The Way I See It: The Top Pitfalls of 360 Reviews
Used well, a 360° review can be a useful development tool, but the wrong model could have a negative impact and drive poor performance. Claudine McClean, of Predaptive OD, offers some advice on how to make sure you implement a model that works for your organisation. Feedback using the 360° model has been made accessible […]
Feature: Understanding the Need for Evaluation
Following a snapshot survey of his clients, Mike Taylor offers a glimpse into their thinking on when and how to evaluate training. Understanding the impact of training, especially development training (focused on attitudes and behaviours) is a complex issue. On the one hand there are people who work hard to measure training’s impact, and on […]
Guide to Employee References and Data Protection
A new guide to how the Data Protection Act applies to employee references is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office.The online guide includes good practice recommendations to help employers decide when employment references should and should not be released.It states that in most cases individuals have a right to a copy of information held about […]
Trainer’s Tip: Benchmarking
Ever wondered how your department compares with that of other companies? Graham O’Connell offers some advice on how to work out how it measures up. Benchmarking can be very useful, however, there are a number of factors to consider. Firstly, how big, formal and sophisticated you want to make this project. I suspect that most […]
Parkin Space: Get a Strategy
Problems co-ordinating your evaluation? You need a “learning evaluation bible”. Godfrey Parkin explains why and how to put it together. Why do we spend so much money, and a substantial amount of time, on training? What is the point? Do we just do it because we have always done it, or because everyone else is […]
Parkin Space: Venture Beyond the Smile Sheet
In Kirkpatrick terms, most “learning professionals” don’t like looking beyond level two. Because it is generally considered too difficult to evaluate training once learners leave the classroom, they have a good excuse for setting themselves much more easily achieved objectives.A couple of weeks ago, in a reputable training forum, I heard a trainer proudly declaring […]
Review: Evaluating Training
Title: Evaluating Training (From personal insight to organisation performance) Second EditionAuthor(s): Peter BramleyPublisher: CIPDISBN: 1-84398-030-4Price: £24.99Reviewer: Angela Busby. For those not familiar with Peter Bramley’s work this is a good place to start. “Evaluating Training (From personal insight to organisational performance, 2nd edition)”, is from beginning to end – an excellent resource. Do not let […]
The Way I See It… Proving the More in More Out Principle
Michael Brown, Principal Consultant with John Matchett Limited, argues that a small increase in your training investment can generate measurably better business impact. Ask any training professional whether they think evaluating the business return from training is a good idea and I guarantee you they will say yes. Ask them how many of their programmes […]
Feature: Training Evaluation Part 3 – When and How to Evaluate
In the third of four articles in this series, Martin Schmalenbach looks at when, and when, not to evaluate. Read part one, part two and part four. Setting aside any personal views about always evaluating training and performance enhancing interventions, there are times when you perhaps should NOT evaluate. The following covers most situations for […]
Bitesize No. 24 – Moving up to Human Capital Management
I should say this is the final part of this series, which in one sense it is. Yet those of you who are true business partners now will know only too well that this game called ‘learning’ never ends. So I would ask you to view this as another opportunity for a new beginning. This […]
The Way I See It… Beyond Evaluation of Leadership Programmes
Godfrey Owen of Brathay argues that a short-term evaluation of a leadership development programme is unlikely to reveal its true business benefits. Instead he maintains that leadership development needs a far-sighted approach to recognise its long-term benefits.Narrowly defined evaluation measures for leadership programmes are as wasteful as having no measures at all. The MD who […]
Bitesize No. 20 – Leadership for What?
In Bitesize 19 we looked at the relentless growth in the popularity of coaching. This is probably only matched, in terms of growing interest, by the multitude of leadership programmes on which organisations seem determined to spend huge sums of money. Usually they prove to be a classic case of hope triumphing over experience. There […]
E-Learning Attracts ‘Usual Suspects’
Despite efforts to promote ‘lifelong learning’ and a more equitable and inclusive ‘learning society’ there is little special or new about adult learning in the digital age, according to research at Cardiff University.The Adult Learning@Home project found that e-learning tends to be associated with the same factors that determine school-leaving age, such as sex and […]
Bitesize No. 16 – Learning Probability
Much of this series has been built around the use of evaluation and return on investment (ROI) for the business partner to put a very clear business case for learning solutions. Many training and development specialists, however, ignore or try to avoid using evaluation because they take the view that it is impossible to prove […]
Bitesize No. 14 – Business Partners and Control Groups
One subject that often comes up under the heading of ‘evaluation’ is the use of control groups. What is a control group? Well, if you were training 10 teams of salespeople you could choose not to train (or provide less training for) one of the teams. This team would be the control group. You would […]
The Way I See It… Training Must Make a Radical Difference
Anthony Greenfield, head of learning at Boxwood Group makes the case for results-based training that takes participants out of the comfort zone. Businesses which invest seriously in training should expect value for money, particularly in a climate where cost is a constant focus.Ideally, they should seek a return on investment in two ways: * By […]
Bitesize No. 8 – Using the 80/20 Rule
Probably one of the oldest, simplest and yet most useful management tools is the 80/20 rule. Usually known as the “Pareto Principle” (named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto 1848-1923) although probably more accurately attributed to the quality guru Juran who referred to the “vital few and trivial many”. So what does the 80/20 rule […]
Bitesize No. 6 – A 1% Improvement
So far we have been playing with numbers but what you now need to ask yourself is whether you could really generate at least a 1% business improvement purely through training and development? Can you turn the theory into practice? In other words, regardless of any other plans your organisation might have to improve its […]
70% Fail to Measure Business Impact of Training
More than two-thirds of organisations have no formal measurement practices to assess the impact of training on their business performance, according to a new study.The survey of training managers by IT Training and e-learning providers’ network Global Learning Alliance, found that just 30% of companies measured the impact of training on business performance.It also found […]
Bitesize No 3 – Put Training in the Right Box
If you read and tried to follow Bitesize 2 you may have found it difficult to put a value on certain types of training. If so, the chances are that you are missing a key piece of theory that most conventional trainers are unaware of. Once you understand this theory and know how to use […]
