The evaluation of a corporate training program is an integral aspect to understanding its overall effectiveness. Using different approaches to observe and measure how well your corporate training program is doing will allow you to ensure you have not wasted both time and money. In some cases, you may discover your training program is lackluster and does not provide a good return on investment. On the other hand, you may see the training model you have implemented is effective and your employees are responding to it well. In this post we will go over some of the main challenges of the evaluation process as well as tips to help you determine what the best approaches are to evaluate training.
Challenges Faced
One difficulty companies find when the time comes to evaluate training is they do not take the time to analyze what their training needs really are. It is virtually impossible to assess how well a training program is doing if you do not know exactly what your goals are. We know your goal is to train your employees, but what specifically do you want them to walk away with? In order to combat this problem, sit down and do a training-needs analysis so you can discover skill gaps and other issues related to your objective.
Another issue facing companies is measuring knowledge retention and skills learned. This is why it is crucial to incorporate a ‘learning level’ into your evaluation approach. In dividing the evaluation process into different levels, you will be able to more accurately measure what your employees have learned and if they have reached your desired level of learning. For instance, do your learners just need to comprehend the information or be able to apply the knowledge to a specific task?
Also, is the content and delivery method relevant and engaging with your audience? If your corporate training is directed towards a younger audience, chances are, a presentation style session may not be the best delivery method. Without taking the time to really delve in to the details of your training, you may overlook the question, “is my delivery method the most effective way to reach my audience?”
Methods
There are many different approaches to training evaluation; however, there are certain approaches that provide more insight than others. Goal-based models tend to be extremely effective because they allow you to objectively look at the effectiveness and impact of your training program. These are a few functions of goal-based evaluation:
- Reaction - This is an integral part of the evaluation process because it measures precisely how your employees have reacted to the training. Your employees should feel like they have gained knowledge or skills from the training. By measuring reaction you can see how your audience is responding to the training, which in turn gives you the necessary information to make adjustments if need be.
- Learning and Behavior - This step of your training evaluation allows you to measure what your employees have learned and how their behaviors have changed. You should have a list of learning objectives you expect to be met by your employees, which will be the starting point for determining how well they are being accomplished. Knowing whether or not your employees are actually learning what you intend will help you see where you need to make adjustments in your training programs. You can do this by either visually recognizing the change has occurred, or by way of post assessment, to name a couple.
- Bottom line - Once you have completed the evaluation you can then analyze the end results and determine whether the training model is helping your employees and business overall. If the results show that your employees are in fact learning what you intended, responding positively and retaining the information, this should mean that you are seeing a good ROI and that your initial objectives for the program have been met. Also, by benchmarking statistics and figures before and after training, you can get an idea of how effective your corporate training is. For instance, tracking sales figures before your training and comparing that data to figures following training roll out.
Corporate training evaluation is not an easy task. By outlining your intended learning objectives before the training takes place and analyzing what your actual goals are, you are setting yourself up for success. During the evaluation it is crucial to communicate well with your team and measure their reactions, behavior, and how well they have retained the information in question. Also, benchmarking important figures to track performance before and after training. To learn more about evaluating your corporate training, or to discuss an evaluation of your current training, contact us.