Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2022 - 25

If
you've
ever
designed,
developed, delivered or
managed a training program,
you might get very excited when
you get rave reviews on your
Level 1 smile sheets. And you
should - it's the first measure
and earliest indicator of success.
But no matter how well you do
here, the question still remains: Is
it going to have a positive impact
on employee performance back
on the job? We want training
to be fun and engaging, but we
must also measure and report
higher levels of impact to make
our case for the business. If
investors, stakeholders and
leaders are spending millions
of dollars on training, they
want (and have every right)
to ask how much that fun
and engaging experience
will ultimately lead to better
employee behaviors, greater
profit and stronger growth.
If we don't give them this
evidence, then many skeptical
stakeholders will continue to
see even the most innovative
training experiences as fun,
but frivolous investments.
skeptical
So what exactly do these
want?
stakeholders
And why don't great Level 1
scores float their boat? To answer
this, let's look at how far " fun "
will get us within our larger, more
comprehensive six-level approach
to training evaluation. Here's a quick
review of all the levels we can measure:
Evaluation
Levels 1 - 6
Level 1: Did they like it? Level 1
measures the extent to which training
participants react positively to the
training experience. Were they engaged?
Was it fun? Were they satisfied with the
content and the way it was delivered?
Was it relevant to their role? Was it worth
their time?
Level 2: Did they learn anything? Level
2 measures the extent to which new
knowledge and skills were acquired
during the training. Are they leaving with
critical knowledge and capabilities that
will help them do their jobs better?
Level 3: Are they doing anything
differently and better? Level 3 measures
the extent
to which participants are
returning to their everyday jobs and
actually applying what they learned in
training. Do they do something better?
Do they do something more effectively
or more efficiently? Without this
application and transfer of knowledge,
training can never impact the business.
Level 4: Did it impact the business? Level
4 measures the extent to which training
is improving critical business metrics.
That is, did the behavioral improvements
and application of new knowledge and
skills lead to better business metrics
and higher performance? What was the
increase in productivity? What was the
increase in sales revenue, customer
satisfaction or cost-saving efficiencies?
Level 5: Was it worth the investment?
Level
5
measures
the
return
on
investment (ROI). That is, the extent
to which the benefits of a particular
training experience outweigh the costs
of that training experience. The final
ROI is expressed as a percentage of the
original investment.
Level 6: What factors maximize the
ROI? Level 6 is an evaluation of what
I call " ROI Maximizers. " This analysis
tells you which environmental factors
are best at influencing the impact of
TRAINING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - WINTER 2022 I WWW.TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM/MAGAZINE
your training back on the job. Are there
things going on in the participant's
immediate work environment (e.g.,
direct manager support) that are either
helping or hindering the impact of all
your training efforts?
If we look at Table 1, we see that a fun
and engaging training experience will
get us past Level 1 - and that's it! Can
we ask stakeholders and business
leaders to feel good about all the
dollars they spend if we only tell them
how fun and engaging it is? Of course
not! There's five more levels that are
even more important and predictive
of a good investment. Would you drop
tens of thousands of dollars on a car if it
might fall apart tomorrow, but you had a
" fun " test-drive? How about investing in
college tuition (as a paying parent not a
student) because you heard the campus
1
2
3
4
5
6
Satisfaction: Did they
like it?
Learning: Did they learn
anything?
On-the-job Improvements:
Did they do something
differently or better?
Business Impact: Did it
impact the business?
ROI: Was it worth it?
Transfer Climate: What
factors maximize the
impact of training?
| 25
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Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2022

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