Does anyone have any key performance indicators which can be used to assess the benefits of training back in the workplace?

get the objectives clear
This is a tricky one in so far as, much training can be an act of faith .It really does depend on having a good system for getting the right people onto the right training course.
If it is a practical skill that they are learning you can have some very clear post course objectives IE can they do what they are supposed to do?

When you have soft skills this is a little more difficult .My approach is to hook the manager into a pre course discussion and get them to state very clearly what it is the delegate needs to be doing.
Then get the line manager into assessing this after an agreed period of time .

The bottom line is that the learning objectives need to be very close to the job performance objectives and here lies the greatest problem.
Much of the content of training can have no real measurable output in terms of job performance .
The question therfore is why bother to do the training and this i believe is a very real question which we should be brave enough to say there is no return so why train.
In the bigger picture the whole process of evaluating training starts with evaluating the cost of underperformance and comparing this with the cost of training .If the cost of training is gerater than the underperformance then dont train.The same can be applied at the end of training if you cannot measure the cost of the improvement then dont train.

short answer is establish the current performance first in quantitive and qualitive measures then measure the same things afterwards

2 Responses

TrainingZone says:

May 22, 2002 at 9:44 pm

This is a difficult one…
Hi Trish,

Can I refer you to my response to John Adcock earlier today, who asked a similar question.

Kind regards,

Colin Hamilton
email: colin@bis-improve.co.uk
web: http://www.bis-improve.co.uk
TrainingZone says:

May 31, 2002 at 3:17 pm

get the objectives clear
This is a tricky one in so far as, much training can be an act of faith .It really does depend on having a good system for getting the right people onto the right training course.
If it is a practical skill that they are learning you can have some very clear post course objectives IE can they do what they are supposed to do?

When you have soft skills this is a little more difficult .My approach is to hook the manager into a pre course discussion and get them to state very clearly what it is the delegate needs to be doing.
Then get the line manager into assessing this after an agreed period of time .

The bottom line is that the learning objectives need to be very close to the job performance objectives and here lies the greatest problem.
Much of the content of training can have no real measurable output in terms of job performance .
The question therfore is why bother to do the training and this i believe is a very real question which we should be brave enough to say there is no return so why train.
In the bigger picture the whole process of evaluating training starts with evaluating the cost of underperformance and comparing this with the cost of training .If the cost of training is gerater than the underperformance then dont train.The same can be applied at the end of training if you cannot measure the cost of the improvement then dont train.

short answer is establish the current performance first in quantitive and qualitive measures then measure the same things afterwards