Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2017 - 61

TRADITIONAL TRAINING IS ONLY
PART OF A PERFORMANCE AND SUPPORT PACKAGE.
the less impact a program has on the
bottom line or mission accomplishment,
the less that should be invested in
evaluation at any level.
During the program planning phase,
think about each program through
the lens of how it could contribute to
your organization's most important
outcomes. If you are not able to easily
articulate how the program contributes
organizationally, then it is probably not
a good candidate for a robust evaluation
plan. Think about what data would be
useful to you, the training professional,
and what information stakeholders
might want to see, if any, and focus
evaluation efforts on those items.
In the case of a leadership development
program, the possible outcomes could
be significant to the company. So, good
thought and planning should be put
into how progress and outcomes will be
monitored and reported throughout the
program. As an added benefit, regular
monitoring allows for corrections along
the way, maximizing program success
and results.

3|

SPENDING RESOURCES
TO EVALUATE TRAINING ONLY

On-the-job performance is the most
important thing to evaluate for
mission-critical training. Without onthe-job application, training has no
hope of contributing to organizational
results, and therefore is of little value to
the organization.
Save resources for post-program
evaluation by building evaluation of the
training into the design of a program.
Nearly any activity and interaction during
training could be tracked and reported as
validation of knowledge and skill.
To evaluate customer satisfaction with
your programs, focus on formative
methods that are implemented during

the training. Then, formally evaluate the
few key items you plan to analyze and
use, or report to stakeholders.

4|

RELYING SOLELY ON
STANDARDIZED SURVEYS

Some believe in the existence of a miracle
survey that will give you all the training
evaluation data you need. Don't buy it.
Surveys, particularly those administered
and tabulated electronically, are a
wonderfully efficient means of gathering
data. However, response rates tend to be
low, and there is a limit to the types of
information that can be gathered.
It is so easy to disseminate these surveys
that they are often launched after every
program, no matter how large or small.
The questions are not customized to the
program or data, and people quickly
pick up on the garbage in, garbage out
cycle. This creates survey fatigue, and
makes it harder to gather meaningful
data for any program.
For mission-critical programs, gather both
quantitative (numeric) and qualitative
(descriptive) data. Open-ended survey
questions can gather quantitative data
to some degree, but adding another
evaluation method provides more data.
For example, a post-program survey
could be administered, and results
analyzed. If a particular trend is identified,
a sampling of program participants could
be interviewed and asked open-ended
questions on a key topic.
Build touch points into your training
programs for facilitators to solicit
feedback, and ask your facilitators for
their feedback via a survey or interview
after the program.

5|

NOT USING
COLLECTED DATA

When you survey a group of individuals,
you are making an implicit agreement

with them that you will act upon their
aggregated feedback. Continuing to ask
for feedback when the participants can
clearly see that you are doing nothing
with it will quickly create the expectation
that nothing will change, and they will
stop giving it.
Timely review of evaluation data is also
important. Instead of simply measuring
and reporting what happened, review
the data as you receive it, and respond
proactively to what is (or is not)
happening. Make positive changes to
maximize performance and outcomes.
Publicize how the data is being used to
support on-the-job performance and
key organizational results.
For your next major initiative, create
an evaluation plan with touch points
during and after the training. A training
professional at a hospital chain found
that early adoption of the safety practices
she taught was low. She spoke with
nurses and observed their behavior in the
hospital and made subsequent program
modifications, and implementation
levels improved. She commented that
her stakeholders were more impressed
about the initial failure and the recovery
plan than they were with the stories of
things that went well from the beginning.
By keeping stakeholders apprised of
program progress, she earned their trust
and support.
Expect and plan for program modifications
during and after training, and use data
to guide how to maximize performance
and results. You will create and
demonstrate value to your organization,
and earn stakeholder respect as a trusted
business advisor.
Jim and Wendy Kirkpatrick are co-authors
of Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training
Evaluation. Together they run Kirkpatrick
Partners, a company dedicated to helping
training professionals create and demonstrate
program value. Email the authors.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING 20 1 7 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2017

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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_spring2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_fall2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_summer2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_spring2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210708
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