How To Evaluate Business Impact Using The Kirkpatrick Model Of Learning Measurement
Your organization must be able to measure the outcome of its learning interventions through a time-tested methodology. With the pandemic forcing everyone to their homes, the need for
training platforms that provide a comprehensive model in learning and evaluation is in demand. One of the top platforms that provide your organization with a 360-degree feedback and business impact module is NuVeda’s CALF™.
CALF™ is a robust and flexible platform that uses the Kirkpatrick’s model of learning measurement to demonstrate learning outcomes. While some may regard the model as outdated, the foundational principles remain sound and incontrovertible. When married with the modern technologies available today, the Kirkpatrick model provides a solid framework for learning measurement. It helps in providing clear evaluative steps; giving crucial insights on behavioral impact of your learning interventions and business impact metrics to business leaders. The model is divided into four levels of learning, namely Reaction, Learning, Behavior, and Results.
So, let’s dive into the four major tips that will enable your organization to use the Kirkpatrick model of learning measurement to evaluate business impact.
1. Feedback Is Critical To Learning. Measure It.
An engaged learner is likely to absorb more than an unengaged learner. When physical trainer-led programs were a thing, trainers often used verbal feedback or a learner’s body language to help them understand how far learners were engaged in the program. But it is rather inefficient as it uses a certain amount of human bias rather than a solid metric to measure an outcome. Also, a large-scale learning intervention makes it impossible to get through to every learner. A platform like CALF™ provides learners quick surveys and polls, which helps you extract engagement data from the learners, immediately after completion. The best results are obtained when a survey or a poll is administered within 24 hours of completion, as the feedback is fresh and still making an impact. Level 1 of the Kirkpatrick Model simply measures the immediate reaction to a learning program using a smile sheet survey or other survey tools mentioned above.
2. What Did They Learn?
When wrestling with L&D challenges, it’s important to find out what the employee or participant learned during the learning intervention. This is especially crucial in processes such as security training, compliance training and knowledge processes, where compliance and/or regulatory frameworks are involved. At this point many people ask just one question, how do I evaluate? First, create an assessment or a quiz that allows you to evaluate your employees before and after a learning intervention. Second, compare the scores of the employees before and after your employee’s progress to get a clear picture of what they have and haven’t learned. Third, use the gap in the learning to personalize learning journeys for the employees to overcome it.
CALF™ can automate many of these processes seamlessly for you at scale, through built-in intelligence. This step measures the cognitive aspects of learning and constitutes Level 2 of the Kirkpatrick Model of Learning Measurement.
3. How Did They Change?
Behavior is a tough one to monitor and capture. Behavioral changes are not immediate and like Rome, they can’t be built in a single day. To enable behavioral change you need to take into account your current work culture. A work culture where change is met with resistance can often see employees finding it challenging to deploy the skills they have learned. This is evident according to a 2015 report on workplace learning by 24x7 Learning Inc. that found only 11% of employees applied the skills they learned in training to their job.
There are different ways of measuring behavior including surveys that can measure application of learning and therefore behavioral change.
However, NuVeda has a unique way to measure application of learning using Learning Application Posts, or LAPs for short. A LAP is a response to an open-ended question relevant to the application on the job. The response can include a document, audio, video or any other evidence that supports the behavioral change. Once a LAP is submitted, a typical workflow uses a manager or a facilitator to approve the LAP, provide feedback or, in special cases, request a resubmission. This also serves as a validation of the participant LAP by the manager or a supervisor. Such feedback allows the participant to adjust approaches in a timely manner. LAPs are best used between 2 and 12 weeks after a learning intervention and can capture any meaningful changes in behavior due to the learning intervention.
In the Kirkpatrick Model of Learning Measurement, this measurement constitutes Level 3 of the model—i.e., Behavior.
4. Is This The Result Of Our Training?
If you have met the Business Impact objective which you had marked as a learning objective on your organization’s checklist, then your learning intervention has met its objective. Only if measuring the impact of learning interventions on business was this easy! Complex metrics like sales improvement, user engagement, marketing growth need to be connected to learning and project execution. The good thing about the Kirkpatrick model of learning measurement is that you can flip it on its head and start by considering the tangible results that you need to achieve through your learning initiatives. Through this method, you will be able to create specific milestones, checklists, and objectives and deploy efficient learning modules accordingly. The result of doing this will be answering the question: “Is this the result of our training?”
With CALF™, NuVeda’s clients have the ability not only to capture business impact of the learning interventions such as the Balanced Scorecard, but also to choose metrics of their choosing that may be more relevant to the learning programs. Additionally, they specifically get answers to this result question from participants and their supervisors: “To what extent (in %) did this learning program contribute to the business impact?” In the Kirkpatrick Model of Learning Measurement, this measurement constitutes Level 4 of the model—i.e., Results.
The business impact data that is collected via systems or entered by participants are appropriately pro-rated by the result percentages to the question above to calculate the business impact of the learning intervention in CALF™. You can also use the other metrics that the platform provides such as time taken for completion, participation rate and completion rate to help you continually improve your learning programs. Additionally, the platform can be integrated with Credly badges to authenticate a learner’s progress.
Conclusion
The Kirkpatrick model of learning measurement is a solid and robust framework for capturing that you can use to measure the impact of your learning interventions through surveys, assessments, performance behaviors, and tangible results. When you use a platform like CALF™ for this purpose, you get the added advantage of the Kirkpatrick model embedded inside to get you started immediately.
Download the eBook Demonstrating True Business Impact: How To Measure And Maximize Your Learning Outcomes to drive L&D initiatives in the right direction and achieve your desired business outcomes. You can also join the webinar to learn whether your L&D initiatives really align with the organizational objectives. The webinar also explores how to leverage the full capabilities of CALF™️, the learning platform that measures the behavioral and business impact of your learning interventions.
References
Report on Workplace Learning Released by 24x7 Learning Inc.