a result of the training and feedback they have just received.

Moreover, get them to write it down on the self-appraisal sheet. It might not be sophisticated, but it works and you can then start to evaluate and monitor how people are really applying the training received.

Isobel Rimmer is managing director of the Masterclass training company. She can be contacted on +44 (0)1753 676666

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