The question before and after any corporate training program should be about the desired and actual impact on business performance. When all is said and done, was the effort and investment of time and money worth the results?
Learning and development departments know that, in order to carry any influence with their executive team, they need to prove that well-considered, well-delivered, and well-supported training has an impact on the business metrics that matter most. Otherwise, leaders are apt to consider training just an expense to manage versus an investment to nuture. We know different. But it’s not easy to forecast the impact of learning in a way that convinces executives of the value of relevant, proven, results-driven learning and development.
Here are three tips for three different types of stakeholders:
1. When stakeholders know what they want. Before discussing learning objectives or instructional design options, make sure that you identify the critical few business metrics that matter most to your key stakeholders. Typical sales training business success metrics include revenue, margin, win rate, portfolio mix, deal size, and sales cycle. Common customer service training business success metrics include customer acquisition, loyalty, growth, and satisfaction. Frequently measured leadership and people training business success metrics include execution effectiveness of key corporate strategies, employee attraction, development, performance, engagement and retention. For project management training, stakeholders usually measure some combination of project cost, quality, and time.
The bottom line…define the critical few business metrics that you want to move with your key stakeholders, identify the specific behaviors you want to change to improve performance, measure skill and knowledge adoption, adjust related support processes and calculate business performance impact.
2. When stakeholders are uncertain.
To best work with stakeholders who are less specific, first focus on how their personal performance is measured. Then strive to make as direct a link as possible from their individual success metrics to team or organizational measures of success. The stronger the link, the better the chance that your training initiative will be relevant enough to have the leadership support and follow-through required for behavior change and measurable performance improvement.
3. When stakeholders disagree. When influential stakeholders have trouble agreeing on what matters most and why, it is challenging for any training initiative to succeed in improving business performance. When stakeholders disagree, do not be fooled into moving forward. Keep working until you and your key stakeholders agree upon what matters most for your target audience, their bosses and the business. If agreement is not possible, scale back expectations. Do not promise more than skill awareness and insight and do not invest in training measurement past Level-1 Participant Satisfaction.
Remember, training measurement and evaluation should measure skill adoption and business impact while driving accountability for execution and providing targeted feedback for coaching that is simple, relevant and actionable.
Learn more at: http://lsaglobal.com/training-measurement/
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