Ravinder Tulsiani: How to Evaluate the Impact of Training

In these tough economic times there are many companies that feel that they are wasting money on training their staff. They feel that it is only a necessary luxury when things are rosy and when there is plenty of money to burn. This is a wrong notion as training is the lifeblood of any business. If you increase the capacity of those who work for your company, you invariably increase the potentiality or value of your company. #training

And this has become crucial for sustainability in the marketplace. You need to adapt and remain competitive if you want to be in business for the long haul. And this starts with equipping your staffers with skill sets and attributes for the journey that lies ahead. But how do you know that the money that you spend is put to good use? How do you evaluate the impact of training organized for your workforce? If you work in a department responsible for this, how do you defend yourself against having your budget allocation trimmed down or scrapped altogether? #leadership

There are some smart ways that you can evaluate training results. Firstly, make sure that you can gauge participant satisfaction at the end of the learning period. Printed or electronic surveys can be handed out to attendees to find out how they felt about the course. Did you enjoy the training? How is the course relevant to your work? Would you recommend this course to someone else? These are some of the questions that you can ask to evaluate a participatory response. #shrm

The second level of evaluation should be an examination. It is important for an examination to come after the training to help determine if knowledge was acquired or not by those who attended. Many training specialists try to avoid this in order to justify their pay check and prove that their session was not an epic failure. However, this evaluation needs to be considered. It points out the people who have acquired knowledge and points out people who need extra #coaching or #mentorship.

If participants know that there is an examination at the end of a course, they tend to take it more seriously. If they know that after a week of training, they will be tested and their grades would be forwarded to their superiors, they brace up. #business

But when it comes to evaluating the impact of a training session, you need to look beyond surveys and examinations. You need to measure the impact that it would have on a business. This is a long term evaluation. But it is easily the most effective. In this case, you find out if what has been learnt is being applied in the workplace. In addition, you confirm if behaviours and skills are being adapted or altered towards the benefit of the organization. #HR

This demonstrates how well participants can apply their knowledge in the real world. And help management realize the people who are adding value to the organization and the people who are liabilities. Training is all about generating an improvement for your business. Ensure that you use key performance indicators (KPIs) to improve the results of your training.

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