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1. Happy Sheets – a Part of the Real Picture
   I know what you mean – something along the lines of a happy training audience is a motivated training audience, etc, etc!

   Of course, we would love it if clients/managers would take more interest in fully evaluating their programmes, but it’s not always that easy, despite the fact that it’s supposed to be the issue that everyone says they are most interested in!

   In the past, making sure they’re given the time to complete them, I’ve sneaked higher level questions into the happy sheet (traditionally a level one instrument) that ask participants to reflect on how they think their behaviour/performance/etc. will change as a result. This gives you, the trainer, some idea of what the impact could be. I also add in “barriers to the effective transfer of learning” questions, so that you’ve got some fall-back if the client/manager later decides it’s worth completing the evaluation process.

   Ideally, I would try to build in evaluation into all stages of the programme, to make it an integral and (in terms of the time commitment) an incidental component. This overcomes some of the formality often associated with evaluation and the fear that it will cost too much in terms of time and resources to complete.

   That said, the more I work on evaluation strategies, the easier I see them as not that demanding at all. If planned alongside the development of the solution, it is often not so much of a hurdle.