How Well Does Your Training Measure Up?

Unfortunately, training, by itself, does little to change behavior or increase performance.  This is bad news for training companies looking to make money by selling training kits and putting “butts in seats.”

In fact, we have measured over 800 training projects and know that training alone only changes the behavior of 20% of those who take it.  So how can you do better?

Our research and experience tell us that effective training must first have a business purpose in order to really matter. And in order to really matter, it must be relevant to the success of the participants, their bosses and the organization as a whole.  And any learning and development program must be supported by a system of training measurement, performance coaching and cultural alignment.

Let’s look at training measurement…the what and the how. 

The What of Training Measurement
• Adoption: First, effective training measurement can tell you how often the skills and knowledge targeted in training are actually being used on-the-job. We call this measuring training adoption.  

• Impact: Second, it should tell you if the new skills and behaviors are actually getting the desired performance results.  We call this measuring training impact.  

• Coaching: Lastly, training measurement should pinpoint how you can best help your people succeed in your unique corporate culture. We call this targeted individual performance coaching.  

The How of Training Measurement
Follow these high-level steps to get training measurement right:

1. Agree upon the two-to-three business success metrics that matter most to your key stakeholders. For example, business sales training success metrics typically include factors such as revenue growth, margin, win-rate, portfolio mix, close rate, deal size and sales cycle.

2. Identify the critical few scenarios, skills and knowledge that have the highest correlation to improving the metrics that you want to improve.  For example, a recent high-tech client identified business acumen, solution selling, and qualifying as the top three rated skills that had the greatest difference in terms of growing their business.

3. Design the learning solution to provide the skills and knowledge in a way that makes sense for your unique sales culture and go-to-market strategy.  Strive for what is believable and implementable for you and your team.  

4. Deliver experiential training until your target audience can prove that they ‘know” and “can do”  what you need them to in order to succeed.   

5. Provide frequent and consistent targeted performance coaching.

6. Measure the levels of skill and knowledge adoption approximately 9-12 weeks after the program.

7. Agree upon next steps.

Don’t rely on smile sheets, “gut feel” or anecdotes to determine if your training initiative has been successful. For credibility with company leaders, you need to show that the training has been linked to business strategy, that it is being applied and supported systemically, and that it has made a positive impact on business results.

Learn more at: http://lsaglobal.com/training-measurement/