3 Ways To Measure Training Effectiveness

3 Ways To Measure Training Effectiveness
Summary: Organizations care about training. Period. With so much effort devoted to training, the real question becomes evident: Did anyone really learn?

3 Ways Organizations Can Improve The Way They Measure Training Effectiveness

According to ASTD, the overall spending on employee training in the US is $165 billion and the average employee receives 30.3 hours of learning per year. The average cost to train each employee is $1,195.

What do these numbers tell us? Organizations care about training. Period. With so much effort devoted to training, the real question becomes evident: Did anyone really learn?

It’s clear that learning and development professionals are struggling to answer this question – a question we simply can’t afford to ignore any longer.

The days of measuring learning based on multiple-choice questions are gone. This type of measurement is focused on short-term retention of knowledge as opposed to a long-term ability to apply knowledge. Ultimately, the goal of corporate learning should not only to see a return on the investment of training, but to improve the skill sets of PEOPLE!

In today’s world, the ability to successfully DO something absolutely trumps the ability to pass a test. With the rapidly growing need to get employees educated and running at peak performance, organizations need to focus on other ways to measure learning is taking place. This will allow them to focus their time, energy and resources on training initiatives that move the needle.

Here are 3 ways to measure training effectiveness:

  1. Visual Confirmation
    In traditional trainings, learners demonstrate their knowledge by performing a role-play. Technology allows us to take role-plays a step further. Instead of demonstrating knowledge that may or may not be true to the learner’s job, learners now have the ability to share visual confirmation they’ve completed a task in real life. Imagine employees uploading a video or audio recording and/or submitting other visual proof of a task completed (for example a screen shot or video via smartphone). Now, imagine a training manager having access to those videos (and other visual proof) of employees using knowledge from a workshop in real life. Visual confirmation doesn’t only change HOW learning is measured, it can also impact the way we train by honing in on the most effective training initiatives and taking the closer look at those initiatives that aren’t “measuring up.”
  2. Social Ownership
    The ability to teach others is one of the highest forms of mastery of a subject. Social Ownership puts learners in the position to teach others by showing how they apply concepts in their real world. This concept not only engages employees to teach and learn from each other, it also gives training managers the ability to measure how well concepts are being implemented within the organization. These peer-teaching moments can be captured via video or by having peer-peer workshops.  Ultimately providing a new way to get employees involved and engaged to increase training effectiveness.
  3. Skill Assessments
    Creating a visual assessment of an employee’s skill set and performance before and after a training moment. These snapshots, or skylines, of a learner’s abilities can give a clear picture of performance and skill improvements you can directly tie to training. A simple example would be, testing a sales person’s current sales skills prior to training, then retesting the individual after the event to see the delta. There are so many improvements going on in this area right now because of data analytics, it’s a good one to jump on ahead of the curve.

These are just 3 ways organizations can improve the way they measure training effectiveness. We’d love to hear how you measure learning in your organization. Please leave a comment!