Measuring training results

Ensuring training budgets remain healthy by demonstrating tangible results.
By Alistair Lamont, Senior Consultant, the alphaeight institute, www.alphaeight.com.

Some training departments make, and are seen to make, valuable contributions to their organisations. Others are seen as, or depicted by others, in a rather different light. Many view T&D departments as ones:

• that consume profits without adding to the bottom line;
• where all the ‘happy clappy’ stuff happens;
• that are ‘nice’ but really not vital to success;
• that are difficult to measure.

The recent economic turmoil has given these views even more of a spotlight as every department argues for its budgets. Often these accusations are easy to make because it is more difficult for training departments to show a direct effect on the bottom line in the same way that a sales department can. This means that training, and thus HR budgets are often the first to be cut when company belt-tightening exercises are launched.

HR as a boutique training consultancy
To negotiate at a board level in difficult times, HR needs to be able to present an effective argument based on the measurable value you add to the organisation. For those brave enough to try, I would suggest a radical approach that begins with a new premise that you are not a training department, instead you are a boutique training consultancy with just one client—who can dictate your survival. In this new world the following questions should start to appear for you:

• What are my client’s needs?
• What key learning and development initiatives will increase profitability and cut costs both in the short and long term?
• How do I develop great relationships so I can understand opportunities and get effective feedback on our services?
• How can I show my clients tangible and   measurable results so they continue to make budget provision for my services?

Measuring effectively
Unfortunately, for many companies and training providers, measuring results means a feedback form or tick sheet which is generally given after the training session and is often more concerned with the facilities and how good the food was than the actual relevance and effectiveness of the training programme.

In our new world of being a boutique training consultancy this is not going to cut it anymore—and may well lead to the loss of your only client. I have been a trainer, coach and facilitator for many companies across the world for over 15 years and when working with clients there are a number of key elements I would advise you to put in place to ensure training results are measured effectively.

1. Measure before, during and after
Make sure that any measurement that you do:

• starts with a benchmark;
• measures again following the training; and
• measures again a few months after the training.

2. Get all stakeholders involved
To measure effectively you need to get all the stakeholders involved in the process.
This is the element that is the most challenging and time consuming, and therefore often not done, because you need to collect data from a variety of stakeholders:

• the first and most important stakeholders are the participants themselves
• the second stakeholders are the functional heads or the department heads, who have nominated the participants for learning the skills
• the third stakeholders are the internal or external customers, who will expect better performance from the participants of the training

3. Ensure that measurement guarantees anonymity for everyone involved
If you want to get accurate data – especially as a benchmark, you need to make sure that the participants understand that there is no individual judgment being made on their answers (otherwise they may paint a slightly rosier picture in the initial benchmark that will distort your data).
The best way to do this is to ensure contact is through an external partner.

4. Keep it simple and specific
If you give people highly complex and time consuming forms they may not give the questions the attention you require.
Keep it simple by using a 1-5 scale that can be ticked and try not to give any more than eight questions. Finally make sure all the questions are very specific to the skills and behaviours, if it’s mainly general questions participants will not take it seriously.

5. If you lack internal resources, outsource it
If you don’t have the resources to do the measurement for internal training (you can make sure that external trainers follow your measurement procedure), then outsource it to a training provider or a specialist such as SHL that can create and run individual and team 360° assessments for you—these are especially useful if you are looking at a longer term leadership or management development programme.

6. Create case studies
Once you have successfully measured your training, create case studies.
They are the best way to internally communicate the success of your training activity.
A great case study should include:

• the situation before the training outlined by all the stakeholders;
• the training solution;
• the result utilising data from the surveys that show improvements and areas for further development;
• comments captured from attendees.